The Handwriting of God

by GAT, written 04/22/2004 updated 12/10/2025

God inspired the hands of prophets to write His words. Scripture records three occurrences where God writes a message with His own hand – the Ten Commandments written on stone, the handwriting before Belshazzar on a plaster wall, and words written by Jesus in the dust of the Temple ground. Together, these three occurrences portray a message of truth, grace, and salvation. The message is aimed squarely at the heart of man. A heart without the presence of Jesus Christ is cold and lifeless like that of a stone. Man seeks to hide his decaying condition by plastering over with platitudes and misplaced reason. However, as from what man was created so likewise is his end in the dust. The laws of creation are inescapable. Matter decays [stone, to decayed plastered stone, to dust], but the soul lives forever. "The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" Rom 5:20.

Truth of the Law

"because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin" Romans 3:20. God engraved the Law on tablets of stone (Exo 32:16). These were not borne by the hand of a man but by the Lord’s own finger. God gave the Ten Commandments twice. Moses broke the first tablets in response to the rebellion of Israel. Moses said, "The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God . . . and He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord had spoken" Deu 9:10, 10:4. The tablets were made of stone that symbolized the condition of the man’s heart – naive, obstinate, and faithless. God kept Israel in covenant relationship with Him through their observance of the Law, its subsequent ordinances, and the many feasts. The Commandments taught "justice, mercy and faithfulness;" however, they were to the Hebrews both sweet and bitter. The Apostle Paul said that the Law was "holy and righteous and good," but its outcome relied upon the performance and priesthood of man. The works of the Law justified no one. Nonetheless, the presence of the Lord in the Temple evidenced His undeserving grace. God gave perpetual hope to man through the Passover, the Pentecost, the Day of Atonement, and the many feasts as they taught of an imminent better day. The Law and Prophets foretold the Messiah. They spoke of a final work awaiting completion.

For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God Heb 7:18-19.

Grace in Captivity

"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin" Romans 7:14. The hand of God wrote out a message to Belshazzar of Babylon. For seventy years, Israel was in exile to Babylon for breaking their covenant with God; i.e., worshiping "other gods," refusing repentance, false prophesy, and corrupt leadership. Daniel writes of an instance during the captivity, "Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lamp-stand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace" Dan 5:5. The message to the king exposed his unrighteousness and predicted the demise of his kingdom. The lime plaster on the king’s wall compares to the facade of rebellious and immoral man. Plaster covers mortar and mistake, rough and discolored surfaces, and that which is aged and impure in appearance. Jesus said of the scribes and Pharisees that their hearts were like "whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness" Mat 23:27.

The king of Babylon celebrated outwardly, yet his heart was dark, prideful, and blasphemous. He witnessed the sovereignty of God, but did not acknowledge His glory and power (Dan 5:22-23). A candlestick adjacent to the writing shone on the wall of the palace banquet hall. It was likely the same Menorah stolen by his father from the Hebrew Temple in Jerusalem. Its foreign possession testified to the lack of God’s presence in the temple at Jerusalem. The Menorah and most of Jacob’s sons were not dwelling in the Promised Land. God did not completely destroy the people of Israel in the times of their exile. Rather, He urged them to submit to the rule that He had prepared for them. The Lord sent them with a promise saying, "Fear not, Jacob My servant, declares the Lord, and do not be dismayed, Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar and your offspring from the land of their captivity" Jer 30:10. The truth of the Law justified their punishment; but God’s grace allies with His truth. Despite the condemnation and death of Belshazzar, history evidences the grace of God toward the peoples. The three wise men that sought the infant Jesus may have learned of the Messiah from the Hebrews exiled to Babylon (Mat 2:1-2). We have a wealth of Scripture from the time of the Exile relating to the Messiah, His resurrection and His everlasting kingdom - in portions of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" Jer 31:33.

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day 2Cor 4:16.

Salvation in Jesus

"For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh" Romans 8:3, and "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son" Heb 1:1-2. Jesus wrote with His finger on the ground before a crowd in the temple (John 8:1-11). The scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. The Law required her stoning upon the testimony of two eyewitnesses. Believing to have cornered Jesus with an unsolvable dilemma, they sought to discredit Him publicly by His own response. Jesus had said that He was not sent "to judge" but "to save" (John 3:17), and not "to abolish but to fulfill" the Law (Mat 5:17). He would be viewed as an adversary of the Law if He favored letting the adulteress go. If He chose her stoning, they would avow His callousness to the common man. How could truth harmonize with grace, and justice with mercy? After writing upon the ground with His finger Jesus said, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" John 8:7. Their questioning persisted, believing to have embarrassed Him into silence. He bent forward again and wrote on the ground a second time. Twice God wrote the Ten Commandments. Twice He kneeled to write on the ground of the temple, as though on the tablet of their heart. The self-righteous Pharisees searched the Scriptures for eternal life. Depicted here, however, is the Eternal Word searching among man for faithful and righteous hearts. The convicted and confounded crowd slowly dispersed as they heard to themselves the witness of His written message. The truth and grace of God was manifest among them as He silenced their worldly wisdom.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling Mat 23:37-38.

Elohiym was writing on the ground from which they were created. Their Lawgiver was standing within the boundaries of the Temple, yet "those who were His own did not receive Him" John 1:11. Jesus desired to write a new song upon their hearts, but found only stone and plaster draped by old wineskins. The heart of Israel was spent and lifeless. The woman stood alone, confounded, and without judgment in the presence of Jesus. He said to her "I do not condemn you, neither. Go. From now on sin no more" John 8:11. The matchless wisdom of the Lord demonstrated that grace had not corrupted the Law, but had espoused it. Grace was perfected in the Truth. "Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed" Isa 29:14. Praise the Lord for walking among us. Praise Him for writing on the ground in defense of man’s soul. Praise Him for demonstrating the grace of God to man in the face of the accuser. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" Romans 8:2.