Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

To know fully

The Bible is a spiritual book that teaches us spiritual things necessary for our salvation and our knowledge of God. It doesn't tell us everything there is to know, but everything God wants us to know at this stage in our relationship with him.

I'm sure we've all got questions that we'd like to ask the Lord—questions about passages in the Bible that we don't understand, or even questions about things that are not mentioned in the Bible. Well, take heart, because one day we'll understand everything. I don't believe we'll be queuing up to see Jesus in heaven and saying: 'Lord, I was never able to understand this in your Word, could you please explain it to me.' I believe we will all know instantly—when we're changed—in the twinkling of an eye. We'll be given a new body—a resurrection body (1 Corinthians 15:35–53)—together with a complete knowledge of spiritual truth.

Paul wrote: 'Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12). As God knows and understands each one of us fully so, one day, each one of us will know and understand God fully—and all spiritual truth as well. Until then we press on, seeking to understand (with the aid of the Holy Spirit) what God is saying to us through his Word. And one of the subjects the Bible has a lot to say about is money, and the related subjects of wealth and possessions.

Money affects every one of us; it's the global means of exchange. There's very little we can do without it, so it's not surprising that the Bible has a lot to say about it and what our attitude towards it should be.

Only one master

'No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.' (Matthew 6:24)

That is a very black and white statement; there are no grey areas we can hide in. Man obviously has a choice to make: he can either serve God on this earth or serve money, but he cannot serve both.

In a similar vein Jesus said:

'He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.' (Luke 11:23)

That is another black and white statement from the Lord, and I know of one soul who was saved through those words.

A young man had been coming to our church for a while and was enjoying the meetings. He didn't participate as exuberantly as the rest of us but, as he later confessed, he didn't consider himself to be against the Lord. Then, one day, he was reading his Bible and came to those words in Luke's gospel. The Holy Spirit spoke to his heart as he read them and showed him that, because he wasn't actively for Jesus he was, in fact, against him. He was so convicted by that truth that he gave his life to the Lord there and then.

God haters

Going back to Matthew 6:24, Jesus said that either God will be our master or money (Greek: mamonas 'money, wealth, material possessions') will be our master. Either God will lead us in the decisions we make on this earth, or money will lead us in the decisions we make on this earth. Either we will hate God and love money, or we will be devoted to God and despise money. There is no middle ground.

But why is someone who loves money necessarily a hater of God? Because James says that friendship with (the Greek word can also mean 'love of') the world is hatred towards God (James 4:4) and money is the key to the material world in which we live. Those who love money love the world, whether they realize it or not; they love material things rather than spiritual things. They show that their heart is in the world and not with God.

God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:4–6); he will not allow us to love anyone or anything more than him. If we love God we must despise money (regard it as inferior or worthless by comparison), and every Christian has a choice to make in this matter. Joshua said: 'Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of the land in which you are living (in this case money and material things), or the Lord. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).'

It's obvious that money can be a snare to Christians, so I think it would be good for us to do a study of money, wealth and possessions in the Bible to see what it teaches.

The blessing of God

The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.' (Genesis 12:1–3)

God told Abram (whose name was later changed to Abraham) that he would make him into a great nation and would bless him. The Hebrew word doesn't necessarily imply material or financial blessings. The same word is used in Genesis 2:3 where God 'blessed' the seventh day and made it holy. It's also used in Genesis 1:28 where God 'blessed' Adam and Eve and told them to be fruitful and increase in number. The word means: 'to bestow divine favour upon something or someone'. Being blessed by God may include an increase in wealth and possessions, but it's not automatic.

In Abram's case, God blessed him in three ways:

He was blessed spiritually because God chose to reveal himself to him (a sinner) and to have a relationship with him.
He was blessed physically because God made him the father of a great nation and his descendants became as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
He was blessed financially because God made him a rich man.

So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. (Genesis 13:1–2)

Abram became rich because the blessing of God was upon him. Abram was a man who left everything behind him to follow God (Genesis 12:1), but God blessed him, and so much so that he and Lot had to part company. The land could no longer support them while they stayed together, their possessions had become so great (Genesis 13:5–6).

God also blessed Abraham's son, Isaac.

Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. (Genesis 26:12–13)

These were, unquestionably, financial and material blessings coming from God to his chosen people. The same thing happened to Isaac's son, Jacob. Even though Jacob was a deceiver and had stolen his brother's blessing through trickery (Genesis 27:1–40), God still blessed him financially. Even though his uncle (Laban), for whom he worked for fourteen years, changed his wages ten times (Genesis 31:6–7), Jacob still left with large herds and flocks because God blessed him—and that blessing came to him in a miraculous way (Genesis 30:29–43).

Jacob prayed to God as he was on his way home. He said he was unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness the Lord had shown him. He'd set out with only his staff in his hand, but he'd come back with two groups of flocks and herds (Genesis 32:10).

A tithe

However, fourteen years previously, while on his way to Paddan Aram, Jacob had met with God (Genesis 28:10–22). Two things should be noted from the last three verses of this passage:

Jacob made a vow that he would give to God one tenth of all that God gave him.
Jacob didn't ask God for wealth and riches, nor was he desiring them. The motive for his giving was not to get, he merely asked God for food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:8) and for safety on his journey.

Some Christians claim that, because Jacob tithed before the Law was given, tithing is still God's will for his people today. That argument may sound convincing, but its reasoning is flawed. If that is the case then, by the same token, Christians should still be sacrificing today, because Noah sacrificed clean animals and birds to the Lord long before it was instructed in the Law (Genesis 8:20).

There will be more on tithing in later studies.

Michael Graham
September 2005

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