We have heard of the Kingdom of God. This week's Sabbath reading portion also caused me to consider the fact that there is an economic system attached to this Kingdom. We see a glimpse of the place of Kingdom provision in the account of Abraham and his obedience to the voice of God to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, on the Mount in the land of Moriah (root meaning: chosen, seen, foreseen, caused to be shown by the LORD). Abraham had assured his son at the time, "...God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." The Angel of the LORD stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son at the last moment, and miraculously, Abraham lifted his (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) eyes and saw that a (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) ram appeared caught (ahaz - grasp, take hold, take possession, enclose, seize with the hand, to be joined, adhere, cover, shut) by its horns (qeren/qaran - strength, rays of light, horns of the altar, power, mountain peak/to shine, send out rays, shoot out horns, to radiate, emit beams) in a thicket (sebak/sabak - branches interwoven/interweave, entwine, plait). The ram became the sacrifice instead of his son: "And Abraham called the name of the place (root word qum - to be raised up, to rise, arise, become powerful, be fulfilled, come on the scene, be proven), The-LORD (YHWH - Hebrew letters meaning "Behold the hand, behold the nail")-Will-Provide (ra'a - see, appear, show, provide, regard, visions, foresee, have vision, look at, give attention to, look one on another); as it is said to this day, 'In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided (ra'a - see above)." (Gen. 22:1-14). Those who know the Messiah/Christ Jesus will recognize His image in the picture formed by the Hebrew meaning of the words in these verses. This provision came from the LORD, rather than man, and from the place of being "raised up".
Our Sabbath reading portion for this week is titled B'midbar, which is also the Hebrew title of the Book of Numbers and means "in the wilderness". The title comes from the first verse of the Book of Numbers: "Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai ("thorny"), in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month (also called ziv: see 1 Kings 6:1, taking place in April/May, meaning "brightness, splendor [of the face], prominent), in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt..." The children of Israel had been released from their bondage in Egypt but had not yet come into the Promised Land. This also reflects our situation as those who know Messiah/Christ. We have been saved and released from the bondage of sin and death but have not yet been called to our heavenly home to be with the LORD. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, we are also travelers or sojourners in the earth, which is not our permanent home (Heb. 13:14, 1 Pet. 2:11-12). We also know from scripture that the Israelites, while in the wilderness, were totally supplied by God. He provided water, food, including manna from heaven, and even their clothes and shoes did not wear out (Ps. 78:16-18, Deut. 29:5). Let's look more deeply into the LORD's economy in this week's Sabbath reading portion.
The first thing that the LORD did was to appoint leaders of the tribes of Israel. These men were described as men of renown (qari - called one, chosen, selected) and princes (nasi/nasa - prince, ruler, king, chief, one lifted up, captain, cloud/to lift, exalt, forgive). (Num. 1:16). These were men whom God had expressed (naqab - to pierce, perforate with violence, bore, pierce through, holes, strike through, to separate, distinguish and specify by name) by their names (v. 17). The Hebrew roots of the names of these princes who were to lead groups of thousands reflect the governing kingdom and economy of God: "My God is a Rock (sur - strength, refuge/to form, lay siege, assault, to bind, to press upon, to cut, to divide)"; another name meant "prosperity, reward, restitution, pay, recompense of God"; another name: "given, granted, pay wages, recompense, lend, yield produce, be provided, be bestowed by God"; another meant: "God is patron of benevolence and protection"; still another name: "benefit, reward, dealt bountifully, bestow, recompense, repay, given by God"; another meant: "Father is judge, Lord, King, husband, prophet, ruler, governor, prince"; another name: "God has added, more, increase, exceed, add to, give more, plentifully, be joined to" (v. 5-15). These names reflect God's government and provision.
God would be the source of the wealth of the Israelites from His place in brightness, splendorous glory. The apostle Paul wrote of the same thing as the believers in Messiah/Christ gave an acceptable, sweet-smelling sacrifice to the Lord: "And my God shall supply (pleroo - make full, cause to abound, furnish, fill to the top) all your need according to His riches in glory (doxa/dokeo - judgment, splendor, brightness, kingly majesty, majesty reflecting the absolute perfection of deity/opinion, judge) by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen." (Phil. 4:19-20).
Where and from whom are we looking for our governance and provision to come? Where has our confidence been placed? Jesus described a world system built upon reliance in wealth as being called "Mammon", a word meaning a Babylonian/Chaldee god, who was wealth personified, and avarice deified, and having the confidence of men. Jesus said that God and Mammon are so opposed in nature that we cannot serve both. Mammon is not the origin of genuine wealth, but of counterfeit wealth. Genuine wealth comes from the lifted-up place of God. The wealth of this false system is gained by the love of money, false scales and weights (see Lev. 19:35-36, Prov. 11:1, Prov. 16:11, Prov. 20:10 and 23, Deut. 25:13-16, Ezek. 45:9-10, Amos 8:4-6) and theft (see Lk. 16:11, 13). The devil claimed to Jesus that all of the authority and glory (doxa - glory, honor, praise, worship, opinion, judgment) of the kingdoms of the world had been delivered to him, and he said that he would give them to Jesus if Jesus would worship him. Jesus rebuked Satan with the Word of God and told him "You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only shall you serve." (Lk. 4:5-8). Who delivered all of the kingdoms of the world and their "glory" to Satan? We, the people of God, did when we placed our confidence in those kingdoms instead of in the LORD. We cannot serve both God and Mammon.
The LORD records this in another portion of this Sabbath's reading. The LORD said of His unfaithful people: "For she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold - which they prepared for Baal (supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians, Canaanites and Babylonians)...And I will destroy her vines and fig trees, of which she has said, 'These are my wages (etna/tana - hire, price of a harlot, reward/to hire a prostitute, to present a mercenary inducement, to give presents, to distribute gifts) that my lovers have given me...I will punish her for the days of the Baals to which she burned incense...But Me she forgot,' says the LORD." (Hosea 2:8,12-13). The LORD prophesied that He would destroy all of the false rewards in which His people had placed their confidence. Revelation shows us the prophetic vision of the world system of wealth and governments, upon which man relies, being destroyed in an hour (Rev. 18:1-20, see also Isa. 21:9, Jer. 51:6-8, Ezek. 27, Dan. 2:31-35, 44-45). Hosea prophesied that after God destroyed the fruits of the Baals from among His people, He would bring His people back into the wilderness in order to revive their relationship with Him, and the LORD would speak comfort to them there. They had previously called God by the name of the Baals, which was "Master", but they would learn to call God "Husband" (ishi - husband, champion, good, great and mighty Man). (v. 14-17). In the wilderness, they would learn once again to place their confidence in God. Most precious to God are His people, and His economy is based upon the redemption of His precious people as we will see. We cannot serve both God and Mammon.
All kingdoms have their own currency usually carrying the faces of their kings and heroes. The Kingdom of God also has a currency, but it does not carry the picture of an earthly king, but of the King of Kings, and we will see His image below. In this Sabbath portion, B'midbar, or "in the wilderness", God's currency is based upon the redemption of His people. This currency of redemption is referred to as "the shekel of the sanctuary". It is by this shekel that the LORD allowed the first-born sons of Israel to be redeemed. The Levites were to replace the first-born in their obligation of service to the LORD. However, the first-born of Israel were more than the number of Levites. Therefore the LORD allowed the excess number of first-born to be redeemed instead with His currency: "...you shall take five shekels (seqel/saqal- chief unit of weight or measure of gold, silver or copper/to weigh, pay out, weigh out a price, to suspend a balance of a scale, to suspend as on a cross) for each one individually/by the poll (gulgolet/galal - skull [see also Golgotha: Jn. 19:17]/roll away [a large round stone], remove, roll away reproach); you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty (esrim/asar - twenty/a unit of the tithe or tenth, to become rich or wealthy, enrich, make rich, gain riches, to prosper) gerahs (a weight based on a specific number of barley grains or carob beans). And you shall give the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed (peduy/pada - ransom, the preserved, the price of redemption/redeem, ransom, rescue, deliver, to release, preserve, to loose, to set free, to let go, to deliver life from danger), to Aaron and his sons." So Moses took the redemption money...and Moses gave their redemption (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) money to Aaron and his sons..." (Num. 3:46-51). Again, we can see in the meaning of the Hebrew words used in this passage the Person of the Messiah/Christ Jesus, and His role as Redeemer, in the "exchange" currency of the Kingdom of God. This value is eternal and never fluctuates or ends. We can understand more of what Paul was revealing in the verse above from Phil. 4:19-20 in connecting the redemptive work of Messiah/Christ to the foundation of God's riches from which He provides for us. Paul also wrote of our inheritance (kieronomia/kieronomos - inheritance, heirship, possession/one who receives his allotted possession by right of sonship) in glory through Jesus Christ in Eph. 1:7-14, 18-23. If we are looking to Mammon for our provision, we are looking to the wrong place. We cannot serve both God and Mammon.
In my nation, our currency is no longer attached to any specific value, making it different from the shekel of the God's sanctuary. This fact also makes our currency worthless. The coins that used to be minted by a portioned weight of fine gold and fine silver, are now minted by a press of layers of base metals of manganese brass, copper, nickel and zinc called "clad coins". The paper currency, once backed by a set measure of gold, is no longer backed by anything with a tangible value. Soon the plan is to switch to digital currency, which again, will be backed by nothing. One's labor therefore is given in exchange for a currency of no real value. Therefore, this is a system in which vast wealth is held in such a manner that it is never equitably distributed, even for labor performed. This is the system of Mammon that Jesus described. This system accumulates even more of its hoarded wealth through exorbitant interest charged to those who have sold the fruits of their future labor and wealth into debt to this system for credit now. It is indeed a system of "master" and "servant". This is the currency and economics of temporary earthly kingdoms rather than the economics of provision of God's Kingdom. In whom have we placed our confidence? We need to seek revelation understanding of God's provision because all signs point to the possibility that the time of earthly kingdoms and their systems of wealth is growing short. We cannot serve both God and Mammon.
In another portion from this Sabbath, Psalm 28, David calls upon the economic system of the LORD for spiritual justice. Of the wicked, David wrote: "Give (natan - give, bestow, pay wages, yield produce, be provided, sell, exchange, lend) them according to their deeds (po'al/pa'al - work, deeds, labor, wages of work, acquisition of treasure, getting/work, workers), and according to the wickedness of their endeavors (ma'alal/alal - endeavor, invention, work/deal ruthlessly, deal wantonly, abuse); Give them according to the work of their hands; render (sub - return, turn back, pay as recompense) to them what they deserve (gemul/gamal - dealing, recompense, reward, retribution/deal fully with, recompense)." As one who trusted in the LORD's Kingdom and economy, David also prayed: "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him. The LORD is their strength, and He is the saving refuge of His anointed (masiah/masa - anointed one, of the Messiah Prince/to smear, anoint, spread a liquid, rub with oil). Save Your (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) people and bless Your (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) inheritance; Shepherd them also and bear them up forever."
This is the difference between God's Kingdom provision and the inequitable hoarding of wealth within Mammon. It is important for us to understand and place our confidence in the lifted-up place of God's provision and the redemption foundation of His economy, because before the LORD destroys the system of worldly wealth, the world will be forced to serve this system according to scripture (see Rev. 13:15-18, Rev. 14:9-12). The spiritual powers of wickedness (see Eph. 6:12-13) know this same truth: man cannot serve both God and Mammon, so man will be forced to choose Mammon for his provision instead of God. God's *aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega people are not meant for this bondage, as we read above, and we have been given the knowledge of the truth that makes us free if we will seek it.
If you would like to know more about the Kingdom of God and His provision economy, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, You have made provision for me and You have already supplied all of my needs from Your riches in glory, through Your Son Jesus, my Redeemer. You told Your people to come out from beneath Babylon because her fall would be great. Please give me the wisdom, knowledge and understanding that I need from Your living Word by Your Spirit to place all of my confidence in You, so that I do not rely on my own strength, nor put my confidence in the kingdoms and systems of this world for provision and prosperity. Separate and redeem me from these things by Your glory through Messiah/Christ. Let this become revelation to me so that I will walk in it and be able to show it to others. I ask this in the name of Jesus. AMEN."
*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.
