The video for this post is available at the URL: https://youtu.be/x6kOJsLuhBE
Hello, I’m the Rev. Amós Ortiz, and this study is called Jesus
is our Tithe.
Today we’ll learn that although there is no Scripture Verse
that specifically reads “Jesus is our tithe,” the Bible does teach that Jesus
is our tithe. This concept isn’t new to us; for example, the word Trinity is
not in the Bible, yet we know that the Bible does teach us about the Holy
Trinity.
Our study reading is found in Deuteronomy 12:11. Here God
is giving the Israelites instructions concerning the yearly sacrifices and He
instructs them with these words: “you are to bring everything I command you:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts.” In
accordance with our study reading, this verse teaches us that God asked men to
present themselves before Him and, as we read, to “bring everything I command
you,” which included the tithe as a necessary part of the yearly sacrifice
needed for forgiveness.
We know that Jesus also presented Himself before the Lord.
In John 20:17a we read “Jesus said, Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet
returned to the Father.” So we must ask ourselves, “Would the Almighty have
required less of His own Son Jesus than He did of us men? Would Jesus, after
making the ultimate sacrifice and knowing that the fate of all humanity was
riding on this, present Himself before the Father without bringing His tithe?
Would He disobey His Father’s Law?”
If Jesus had presented himself to the Father without
bringing the tithe, His Sacrifice, which was for everybody (including you and
me), would have been incomplete and therefore, by law, unacceptable to God. By
this we know that Jesus paid our tithe, because Jesus paid the full price of
our redemption. As Christians, when we say “I must tithe to the Lord,” we are
actually stating that the sacrifice of Jesus is incomplete. What’s more, a
cash-tithe stomps upon the Body and Blood of Christ, because a cash-tithe
implies that our money is an acceptable substitute for the Body and Blood of
Christ. I’ll explain this…
Malachi 3:10a reads “Bring the whole tithe into the
storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” The word “food” in
Malachi 3:10 should never be used to refer to money, because food and money are
two very different things! The Holy Spirit made no mistake in His inspiration
of the Word; food is food, not money!
In Deuteronomy 14:23 God instructs His People to “Eat the
tithe … [while] in the presence of the LORD.” So, the tithe was edible. Can you
imagine the believers in Malachi 3:10 going to eat money in the presence of the
Lord? No…the tithe is food!
Jesus is food too. He called Himself the Bread of Life. In
John 6:53, Jesus said “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
Just
as when the Israelites ate their tithe while in the presence the Lord, when we
have our communion, we are eating our tithe, which is the Body and Blood of
Christ, in the presence of the Lord. By this we know that the Bible does teach
that Jesus is indeed our tithe. The tithe was another typology of our Lord
Jesus. This same lesson is found in the Passover. The Passover Sacrifice was
eaten by the recipients of God’s forgiveness. Unfortunately, our cash-tithe is
now casting a shadow over the true life giving tithe: Jesus.
However, Malachi 3:10 is clear: “That there may be food
in my house…” God is a Spirit, and today, right now, we are His house! 2nd
Timothy 1:14b reads “the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” So, just like the house
mentioned in Malachi 3:10 needed food, so does God’s new house need food, and
we feed it Jesus; He is our Manna that descended from Heaven. You see, Israel’s
journey to the Promised Land was a foreshadowing of our own journey to Heaven.
While they wandered in the desert, they ate Manna and did not tithe! Now it’s
our turn to eat Manna.
Once they
arrived in the Land of Milk & Honey, the Israelites worshipped and tithed
in the place that God had chosen for them, but the place that God has chosen
for us is in Heaven. This is why Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the time
had now come for us to worship, not so much in this place or that place, but to
worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
When we
worship God in Spirit, it doesn’t matter how much money there is or isn’t,
because the Spirit does not need of a building with pews or instruments or big
screen TVs. You can be in somebody’s living room and be worshiping in Spirit,
because God’s Spirit is within us, not outside of us. For matters of
convenience we do have a church building, but in reality, we don’t have to go
to a specific building or place to worship our God in Spirit.
And if we
are to worship God in Truth, then we should never refer to the word “food” in
Malachi 3:10 as being “money,” because that’s just a lie. God never said “bring
the whole tithe that there may be money in my house.” The house mentioned in
Malachi 3:10 did not have need for money. There was already plenty of money in
the Lord’s house. Even the walls were overlaid with pure gold.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come
to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to
fulfill them.” Jesus fulfilled the tithe law when He presented His own flesh
and blood as our tithe to the Father. Therefore, the demands of the tithe law
have now been fulfilled. It has been completed; it is finished.
Like the
disciples of John the Baptist, many Christians have difficulty understanding
these things. This is why Jesus explained to the disciples of John the Baptist
that an old wineskin, which represents the Old Covenant of the Law, cannot be
filled with new wine, which represents the New Covenant of Grace, because if we
mix the old covenant of the Law with the new covenant of Grace, both blessings
will be lost.
Dear
friends, Jesus paid it all and today we are saved, not by paying a percentage
of our income to a church, but by faith, by God’s Grace. I invite you to learn
the significance of Jesus as our tithe and if you haven’t yet, I invite you to
make a decision for Christ as your personal Savior. And remember, it’s free,
because God loves you, not your money.
If you
would like to learn more about the tithe, or give your heart to the Lord,
please visit our church blog at the web address on the board and feel free to
leave your comments and questions.
Thank you
for listening and God bless you.
