The Gospel, Possessions and Prosperity - Session 2 — David Platt

All right, we are officially behind, and so we are officially ready to fly. Starting in the Old Testament, then Jesus, then we're going to go to the New Testament. And here's our process. What we're going to do, and I've got most of them listed in here, we're going to look at individual scriptures, just explanations, implications from different verses or passages, and then come to those conclusions and those applications.

So this is going to be the bulk of the rest of our night, it's going to be right here. The reality is, we're going to dive into the prosperity gospel really, really late, and we're not going to spend extravagant, exorbitant amounts of time talking about this or that because the reality is, after you look through scripture, it's pretty clear what this means for the prosperity gospel.

Interpreting Old Testament Narratives

So the Bible will do the work for us on that one. So we're going to look at these scriptures, starting with the Old Testament people of God. Now we've got to be careful when we come to the Old Testament to remember some things about interpreting the Old Testament that are important.

And so I want to walk through these really quick. These are actually some things that we've talked about if you've been to different secret churches or listened to them, things in the Old Testament secret church as well as how to study the Bible that are really important for us to keep in the back of our minds tonight.

Interpreting Old Testament narratives, on a whole, Old Testament narratives are not allegories filled with special meanings, like Abraham getting a wife for Isaac is not about Christ getting a bride through the Holy Spirit, like, no.

They're not intended primarily to teach moral lessons. We can learn things from that, but it's not, okay, this person is set up to be a moral example for us. Unless Scripture explicitly says that, we need to be really, really careful.

Intended primarily to teach doctrine. They illustrate doctrine, but they don't teach systematically about doctrine. On a whole, Old Testament narratives are stories with a specific purpose, real, true history of God's people told for a reason.

They're accounts of what happened, not what should have happened or ought to happen every time. So it includes a lot of stuff where we see imperfections in biblical characters, and they're selective and incomplete.

They don't include every single detail. They're written for a reason. And so when we're reading Old Testament narratives, identify theological principles that are underlying that, and then filter those theological principles through the New Testament.

Think about the story we read in the Old Testament through the lens of Christ, and what happens in the New Testament. Does the New Testament add to that principle? Does the New Testament modify that principle?

And so we want to think about, we're looking at the Old Testament through a New Testament lens. It doesn't really stand just all by itself. We're looking at it in the back, through the cross, from the New Testament.

Interpreting Old Testament Laws

Interpreting Old Testament laws. You know, we're going to look at some of the laws. We wonder about some laws. If a man's hair falls out from his head, he is bald, he is clean. So there you go. If you lose your hair, you're clean.

And for some of you who are struggling with this, a woman shall not wear a man's garment. Nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. So cross-dressing needed to be addressed in the law.

We wonder about some laws. We violate some laws. The pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. The flesh, their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

So do not go to dreamland ever. If you follow that law. The next one, if you have a tattoo, then you violated that law. We obey these laws. You shall not murder. Love your neighbors as yourself. So how do we know when to wonder, when to violate, and when to obey the Old Testament law?

Remember, the Old Testament law is not our Testament law. Testament is another word for covenant. And the Old Testament represents God's covenant with the people of Israel, which is no longer what you and I are under obligation to keep.

So here's the general rule. Unless an Old Testament law is somehow restated or reinforced in the New Testament, it is no longer directly binding on God's people. Laws that are not reinforced in the New Testament, Israelite civil laws, some of the specific penalties for various crimes, major crimes, minor crimes, the Israelite ritual laws, it's a lot of the laws, like how to worship, what sorts of animals to be sacrificed when.

Those are not reinforced in the New Testament. Laws that are reinforced, laws that are renewed or restated in the context of the New Covenant. When we see it repeated, Matthew 22, 37 -40 is repeating what has been expressed already in the Shema, Deuteronomy chapter 6.

So when we see them repeated, we know, okay, this needs to be obeyed if they're repeated in the context of the New Covenant. Realize this, all of the Old Testament law is still the word of God for us, even though it is not still the command of God to us.

Just because it's not for us, we're not under it, does not mean that it's not valuable. It's incredibly valuable. It's revealing the character of God and the sinfulness of man and all the things by which we understand the gospel.

Interpreting Old Testament Prophets and Wisdom

Interpreting Old Testament prophets, Old Testament prophets were enforcing and mediating the Old Covenant. And so they're speaking about the Old Covenant and Israel's obedience or disobedience to the Old Covenant.

The prophet's message is unoriginal, unoriginal. In other words, it's not a new concept. They're talking about that which has been already said before in the law. It's confrontational. It's identifying Israel's sin.

Prophet's message is completed. Only a small percent of Old Testament prophecy deals with events that are future to us. Less than 1 of the Old Testament prophets, what they're saying, applies to something that's still to come.

Less than 2 of it's messianic, replying to Jesus. Less than 5 even applies to the New Covenant age. So we need to see it in the context of covenant. Old Testament prophets were God's direct representatives and they spoke in oracles.

They spoke in oracles. They said the three main points in an oracle, you've broken the covenant, you need to repent. Things like idolatry and social justice and Micah chapter 6 and religious ritualism.

You've broken the covenant. You need to repent. If you don't repent, you will experience judgment. But you have hope beyond judgment for future restoration. That's what we see in the prophets. OK? Interpreting Old Testament wisdom literature.

Oftentimes Old Testament wisdom literature is difficult to follow the line of thinking like Job's friends. What in the world are they saying? Difficult to understand literary styles and that can lead to abusing the text.

We've got to understand the genre in which Old Testament wisdom literature was written. Difficult to determine meaning. Remember the goal of wisdom literature is to apply the word to practical living.

Wisdom is making, applying God's word to making wise choices in life. And realize the wisdom books contain insights and guidelines for developing godly character. Listen to this. They are not a collection of universal promises.

Now look at Proverbs 22 11, he who loves purity of heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king as his friend. Is that a promise? If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.

These are guidelines and insights, but they're not to be taken as literal universal promises. It's the way the genre is written. Interpreting Old Testament poetry. Old Testament poetry is emotional. We don't read poetry like we read Paul's letters.

Poetry is different. It's metaphorical. It uses all kinds of images. Old Testament poetry is variable. Variable. We see different kinds. Psalms, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, even some of the prophetic books.

Interpreting the Old Testament, this is the key. Look at specific contexts, especially the context of the Old Covenant. Then the historical context, maybe even the geographical context. We've got to see everything in the Old Testament in the context in which it was written and realize we are not in the same context.

So we've got to look at specific contexts and in that context identify eternal content. So you're looking at what in here is eternal truth that applies to all people of all time. How does that come over into the New Testament?

When New Testament authors and speakers quote or affirm Old Testament teachings, we need to pay close attention. When something is being reiterated in the New Testament, pay close attention. When they don't mention Old Testament teachings, give cautious consideration.

Because if it was important for the New Covenant, then it's being communicated in the New Covenant. What that means is our understanding of possessions is not based on the prayer of Jabez, okay? It's not our basis of an understanding of possessions.

That's dangerous. Our understanding of possessions is based on the prayer of Jesus. Now that is a good basis for understanding possessions. But Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Not my will, but yours be done.

Creation, the Fall, and God's Ownership

Just doesn't sell books. So all right, here we go. Creation, Old Testament, 1, 26 -31. Creation is a reflection of God's goodness. God is not called good in Genesis chapter 1. All the things He created are called good, and they're a reflection of His goodness.

Material things are created good. Man is created good. Genesis 1 -31, man is very good. Creation is a reflection of God's goodness. Creation is submissive to God's authority. God's authority. God owns everything, without exception.

Everything belongs to God, everything. Man owns nothing, not even his own life. Now God entrusts man. Man has reign under God over the material world. That's what Psalm 8 says. You have given man dominion over the works of your hands.

But it belongs to God. Man owns nothing. He has reign under God over the material world, and he has responsibility before God for the material world. Put him in the garden and said, keep it. This is huge.

God owns everything. He entrusts things to us. Nothing belongs to you. Not even your own life. That's what Genesis 1 is teaching us. Everything in creation belongs to God. Creation is a reflection of God's goodness, submissive to God's authority.

Creation is a recipient of God's generosity. From the very beginning we see God giving. God gives his image for his people to bear. He gives good things for his people to enjoy. This is the beauty of Genesis 1 and 2.

It's God, man and woman, and creation all in harmony. Man and woman enjoying creation. Everything good until Genesis 3 where man questions God's goodness. In the fall of man, he spurns God's authority, and man rejects God's generosity, and as sin enters in the world, God's image is marred in man.

Good things are misused by man. This is key. It's not that the apple or the fruit was bad in and of itself. It's that there was a sinful desire in the one who was approaching the fruit, questioning God's goodness, spurning God's authority.

What happens is good things that God has created are misused by sinful man. Now man needs God's redemption. Man needs grace to be reconciled to God, and man needs grace to properly relate to things. You see in how Genesis 3 affects our understanding of things, possessions, stuff.

It's a sinful use of stuff that we see in Genesis 3, and we need grace to know how to properly relate to things. We have this promise in Genesis 3, 15 of redemption, a redeemer who will come and take Satan down.

Abraham, Prosperity, and God's Redemptive Purpose

That's creation in fall. That sets the stage for the patriarchs. So now we've got a world where people don't know how to relate to things, patriarchs. God blesses his people in Genesis 12 to accomplish his purpose.

Now see the context here. God in Genesis 12 is forming a people. This is one of the first promises basically of prosperity. God is saying, I'm going to bless you, Abraham. What is he doing? He is forming a people.

Genesis 15, look in the sky, see all the stars. That's what your descendants are going to be like, a people in a land. God is going to bring them into a land to possess. So God's blessing of prosperity on Abraham, I'm going to bless you, forming a people in a land with possessions.

I'm going to give you all these possessions, and we see Abraham beginning to acquire possessions. Sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants given to Abraham. A people in a land with possessions for a purpose.

What's the purpose? From the very beginning, Genesis 12, I'm going to bless you, and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you. So I'm going to give you all these things for a purpose, that you might be a blessing to the ends of the earth.

That's what God is doing. This whole promise of prosperity in Genesis 12, God's forming a people in a land with possessions for a purpose. God uses wealth and prosperity to accomplish His purpose. Look at all these verses that talk about the riches God gave to the patriarchs.

In Genesis 26, all that Isaac had, Genesis 30, and then Genesis 47, the end of the book, when Israel settled in the land of Egypt and they gained possessions, and it were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

But notice, the material blessings were not intended to be an end in and of themselves. God is doing something here. He's forming a people with possessions in a land for a purpose, to bring spiritual and material blessing to all the world.

That's what Genesis 12 set up. Which leads to the truth that we see in the last part of Genesis here, and this is really interesting. Yes, God uses wealth and prosperity to accomplish that purpose, but God also uses famine and pain to accomplish His purpose.

And Joseph is sold into slavery and sentenced unjustly to prison, suffers for years, and then he's brought to Potiphar's house, brought before Pharaoh. This is the picture, Genesis 15, 19 through 20 sums it up.

Even in the middle of pain and evil, God was accomplishing His purpose. So God's accomplishing His purpose through wealth and prosperity, and through famine and pain. It's all being used to accomplish His purpose.

The Exodus: Salvation, Worship, and Possessions

That leads us to the exodus, as God delivers His people out of slavery in Egypt. God is faithful to save. He hears His people in their suffering. When they are suffering, when they are materially suffering, when they are physically suffering, He hears them, and He delivers His people from their slavery.

He brings them out of Egypt. God is faithful to save His people. God is faithful to save, He's faithful to bless. Now this is where I want us to think about. Think with me about the purpose of possessions, the role of possessions in the exodus.

What we see is, wealth is intended by God to be used for worship. God made clear over and over again, you go tell Pharaoh to deliver you out of there so that you may worship Me. And listen to what it says in Exodus 10, Pharaoh called Moses and said, go serve the Lord, your little ones also may go with you.

Only let your flocks and your herds remain behind, Pharaoh says. But Moses said, you must also let us have sacrifices and burn offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock must go with us, not a hoof shall be left behind, for we may take of them to serve the Lord our God.

And we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there. In other words, they needed possessions to worship. Wealth intended for worship. So when God brings them out of Egypt, what do they take with them?

Possessions. They plunder the Egyptians, as Exodus chapter 12 says. They take all their stuff. And so you've got possessions intended for worship. We're going to see, well, we'll get to that next. Wealth is twisted by man to be used for idolatry.

What we find is, God gives them these possessions as they leave Egypt, so that they can build a tabernacle. And they use them to build that tabernacle, but not before they use those possessions. In Exodus chapter 32, while Moses is meeting on the mountain with God to find out about the tabernacle, what it should look like, the people are using their possessions to construct a golden calf.

Wealth intended to be used for worship, twisted to be used for idolatry. God's faithful to save and faithful to bless. He gives blessings for the purpose of worship. God's faithful to provide. God gives His people exactly what they need.

As they wander toward the promised land, Exodus chapter 16, what does God provide? Food from heaven. Manna from heaven. You try to keep it over until the next day, what happens? It's totally rotten. He gives His people exactly what they need, and He forbids His people to store excess beyond their need.

Don't store it up. Trust Me every day to provide you the food, the material things that you need. He forbids His people to store excess beyond their need. He wants them to be dependent on Him every day.

Remember that. He wants them to depend on Him for their possessions. Not to take it into their own hands. That sets the stage for the law. Deuteronomy 6, that sums up the essence of the law. We begin to see some very specific details in the law about how possessions are to be used.

Property, Rest, Jubilee, and Economic Justice

First, God entrusts property and possessions to all His people. When you read Numbers 26 there, what you see is that every tribe shall be given its inheritance. The land shall be divided by lot. Everybody is supposed to be given property and possessions in that property.

All the families, all the clans receive an allotment of property. That was God's plan for His people. He was giving them property. We kind of see from the very beginning here this notion of private property.

Though it's not really private property, it belongs to God. But He wants everybody among His people to have this land, possessions. And then God gives laws to govern His people's use of the property and possessions.

Laws like don't steal, don't covet what other people have, don't accept bribes. These are all things that He's giving in the law. Basically four different types of laws that He gives them. Number one, laws against interest.

There were some specific passages where Israelites were forbidden to loan money to one another on interest. And that was because it was a common thing in cultures around them to loan money and take advantage of people.

And He wanted His people to be distinct. Laws against interest. Then second, laws regulating rest. Laws regulating rest. I've got to be totally honest, I was working on this in the middle of the night one night this week.

I'm a procrastinator and so I was working on this part right here and like falling asleep as I was like writing, the Lord prioritizes rest among His people. So confession, do as I say, not as I do on this one.

Sabbath, rest every seventh day, we're familiar with that. Rest every seventh day. Sabbatical year, the second law regulating rest, that was you're supposed to rest every seventh year. Every seven years, Exodus 23 says, you're supposed to leave the land to lie fallow.

This helps the good of the land and listen to this, for six years you shall sow your land, sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow that the poor of your people may eat.

And so this is for the good of the land and for the good of the poor. You see it mentioned again in Leviticus chapter 25. Sabbatical year. Now during that sabbatical year, a couple of important things happen.

Number one, debts were canceled. At the end of every seven years, you shall grant a release. You release debts. Every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. And not only were debts canceled, but servants were freed.

If your brother is sold to you, he shall serve you six years and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And not only free, you shall not let him go empty handed, you send him away with stuff.

So year number seven was good if you were in deep debt or you were a slave. You look forward to the sabbatical year. All of that pointed to this third regulation law regarding rest, the year of jubilee.

The year of jubilee where you would rejoice after 49 years. Now this, talk about radical, Leviticus chapter 25, one of the most radical texts in all of scripture. Listen to this. You shall count seven weeks of years.

Seven times seven years. So the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you 49 years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the day of atonement, you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land and you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.

It shall be jubilee for you when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you. In it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the underdressed vines.

For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field. So basically, every 50 years, God said, all the land is returned to its original owners. You come back to your clans.

Now during a 50 year span, who knows what could have happened during that 49 years? Injury, illness in your family, death in your family, and struggles financially, and maybe you lost your land. Maybe you became a slave and you're in all this debt.

And then imagine this scene, maybe for 30 plus years, you've been living in slavery with no land, working another person's field. And then on this day, this trumpet is sounded and it is freedom for you.

And you go back and the land is yours. The land that belongs to you is given to you. That's good news for the poor and don't miss it, it's sobering news for the wealthy. Like if you're going about and you're this entrepreneur and gathering all this land, the reality is, you know that when you get all this land, there's coming a day where it's all going to be given back anyway.

And so we see extreme poverty and extreme wealth avoided in the day of jubilee. Well, what was the purpose here? It was designed to acknowledge the holiness of God, number one. You remember that the land is mine, Leviticus chapter 25 says.

This is a reminder to every wealthy person and impoverished person that the land ultimately belongs to who? It belongs to God. Second, it was designed to support healthy families, strengthen families, bring families back together.

Third, it was designed to avoid hopeless poverty. No matter how bad it got, you, every person who lived a long life, had at least a once in a lifetime chance to start over afresh. No matter how irresponsible you'd been, no matter how difficult the circumstances you'd faced had been, you get a start over, a do over one time.

And you avoid this hopeless poverty that cycles and gets worse and worse and worse and worse. The year of jubilee, a fresh start for poor and rich alike. Then, designed to promote holistic worship. For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants.

They are servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. It was a reminder that God had brought them to Egypt and why God had brought them out of Egypt. And maybe, most important, it was designed to foreshadow hope in Christ.

It's not a coincidence that the trumpet blast was announced for the day of jubilee on the day of what? The day of atonement. The day when man is reconciled to God for his sins. Man is also reconciled to one another, the material world around him.

Reconciliation with God, bringing restoration with others. Which sets the stage, remember in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus is about to start his ministry and he's in the synagogue and a scroll is given to him.

He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

That's a reference to the year of jubilee. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say to them, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Tithes, Offerings, and Care for the Poor

That's cool. Freedom has come. No matter how difficult it has been, no matter how oppressed you've been in sin and struggle, freedom has come. Those are laws regarding rest. Third, laws regarding tithes and offerings.

There's a whole subset under here too. Talking about tithes, which literally means a tenth part, a tenth. But reality is there were three different types of offerings that are mentioned here and the Israelites ended up giving more than just ten percent.

When you total it all up, well we'll get to that, I'm getting ahead of myself. The picture was tithes and taxes. Now, the people of God, Israel, some of the money they were giving would be more equivalent to what you and I give when it comes to taxes today, for civil use, for government type use.

Tithes and taxes given to, first of all, support the priests and the Levites. Give a tenth to support the priests and the Levites. It's numbers 18. So the first most important offering, give first and your best for religious purposes.

Second, tithes and taxes were given to provide for community celebration. See that in Deuteronomy chapter 14. And then third, to help the poor and the needy. Every third year, this tithe would be given to a local storehouse to be distributed to the Levites and then those who are poor and marginalized.

That's Deuteronomy chapter 14. So when you add it up, you've got two tithes every year, then one tithe that's done every three years. And so the total tithe was about 23 per year when you total it up.

Total tithe. Two and a third, basically. And then the tithe, catch this, was only the beginning of their giving. That's not all, that's not the whole story on Old Testament giving. In addition to the tithe, the Israelites would also give first fruit offerings to offer the best to the Lord.

This was something that was taken off the top. The first production of a vineyard, Leviticus 19, Exodus 23, grain, wine, olive oil, wool, the top, first fruits, the first fruits of the harvest, you would give as an offering.

And then, in addition to the first fruits, there were free will offerings that were given to offer access to the Lord. Voluntary contributions that went beyond the tithes, went beyond the first fruits that were given.

Free will offerings. It says, whose heart was moved to give, Exodus 35, verse 29. So in all these gifts, tithes and offerings, follow this, were reminders of God's absolute ownership of all things. God was training His people to remember that He owned it all.

And it belonged to Him. And so they set aside their first and best because it was a reminder. It's not that God didn't own the other 90 or the other 77%. God owns it all. This was a reminder to them that God owns it all.

It's a reflection of God's faithful provision for all of His people. This is how God provided for the priests, how God provided for the poor in some circumstance. And it was a reason, tithes and offerings were reasons to celebrate God's gracious blessing toward all of His people.

You know, oftentimes I hear people talk about Old Testament giving and they say, well, that was duty, that was law. This was joy. Now, it could turn into the other, but listen, listen to Exodus 36, they received from Moses all the contributions the people of Israel brought for doing the work on the sanctuary.

They still kept bringing Him free will offerings every morning. So all the craftsmen were doing every sort of task when the sanctuary came, each from the task he was doing, and said to Moses, the people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.

So Moses gave command and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work and more.

Huh. Like, oh, for that day in the church, like, you have given too much. Like, just stop. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, stop, stop. It's not like we've got more than enough, like, what a great day. So anyway, that's not like dutiful like law, that's joyful obedience to the law and free will giving.

Social Justice and Work in the Law

Laws regarding social justice. Next type of law. We've got tithes and offerings, social justice. There were general laws that provided, that were concerned with providing for the needy, provide for the needy.

This is how, you had laws that were set up for the harvest to help the poor. It's how Ruth and Naomi were able to set up romance with Boaz. And then you had laws regarding sacrifices for worship. That if you, if you couldn't, if you were more wealthy, you were expected to give these kind of sacrifices.

If you were poor, then there were lesser sacrifices, that there were less expensive sacrifices that you would give, Leviticus chapter 14. So in his law, God was providing for the needy. He was protecting the needy.

God set up so that aliens or foreigners, orphans, widows, would not be mistreated. God set up laws to avoid partiality, avoid favoritism. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great. Don't spread a false report.

And then God set up laws aimed to eliminate poverty. Listen to what he says in Deuteronomy 15 .4. There will be no poor among you. For the Lord will bless you in the land the Lord God has given you as inheritance to possess.

If only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. Then in Deuteronomy 15 .11, a few verses later, he says there will never cease to be poor in the land.

Therefore I command you, open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and the poor in your land. The goal is no poor among you. We're supposed to work toward that at all times, with open handedness.

Now in the law, a little change of pace here, God also told his people to work. God told his people to work. He told them to do spiritual work, Deuteronomy 6, but physical work. Your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

You've got to work here. God told his people to work and God gave his people wealth. Now this is key. This is where we often go when it comes to Old Testament possessions. God promised material blessing to his people as they obeyed him.

The key is though, and you read Deuteronomy 8, we don't have time to read the whole thing, but you read in there and you see that it's not that they were earning it, it was still God's generosity. But God was blessing his people as they obeyed him.

So God's giving material possessions as they obey him according to his grace. No therefore, the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness for you're a stubborn people.

According to his grace he's giving it to advance his glory. You look at Deuteronomy 11, you look at Deuteronomy 4, you see that God is giving his people possessions so that they would be a demonstration to other nations around them of the goodness of God.

Wealth, Worship, and Idolatry in Israel's Kings

It's not intended to be an end in and of itself. Possessions are given for a purpose. That's the picture of the law. Okay, now kings in Israel's history. Kings in Israel's history. The purpose of wealth.

We look at the kings, we see that God is giving wealth in part, and I would even say in large part, but in part to build a place. And that place is the what? It's the temple. You look in 1 Kings chapter 8, you see that's an ornate description of the temple.