p. 10 | Support of Gospel Workers by WILLIAM COVERT

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 21, 1909

Support of Gospel Workers

By WILLIAM COVERT

WILLIAM COVERT

The Creator Owns All

ALL things in heaven and in earth belong to God, who created them. To impress man with this thought, the Lord moved upon David to say, “The earth is Jehovah’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Ps. 24:1. Again, he says, “Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine. . . . The world is mine, and the fulness thereof.” Ps. 50:10-12. Not only does the Lord own all things in the animal kingdom, but the minerals also belong to him. “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine.” Haggai 2:8.

Man Especially the Lord’s

As for man, he belongs to the Lord in a twofold sense. First, man is the Lord’s by creation. Relative to this thought we have the following admonition: “Know ye that Jehovah, he is God: it is he that hath made us, and we are his.” Ps. 100:3. Second, man is the Lord’s by redemption. The apostle says, “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. The price paid for man’s redemption is the life of the spotless Son of God, and through this purchase price God has “obtained eternal redemption for us” Heb. 9:12. Nor is this redemption limited by race or nation: for the anthem which the glorified ones sing declares, Thou “hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” Rev. 5:9, 10.

God Still Sustains All

Not only did God create all things, but he is the sustainer and keeper of all things. It is said that he is “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3), “and by him all things consist.” Col. 1:17. Now that God created all things, his ownership and relationship demand that he shall manage all things. So when man prepares the ground, sows the seed, and harvests the crop, it is because “his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. . . . This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” Isa. 28:26, 29.

Man Appointed to Till and Oversee

The Lord put the newly made man “into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Gen. 2:15. And in truth the earth, with all on it, was given to man for his own use, with the exception of one tree and its fruit. Concerning this tree the Lord said, “Thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17.

This tree was reserved by the Lord to stand as a monument of his ownership, and man was strictly forbidden to use it. This tree stood near the tree of life, “in the midst of the garden,” and its prominent location was to be a perpetual reminder of the Lord’s proprietorship. But Adam and Eve disregarded the restrictions which had been thrown around that tree, and braving the penalty, they ate of its fruit. In doing this they not only disobeyed God, but took that which God had reserved to himself, and to which they had no right.

When man in the garden took possession of that tree which God had reserved, it became necessary for the Lord to send him forth to till the ground outside of the garden.

The Tithing System Introduced

After man was removed from the garden, the tree of knowledge could no longer serve him as a reminder of God’s ownership; so the tithing system was introduced, and through this system the principle of God’s ownership was still maintained. By this God claimed one tenth of all that the ground and the herds would yield, also one tenth of the value of all man’s income from labor.

The design of the tithing system was to serve the purpose of keeping men informed upon the subject of God’s ownership, and also to provide a fund for the support of the Lord’s servants, who were to labor for the salvation of sinners.

Tithing Very Ancient

These deductions indicate that the tithing system was taught and practised by the people of God in very ancient times. We learn from the book of Genesis, chapter fourteen, that the great-grandfather of the Jewish patriarchs, a score of years before Isaac, the son of promise, was born, was paying tithe to Melchizedek, a priest of the most high God. When Abram paid the tithe, Melchizedek pronounced a blessing upon him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of the God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.” Gen. 14:19. And Abram, in returning the spoils of war, which he had retaken from an enemy that had invaded the land, said to the king of Sodom, when the goods were returned to the original owners, “I have lifted up my hand unto Jehovah, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread nor a shoe latchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.” Gen. 14:22, 23. But Abram did take one tenth of the restored property, turning it over to the Lord’s cause. He simply put the goods into the hands of the rightful owners. In this distribution the Lord received his share, and the people received that which belonged to them as stewards of the Lord.

The account plainly shows that Abram counseled with the Lord, and paid a tithe of the goods which came into his hands unto the Lord, because the Lord was the possessor of all things, both in heaven and in earth. He would not keep any of the goods himself, but he felt that, the property having fallen into his hands untithed, he must give the Lord his share of it, and afterward turn the remaining nine tenths over to the rightful owners.

(To be continued)

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