I recently read a book called Richest Man in Babylon. It was interesting to find a tenth of income talked about in the ancient land of Babylon.
For the longest time I'd imagined the tithe was instituted by God but reading this I realised it started with man in a sort of "Save for or save yourself" scenario especially regards finances.
It was advised that for financial vision , one needed to save one tenth of his income which he would use later for investment.
It was all about prudence , or let me call it a financial salvation plan. Die today, live tomorrow. Today I wondered why God would take this as a shadow of His Son and then I saw it.
The same way God asked Abraham for His Son is the same way the tithe became a picture too.
The tenth was man's wisdom but now God asked it to die at the altar. He would demand tithe but I think more than showing confidence it spoke of the increase of Christ. How?
A seed doesn't produce until it dies. For increase, death was needed. In the case of tithe, a continual saving was meant to guarantee a later investment and gain. Tithe sown over and over increase over again, multiplying the saving, so that the safety and wealth of the person was great.
Christ however is sown once but forever he keeps revealing to us himself : the length, breadth, height, depth etc of him who is love. The greatness of our salvation in one saving. One tenth. To redeem the entire purse. One for all.
In this case, we never tithed, for our tithe was filthy rags, for we were like leaves, here today, gone tomorrow but when God saved his tenth , the eternal God redeemed us all.
What a beautiful realisation. The tithe a picture of God's eternal purpose to redeem to Himself His whole purse through one beloved tithe.
And now his purpose fulfilled, surely can I relegate my tithe to a financial magic box to solve my purse issues?
No, I praise God that the shadow became substance: Jesus lives. I no longer, for He is the whole purse redeemed to God, only when He appears do I appear.
Image: https://ladyamcal.wordpress.com/tag/19th-century-bags/
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