Written on October 15th, 2004 - 3:00AM Last Updated: May 9th, 2013 - 11:48AM
We see a pattern brought out by the Son of God during His ministry on earth. After being tempted by a listener as concerning the greatest commandment of the Law:
The whole Law and Prophets depend, or hang upon, these two commandments! A strong statement indeed!
Looking at the three tithes that Old Covenant believers paid, we see this truth:
Our first responsibility is to God, with the first tithe. It is His tithe, and we must obey by leaving it with Him. In doing so, we bless His servants, and keep His House full.
Our second responsibility is to ourselves, with the second tithe. With it we guarantee a time of communion with Yahweh tri-annually, bringing great joy to our souls and to those with whom we have traveled, with whom we worship and fellowship, including the servants of God (the Levites).
Our third responsibility is to those who cannot provide for themselves, whom are our neighbors. The orphans, the widows, the foreigners—those who normally are cast out of mainstream society. We show our love for God by showing love to His children. This we do, only after we have first given Him a portion of all (the first tithe), and edified ourselves and close family (the second tithe). We are then able to \"love others,\" just as we have \"loved ourselves.\"
The Two Great Commandments are thus contained in the three tithes of the Law. While those in the New Covenant do not pay such tithes, what a blessed God we serve whom has hid in His HolyLaw the truths which He has revealed in fullness through His only Son.
As you read this site, you will hopefully come to know Yahweh more fully.
But all of this continuing knowledge is useless unless and until you come into union with Him. I use the word union because it is truly a marriage. It is that deep connection we all seek, for which we most often look in other people. However, the truth is that our hearts will only be fulfilled when we enter that union in fullness with the One Who made us.
This is the grace of God, that He has not stayed distant for us only to worship as Creator. But He has come unto us, even become one of us—in His Son, ChristJesus—in order to share an intimate union with us. He desires such closeness that it truly will envelope our entire life, transforming us into something new and wonderful.
You may have already entered this union with Him and only seek to know Him better through reading here. But if you have not, as you do read, let this Gospel sink into your heart as you read it now.
God loves you, and has cast your sins into the sea. He has sent His only Son as the Savior of the world—that includes you.
That Son, JesusChrist, was born as a man through a virgin who had given her life to Yahweh; He lived without sin, reflected the glory of His Father, God, in all His words and deeds, and was persecuted even unto death because of it.
His death upon a cross was the powerful explosion that separated you from your life of death. It remains for you, now, to enter into that death with Him. As you die to the one you are now, a person separated from God from your many sins, you will be born anew, with a nature predisposed to live rightly. This gift is free to you, with nothing you can do to earn it. It is the mercy of God to offer it to you, as He loves you so much! All you must do is receive it by trusting Him to have delivered you. Simply place your life in His hands and embrace the freedom that came through that death on the cross.
The Gospel is that Jesus did not remain dead, but rose again on the third day after His crucifixion! Death could not hold Him, as He was without sin. And so death will not be able to hold you, as you identify with Him fully through your trust in Him. Let go of yourself and confess Him as Lord of your life. The power of His death and resurrection will work in you all that your Creator has destined for you. You will truly enter a new life and experience that intimate union you have been seeking all of your life.
So ponder these words as you read here of this great God—Yahweh—and all that He has revealed to His creation. Let His Spirit testify to your heart that these words are true, that God is Love, and that He sent His Son so that you might receive the life that is unbound by time and space. As you feel that witness in your heart, simply believe and receive what He is offering to you, even now, and begin your new life as a child of God.
Please write to me and let me know when you take this step, as I will be your brother in Christ—we will be one in Him!
37and that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, and our wave offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, the new wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. 38The priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house. (Nehemiah 10:37-38)
Scripture Quotes: World English Bible Translation.
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