Majority And The Minority
More and more what the majority does becomes the standard of right for men. If society does it, if the big church does it, then all should do it.
But in the Bible days the majority did not determine right. More often the minority lived and acted in a way so as to please God.
David was the minority who met the Philistine giant. God being on his side, he killed this great soldier and put the enemy of Israel to flight. (1 Sam. 17.)
Gideon and his army of three hundred were much smaller than the vast host of the Amalekites and Midianites. But Gideon won, though he was in the minority. (Judges 7.)
The prophets of Baal and the people were certainly in the majority at Mt. Carmel when Elijah made the test of right. The numbers were wrong, as so often is the case, and Elijah was right. (1 Kings 18.)
The people in the days of Noah were wicked; but Noah was righteous. He was called upon to save life for the earth by building the ark. "By faith" he built the ark and saved his house; while the rest of the world, by wickedness, plunged into destruction. (Gen. 6; Heb. 11:7.)
Daniel was by himself, as far as man was concerned, when he refused to worship the king in the place of God. The majority made their petition to Darius, exalting him to a place of a god. But they were wrong, and Daniel was right. (Dan. 6.)
Moses chose the minority and not the majority when he "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." (Heb. 11:24, 25.)
Christ was of the minority in his day, and the men he sent out were never popular. Their course was not determined by what the people said. Conviction based upon the truth revealed from heaven determined their actions. Listen to Paul, "For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? or am I striving to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ." (Gal. 1:10.)
Then on the other hand we have examples of the minority being wrong. Consider Ananias and Sapphira. (Acts 5.)
Let us learn that men do not determine truth. Men are to discover religious truth and walk therein. The only place to go exploring for this, is in the word of God. It is all revealed in the inspired scriptures. (2 Tim. 3:16, 17.)