Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart. [John 2.23-25]
The significance of Jesus not trusting people because he knew what was in each person’s heart is that His Father God also knows the human heart:
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” [Jeremiah 17.9-10]
As we consider the profundity of this revelation about Jesus, we should remain mindful that this knowledge was present at all times and in every interaction Jesus had with other human beings. Jesus knew what was in the hearts of everyone and He therefore knew what was going on in their lives. We cannot even imagine how disturbing that knowledge would be and yet, Jesus handled it with perfect control:
“How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” [John 1.48]
What was significant about Nathanael under the fig tree? We are not told. However, Nathanael's response gives every indication that whatever was going on there Jesus indeed knew about!
Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” [John 1.49]
So, as we get back to John 2.23-25, what was it about knowing what was in each person’s heart that we need to understand further? It is that Jesus comprehended not only what was in their heart, but why it was there. It was there because of human nature - that fallen nature inherited from Adam that is best described in the fuller context of the Jeremiah 17.9-10 passage quoted above:
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. “But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” [Jeremiah 17.5-10]
Human nature is to trust in human strength. In its fullest expression, it is human nature to trust human mental and physical ability instead of trusting God. In simplest, and most Biblical terms, human nature is idolatry. Idolatry was first seen when Adam and Eve proudly disregarded God's demand that they not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In their hearts, Satan-inspired, selfish human reasoning justified their disobedience to God - their idolatry.
So powerfully infectious was Adam's and Eve's idolatrous act (to trust their own reasoning above God's rule), that idolatry became human nature in all their descendants. Their arrogant denial of what God said is at the root of why God eventually gave the Ten Commandments. These Commandments begin with specific instruction about God (the 1st Commandment), and then, if what is said about God in the 1st Commandment is ignored, the natural digression of man necessitated God's prohibition of idolatry (the 2nd Commandment).
In the course of His time on earth, fully knowing man's human nature to trust any and everything instead of God, Jesus constantly challenged His followers to have faith in God. Nowhere was His demand for faith more intense than in Matthew 16.24. No miracle of turning water to wine, healing, walking on water, raising the dead, or even moving mountains could compare to the faith Jesus required of those who would follow Him.
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]
Knowing man's human nature to trust any and everything instead of God, Jesus repeatedly challenged that human convention by performing unexplainable miracles. Furthermore, Jesus unequivocally assigned this same task to all who would follow Him (John 14.12, John 20.21).
The man-made industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology are useless to a genuine Jesus-follower. I can imagine they all were on God's mind as He inscribed the 3rd Commandment into the stone tablet. As only He could know, God was fully aware that "His people" having violated His 1st and 2nd Commandments, would then shamelessly declare that 'God gave these industries' in attempt to justify their relying on (trusting in) these idol-industries instead of God thus misusing (blaspheming) His name.
Jesus however, at the onset of His time on earth, would have recognized the abovementioned violation of the 1st, 2nd, and also the 3rd Commandments not so much for the presence of finance, insurance, medicine and technology (as they were all but non-existent at that time), but for the presence of religion. Jesus faced off with religious leaders dead-set on defending their man-made rules and traditions passing them off as "from God" in a blasphemous misuse of God's name thus blatantly violating the 3rd Commandment.
It should be understood that the religious leaders (mentioned above) all erroneously assumed that because their man-made rules and traditions were based on God's actual law, they were therefore reasonably "from God." This same human reasoning is employed today in erroneously assuming that because man-made industries of finance, insurance, medicine and technology are based on God-given knowledge, they are also reasonably "from God." Sadly, this erroneous assumption is almost unanimously held by religious leaders and followers alike today.
The understanding that Jesus knew the human nature of idolatry in every human heart opens up the meaning of what Jesus said to the religious leaders He encountered in Matthew 15:
Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.” [Matthew 15.13-14]
Surely, Jesus had the words of the Psalms in His mind...
Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [Psalm 115.4-8]
The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and mouths but cannot breathe. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [Psalm 135.15-18]
I challenge every reader to verify for himself or herself whether or not the Bible actually says what I have represented here. I challenge every reader to read the Bible for what it, in it's full context, says instead of what they want it to say or what religion interprets it to say.
The sin-problem of mankind is and has always been idolatry. The Bible is not vague about this fact. Idolatry is what must be turned away from in order to turn to Jesus - to get to God. Unless we understand our idolatry problem, we can never understand the give up your own way, take up your cross exclusivity Jesus demands for us to follow Him.
Faith is the intentional act of trusting God instead of man (and his man-made idols). It is indeed the grace of God that calls us to this faith from our fallen condition, but only those who respond in intentional faith are the chosen.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” [Matthew 22.14]
Father, Your Word is clear. Idolatry must first be recognized and then intentionally forsaken if we are to be followers of Jesus as He exclusively leads us to You. Help us see renewed significance that Jesus and Your Word are synonymous. Help us see renewed significance that idolatry is blinding and promotes blindness to keep us from You - from following Jesus. Help us see renewed desire for Your Word more than the food we eat. May we be found in genuine faith of giving up our own way, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. May we not just be the called, but the chosen. So be it.
