It shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the LORD. Deuteronomy 12:11.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
The tithe developed to be the way My house of worship, the daily sacrifices, and the Levites were supported, and the work of the ministry continued, but in the beginning, it was not so. There was no house of worship set apart. The tithe was Mine, the tenth was taken and sacrificed and burnt. Out of the possession of the one holding it, it was given back to Me, consecrated and offered up.
Cain and Abel were tithing their increase, bringing their increase to sacrifice to Me. Abel brought the first and the best. Cain brought his after the course of time, not the first and not the best. The tithe was so important that Cain murdered Abel because I favored Abel’s tithe above that of Cain. But that goes back to their parents as well. I set one tree and its yield apart as Mine, sacred to Me, and gave them all the rest, like I did with Jericho as the first conquered city—all of the fruit thereof, so to speak, in good things was Mine, for My treasury, and all the cities after that My people could freely take of the good things. And both Adam and Achan took what was consecrated apart as Mine and both died the death. Can a man rob Me and live? If you become a robber, you are like your master the devil and you have opened your door to the curse, and strike he will. The tithe secures your household from attack by the devourer, just as did the blood of the Passover lamb. An offering of each home. You recall the family first took that lamb in and owned it in their own household before sacrificing it, applying its blood to the door frame and lintels of their home, and eating its roasted flesh
When Jacob gave me a tenth of all his increase, he did just that, he offered it up as a burnt offering. And nothing was left but ashes.
But also do not get confused, under the laws of the Mosaic Covenant, once there was My house to bring your tithes and offerings, you will see when I speak of the tithe their were three different types of tithes, the Levitical tithe, or sacred tithe, which was consecrated to Me, which was given to the Levites, who served as priests and in the service of the temple and was to support them and for the support of My house and the daily sacrifices offered morning and evening by the priests, the oil for the golden lampstand, the showbread of the presence, the vestments, and the like. The feast tithe was not given but instead set aside to provide for the expenses associated with traveling to Jerusalem for the three mandatory festivals and rejoicing and celebrating by feasting with your family and eating the good things of your tithe that were set aside for the journey and the celebration of all I had done for you in prospering the work of your hands. And then the tithe for the poor which was given every three years and served to provide for the sojourner, orphan, and widow who could not otherwise provide for themselves.
I was very particular about the place where My people would bring their tithes and offerings. Why? It was not to be offered to idols but only to Me, the true and lawful creator, source, and owner of all.
When they were in the wilderness coming out of the slavery of Egypt with Me it was to the Tabernacle they brought their tithes and offerings. They built the tabernacle with their offerings from the riches I had given them so generously when they departed from Egypt and they offered what was needed to build the Tabernacle from the plans I had given Moses with their offerings. And I chose the Levites to serve in My sanctuary, to make atonement for the people, to administer My laws, and instruct the people in My Word and their portion was the tithe. And they tithed the tithe to the High Priest.
The Tabernacle of Moses was the first consecrated house of worship that had ever been built and it was a tent that traveled with My people so that I could dwell among them. And the people not only maintained it with their tithes and offerings, they built it with their tithes and offerings.
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution. This is the contribution which you are to raise from them: gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the breastpiece. Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it. Exodus 25:1-9.
In the floor plan of the Tabernacle was the story of Salvation, of the moedim (appointed times) and of the Church. From the entrance at the east gate, at the rising sun to a new life, entering only with an unblemished lamb to be sacrificed for the sinner upon the bronze altar of judgment in the sinner’s place, representing the propitiation for you sins by the blood of Jesus (Passover and unleavened bread), to the washing in the bronze laver representing baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit (First Fruits and Pentecost), which brought you into the inner court, the holy place, the church, where the bread of My presence was on the north side as come down from Heaven and the golden lampstand on the south side as the light of the world, past the golden altar of incense for the intercession of the great High Priest as he entered the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice upon the mercy seat (the propitiatory) to reconcile you with Me and bring you to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace just when you need it. There you would have oneness with Me as the sun of the journey set unto the eternal day in Heaven with Me forever.
But let us return to the tithe and offerings. Once My Covenant people had conquered and settled in the land I had promised them, I told Moses there would be The Place where I would choose for My Name to dwell for them to bring their tithes and offerings. Until they located that spot, the tabernacle of Moses was set up at Shiloh and later at Gibeon, but after Phineas and Hophni took the ark of the testimony out of the tent and it was captured (and returned) by the Philistines it was not in the Holy of Holies, that was empty in Gibeon. The ark of My presence was first held in the household of Abinadab in Kirjath-jearim for twenty years, it then made a short sojourn at the home of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months on its way to Jerusalem with David. When I blessed Obed-Edom and all his household, David reinstated the Levites and had the ark carried in the manner in which I had commanded to a tent he pitched for it in Jerusalem near his palace on Mt. Zion. When Solomon built the temple planned by David, the ark was again put into the Holy of Holies there.
When Solomon built the temple, all tithes and offerings were to be brought there, the place where I had put My Name, for it was there I could bless My people and keep them close to Me. But when Israel and Judah divided after Solomon’s apostasy to other gods and high places of idol worship, the northern kingdom of Israel stopped tithing and making offerings because they did not come to the temple any longer, so they built idols to which they offered sacrifice. They looked for connection to another source and that source was no source at all, a dried up brook named Satan, and ruined them and the nation of Israel. It was no more. It became Samaria, a mixed breed of Assyrian and Hebrews who did not worship Me.
It may seem not that important to most people, but when the tithing connection was broken and lost, the people disconnected from Me and sought to replace the void with idols and perverted immoral practices of cult worship. I called this adultery to My Covenant on their part, which is serious, for there is no protection once you put yourself willingly into Satan’s jurisdiction. He comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, and that is what happened to the people of the divided nation of Israel. Ten lost tribes and the leaders, promoters, and sustainers of the apostasy, the tribes of Dan and Ephraim, are not even mentioned among the tribes of Israel saved during the period of the great tribulation. Revelation 7:5-8.You can go too far and from there find there is no return.
Now to the question that many ask today, “Where do I put my tithe?” There are five criteria to meet for the place you tithe. But remember, even from old, it is the place where the Lamb is found. For Abel, it was a lamb, for Abraham it was the lamb I would provide, for the Passover, it was a lamb, and for the mandatory morning and evening sacrifices every day in the Tabernacle and the Temple, it was a lamb, and for the New Covenant Church it is the Lamb slain since before the foundation of the world. The Lamb, the sacrificial death and the life-giving resurrection of Jesus, is the center of all. Because He lives, you live. Make sure you go to the church that holds the Lamb in the center of the throne.
So the church or ministry to which you tithe must have the following characteristics:
- You tithe to provide food in My house: so it must provide a place of worship, a house of prayer for all peoples, where you can gather with other believers to be fed on the Word, offer praise, and encourage one to good works and pray for one another. A place where the gifts of the Spirit manifest.
- You tithe to your great High Priest to declare that He lives. It must be a place where Jesus is exalted and preached. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.
- Your tithe also provides for the poor, the alien, orphan, and widow. It must be a place with an outreach to the poor. Remember even in the early community of Christians they were taking care of the widows.
- Jesus left the command to be His witness to all the nations starting in your home town. It must support and send out those who preach the gospel and take the mandate of Jesus seriously.
- “Do this in remembrance of Me.” It must be a place that offers and encourages the faithful to partake in Holy Communion.
So your tithe should go to a church or ministry that has these five characteristics. Examine where you are tithing. And five is the number of grace. It should be church that speaks about the gospel of grace, the gospel of salvation, and the gospel of the Kingdom.
The offering is different. Offerings can be made to a ministry that concentrates solely on one of the above 5 characteristics, such as preaching the gospel through various means. It can be an outreach to the poor or to those caught in the hideous sin of human trafficking. It can be a place of intercessory prayer. It can be rent for another member of the body of Christ who appeals to you in need or any number of other ways of offering your time, talents, and finances in administering My love to others in need. It can also be worship, praise, songs, and prayer. But in any case, it must be to promote My Kingdom on earth, not a secular institution that gives aid without making mention of or being motivated by love for Me. It should be one that goes in My Name and makes clear the help is because of love for Me and My command to help the poor. The good news of Salvation should always be involved in the outreach to make it holy.
And do not forget offerings for building projects for my churches. I have many of such in My Word. In fact, the first voluntary offering raised was the one I requested to build My dwelling place in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. I Myself made the appeal for that offering. And I only sought it from those whose hearts moved them to make the offering. And the people offered so willingly that Moses finally had to stop them and tell them that no more was needed the whole project was abundantly funded already by their generous giving. I gave to them and they gave to Me. And I had given them so much wealth when they came out of slavery that they still had all sufficiency for themselves and enough for every good work
I love you. You are wise to tithe and give offerings. Your good deeds come with you to the judgment seat of Christ. It is love alone that will win the throne. Faith works by love, for faith without works is dead. Selah.