WILL A MAN ROB GOD?

By Pastor G Baloyi

This is one of the scriptures which have been used by false preachers to threaten / rob congregants
of their money abusing scriptures.

Firstly, you must understand that the bible is a book of parables and proverbs/ written in a hidden
language (Matthew 13:34-35, John 16:25, Psalms 78:2). When the bible says ‘Can a man rob God?’
it’s not literal because literally robbing means the one robbed is weaker/ vulnerable/ defenseless
WHILST the Robber is stronger/ manipulative/ well-armed. If we take it literally it means God is
weak. Is God defenseless from mere mortals (men)? God Forbid! He is the Almighty God, The
Creator even of the Devil. So without controversy we ought to know or understand in what manner
does men ‘rob’ God?

Malachi 3:8-12

3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes
and offerings.

3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Robbery definition:

Formal definition: the action of taking property unlawfully from a person or place by force or threat
of force.

Informal definition: unashamed swindling or overcharging.

The key word is PROPERTY, because the force, the threat, the swindling or overcharging happens in
order to take the PROPERTY from its owner.

We must remember scriptures like Isaiah 55:8, Numbers 23:19 and Luke 15:16 which reminds and
warn us that God and Men are very much different. According to man robbery is an act of using
force or threat to take from a weaker person BUT God being Almighty, All Powerful He is introducing
His own definition of robbery obviously deviant from man’s definition where the weaker one ‘robs’
the Almighty.

Let us understand also that for you to be robbed you must have the PROPERTY. What then is God’s
Property/ Asset? God has only ONE PROPERTY; His ONLY Begotten Son / The Word (John 1:18, John
3:16, Romans 8:29, John 20:17, Hebrews 2:11).

So Malachi, as one of the prophets, he was not just telling Israel to obey the Law of Moses (Which
was a shadow of the good things Hebrews 10:1, Colossians 2:17). But the law was a shadow, so for
Israel to pay tithes and offerings it was supposed to be followed as per commandment/ pattern so
that when the GOOD THINGS/ which is Christ come we can relate well from the pattern.

Let me repeat this: In Malachi God was reminding the children of Moses after the Babylonian
captivity that you are no longer paying tithes and offering WHICH MEANS you are distorting the
PATTERN. Distorting the pattern (Israel not paying tithes and offering) is robbery! I will explain why?
God has One Thing, Christ and Christ alone. So All the prophets wrote about Christ (Luke 24:35-
27/44, John 5:45, Acts 3:18, Acts 26:22-, Romans 1:1-4).

That why Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:8 that the law is good that is if we know what the law teaches
about, the subject matter of the law.

Christ is the TITHE. TITHE is 1/10; 10%, the number ten (10) represents the Old Testament order
because the ten (10) commandments are the face of the Law of Moses. So the message of Tithe was
I gave you the Old Testament and from thence I must get back Christ. If you read Deuteronomy
14:22-, Leviticus 27:30 tithe was eaten by those who would have paid it. Why? Because when we are
listening to the 'Christo-centric' Gospel according to 2 Corinthians 3:18, we are converted to be like
the image/ Christ which we should see from the Scriptures.

So where are people robbing God? God has His Only Son, Christ. He wrote the bible to talk about His
Son. He gave the Law of Moses and the Prophets (Old Testament) to write about Christ. And what
are the false Teachers and Prophets of our days do? Instead of teaching Christ from the law of Tithes
and Offerings they are collecting tithes, that’s robbing God? Scriptures where God is expecting to get
back Christ like Genesis 2:24 they are wedding using it. This is robbery! But Apostle Paul paid tithe by
explaining that Genesis 2:24 talks about Christ from Ephesians 5:30-32.

But the Most interesting thing is Malachi did not just talk about tithe but Offering but the hungry
pastors they raise their emotions on tithes but rarely mention anything about offering in connection
with 'robbing' God. But God said ‘...In tithes and offerings’ and not just TITHE. WHY TITHE? The
answer is hunger, their god is their belly (Philippians 3:19).

But I have touched on tithe and now as I conclude I will talk about offering. All the offerings that
were required by the Law of Moses, they were supposed to be paid during the Old Testament era
according to the pattern so that when Christ / The Good Things come we can also refer and
understand that the burnt offerings and the sin offerings were just but a shadow of Christ. So
Suppose Israel failed to pay these, how were we going to learn about Christ from them? This was
robbery? And now in our days people are robbing / swindling Christ and they put where Christ
should be, marriages, weddings, cars, houses, stands, business etc.

Hebrews 10:6-10, When Christ came in the flesh (Galatians 4:4), He wanted to be the fulfillment of
the burnt and sin offering of the Old Testament. You must also understand that the whole order of
the Old Testament failed to give people righteousness including the tithes and all the offerings
(Romans 3:19-21, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 7:11….)

So we who believe in the offering of the body of Christ and on the Cross we are not robbing God in
offering. Why? Because we acknowledge the death of the Mosaic Law on the Cross (Colossians 2:13-
17, Ephesians 2:14-16, Hebrews 8:13…) is the offering.

So can a man rob God? The answer is yes! The second question is what does God have? The answer
is ONLY Begotten Son! The third question is how does the robbery happen? The answer is by not
coming out with Christ from the scriptures or replacing Christ by the man of god or yourself!

God bless you---- If you believe this Gospel.