Deuteronomy 14

The opening words of this chapter should ring in our ears continually and produce good fruit: “You are the sons of the Lord your God.” Not only do they comfort us; they also call us to hear the voice of our heavenly Father and to follow His Word.

The church is the Lord's holy possession today, bought by the blood of His only-begotten Son. Like Israel of old, we are to be a people distinct from the world around us in our dedication to the Lord's ways. This consecration of life is no longer expressed in the old distinction between clean and unclean foods, for Christ has made all foods clean. See Mark 7:19.

As we review the list of foods that Israel could not eat during the Old Covenant era, we are reminded that these outward regulations were preparatory for the coming of the Messiah. The old laws were powerless in bringing new life to the consciences of the guilty. They testified to the difference between life and death, but they could not raise the dead or make anyone alive spiritually.

The power of death is all around us in this dying world. God's Word is a Word of life for His people. That Word has come in person in the gift of His Son. He is able not only to make all foods clean and to signal the coming of a new era in the New Covenant, He is also able to bring us new life with a cleansing that comes with the forgiveness of sins. This is why the Apostle John writes to the church, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Not only that, but we have received the sure promise of a new life in Christ where death no longer has dominion. We look for the fullness of life to come in the resurrection of the dead, and we walk in that heavenly life even now.

The promise of God, secured for us in the death of Christ, calls us to a much deeper holiness than can be accomplished by the old distinction between clean and unclean foods. As the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

Another Old Testament regulation that God spoke to Israel through Moses regarded the collection and distribution of tithes for those who cared for the Lord's sanctuary and for the destitute among them. The tithe was ten percent of the increased blessings that the Lord had given to His people. Every three years, the actual goods, or the monetary equivalent, was to be brought to the central place of worship.

The concept of tithing goes all the way back to the patriarchs in the book of Genesis. Tithing is a recognition that the Lord owns us entirely. When the Lord Jesus died for us, He did not merely buy ten percent of what we are. He bought us completely with His blood.

The giving of tithes was to be a great celebration for the people of Israel. How much more should we now give our gifts to the Lord with a joyful heart? We still support the work of the ministry, but now that ministry is not the carrying of the tabernacle throughout the land of Canaan, but the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of heaven throughout the world.

It is our joy to give to the Lord and to see that the orphan and the widow are cared for. But nothing can be compared with the 100 percent gift of the Son of God when He gave Himself for our eternal well-being.

This is what makes the people of God rejoice today. The Apostle Paul, who was brought from a misplaced zeal for fading outward religious ceremonies like food regulations to a new Spirit-empowered love for the life-giving Messiah, expresses in 2 Corinthians 9:15 the true heart of all the sons of God when he writes, “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!”