The word of God will transcend your thinking, going beyond your understanding, surpassing and excelling what you know. God’s Spirit will bring you to a place of eminence [a higher dimension].
“I the Lord do not change. So you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed. Since the time of your ancestors, you have disobeyed my rules and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord All-Powerful. But you ask, How can we return? Should a person rob God? But you are robbing me. You ask, How have we robbed you? You have robbed me in your offerings and the tenth of your crops. So a curse is on you, because the whole nation has robbed me. Bring to the storehouse a full tenth of what you earn so there will be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord All-Powerful. I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out all the blessings you need. I will stop the insects so they won’t eat your crops. The grapes won’t fall from your vines before they are ready to pick, says the Lord-All Powerful. All the nations will call you blessed, because you will have a pleasant country, says the Lord All-Powerful,” Malachi 3:6:12.
Malachi urged the people to give and stop holding back their tithes, to stop keeping from God what He deserves. The tithing system began during the time of Moses.
“One-tenth of all crops belongs to the Lord, including the crops from the fields and the fruit from trees. That one-tenth is holy to the Lord. If a person wants to get back that tenth, one-fifth must be added to its price. The priest will take every tenth animal from a person’s herd or flock, and it will be holy to the Lord. The owner should not pick out the good animals from the bad or exchange one animal for another. If that happens, both animals will become holy; they cannot be bought back. These are the commands the Lord gave to Moses at Mount Sinai for the people of Israel,” Leviticus 27: 30-34.
“You will truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field will bring forth year by year,” Deuteronomy 14:22.
The Levites [priests] who carried out the Leviticus priesthood, received the tithe and the offering to possess land for the Temple (Numbers 18:20-21). During Malachi’s time, the people were not giving the tithes nor offerings for the work of the kingdom of God. The Levites went to work to earn a living. In doing so, the work of God was neglected. The God-given responsibilities of the priests to care for the people as mediators between God and man was to offer sacrifices required by the Mosaic law. If the priest was not in place, the work of the Temple was not done. There was no worship, no prayer time, no time for godly counsel, funerals, weddings, child dedication, or seeing after the sick. Your tithe is dedicated for someone to be in place to do the will of God for His people. Will you rob God? Where is your Covenant commitment?
