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you the rest as your own, for the
work you have exerted. Perhaps
you never Jooked at your income
that way before. But you could not
produce ·anything if God had not
first created the materials with
which you work.
To teach us this lesson God re–
serves a certain portion for him–
self-then gives you all the rest.
Most people never pay God what's
his. They keep it themselves. They
in effect steal it.
Now the portion God reserves
for himself is a tiny fraction of the
whole of our income. It is only one
tenth. The tenth that God reserves
for himself is called a
tithe.
It
is an
old English word meaning " tenth ."
Cannot Afford t o Tl the?
Of course you have heard of the
man who couldn 't afford to tithe.
That
is the very reason he
needed to! If he had begun to tithe,
he would soon have been able to
afford to! He would have begun to
prosper. Here's how.
The tenth that God reserves for
himself is only a small part of the
total income. The 90 percent that
is left God gives to you- and at the
same time becomes your Partner.
He in a sense enters into your·work
or business with you to see that you
prosper.
It is often assumed today that
tithing was first instituted at Mt.
Sinai. That it was a form of na–
tional taxation. Therefore, it is rea–
soned, tithing must be "Jewish."
Nothing could be further from
the truth! Understand
why!
Did you know your Bible reveals
tithes were being paid to the C re–
ator God long before the first Jew
was born?
That tithing was, in fact, a divine
institution centuries prior to the
making of the Covenant at Mt.
Sinai? And, after the Covenant
Far more, probably, than you re–
alize.
First, Paul explains that Jesus
Christ, our High Priest, holds the
rank-office , or order-of
Melchizedek (Heb. 5:5-6). Who
this Melchizedek is, very few un–
derstand.
Briefly, Melchizedek is called
"priest of the most high God" in
Hebrews 7:
J.
One of his names is
" King of peace" (Heb. 7:2).
Is
it
coincidence that Christ is also a
priest, and that the prophet Isaiah
names the Messiah "Prince of
But at the same time the tenth
that he reserves for himself is just
big enough to make people think!
To make them become conscious of
~
their money- to make them bud-
:!
g~and~anfur thefu~re.
~~-~~~~----~-~~~~---~~~~~~~~~~
Tithing teaches you to think and
plan how to spend your money.
You will soon find you are so much
more careful that now your 90 per–
cent goes further than the previous
100 percent you were keeping for
yourself.
But that's not all. When you have
paid God what is his, he in turn puts
it to work and lavishes it back upon
you in spiritual as well as physical
blessings. He keeps none of it for
himself. He also sends it back to the
world in the form of broadcasting
and publishing the truth- the good
news of the happy world tomorrow.
Tithlng not Jewish!
Almost no one, it seems, under–
stands
HOW
tithing began,
WHO
in–
stituted it, and
WHY.
32
was broken, and after everything
that was nai led to the cross was
ended, tithing continued a living
principie under the
New
Testa–
ment?
The proof has been in the Bible
all these years! You will find it in
the book of Hebrews, the seventh
chapter. In it Paul expounds the
New
Testament teaching on
tithing.
What Paul Taught
Paul wrote the book of Hebrews to
make plain to Christians the office
and present duties of Jesus Christ
as High Priest in heaven.
But what does Christ's office as
High Priest in heaven today have
to do with tithing?
Peace"? (See Isaiah 9:6.) The
priestly rank or office of Jesus
Christ and Melchizedek is there–
fore the same.
Furthermore,
Melchizedek ,
High Priest in Abraham's day,
is
alive
today- "having neither be–
ginning of days, nor end of life;
but made like unto the Son of
God; abideth a priest continually"
(Heb. 7:3). Christ, too, is alive
today!
Melchizedek-note-was "made
like unto the Son of God." Could
anything be plainer? Melchizedek
and Christ are one. That One
became the human Jesus. As a
human being- God in the flesh–
he was also the Messiah or
Christ-the Anointed. And he is
The
PLAIN TRUTH