Beware of the Many

I have been reading through the gospel of John recently and have been amazed at the negative emphasis that John puts on the event of "many believing in His name." In the first twelve chapters, this occurs 10 times, and all 10 seem to have negative connotations. Here is a list of those references (2:23, 4:39, 4:45, 6:14, 7:31, 7:40, 8:30, 10:42, 11:45, 12:11, 12:42). One major key to understanding all these false "belief decisions" is the very first one listed in 2:23. Following the "decision" of many to trust in Jesus' name, the scripture says "But Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men..." These people supposedly trusted in Christ, but their trust was not real. Otherwise, Christ would have commited Himself to them. As one preacher said, Jesus did not trust their trust. Personally, I think a key to understanding where this false trust springs from is to watch where the great signs of Jesus are done.

Following many great signs there are frequently "many who believe." In 4:39 many Samaritans "believed" because Jesus prophesied correctly about the woman's lack of a husband and extra-marital relations. 2:23 says many believed when they saw the signs. So does 4:25, 7:31, and 11:45. In 6:14, those false converts saw Jesus' great sign of feeding the five thousand. It seems then that false converts are very likely to come out of a situation in which many great signs are manifested, or even one in which many wonderful words are spoken. For example, consider 7:40. Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit and rivers of living water flowing out of him who believes. Sounds great right? But later on, Jesus spoke to many of these same people about sin and being enslaved to sin and they became angry with him. They even said he was demon-possessed! Or consider this one; in chapter 6 the men who had been fed by the multiplying of the loaves and fish "believed" in Him so much that they were about to risk their lives in order to make Him king. Later on, when Jesus talked about things that were not so wonderful sounding, "many of His disciples went back and walked with him no more."

A key lesson I have taken from these passages is to distrust the many claims in this current world of wonderful revivals where "many decisions are made." It is true that early on in Acts there were some events like that which actually were real. But as we see in John, most in scripture are not real. Is it not possible that the truly great works of God are done in a secret and quiet place? Is not the work that the Holy Spirit did in the life of Peter after he denied Christ far greater than any of these 10 false revivals cited by John? God works in the small and weak and in order to put to shame the great and mighty. Beware of the many.