John 8:9 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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John 8:9

Comments

Somehow, by the power of Christ’s word, those hardened, proud scribes who were seeking to find an opportunity to condemn him, were humiliated and condemned. It says in the text that they were convicted. It does not mean that they were convicted in the sense that they were regretful and ashamed of their own deeds. They were not going to repent - they were proud, they were obdurate – and yet, they were still convicted. It means that they were convicted in the sense that they felt exposed and too embarrassed to go forward. It was almost as though the light of the world shone into their hearts to give them that desperate degree of conviction. And they could not pretend it wasn’t true. Not even their pride could overpower this so that they would tough it out and pretend to be indignant. They knew that they were guilty men. And the very senior, most among them, the proudest of them all, slunk out first, and all followed him, one by one. They were disqualified as accusers. The oldest one first, who was esteemed among them, totally against every fibre of his being, felt vulnerable. ‘He knows what I have done.’ Had he committed adultery? He had certainly desired the murder of Christ. Had he committed adultery too? Had he committed many other serious sins? And in that moment he felt, ‘He knows me. He knows what I have done, and there are people here who know what I have done.’ And he was so deeply embarrassed that he could not stretch forth his hand, and he had to force himself to turn around, and under the gaze of all the people to leave the Temple. One after another they went. From the eldest to the least, the youngest of them. ‘And Jesus was left alone.’ Of course, the crowds were there, but as far as the accusers are concerned, Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst of the great crowd.

Application

This is almost a view of the light of the world in the last day, when it comes to judgement, to final judgement. There will tragically be millions of people, hard as nails, dead against the Lord, absolutely obdurate, proud, determined not to repent, or anything of the kind, and yet even in that unrepentant state, as God judges them, and deals with them, He will make them to feel deeply and desperately the guilt of all their sin. It will not be a conviction that will bring them to repentance, but it will be a conviction that will force them to say, ‘The judgement is true and right, and I am banished justly and properly.’ How hypocrites, and all guilty, will be speechless like that in the last day. It’s mercy now: the worst adulteress, caught in the very act, she could be offered the opportunity to repent and to come and know cleansing and forgiveness. But in the last day, it will be too late.

Same with us. Sometimes, before we’re saved, when we are set against these things and we’re indignant against God, and there does come an element of conviction, and we feel ashamed of some sin, like them, we run away, we slink away, we don’t respond. The only response, of course, is repentance and utter dependence upon Jesus Christ and looking to him for forgiveness. They, the Pharisees, tried to discredit the Lord, but he shone the law into their hearts, and they were ashamed and had to withdraw.

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John 8:9 Commentary and Bible Study