THE SUPPORT OF GOSPEL MINISTERS ACCORDING TO GOD’S PLAN.
By D. T. Bourdeau
Tithes and offerings were used in supporting the ministry before Christ, and God designs that they shall be used for the same purpose under this dispensation. Paul, speaking on the maintenance of gospel ministers, says, “Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? EVEN SO hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” 1 Cor. 9:13, 14. “The things of the temple” here spoken of, and of which those ministering about holy things used to live, must embrace the tithes. These were to be brought to the temple. Deut. 12:5, 6, 10, 11; Neh. 13:10–14, etc. At the altar various offerings were made, of which those that waited at the altar were partakers. The words “even so” mean “in like manner.” As ministers under former dispensations depended on tithes and offerings for their support, so ministers under this dispensation are to depend on tithes and offerings for their support. It is thus that those who preach the gospel are to live of the gospel. Not that bloody beasts are to be offered on Christian altars in Christian temples; but as Christian ministers wait at altars in Christian temples, and set forth the Lord of glory, the bleeding Lamb of God, as crucified before the eyes of their hearers, they are to expect from those for whom they labor tithes and contributions as a mark of appreciation of the great sacrifice that was made to save them, and as heavenly appointed means of supporting messengers of the cross and of advancing the work of salvation in the earth. Therefore it is a fact that there is not in Holy Writ the least intimation that the tithing system was done away by a change of dispensations. There is not a valid reason for the abrogation of this system; on the contrary, there are many good reasons for believing that divine wisdom did not limit it to the Jewish dispensation:— 1. As already seen, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, taught that it exists and should be utilized under this dispensation. 2. Christ, as mediator and great divine teacher of the new covenant, sanctioned it. Proof: “Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Matt. 23:23. 3. The Bible nowhere intimates that it was abolished; therefore it still exists. That being the case, it is a divine truth to-day that the tithe is the Lord’s, and should be given unto Him for the support of His ministers; and such words as the following are as applicable now as when traced by the pen of Inspiration: “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord.” Lev. 27:30. 4. The tithe being the Lord’s, and the tithing system resting on God’s right and claim of ownership, knowingly to deprive Him of it must necessarily be a trespass against God, of the same character as was that of our first parents in taking and partaking of the fruit that the Creator had reserved to draw out their love and gratitude toward their Maker. And how does it compare with using the seventh day for secular purposes? Are not both “holy unto the Lord”? Lev. 27:30; Ex. 16:23, 25; 20:8–11. 5. The tithing system was known and recognized by Jacob before the Jewish nation existed. The words “Jewish” and “Jew” come from “Judah;” but Jacob had a knowledge of the tithing system, and promised the Lord to pay tithe unto Him when on his way to Padan-Aram; and before having a child, he awoke from the wonderful dream of the ladder, whose base stood on the earth, and whose top reached to heaven. “And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Gen. 28:22. 6. Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather, upon his return from a successful campaign against the four kings who had taken Lot and his family captives, gave his tithes to Melchisedec, a true representative of Christ, of whom Inspiration says that He is a priest “after the order of Melchisedec.” Heb. 7:11, 17. On that occasion Melchisedec blessed Abraham, and said: “Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.” Gen. 14:19, 20. Is there not here more than a hint that Christ has a claim on our tithes for the maintenance of His ministers and the furtherance of the work of salvation? 7. Under the former dispensation the tithes were given to the Levites and priests, because they served in spiritual things, teaching the people the way of salvation. Num. 18:24, etc. In the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah we are brought down to the time when the Lord is about to appear to the joy of His people, and when those who hate the people of God “shall be ashamed;” when the Lord is about to “come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind,422to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” Verses 5, 15, 16. Surely this brings us to our time, and all must admit that this prophecy relates to events that are to take place under the present dispensation. According to this prophecy, “a sign” was to be set among the nations. Verse 19. By comparing this prophetic statement with Luke 2:34, it will be seen that this sign is Christ. Then the Lord was to send men “unto the nations to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, to them that draw the bow [which means war], to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off [and the Lord adds:], that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.” Surely, gospel work among the Gentiles is here intended. And of these very Gentiles the Lord says, “And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:21. Are not the temporal wants of these as great as were those of the priests and Levites under the former dispensation? Are they not justly entitled to the tithes? 8. To regard the tithing system is to regard the golden rule, to do unto others as we would that others should do unto us. Matt. 7:12. Not less than the tithes is required to sustain the messengers of the cross. Should we, if placed in their situation, like to come short of an income needful to sustain us while doing the work that God has assigned us? Let us do unto others what we should like to have them do unto us. 9. True to the sacredness and significance of the number ten, the tithing system is a tribute of respect to the divine law of Ten Commandments. It is based on the precepts of supreme love to God and equal love to our fellow beings, and has, in connection with, and through the aid and sanction of, other agencies and other means of grace, for ultimate object the salvation of men from their sins, or transgressions of the divine law (1 John 3:4), and the bringing of them into a state of holiness, or conformity to God’s law. Ex. 19:5, 6. And the tithes being the Lord’s, is it not a breach of the law of God, even of its precept, “Thou shalt not steal,” to deprive the Lord of them, and apply them as we do that which is our own? 10. The Lord thus speaks on the subject of tithes and offerings, for our benefit as well as for that of the Jewish nation in the days of the prophet Malachi, and thence forward till near the first advent of the Messiah: “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. . . . But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 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. 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. And all nations shall call you blessed.” Mal. 3:6–12. This interesting portion of Scripture is found in a prophecy, several traits of which have a twofold application. This is also true of prophecies concerning Babylon, Idumea, Jerusalem, etc. See Isaiah 34; Matthew 24, etc. The passage under consideration may truthfully be said to have a double application, from the fact that as the Hebrew nation had for a long time neglected to pay tithes and offerings, even so most Christians have for a considerable lapse of time done the same thing. And as the paying of tithes and offerings is now a duty, there is as urgent need for the generality of Christians to reform on this point as there ever was with the Jewish people. Nor does the fact that the “sons of Jacob” are here addressed invalidate this position. Why may we not, if we exercise the faith that Jacob and Abraham exercised, be as justly entitled to the appellation of “sons of Jacob” as to that of children of Abraham, or that of “Abraham’s seed”? Gal. 3:7, 24, 26, 29. On this principle the Lord himself applies the expression “Jacob thy father” to those who engage in the final Sabbath reform just before the second coming of Christ (see Isa. 58:12–14; 56:1–7; 25:8, 9), and the expression “the time of Jacob’s trouble” to the time of trouble that all the saints shall pass through in the great day of the Lord, which is indeed very near, and in which God’s people shall be saved. Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1, etc. Through such expressions in ancient prophecies, God often speaks to His people in the last days, addressing them under titles primarily applied to His ancient people, thus making His ancient Church typical of the remnant of the Christian Church, and, as it were, the telephonic mouthpiece by which He speaks to that remnant near the very close of probationary time. And the connection of the passage before us shows that it is especially to Christians in our day that God is speaking on the subject of tithes and offerings. The passage in question is preceded by these words: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem [terms not infrequently meaning the Christian Church in the last days, as in Isa. 2:1, etc.] be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” Mal. 3:1–4. Then the Lord threatens to come near “to judgment” to those whom He addresses, to be a “swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.” Verse 5. Alas! that very much of this evil work is done by not a few in our day! Even to admit that the text under consideration contemplates and embraces the coming and work of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ; the coming of Messiah to His temple at Jerusalem; and the work of moral cleansing connected with it, etc., would not militate against the position that the duty of paying tithes and offerings was to be perpetuated beyond the first advent. Why preface what God here says on tithes and offerings with the first advent and a work and events connected with it, if the tithing system and the duty of paying offerings, or making donations to the Lord, were to cease at the first advent? But this Scriptural prophetic preface, or introduction, has a broader application. In many respects the first and second advents are parallel events. Both these events were to be preceded by a preparatory work: the first by that of John the Baptist, answering to that of Elijah; the second by that of persons properly represented by Elijah and John the Baptist. Again, as the sudden coming of Christ to His temple at Jerusalem was to be followed by a spiritual cleansing of those who would accept and improve upon His ministration, so His sudden coming to the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary—the temple of God in heaven (Rev. 11:19)—at the termination of the two thousand three hundred days in 1844, was to be followed by a spiritual cleansing of those who would accept and improve upon His closing ministration as great High Priest, shortly before His return to our earth.