p. 1 | God’s Ownership

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 30, 1902

God’s Ownership

AFTER the offerings had been brought for the building of the temple, “David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. . . . All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” This was a public recognition of the fact that God’s people are simply the stewards of God’s property, and that when they bring an offering to him, they simply bring to him of his own. When Abram returned from the slaughter of the kings, Melchisedec, the priest of the most high God, “blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: . . . and he gave him tithes of all.” In pronouncing the blessing upon Abram, Melchisedec recognized God as the possessor, or owner, of all things, and in paying to Melchisedec, the representative of God, a tenth of all that God had given into his hands, Abram recognized the same fact. In directing his servants to bring tithes and offerings for the support of his work in the earth, the Lord has established a constant reminder of the fact that the kingdom is his, and that he is the owner of all things. This practical acknowledgment of him as “Lord of heaven and earth,” opens the channel of blessing upon our stewardship, and makes the remaining nine tenths more fruitful in results. “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.” This divine plan for the support of the gospel, if faithfully followed, would bring an abundant supply into the treasury of the Lord, and solve one of the most trying problems connected with the effort to extend a knowledge of this message quickly among all nations. The Lord rebukes those who withhold tithes and offerings, with this startling inquiry: “Will a man rob God?” Are there not many who are robbing God under the plea that they must pay their obligations to men? It is a good plan to follow the injunction, “Owe no man anything,” but it is a sad mistake to rob God in order to appear honest with men. “How much owest thou?”