The Fulfillment of the Tithe

The children of Israel were told to gather of the manna, an omer for every man and an omer was also to be gathered and layed up before the Lord to be kept for future generations. The portion to be kept for future generations would come to be known as the hidden manna, in the golden pot within the ark of the covenant. This manna would reside behind the veil, in the Holy of Holies and would be that manna of which a promise was made to the over-comer, that he would get to eat thereof in Revelation 2:17. This golden pot of manna, which contained an omer, also represented a man, the man Christ Jesus. It is significant that we are told in Exodus 16:36, that an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

Now if an omer is the tenth part of an ephah and it is an omer for a man, lets take a closer look at an ephah and what it represents, keeping in mind that God teaches us spiritual truths, through natural things. The ephah is much more than just a measurement of 1.1 bushels. In Zechariah chapter five and verse six we see a vision of an ephah going forth, and being the resemblance of the result of a curse that has gone forth through all the earth. The curse is depicted by a flying scroll. The dimensions of the scroll are given as twenty cubits by ten cubits, which, if you multiply the width by the length, is two hundred cubits, the number of insufficiency. This depicts a message or doctrine that was something less than the truth which has gone forth through all the earth.

A woman sits in the midst of an ephah and a talent of lead called wickedness, is cast upon the mouth thereof and a house is built for it, and it is established on it’s base in the land of Shinar, the seat of Babylon. We see the Lord revealing the beginnings of the apostate church, we see the beginnings of mystery Babylon, the great harlot. However, as always God has a remnant, which is the tenth part of an ephah. The ephah , which also means gloomy or darkness, is the larger whole from which God takes a tenth, or an omer.

In Isaiah chapter five, it is written, “My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes”. Isaiah goes on to say, “what more could have been done, and why did it bring forth wild grapes”? In verse 10 we find the end result of the vineyard after the Lord lays it waste. Ten acres only yields one bath and the seed of an homer, which is 11 bushels yields an ephah, which is 1.1 bushels, or again, a tenth.

We see the Lord separating out from the larger whole, only His portion, which is reduced to a remnant. The vineyard spoke of God’s people, Israel. He planted a vineyard which produced wild grapes, yet instead of destroying it in total, He preserved a tenth.

In Luke chapter twenty, our Lord makes the analogy of Israel, having been given charge of a vineyard that was planted. And the Lord of that vineyard sent a servant to the husbandmen of the vineyard, that he should receive the fruit thereof and they beat him and sent him away empty. Israel was that vineyard and the children of Israel were the fruit of that vineyard.

In Leviticus 27: 32, it is written, “and concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of what-so-ever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord”. We know that the tenth was to be yielded up to the Levititcal Priesthood and that they were to take the tenth part of what was tithed to them, and yield a tenth part of it, to the high Priest, because it was holy unto the Lord.In the old covenant, the tenth or tithe was a shadow of things to come which like all the rest, has it’s fulfillment in Christ.

An example of this in the new testament, is found in Luke chapter fifteen, where the account is given of the woman who had ten pieces of silver. One piece was lost, that piece being a tenth and when it was found, the rejoicing over it was greater than for the other nine that remained. This proceeds, and is tied to the account of the prodigal son who when he returned was received with great joy and given the robe and ring and again greater rejoicing than for the one remaining.

Another example is in Luke chapter seventeen, where the Lord comes across the ten lepers and heals them, but only one, realized his healing and returned to give glory unto God, the other nine gave honor to the system that Jesus came to take away. Yes, in the new covenant the tithe or the tenth becomes much more than the tenth part of our goods and finances. God is dealing in souls not commodities. He is desiring what he has planted to return unto Him. He is looking for, “the much which is given” for that is what he requires. God does not want what we can give, He wants what we can’t give and only what He has given. “To him who has it shall be given but to him who has not it shall be taken away, even that which he seems to have”.

The Lord has a tenth which are as the seven thousand who had not bowed their knee to baal in the day of Elijah. They are His inheritance, they are holy unto the Lord, they have judged between Him and His vineyard, as spoken in Isaiah chapter five.They are the first fruits of the increase which belongs to God, they are consumed by the great high priest and caught up into all that He is.

The tenth is also spoken of in the sixth chapter of Isaiah, verses eleven through thirteen. “Then said I, how long? And He answered, until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land (the cross). But yet in it shall be a tenth (the tithe), and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof”.

This was a prophetic statement, given by Isaiah, speaking of the new covenant to come, to be established by God and in God, that God alone should be glorified. The cities are to be desolate and without man. Adam will not be involved in this new thing that God is doing, his glory is as the flower that fades but the glory of God does not. The tenth realizes the virgin birth that has occurred in them , resulting in the new life given of God through Jesus Christ. They realize that they are His workmenship and that He is the author and finisher of their faith and that they are kept by the power of God and they are not their own. In Adam they are desolate, dead, removed far away from what God is doing in Christ.In Christ they are made alive, but not by any works of righteousness, which they have done. The tenth gives all glory onto the Father. They are not the product of works but have entered the rest of grace, the work of God.

The Holy Seed

A seed shall serve him, it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this (Psalm 22:30-31).In Isaiah chapter six verses twelve and thirteen, the holy seed is spoken of as a tenth and as trees that cast their leaves. These are the same trees we read about in the book of revelation, chapter twenty two, verse two, which are for the healing of the nations. These are tress, the planting of the Lord, trees of life bringing forth their fruit in season. These are a people, who through Christ, return unto God through partaking of Christ, the firstfruits unto God, the tenth, the hidden manna. He was the true bread that came down from heaven and he who eats of this bread lives by Him and becomes a partaker with the altar, or the Lord’s table.

It is written in Psalm 92:12-13, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like the cedar in Lebanon, those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God”. It is obvious that, through out scripture, trees are used as a type of man. Even the tree of life is a type of our Lord. He is the first fruit unto God and we are His increase, the first fruits of them that slept.

As was stated prior, the tenth, or the first fruits of the increase, were God’s and only to be consumed by those separated unto God, it was holy unto the Lord. With this in mind, John 6:54-58 becomes clearer and I quote, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats of me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as the fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eats of this bread shall live forever”.

The Lord implied in verse 57, of John chapter six, that He ate of the Father, when He said, “as the living Father sent me and I live by the Father: so he who eats of me, even he shall live by me”. It follows then, to be sent of the Lord, we must eat of the Lord, and we will live by the Lord. As the Levitical Priesthood ate of the tithe, in the natural, we are eating of the fulfillment of the tithe in the spiritual. As we eat of the first-fruit we become a kind of first fruits or, God’s increase, in Christ.

There are many other types of the holy seed, or the first-fruits onto God in scripture. In the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapter fourteen we read, “And I looked and lo, a Lamb and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Fathers name written in their foreheads(renewed minds). And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the lamb withersoever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb”. Again we have an account of the first-fruits as a people.

We read of an earlier account of this same holy seed or first fruits in Revelation chapter seven. A people who have been sealed in their foreheads, or have taken on the mind of Christ, from every tribe of spiritual Israel, who have come out of great tribulation. It does not say the great tribulation, just great tribulation. They, before the throne serve him day and night, in His temple: and He that sits upon the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst anymore; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.These are a people who have given their bodies, a living sacrifice unto the Lord and in so doing have become partakers with the altar. They rest from their labors and their works do follow them. They, as Daniel, do not eat the kings meat, nor do they desire it, their meat is to do the will of the Lord. They only eat of the honeycomb of the revelation, or enlightenment of God, which is sweet to the taste but bitter to the soul. They will not partake of mixture. As it is written, we can not partake of the Lords table and the table of devils.

The reason there are many weak and sickly among us is that they eat of the bread and drink of His blood being unworthy and in so doing they are guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. We are to judge and properly discern the Lords body, that we be not condemned with the world.

Just as when the levitical Priesthood received the tithe from the children of Israel, they were to take a tenth of all the best of it and give it unto the high Priest, that they bare no sin by reason of it and that they did not pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest they die (Numbers 18:32). This relates to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter eleven, pertaining to the Lord’s supper? The Lord’s supper, or what we call communion is only a type, of our oneness with the Lord. Just as under the law, you would never as a Jew, eat with gentiles nor would you eat anything that was declared unclean. To eat with someone to a Jew meant to show commonality with them.

Our high priest is the Lord Jesus Christ and we, not only eat with him but we eat of Him. He said “who-so-ever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed”. So the Lord and high priest of our soul, has become our portion, the true bread of life unto us. He is the hidden manna and in Him we become one bread and one body, for the nourishing and building up of the saints. As He is the firstfruits unto God and the Father, we are the firstfruits of His increase, holy unto the Lord.

Paul wrote the following: ”The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they, which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar”? Under the law, the sacrifices were God’s portion and were holy unto the Lord. They all spoke of the one acceptable sacrifice that God would provide in the last days. He was holy unto God and we eat of Him. Can you see the principle of the tenth being fulfilled here?

How important it is that we do not eat of this bread or drink of this cup unworthily and in so doing, become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. How do we eat unworthily and bring damnation unto ourselves? By not discerning the Lord’s body. This encompasses many things. The first thing that comes to mind is eating of the holy things (the tithe) in unbelief, or as a religious ritual. Adam nor any remnants of Adam, can eat of the holy things, because he is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Carnality has no place at the Lord’s table, it only pollutes the holy things. Many are weak and sick and some even sleep because of not discerning the body, or not having so learned Christ. Many have not the faith of God, for the increase of God, but have faith in their ability to increase.Understand, the only thing that is God’s portion, or His inheritance, is the increase of God. Man cannot add to God and if he could, God would reject that offering, just as He did with Cain. God is not interested in any increase that He did not give.

Again I quote, “To whom much is given much is required”. My friend, the thing God requires, is the increase that God has given, no more and no less. All glory belongs to the Father. There is no place for self-exaltation with God’s portion. They walk in humility, knowing the will of the Father, because they sup with Him and He with them. They are partakers with the altar. They eat of His flesh and drink of His blood and in so doing they live by Him, being one with Christ, in God.

The increase is God’s, for it is given of God. From the account of Abram meeting Mel-chiz-ed-ek returning from the battle and giving Him the tithe of the spoils, to Malachi chapter three, where the question is asked, will a man rob God, the tenth has been the Lord’s. The top of the heap, the first-fruits of the increase, are all a type of the remnant which belong to God.

Under the law of Moses, the tithe was not so much a way to sustain those called as priests unto God, but a type of the oneness that we would one day experience in Christ. The oneness, which separated us from any dependence upon the world as our source. A people who’s supply was God, that they might be the supply of God unto the world. A people who live by God that they might be the expression of the life of God to the world. A peculiar people, set apart, undefiled, called of God and sanctified by God, in Christ. As in all of scripture, God is uses the types and natural things and situations, to show us spiritual truths. The tithe is a natural principle in which is hidden an essential truth, a truth which, by the Spirit, is discovered throughout the bible, and finds it’s fulfillment in Christ.

Art Groesbeck