Truth and Tithe Physical Vs Spiritual

 

The first truth you must realize about the tithe is that the practice of tithing predates the written law. The first tithe was made by Cain and Abel.

 

Genesis 4

 3.  And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

 4.  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

 5.  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

 

Still not sure? The second tithe was made by Abram - long before Moses was even born, let alone got the commandments from God.

 

Genesis 14

 18.  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

 19.  And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

 20.  And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

 

A couple of things in the above verses need to be noted: first Melchizedek is the order that Jesus is high priest of as we are told in Hebrews 5 and 7; second that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek and did so before the law was written. Thus the tithe pre-dates the law.

 

Malachi 3

 9.  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

 10.  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

 11.  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

 12.  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

 

 

10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house

 

Here is how the above verse would read if literally translated from Hebrew into English:

 

Bring the entire tithe into the house of stored goods so that there may be food in My house

 

The entire tithe refers to 100% of your income. That means you need to tithe on any increase you receive. This includes any amount your employer pays for you to work for them that you would have to pay if you were self employed. That would be the taxes they pay and benefits such as health benefits, 401K matching, insurance, etc. For the average person earning (gross) $1000 a week the company pays about $80 a week in taxes, $100 on insurance, and $50 on other for a total of $230 making the total cost to the company of $1230.00 a week and a tithe of $123 a week vs. the $100 most would pay. The difference is only $23 a week. Would you really take the chance on your tithe being too little over a mere $23 a week? Some consider that they only tithe on their net, on only income that gets put into their account out of which they can write checks or get cash. However the tithe is based on all increase, any and all that one receives that has not been tithed on before.  A person who tithed on their income and taxes their entire life and then retires does not have to tithe on the income that is from what they paid into (taxes-they already tithed on that money). Tithe has become more a thing we are expected to do, have to do, or should do rather than what it was in the beginning for Abel, Abraham, or even Job. In other words it is something one does out of love for God and desire to do so.

 

Into the house of stored goods - this would be any house He can work through and that stored goods could be stored until they are needed by the community.

 

So that there may be food in My house -  any house that is used in this way is His house. For that matter all houses are His.

 

And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

 

In the beginning the idea of the tithe was no different than it is today. It is to supply the needs of those whom God uses to get His truth out to others. We do not tithe to where we are fed just to be fed more, but so others can be fed as well. The storehouse is kept full by those who have been and are being fed by it so all who come will find God and His truth. The idea is not to be constantly fed forever by the storehouse, but to be fed (taught) by the storehouse to hear from God. It does not matter whether or not that we are still fed by the storehouse as long as it is still feeding others. Remember, before you found the storehouse it was feeding others and after you it will continue to feed others. Due to this we are to continue tithing to the storehouse.

In a nutshell the storehouse is where we are fed (learn) to hear from God and be taught by Him. By continuing to tithe to the storehouse we continue its physical ability to feed others spiritually.

 

Malachai 3:10.

 

   |0935| Bring

   |3605| all

   |4643| the tithe

   |0000| into

   |1004| the house of

   |0214| stored goods

   |1961| so that may be

   |2964| food

   |1004| in My house.

   |0974| And test Me

   |4994| now

   |2063| in this,

   |0559| says

   |3068| Yahweh of

   |6635| armies,

   |0000| if

   |3808| not

   |6605| I will open

   |0000| for you

   |0699| the windows of

   |8064| the heavens

   |7324| and pour out

   |0000| for you

   |1293| a blessing

   |5704| until not {is}

   |1767| sufficiency.

 

Malachi 3

 11.  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

 

Spiritual growth is protected by the tithe.  In the following verses seek where the above (Malachi 3:11 about rebuking the devourer of your ground) works.

 

 

Mark 4

 13.  And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?

 14.  The sower soweth the word.

 15.  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

 16.  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

 17.  And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

 18.  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

 19.  And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

 20.  And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

 

Now let’s take a verse or two at a time.

 

Mark 4

 15.  And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

 

Those above are people who do not believe because as soon as they heard about God they lost it. Satan used his lies to get them to either ignore and not believe or just not to keep what they hear due to unbelief. They had no one to rebuke the devourer for their sake. They are like a field full of weeds where nothing could grow due to the weeds crowding everything else out.

 

Mark 4

 16.  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

 17.  And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

 

These are people who, due to the lies sown in them by the world, are offended because of the lie. They are like the seeds sown on stony ground because the word started to take root but it did not last in them since the roots did not go deeply enough. Again this group had no one to rebuke the devourer for their sake. If they had a rebuker (someone to till the soil),  they could have been good ground.

 

Mark 4

 18.  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

 19.  And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

 

These are people that believe in the physical more than the Spiritual and lose what they have, once again, due to the fact they have no one rebuking that which devourers the ground. If they’d had someone to pull the weeds (worldly desires & lusts) for them the word not have been choked out.

 

Mark 4

 20.  And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

 

These on the other hand tithe; continue to tithe in good ground; and in return have good ground in which to grow. The word fold above in Greek is percentage; so some increase spiritually and physically 30%, some 60%, and some 100% depending on their dedication and tithe.

 

The tithe is where you are given the chance to test God, but to do so first you must fully understand the tithe. It is like an insurance policy given to guard our ground, both physically and spiritually, from the curse. It also conditions the soil (our heart & mind / spirit & soul) to be blessed and create abundance.

 

There must be a desire to tithe and obedience to give our tithe to where the truth and only the truth of God (not man) is taught.

 

The tithe deals with food, spiritual food, as Jesus describes in John why Spiritual and not just physical as in the old. That’s because, under grace, we are of the Spirit. If we were still under the law we would be of the physical.




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