Deuteronomy 6:10-12 “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, (11) houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant--when you have eaten and are full-- (12) then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”
In this section we want to discuss the correlation between God’s blessing of the saints under the old covenant and the saints under the new covenant. Under the old covenant the Israelites were the Lord’s servants and not His children, for they were not yet born-again (Leviticus 25:55). And yet as revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, under that covenant the Lord freely gave to each one of His servants, houses full of all good things which they had not filled, hewn-out wells which they had not dug, and vineyards and olive trees which they did not plant. In other words, God gave them everything they needed to live comfortably in this life. Under the new covenant we are children of God and not His servants, for we are born-again. And so if God took care of the needs of His servants in this manner under the old covenant, how much more will God take care of the needs of His children under the new covenant, which is a better covenant established upon better promises (Hebrews 8:6). None can dispute that God provided a home and a more than adequate means of income for each of His servants under the old covenant. Therefore God’s children under the new covenant can expect to receive from Him at least the same, if not more.
Leviticus 26:2-5 “I am the Lord. (3) 'If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, (4) then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. (5) Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.”
When God blessed His servants under the old covenant, He did not make all of them multi-millionaires or even millionaires for that matter. No rather, from the above quoted passage of scripture we can see that God blessed their means of income, which was primarily farming, so that they never experienced any lack and they always had more than they needed. Now there were among the children of Israel some, who for various reasons did become very wealthy, but that was not the norm, for God had not promised to make them wealthy, but He had promised to give them a full supply. Boaz was an example of one who became very wealthy through godly principles (Ruth 2:1), while Nabal was an example of one who became very rich through ungodly principles (1 Samuel 25:2). And so we can see from these two examples that wealth alone was not a measure of God’s blessing upon their lives. Nevertheless the point remains, that if God promised to give His servants under the old covenant a full supply so that they never experienced any lack, then God will do no less for His children under the new covenant.
Michael E.B. Maher
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