Biblical morality, or the denial thereof, is often a simple case of the right thing being wrongly placed. Regarding sexuality, the Bible declares: “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4). The same physical act is occurring in both cases, but in one case the act is blessed by God, while in the other it is cursed.
Those who embrace the “God doesn’t kill” heresy, which we addressed a few months ago on this site [1], fail to understand this principle. They insist that God wouldn’t break His own law by taking life, which the Sixth Commandment forbids (Ex. 20:13). What such reasoners fail to recognize, however, is that created beings lack the right under God’s order to take what they cannot give. God, by contrast, is the Giver of life; thus He has the right to take life when His infallible justice demands it.
In the January-March 2023 Adult Sabbath School Lessons, the subject of material wealth and its rightful stewardship has been the focus. The Bible doesn’t condemn the acquisition or possession of material goods; in fact, Scripture declares of God that “it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth” (Deut. 8:18). But like everything else of which we have custody during our earthly sojourn, material wealth can, if permitted, eclipse the place where God alone belongs. Hence the apostle Paul’s warning that “the love of money is the root of all evil” (I Tim. 6:10).
In the Gospels we find the twin stories of Nicodemus and the rich young ruler, both whom were blessed by one-on-one instruction from Jesus. Both were men of great wealth, and both needed to be born again (John 3:3). Yet we don’t find Jesus telling Nicodemus to sell everything he had and give to the poor, as He told the young ruler (Matt. 19:21). The witness of the inspired text suggests that this was because Nicodemus was a generous steward of his wealth [##2|Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 171.##]—which means that unlike the young ruler, material possessions had not become an idol in his life. While in the end Nicodemus became poor in this world’s goods, due to his generous support of the early church’s mission work [##3|——The Desire of Ages, p. 177; Acts of the Apostles, p. 105.##], the fact that Jesus didn’t identify wealth as the plague spot in Nicodemus’s character, as it was with the rich young ruler, indicates that those possessing great wealth are not always guilty of revering it in the place of God.
Moses, David, and the Numbering of Israel
The aforementioned Sabbath School Quarterly cites at one point the wrongful decision of King David to number the people of Israel for military purposes (II Sam. 24:1-10; I Chron. 21:1-7), noting this as evidence of self-trust on David’s part. But as with the other cases noted above, the problem with David’s action was one of time and place, not inherent sin in the act of numbering itself.
This becomes clear when we consider the example of Moses, who at God’s command took another census of Israel for military purposes. We read of this experience in the chapter following the tragic Baal-peor apostasy, in which many thousands perished by a divinely-inflicted plague (Num. 25:1-9):
And it came to pass after the plague, that the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying,
Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers’ house, all that are able to go to war in Israel (Num. 26:1-2).
Here we see God ordering Moses to do the very thing of which He later disapproved when it was done by David (I Chron. 21:7). Why was this? Because the conquest of Canaan for which Israel’s numbering in the above passage was a preparation was part of the divine plan, while David’s later census of Israel was a self-focused, self-initiated gesture of confidence in military strength—a peril even David’s General Joab warned the king against (II Sam. 24:3). As with the other examples we have cited, David’s sin was simply a case of doing the right thing at the wrong time.
Conclusion
Years ago I heard a preacher describe a survey he (or someone else) had designed, asking the respondent, “Which one of the following pairs is more likely to be a Christian?” Among the pairs that were cited were these:
The rich man, or the poor man?
The beautiful girl, or the plain girl?
The handsome man, or the homely man?
The successful student, or the not-so-successful?
The champion athlete, or the one who fails at athletics?
Needless to say, it was the last in each of the above pairs who was identified by most respondents as the likeliest to be attracted to Christianity, as such persons are commonly seen as more prone than the others to need religion as a crutch. Sadly, the historical record is clear that too many who experience temporal success are more likely than the less successful to place trust in themselves instead of God. Little wonder that Ellen White declares: “In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are self-sufficient, independent of God, and He cannot use them” [##4|——Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 80.##].
But true conversion enables the successful to recognize that God is the Source of all they have achieved, a fact King David—in a final repudiation of his former self-confidence—acknowledged in his last prayer before Israel, when he declared, “For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee” (I Chron. 29:14). One who acknowledges this eternal truth can in fact be trusted with tangible, temporal prosperity, in whatever form it comes. That which ensnares the unguarded will thus prove a blessing to the one who recognizes God as the Giver of all things.
REFERENCES
1. Kevin D. Paulson, “Does God Kill?” ADvindicate, Sept. 2, 2022 http://advindicate.com/articles/2021/9/2/justification-and-perfection-aembc-l9bng-h3pls-8wb32-te4k3-6epdj
2. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 171.
3. Ibid, p. 177; Acts of the Apostles, p. 105.
4. ----Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 80.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan