FROM THE TREE TO THE CROSS

John 8:2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
NKJ Version

The Gospel and the Dust

Most people read these short 11 verses and see only an example of Jesus defying and outwitting the Pharisees and in the process saving a woman from being stoned to death.
But please, let us take a closer look for there is so much more here than a temporary pardon, hiding in plain sight is an ocean of revelation just waiting beneath the surface that is guaranteed to make your heart leap for joy.
For this is the very gospel of salvation from the law by the grace of the Son through his incarnation, his substitution,  his death and his resurrection all compressed into one breath-taking moment on the dust of the Temple floor.
Let us begin this journey by first pointing out that this was a trap of deception,  just as the serpent in the garden planted a trap of deception by using the woman as the bait to cause the Fall of the first man Adam.
This is a cosmic repeat of that same deception but instead of a fruit, it is the Levitical law itself that is dangling from the metaphorical tree of knowledge in this moment of the temple priests verses the son of God.
Their goal was to trap and force  Jesus into making a decision that would harm him or his status as a teacher no matter what verdict he chose.
If he broke the law of Moses by not stoning her, then he would be proven as a false prophet, but if he ruled that she was to be stoned as the law commands twice in
Leviticus 20:10
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
And in
Deuteronomy 22:22
If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.

Then he would be a criminal in the eyes of Rome because they had abolished the ability for Jews to execute a death penalty, no matter the crime or the official who administered it.

They think they have cornered the creator into a forced checkmate by using the finite logic of a courtroom. But Jesus is not going to fall for their trap; Instead He is going to use their deception to proclaim the Gospel of Grace instead, and he will do it all in less than 7 verses.

But before we break it down, its worth pointing out that the text clearly says that they brought the woman before Jesus and set her  in the center of the circle, exactly as one would position the condemned before a judge.
Yet, what does the Judge do? He stoops down.  Think about this gesture
A judge does not bend down in front of the accused; a judge remains elevated, looking down from the bench of authority.  In the culture of the first century, a Rabbi would never humble himself in the dirt before a woman let alone one accused of a crime. The cultural implications are staggering. He bends down to the earth, humbling Himself before a woman clearly guilty and deserving of death under the very Law He came to fulfill.

What is going on here?

Before you miss it, the woman represents the church in New testament metaphors and symbolism, this is the highest example of this typology you can find.

They say to him
4 “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?”

What is your verdict judge?
But instead of rendering a verdict he refused to be the judge and simply bent down and began to write in the dirt.  
What did he write you ask
We can only speculate
Some say he wrote “Those who turn away from You shall be written in the earth, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.   (Jer 17:13).

But I have a much simpler explanation
They approached him using the law as a trap, it seems only fitting that he would have used the law as their own undoing. The trapper becomes the trapped.
I believe that he knew the sins of each of the members of the scribes and Pharisees who stood in front of him quoting the law as grounds for the judgment and death of this woman.
So he heard and acknowledged their accusation and rightly referred to the law that condemned it.

He wrote with his finger in the stone of the dirt the law of moses that they accused her of
God wrote the ten commandments with his finger in stone on mount Sinai (Exodus 31:18)  Jesus would confirm it to them in the same way

14“You shall not commit adultery.

But then (7. He raised himself up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone” 8. And again He bent down and wrote on the ground.)

As they all picked up stones to throw them at the transgressor just as Moses threw the stone tablets at the idol worshipers

The ten commandments had been written twice in the old testament,   Jesus would fulfill its purpose and number again in the new testament.
This second time that Jesus stooped down, he began to write the other commandments that they themselves had broken.

13“You shall not murder.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17“You shall not covet anything of your neighbors
7“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

One by one he began to write each of  the laws that they each had broken in the dirt, and confronting each of them as he wrote them with a glare that forced them to examine and admit to themselves their own sins.
He turned the floor into a mirror, and they saw the monster in their own reflection!

With the burning reminder of their own sins on their heart, each of them drops their stone one by one.

But the woman remains
Why? Because he raised himself up
He stooped down and humbled himself when he came to the earth as a infant and grew into a mortal man, and then stooped down and humbled himself again when he died on the cross to take our stoning for us and redeem us of sin
But then he raised himself up and came back from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father to prepare a place for his bride.

The Church is still Standing!
She who was cast down is now raised up because He stood up!
She (the church) is alone with her Husband. The past is erased. The witnesses (the devil and accuser) have fled.
He looks at her—not with the eyes of a Judge, but with the eyes of a Groom.
“Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” (John 8:10)
“No one, Lord,” she answered.

And here comes the tidal wave of Glory! The words that rewrite eternity!
“Then neither do I condemn you,  “Jesus declared. “Now go and sin no more.”   (John 8:11)

Soul, drink this in!
He did not say she was innocent!.      He said  He would pay the price!
He took the condemnation meant for her and drank the cup of wrath till it was dry!
He looked at His Bride, dirty,  guilty and ashamed, and said, “You are Mine. The Law has no claim on you because I am the Law fulfilled!”
She walked in a harlot, and she walks out a clean and redeemed bride!
She was dragged in to die, but she was freed by him to live!
This is the Gospel! This is the good news!, The Stone is dropped, the Debt is paid, and the Bride is Free!