John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

If you are not familiar with the woman caught in adultery and Jesus saving her from being stoned, please read John chapter 8. It has been taught many times. I have heard it many times. There is one thing that seems to slip thru the cracks in those teachings however.

Jesus changed the atmosphere before the woman was saved.

What is the atmosphere in your church? Do you see sin in others and are concerned for their salvation or does their sin change your ability to forgive? I dare say when people see sin in others, that sin was not committed against them. Those accusers in John 8:10 were not sinned against.

They did however have something in common with many people who see sin. There is the fear that if they do not punish sin they will be seen as approving of it. That is a real problem in our modern churches. How do we deal with the pride of sin being flaunted in our midst?

First we must recognize that we were convicted of our own sins first and turned and walked away from them in an atmosphere of repentance. That was not done in an atmosphere of condemnation. Nor is it done in an atmosphere of approval. Conviction of sin comes from the power of the Holy Spirit preparing a heart to receive the gospel. The stone in the hand of the accusers was judgement.

Jesus, the head of this body, changed the atmosphere first. He did so that condemnation is not the reason for repentance but rather Holy Spirit conviction.

Matthew 4:25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

These people comprised the people in attendance at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five. How many were in attendance? No one knows. No one took an accounting. The significance of this sermon is great, it begins with the beatitudes.

How many people attended Woodstock? They know how many tickets were sold but perhaps 100,000 more crashed the party. Numbers range from 400,000 to 500,000 but over the years millions claimed to have been there. There is something about these special events that are so significant that the telling and retelling grows so that even those who were not in attendance feel like they were part of the event.

The reputation of Jesus had grown to such a point as to gather a great number in attendance. Jesus had to climb a hillside, a mount, in order to be seen by as many as possible. This was his stage. He had no microphone, no sound system, and if all these people were to hear Him, it would be by a power greater than a human voice.

So often we think about the words delivered. We read them today from the comfort of our homes and libraries but cannot imagine what it must have been like to have been there. Was there a hush over the crowd? Was every voice silenced straining to hear Him speak? If you have ever been to a concert you know how loud a crowd can be at the height of the moment. A silent crowd would be a miracle in itself.

When you read some of these great meaningful passages within the bible, do put yourself in attendance? Do you attend to the Word?