Under Cover

John 8:⁵⁹ “At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.” (emphasis added).

The stones they picked up were the same stones that the Pharisees and the leaders had dropped because the stones were for Jesus all along. Though this crowd did not join the Pharisees and the leaders at that point, they just stood and watched the exchanges. But now they were convinced that they needed to kill Jesus and so they picked up stones to crush Him. At the end of John 8, the people tried to do to Jesus what they wanted to do to the woman caught in adultery, to stone Him because the stones were originally for Jesus. When they asked Jesus, ‘what should we do? Should we set her free or stone her?’ If Jesus had said they should set her free, they would have stoned Him because Moses said in Leviticus that people caught in adultery should be put to death, even though Moses did not say it should be by stoning.

If Jesus told them to stone her, they would say He is against Caesar and stone Him. Caesar had said that people should be tried before they are stoned. To really show you that the stones were for Jesus, the Bible says in Lev.24:¹⁶ “Anyone who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be put to death.” With someone caught in adultery, the law did not specify that the person should be stoned. But when Jesus spoke to them in a way that they felt was blasphemous, they were ready to stone Him. When you are in a situation where people are ready to stone you, if you are the child of God, just know that the stones are for Jesus and not you. When people abuse you because you are following God, the abuse is for Jesus, not you.

John 8:⁵⁹ “At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.” The beautiful thing is because Jesus’ time had not come yet come again, at the point they picked up stones to throw at Him Jesus was hidden from them. The phrase, “hidden from them” is different from Jesus ran from them or Jesus went to hide from them. When the Bible says Jesus was hidden from them, it is like the story of Elisha and the Aramean army in 2 Kings 6:14-23 [please read]. The army had been sent by the king to capture Elisha but when Elisha came out to meet them, he prayed that God would smite them with blindness. Even though Elisah was standing right in front of them, he was hidden from them. He was standing in front of them, but they could not see him, they could not recognise him. If it were in our day, even if they have pictures of him in their hands, they still would not be able to recognize him.

I pray, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that God will hide you from evil in the Mighty Name of Jesus. The phrase hidden from them means covered, like the way a hen covers her chicks from the hawk or the eagle hovering above. In this same way, the God of heaven will tabernacle over you and hide you from evil in the Mighty Name of Jesus.

Prayer: Father, hide me, and my entire camp perpetually, in Jesus Name. Amen!