What We Need to Remember Today
This part of the bible makes me cringe, too. People were being stoned for what we would consider today as minor offences. What we have to remember, however, is that God was trying to establish a holy and undefiled people that would live long in their land without disease or famine. He had just delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians who were miserable slave drivers led by a hard-hearted Pharaoh. The Egyptian people at that time committed many detestable practices in the sight of God, including slavery. God didn’t want His people to return to their old ways of sin that led to death. He wanted to give them life and He wanted them to love each other. Part of loving each other was in obeying God’s laws and loving God.
Teaching God’s People
The Apostle Paul in the New Testament says that the letter of the law brings death but that belief in the saving power of God and Jesus Christ brings life (Romans 8:2). The people that were stoned in Old Testament days were done so that they would set an example to all in the Jewish community that sin brings death. The people were instructed from the hand and mouth of God as to what was sin and what was not. Imagine if God Himself came to earth and gave you some instructions. It would be awfully difficult to break them. They would be embedded in your heart and memory. Those that did break God’s law were showing wicked irreverence toward God and His law. They were unbelievers in a godly community that could potentially defile the whole community.
Demonic Influences
Then as is now, demons were at work in those who sin continually and act in disregard for God’s laws. Demons bring disease, corruption, and vile practices to the people they come near. They are also sort of contagious and back then they were hard to get rid of. When Jesus was on earth casting out demons, the disciples were amazed saying, "Lord, even the demons obey us." This is because back then, before Jesus came, demonic power was more influential in the lives of people because they didn’t adhere to God’s commands and the Holy Spirit wasn’t embodied in the majority of the assembly of Jewish people. If it were they wouldn’t have been building Asherah poles and temples to false gods that were really demons.
God is a just God and would never demand the deaths of the innocent (Hebrews 6:10). The people that were being stoned back then were not innocent. They were grossly out-of-touch with God, sinning, and causing others to sin. Remember sin brings death so they were bringing death on the people of God’s community.
Jesus and Forgiveness
The New Testament shows the true heart of God in the sending of His son, Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of God. He was kind, gentle and He died to forgive us for our sins so that we could be reunited with God. Jesus said in the New Testament that the greatest of all the commands were to love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:28-34). The Apostle Paul says that love does no wrong to its neighbor therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10). God is love, Jesus is God, therefore Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. When we believe in Christ’s saving power we wear the cloak of Jesus’ righteousness as our covering. His sinless life covers ours and God forgives us for our sins because of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross at Calvary. Even Jesus distained the practices of stoning criminals in the New Testament when He said to a group of Jewish men waiting to stone an adulterous woman that whichever of them who was without sin could throw the first stone and none could. They were bloodthirsty sinners themselves. Jesus said, "Miss, where are your accusers?" Then He forgave her (John 8:1-11). God hated the practice of stoning because of what it did to those who stoned and were stoned. It made bloodthirsty, hypocrites like the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day.
God Is Just
God doesn’t stand for injustice and ultimately punishes the wicked but forgives those who turn to Him and ask for forgiveness. He is merciful and just. I council you today to seek God with all your heart to help you understand His heart and perhaps give you a greater understanding between the connection of the Old and New Testaments.
