Sacrifices, Tithes and Offerings

SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICES, TITHES AND OFFERINGS
God has an ongoing challenge in his desire to communicate spiritual concepts to people with human words. Words always have cultural meanings and associations that control how people interpret them. The problem has always been and will always be that using words written by and spoken by men to communicate spiritual concepts always includes risk that they will be interpreted according to those cultural meanings and associations. Man, being physical and culturally accustomed to thinking in natural terms, does not readily or easily accept or understand spiritual concepts. And when he misinterprets what God is trying to say through Symbols, Signs, Types, Copies, Shadows and Patterns, he is on his way to creating religion.

This very human condition always interferes man’s ability to understand what God has spoken to his prophets so they can be reported widely to his people. We only need to look at the glut of religions and Bible versions in the world today to see that man has always had different ways of interpreting what God said. And yet, each one who writes and interprets sincerely believes that he/she has the right interpretation. Since they do not agree on even some of the basic doctrines about God, they cannot all be right. The only possibility that remains, therefore, is that they are all wrong. God confirmed this fact for us when he said that all scribes who are wise in their own eyes and have established good reputations because of their Biblical knowledge and wisdom actually translate God’s word into lies and deceptions .

God has a three-step solution to solve this problem:

First, he uses natural things and activities that man can understand to symbolically represent spiritual concepts that he does not understand. These are found in both Old and New Testament writings. Many of these natural concepts are borrowed from religions with which Israel was familiar. Literal interpretations of these human words are the substance of Old/First Covenant religion.
Second, he establishes a New, Everlasting Covenant in the hearts of believers who eyes are opened to the fact that they have been enslaved to Old/First Covenant religion and repent for participating in it.
Third, he teaches his people directly by his spirit so that they are no longer dependent on the writings and teachings of men who misinterpret his word.

We find these principles everywhere in the Bible, but especially in the matter of spiritual sacrifices, tithes and offerings, which, for God, are matters of the heart — not of the flesh.

It is impossible to understand sacrifices, tithes and offerings without first accepting that God always speaks in symbolic language. Therefore, we recommend that readers first study the following pages:

Having read about symbolism, parables and mystery, we are now better prepared to grasp how God can make seemingly contradictory statements such as found in Deuteronomy 12:1-11 where God says to bring offerings and in Psalm 40:6 where it says that God does not desire or require sacrifices and offerings. With full awareness that God does not change his mind, we must humbly conclude that the problem is our lack of understanding of the symbolic nature of physical sacrifices and offerings and not a matter of contradictory scriptures. These contradictions exist because man, who insists on interpreting scripture literally, is not inherently equipped to listen to God’s voice. Man therefore stumbles over literal scripture and creates religion out of what he reads and understands with his intellectual mind.

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God's Voice

How to Hear, Interpret and Obey God's Spoken Word