Guilty of Robbing God by E. K. Slade

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 8, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 31.

Guilty of Robbing God

By E. K. Slade

*The sin of robbing a fellow man is bad enough. How much greater is the wrong of robbing our Maker!*

By E. K. SLADE

COVETOUSNESS has led mankind to ignore the claims of God in all ages. Yet every good and perfect gift is provided by Him. The gold and the silver and all the wealth of the world belong to Him, and the power that men have to search out and accumulate wealth is given of God. He is not in need, nor is He dependent upon our charity or liberality. "I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof." Ps. 50: 9-12.

Man even in his fallen condition has free use of God's bounties. In this arrangement, there is a marvelous manifestation of divine love. An infinite price was paid that the fallen race might be placed on probation, and have earth's bounties continued. The gift, and the love prompting it, are even greater than when Adam first received dominion over the earth; for our present estate is provided through the purchase of the cross, the greatest possible revelation of divine love. We should see the stamp of the cross upon all nature and all the bounties of God to-day. Yet men freely and greedily use the things of God, without recognizing His ownership or appreciating His love.

In Malachi, it is pointed out how men have departed from God in this respect: "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 said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. 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." Mal. 3: 7-10.

Punishment Certain, Though Deferred

THE sin of a man's robbing his neighbor is bad enough; but the question, "Will a man rob God?" is intended to point out the gravity of the greater wrong of a man's robbing his Maker and Benefactor. The opposite view is taken by man; for he will rob God continually, while he would not think of stealing from his neighbor.

Though long deferred, punishment for this common sin of robbing God will be full and certain. The wealth of the world is largely in the hands of those who will have to give account to the Owner of all some day for their sin in this matter; and sad to say, great numbers of professedly Christian people are guilty of the same sin.

The common practice of one who fears not God, is to ignore God's claims, disregard His requirements, and desecrate that which He has sanctified. The seriousness of such a course can be understood only as we understand the difference between the common and the sacred, and by what means and for what purpose the sanctification exists. Throughout the history of the world, God has ever kept before the human race the opportunity of distinguishing between the sacred and the common.

God has given to man, for his use and his pleasure, all that he can ever need. In His wisdom, He has seen fit to sanctify, or make sacred, certain portions of these bounties. The sanctuary serves as an example. It was set apart for God's service. It was made sacred by His presence, and thus became a holy place, to be distinguished from all common properties. In this act, man was not deprived of any blessing; but on the contrary, this sacred structure was designed of God as a means of bringing to humanity untold blessings.

When the law was given from Mount Sinai, that portion of the earth's surface was designated as sacred ground, and a line was drawn between the sacred and the common. At the burning bush, Moses was warned to recognize the sacredness of the place God had chosen for His use at that particular time. The ark of the covenant was a piece of property unlike an ordinary box, or chest, in that God had designed it for His service, and thus it became sacred.

One Seventh of Time Sacred

ONE of the gifts bestowed upon man is time. This the Lord gives freely, with the exception of one seventh part. He made the week of seven days, and drew a line about one day, saying, This I set apart for My use. This portion of time is thus made sacred, or holy, and He calls it "My holy day." Man was required to recognize a difference between it and the remaining days of the week, which were common time.

To fail to distinguish between the common and the sacred is not a light offense. On one occasion, two of the servants of God, in a partially intoxicated condition, found it more convenient and more suited to their taste to use in connection with the sanctuary service, fire which they had kindled, instead of that which God had provided and sanctified for that service. Doubtless to the intemperate priests, all fire seemed alike. The account of their punishment (Leviticus 10) is placed on record that we may know that God is particular, and that He counts it a serious sin for man to treat as common that which He has made sacred.

A tenth of the income of every man is sacred, and God claims it as His own. Though few recognize His claim, this does not alter the obligation, nor lessen the offense of disregarding it.

To use as common that which God has set apart as sacred is sacrilege to-day, just as much as in ancient times. His tithe cannot rightfully be treated by us as common, nor [[FIGURE]] be used by us as we may properly use the remaining nine tenths. We are just as much required to distinguish between the sacred and the common in this as in any other thing, place, or time that God has sanctified.

The punishment of Nadab and Abihu serves to reveal the nature of the offense; but we are not to conclude that the absence of such punishments now indicates that the desecration of that which God has sanctified has ceased to be an offense. That punishment indicates the final fate of those who treat with disrespect God's sacred things. "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.

Long before this command was given by the Lord from Sinai to be observed by the church during the Levitical priesthood, tithing was practiced by ancient men of God. "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, 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: 18-20.

Jacob, when at Bethel, an exile and a wanderer, promised the Lord, "Of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee." Gen. 28: 22. Melchizedek was "priest of the most high God." From the days of Adam, this had been the order of priesthood. By two notable examples, we find that tithing was required and practiced under the Melchizedek priesthood. From scriptures already considered, it is made clear that the tithing system was the plan for the support of the gospel work during the Levitical priesthood, though not originating then.

Binding in Every Dispensation

THIS covers two great epochs. The Melchizedek priesthood covered the period from Adam to Moses. Following this, we have the Levitical priesthood extending to the time of Christ. We are especially interested in the epoch from the end of the typical dispensation to the close of the gospel plan. Evidently the Melchizedek order runs through to the end; for of Christ it is said, "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Ps. 110: 4. He is the great High Priest in the gospel plan in all ages. His approval or disapproval of the tithing system should settle it for us in this our age; though had He said nothing about it, it was already sufficiently set forth as God's plan of gospel finance. Christ's testimony is not lacking in positiveness regarding this requirement. He did not commend the Jewish people for their cold formality and their shortcomings in judgment, mercy, and faith; but He did say that the payment of tithe, even on the herbs of slight value, was required. "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. Nowhere in the New Testament or elsewhere do we find a word annulling or discontinuing this plan.

It has been taught, required, and practiced under the ancient Melchizedek priesthood, under the Levitical priesthood, and by Christ Himself under the modern Melchizedek priesthood; and the binding obligation upon mankind remains and will continue to the close of Christ's ministry as our great High Priest.

Testing the Candidates

BEFORE the dominion of the earth can be restored to man as it was originally possessed by Adam, he will be required to prove true to a test as to his fitness for such ownership and a part in the commonwealth of God. Adam failed by taking to himself the fruit of the tree that God had seen fit to withhold from him. This was a vital test to Adam. The selfishness and disobedience revealed in his fall wholly unfitted him for ownership in God's kingdom. From the time of his sad failure down to our day, the history of the race reveals an unbroken record of selfishness and greed, wholly foreign to the nature of God, and vastly different from the unselfish character required to make a commonwealth possible.

God looks with strong disapproval upon the selfishness of mankind. He takes full account of the wealth and wantonness in the one class, and of the painful poverty experienced by others. He observes that the service of self has led to conditions diametrically opposed to the commonwealth idea, and that without a complete change of nature, no man is fitted for a part in the eternal commonwealth of His kingdom. The greed of this world will not be taken into the new earth.

Every candidate for the kingdom of God will have had a preparation for his future heirship. He will have stood the test. One of God's tests is the requirement of tithes and offerings. It is not a needless burden that our Maker has imposed upon us, but it is a blessed means of grace. It is one of God's ways to rebuke covetousness in the human heart, and to establish in mankind a fitness for true riches, and for the state of unselfishness that will make common ownership possible.