48    The Bible and the Future of the World 

9:10; Exodus 31:18).  God wrote His Commandments on the earth by 

writing on tables of stone, which came from the ground. 

    When Jesus is asked about someone who broke one of these 

Commandments, He responds by writing on the ground. He writes twice, 

symbolizing the two new commandments: Love God and love one another. 

    Jesus is God. Jesus is repeating what God did when He wrote the Ten 

Commandments on the earth, but Jesus is writing the two new 

commandments, which include and go beyond the Ten Commandments. 

Jesus does not condemn the woman, but He does correct her because what 

she did was sinful.  And Jesus said, `Neither do I condemn you; go, and do 

not sin again.'   (John 8:11). 

Night Comes (John 9:4 5) 

      `We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night 

comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light 

of the world.'   (John 9:4 5). 

    The night when no one can work refers to a time in the future, the time of 

the Church's great suffering (in the 25th century and, to a lesser extent, in 

the latter part of the Forty Years), which is marked by the dark deeds of sin 

in the world and by literal darkness in nature. Jesus is the light of the world, 

but during the time of the Church's greatest suffering, Jesus, in the form of 

the Holy Eucharist, will be gone from most places in the world. Jesus will 

still be with those Christians who remain faithful to Him during that most 

difficult of times, but for a while they will mostly be deprived of His Real 

Presence in the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is Jesus. The Holy 

Eucharist is the light of the world. 

    At the end of the time of the Church's greatest suffering,  the sun will be 

darkened, and the moon will not give its light .  (Mt 24:29). This darkness 

in nature is a reflection of the darkness of the many serious sins of people all 

over the world. Nature falls apart when humanity's relationship with God 

falls apart. The darkness of sin results in a real darkness in nature. When the 

time of the Church's greatest suffering ends, the time for the punishment of 

the wicked will have begun. One of these punishments upon the wicked is a 

time of great darkness (Rev 16:10). 

They Took Counsel Against Jesus (John 11:45 54) 

     So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death. Jesus 

therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there 

to the country near the wilderness....  (John 11:53 54).