John 8

John 7:53–8:1, His own house…Yeshua went. While everyone went to their own homes for the night, Yeshua, the Son of Elohim had nowhere to lay his head. Furthermore, he did not even carry the money bag; Judas did. So Yeshua likely had no money to rent even a hotel room. Undaunted, this rugged outdoorsman and man of the earth simply walked the short distance from the Temple Mount across the Kidron Valley and spent the night at the base of the Mount of Olives—perhaps in the Garden of Gethsemane Grotto, which tradition tells us is where Yeshua and his disciples often slept. This is possibly the place where Yeshua’s disciples fell asleep the night he was betrayed. This underground grotto would have provided warmth during the winter and coolness during the summer. The same grotto is now a Catholic chapel.

John 8:6, Wrote on the ground. Jeremiah declares that those who depart from YHVH (i.e. commit spiritual adultery) shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken YHVH, who is the fountain of living waters (Jer 17:13; presumably a reference to the bitter waters of spiritual adultery, and allusion to heathenism and the divine judgments such apostasy brings). Could the writing in the earth of the names of those who had forsaken YHVH (i.e. committed spiritual adultery) be what Yeshua was doing in John 8:6? Interestingly, it was dirt from the earth (the floor of the tabernacle, Num 5:17) that was placed in the bitter waters of the woman suspected of adultery, which she was forced to drink. (For more on the ritual of the adulterous woman, see notes at Num 5:11–31.)

John 8:7, He who is without sin. Here Yeshua in a very oblique way is saying that we are all like that adulterous woman in that each of us has turned away from Elohim, our Heavenly Bride, and committed spiritual adultery by turning away from Elohim and followed the gods of the world, the flesh and the devil, which is sin.

John 8:11–12, Sin no more…I am. The entire message of the Bible is contained in these two verses. Like the adulterous woman, all humans have sinned and deserve the death penalty. Yeshua’s merciful grace caused the woman to be spared. He then admonishes her to stop sinning or violating the Torah, which is sin (1 John 3:4). After this, Yeshua declares that he is the light of the world and instructs the woman to follow him out of the darkness of her sinful past and into the light of Torah-righteousness leading to the abundant life and eventually to immortality. This is a terse yet timeless message to every human everywhere who has ever drawn breath. 

John 8:14, You do not know. Yeshua seems to be making an oblique reference to his virgin birth and incarnation here.

John 8:32, Know the truth. “The truth shall make you free” is an often-quoted axiom, but few understand its deeper biblical implications. When Yeshua made this statement to Jews, what did he mean? To Yeshua what is truth? Two verses later, he mentions being a slave to sin. What is sin, and what does that have to do with truth? As many times as you have heard this axiom, have you heard anyone explain verse 32 in the larger context of Yeshua’s statement? We will now do so below. 

We violate the sanctity of Scripture if we impose on it our own meanings. This is a cavalier and presumptuous approach to understanding the Bible and can hardly be called “rightly dividing the word of Elohim” (1 Tim 2:15).This practice of  faulty biblical interpretation often occurs with this verse. To do so is to twist the meaning of the Scriptures to fit our own human vicissitudes, agendas and biases. This is humanism and insults the mind, will and sovereignty of the Almighty as divinely revealed in his Holy Word. 

To properly understand this verse, we must look solely to the Bible for the keys to understanding it. We can start this process by first asking the question, what is truth? 

The Bible defines its own terms when it calls the Torah truth (Ps 119:142 and 151). The truth of Torah (i.e. the law of Moses) will set a person free, for when one hears and obeys the Torah, one ceases sinning (i.e. violating YHVH’s Torah-law; 1 John 3:4), and therefore doesn’t come under the penalty of the Torah-law’s judgment for breaking it, which the Bible calls sin and which leads (ultimately) to eternal death (Ezek 18:4; Rom 6:23). When one is not under the judgment of sin, one is free. With freedom comes life. 

Yeshua the Messiah himself is also the truth (John 14:6), for he is the Living Torah-Word of Elohim (John 1:1, 14). When we place our trusting faith in Yeshua and follow him, his spiritual life in the form of his Set-Apart Spirit will then flow through us and empower us to walk away from sin and follow the spiritual light of his Torah, which will keep us sin-free. This is the path that leads us toward the ultimate freedom from eternal death resulting in everlasting life (John 8:52). As such, sin will no longer have any legal claim on us, and thus we will not come into condemnation, but will pass from death into everlasting life (John 5:24). This is possible because Yeshua has taken upon himself our past sins (Rom 3:25), paid the legal penalty of them, and wiped our spiritual slate clean and has given us a fresh start in life (Gal 2:20; 1 Cor 5:17) to walk sin-free (in accordance with his standards of righteousness, which is the Torah). This is the result of knowing the truth and experiencing the freedom that comes therefrom. 

It’s astounding how so many people have been taught to believe the exact opposite of the truth—that the laws of Elohim will place you under bondage instead of setting you free!

Now that you have been set free from the traditions of men, which make of none effect the word of Elohim, you now have the freedom to understand the fuller, biblical meaning of Yeshua’s statement, “And you shall know the truth and it shall make you free.”

John 9

John 9:16, Does not keep the Sabbath. Yeshua never violated the biblical Sabbath, or else he would have been a sinner and not our sinless Savior. Rather, the so-called laws that he broke were the non-biblical Jewish legal traditions or extra-biblical laws and not YHVH’s Torah laws.

John 9:34, They cast him out. The formerly blind man boldly and passionately preached the truth to the Jews who refused hear and address it. Their only response as was to attack Yeshua and the man and to ostracize the man. Rejecting the truth and attacking the messenger (called an ad hominen attack) is the typical approach of those who refuse to face the truth.

John 9:41, We see. Spiritual leaders have the greater accountability before YHVH because they claim to be the enlightened ones.

John 10

John 10:3, Doorkeeper. This is referring to pastors who are undershepherds of Yeshua who is the Good Shepherd. A shepherd over a congregation has much control as to whether and to what degree Yeshua, the Living Torah-Word of Elohim, is allowed into a congregation. If the pastor is a hireling and leads his flock for self-gain, then he will filter out any bibical truth that might undermine his hidden agendas to take advantage of the flock for his own gain. Elohim denounces this type of activity in Ezek 34 and promises to raise up true shepherds after his own heart who will care more for the sheep than for themselves. It is the doorkeeper’s responsibility to protect the sheep while in th safety of the corral. It is also his responsibility to hear and recongnize the voice of Yeshua and lead the people to him, and to open the door, so the people can go go out to him as he leads them in the green pastures and besides the still waters of spiritual nourishment and refreshment.

Hear his voice. For my articles on the voice of YHVH and how to hear it, see https://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/?s=Voice+of+YHVH&submit=Search.

John 10:15, 17, 18 I lay down my life. Yeshua laid down his life of his own volition and willingly for sinners. His death was not human sacrifice, which the Torah forbids, as some antimissionaries claim. He allowed himself to be murdered as a sin offering. This is very different than a human sacrifice as the Satanists do and Baal worshipers (and other demonized heathens) did in times past.

John 10:16, Other sheep. These are the lost sheep of the house of Israel to which Yeshua makes reference elsewhere (Matt 15:4 and 10:6 cp. John 11:52). The apostles reference to these scattered sheep of Israel as well (Jas 1:1; 1 Pet 1:1).

One flock…one shepherd. This is prophesied in Ezek 37. The process began at the first coming of Yeshua and will be finalized at this second coming.

John 10:22, The Feast of Dedication [or consecration]. For my articles on Hanukkah, see https://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/?s=hanukkah&submit=Search.

John 10:34, You are gods. Yeshua is here quoting Psalm 82:6 where the term elohim in Hebraic thought and as used biblically simply refers to all divine beings whether good (e.g. Elohim, his heavenly council and angels) to evil (e.g. Satan, evil spirits and demons). Elohim can also refer to human (righteous) judges, who are acting on behalf of Elohim on this earth making righteous judgment between humans (e.g. Exod 21:6; 22:8–9). But there’s more.

Yeshua gave this same authority to his apostles (or church leaders) to adjudicate between the saints and to make the same ecclesiastical decisions as did the Jewish Sanhedrin of old, and he promised that as Elohim’s agents on earth, he would honor their decisions (e.g. Matt 16:19; 18:18–20). 

Moreover, in this passage, Yeshua is clearly stating that the Jews in his audience were divine beings. What did he mean by this? The verse here doesn’t indicate that those in his audience were Jewish judges or members of the ruling elite. He was speaking generically to a group of lay people to whom the word of Elohim had been given (v. 35), which is why they were in Jerusalem at that time on the temple mount observing the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah (John 10:22–23). In making this statement, Yeshua is most likely referring to the fact that spiritually enlightened and regenerated humans have the potential (i.e. at the resurrection) for becoming glorified sons of Elohim if they believe in him (John 1:12). 

Whatever Yeshua means, he is clearly stating that those humans (to whom the Word of Elohim was given, v. 35) possess some divine element, to one degree or another, that qualifies them to be included under the rubric of elohim. Whether he is thinking of the term elohim vis-à-vis humans in present or future prophetic terms is not clear from this passage. He simply states as a fact that “You are elohim” (if you have been given the word of Elohim). 

John 10:41, John performed no sign/miracle. Though Yeshua called John the greatest of all prophets, he performed no miracles. He prepared the way for Yeshua by preaching the message of repentance and proclaiming the kingdom of Elohim—a work which is greater than any miracles one might do. Men marvel at miracles, which usually do nothing to transform them spiritually, while YHVH emphasizes the preaching of the gospel, which changes lives, but doesn’t impress most men. The focus and passions of men is usually the opposite of what it should be and is that direct opposite of that of YHVH.