Like a chestnut tree

For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festive assembly to the Lord your God; you shall do no work on it. (v.8)

You shall also remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful and comply with these statutes. (v.12)

Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths; and they are not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. (v.16)

When we read the law concerning the three different Feasts, we understand that God gave the law to the Israelites to educate them about the coming Messiah. Christ explained to us the meaning of the leaven and why God hates it. Christ freed us from slavery. And God required something from His people as we read v.16 and it was fulfilled when Christ gave Himself for us. In fact, all the law is for our education. We all know God did not give the law concerning the feasts and sacrifices because He needed something.

This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne and the earth is the footstool for My feet. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, So all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But I will look to this one, At one who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My word. (Isaiah 66:1-2)

If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and everything it contains. (Psalm 50:12)

God does not judge people as we judge others with our eyes. God looks at the heart. Therefore, we conclude that the law was not given for us to judge ourselves and others by what we do. Our works reflect what is in our heart but only God can truly judge. However, God allowed the civil governments to make their own law for order and stability.

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things defile the person. (Matthew 15:18)

Every person is to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. (Romans 13:1)

Theologians and ministers preach that Christ came because Adam had failed. It is a wrong understanding. From the start, only the Son could save His people and make them the children of God. And the new covenant promises the change of the heart. God has sanctified everything by Christ’s blood. Those who receive the Holy Spirit have a new heart that knows and understands God. We have become one with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.

But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” (Acts 10:14-15)

There are still people who try to observe various laws concerning the feasts and sacrifices written in the OT. They call themselves Christians but they are not. They are still under slavery.

Christians try to keep the moral laws not because they give righteousness but because it is fitting for us to keep them as children of God. However, we must remember that all good works come from the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

So you too, when you do all the things which were commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ (Luke 17:10)

At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. And this is the regulation for the release of debts: every creditor is to forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. From a foreigner you may require it, but your hand shall forgive whatever of yours is with your brother. (vv. 1-3)

And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, so that no one would keep them in bondage any longer; they obeyed, and set them free. But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male servants and as female servants. (Jeremiah 23:10-11)

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matthew 6:12)

This chapter is about the Sabbatic year. At the end of every seven years, all the Israelites were required to release what they had loaned to their neighbors. People often interpret the law literally. Most people do not understand that the essence of the law is love. The law is about what Christ has done. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. But most of the Israelites, especially the teachers of the law, did not understand what it meant when Christ taught them.

Without understanding the purpose and the meaning of the law, there is no keeping of the law as we see in Jeremiah 23. Everyone without the Holy Spirit cares only about the earthly life. They go after wealth and prosperity. People envy Job because of his wealth and their beautiful children. Christians think that they will get more wealth if they endure their suffering and be obedient to church authorities.

In my opinion, true Christians go through much suffering in the world and stay in a humble position. God knows what wealth can do to a person. In Job’s case, Job believed he deserved and earned the earthly blessings because of his obedience. I am not saying that he should have disobeyed God. What I am saying is that it is wrong to believe that one’s obedience can bring God’s blessings.

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, since otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened (Romans 11:6-7)

It is very absurd to say that the Apostle Paul preached salvation by works of the law. But theologians and ministers preach that Christ had to keep the law perfectly to gain righteousness. And they insist that Paul believed it.

Christ came to the earth to free His people from the bondage of sin and death. He did it by dying on the cross. Through this one act of righteousness that came out of God’s love, the law became perfected. We no longer obey the law as the written code that brings death. We now obey God through faith. Those who are truly reborn do not follow false doctrines.

For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4)

And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding as well? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the person from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thereby He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, “That which comes out of the person, that is what defiles the person. For from within, out of the hearts of people, come the evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, acts of adultery, deeds of greed, wickedness, deceit, indecent behavior, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the person.” (Mark 7:18-23)

Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day— (Colossians 2:16)

This chapter explains what is clean or unclean food. Theologians insist that perfect keeping of the law could earn righteousness and eternal life. But we get a very different understanding of the law from Jesus Christ. We true Christians do not distinguish what is clean or unclean food because Jesus gave us the true interpretation of the law. The law was given to teach the Israelites about God’s plan and will.

We all know that God did not give the Israelites the law concerning sacrifices because He was hungry.

If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and everything it contains. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats? (Psalm 50:12-13)

Clean and unclean food explains what will happen at the end. Christians will be separated from idolaters. Eating what is described as clean food does not make one clean before God.

And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:32)

The conditional covenant was not given for the Israelites to gain righteousness through the works of the law. It is not because Adam had failed and everyone became sinful that they could not earn righteousness by works. Even Adam failed. So what does this teach us? Many misinterpret the doctrine of Total Depravity.

Adam was never given a condition to fulfill to gain eternal life. However, that is what theologians teach people. We must understand that Christ’s teaching is the only orthodox teaching of the law. There was no such thing as the Covenant of Works. Christ or Adam did not need to keep the law perfectly to gain eternal life or become righteous. We must focus on the new covenant and what it promises. Then we can understand the Old Testament.

Offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High (Psalm 50:14)

How can we thank God if we do not know Him or what He has done and will do? Only Christ (Word) opens our eyes and ears and makes us know and understand the Father through the Holy Spirit. That is why reading the Bible is essential in Christians’ everyday life.

No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:18)

No human including Adam deserves rewards from God for their works. Everything described in the Bible has happened for us to love and wait for God and His kingdom.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken falsely against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to drive you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you. (v. 5)

There are numerous people in the world who claim that they are Christian theologians, priests, ministers, teachers, and/or prophets. It is difficult to judge who is right or wrong. False prophets have one thing in common. That is they deny the teachings of Christ.

As verse 5 shows, God is “God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery”. All false Christians deny absolute grace. They believe that they are saved because of their good works and obedience to the law of God. The reason why I strongly object to the Covenant Theology and the Active Obedience of Christ (AOC) is because they deny absolute grace. They lead us back to Egypt.

Interestingly, those who rely on the works of the law do evil things and live an immoral life. The AOC promotes both legalism and antinomianism and it has been criticized by many Christians. Legalism and antinomianism may seem different but their root is the same. They oppose Christ.

The Roman Catholic church rejected the Protestants in the 16th century claiming that they were libertines and law-breakers. But we know from many history books that the Roman Catholic church was extremely corrupt at that time and even now. By denying the absolute grace of God, false teachers and prophets think they uphold the law and bring order to a society. And that was what happened in 17th century England when the Protestant ministers gave the AOC a new face to rule the nation with the law of God.

All true Christians uphold the law not because we fear that we will lose our salvation by disobeying God. We love the law because its foundation is God’s self-sacrificing love. We all know that we cannot save anyone by making them keep the law. We do not harm or kill anyone for not keeping the law of God because keeping it is from the change of the heart. Chapter 13 tells us what will happen to those who try to take Christians back to slavery in the end. God will punish them eternally.

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19)

In this evil age, we must remember what grace of God truly means.

“See, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known. (vv. 26-28)

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:31-32)

For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the violations that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15)

Most Christians have never heard of the doctrine called the Active Obedience of Christ. For those who do not know what it is, you can have a look at this: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/simply-put/active-and-passive-obedience-of-christ. Or you can simply look up on the internet.

For over a year, I have been trying to explain why this doctrine is dangerous and misleading. I believe everyone who studies Theology professionally learns about this theology. If anyone denies this doctrine, the person is deemed unorthodox and an apostate.

This doctrine is originally from Anselm of Canterbury who believed that men had free will. If we accept his idea, we end up denying God’s grace upon the elect. The doctrine leads us to salvation based on obedience to the law of God. Those who believe that this doctrine is orthodox emphasize obedience to the law. All saints uphold the law. but theologians make their own interpretations of the law. When the written code was alive, the Israelites were subject to death because of the old covenant. However, the new covenant is different. The saints will never be subject to death not because Jesus kept the law perfectly but because He changed our status from slaves to children by buying us with His blood.

The blessing we receive does not depend on our works of the law. Instead, it is tied to the one and only Son of God. The Father gave the Son the task of making us His children. And the Son accomplished this on the cross. The church united with Christ died and resurrected with Him. We are reborn. It is wrong to say that the cross is only about payment for our sins.

God gave the Israelites the law. However, He was not pleased with the sacrifices of animals. On the outside, it appeared that a blessing was promised if the Israelites did what the law said. However, God was not satisfied with the sacrifices of animals.

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offering. (Psalm 51:16)

Then we must wonder why God gave the law in the first place. Based on the old covenant, theologians concluded that obedience was the source of God’s blessing. However, they misunderstood the meaning of obedience. The obedience God wants is based on love, which exists only in the relationship between the Father and the Son.

Samuel said, “Does the LORD have as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)

You have not desired sacrifice and meal offering; You have opened my ears; You have not required burnt offering and sin offering. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; It is written of me in the scroll of the book. “I delight to do Your will, my God; Your Law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:6-8)

The law required the Israelites to give God burnt offerings and sacrifices. But the verses above tell us that God is not pleased with them. How should we interpret this?

God delights in only one person who is the exact representation of Himself, His Son. It is not the obedience that God cares but the person who obeys truly, the Son of God. Therefore, the law was given to guide us to the Son who makes His people true children of God. Therefore, the Son makes us righteous by making us reborn. Without the Son’s death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit could not come. Our righteousness is the work of the Son and the Spirit.

Therefore, it is wrong to say that the Son made us righteous by perfect keeping of the law. It is from the wrong understanding of the old covenant. The Bible denies this theory because God never promised sonship or eternal life to Adam. The Covenant Theology which includes the Active Obedience of Christ is based on men’s fantasy of a human savior because it asserts that Adam could have been the head of the church had he kept God’s command perfectly. All pagan religions, novels, and movies praise men-made saviors who do not exist. We do not believe that our righteousness is from the law. Our righteousness is God. And this righteousness became ours through the blood of Christ.

In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will live securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’ (Jeremiah 23:6)

So then, as through one offense the result was condemnation to all mankind, so also through one act of righteousness the result was justification of life to all mankind. (Romans 5:18)

So circumcise your heart, and do not stiffen your neck any longer. (v.16)

But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from people, but from God. (Romans 2:29)

Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— (Jeremiah 9:25)

From my youth, I heard many sermons on how to live a life that is pleasing to God. I spent my youth trying to be a good person respected by others. I remember that I swore to God that I would never say anything bad and would obey God’s words. But I failed numerous times. I gave up and slowly became used to the immoralities happening around me and accepted them. I even encouraged others to do the same. I now know that I did not do a single good thing out of my will and effort.

For I know my wrongdoings, And my sin is constantly before me. (Psalm 51:3)

We often think that we are better than King David who committed adultery and murder. But we are as great sinners as him. David, who received the Holy Spirit, still fell into temptation and committed horrible sins.

Create in me a clean heart, God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. (Psalm 51:10-11)

God let David fall into temptation. His failure is not for us to feel better about ourselves. We are no better than David.

What the law requires is self-sacrificing love. The Ten Commandments are summarized into one word: love. However, God made the stones breakable. And they broke when Moses threw them out of anger. The written codes are made to be destroyed. True obedience comes from the Holy Spirit. Only by becoming God’s children through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, we can truly call God, our Father.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good? (vv. 12-13)

Fear may sound contradictory to love. But fear and love exist together in the mind of children towards his/her father. From the beginning, God intended to create His children through His only begotten Son. The saints become God’s eternal priests and children.

Anyone who emphasizes God’ law and punishment does not understand God’s will in creation. Many Christians live a life of slavery because they do not know what God wants. They live out of fear that something they do might trigger God’s anger. Yet, they live a sinful life because sin is from not knowing God. Can anyone seek God and find Him? The answer is no. No matter whether you live a secluded life or pray all day, God is not something that you can grasp. He is like the wind.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, The Lord GOD says this: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, so that they come to life.” (Ezekiel 37:9)

However, the words of admonitions in the Bible do benefit the saints. “Circumcise your heart”. We know that we cannot circumcise our hearts. We know that we did not choose to believe in God. God made us believe in Him and become His children. These words “Circumcise your heart” remind us that we are now children of God and that we must live according to our new status. We are no longer slaves but children of God.

For the reprobate, these words become a snare because they do not know God. They think they can circumcise their heart by their will and effort. They preach that God’s grace is partial and incomplete. God knows that their heart is not circumcised. They will be condemned at the end. We must remember that God’s grace is absolute, complete, and total.

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:25-26)

Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not turn Your attention to the stubbornness of this people, or to their wickedness, or their sin. (v. 27)

I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)

And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. (Matthew 13:8)

This chapter summarizes the events that happened in Exodus from chapters 19 to 32. It is easy to focus on what the Israelites did – making a molten calf and worshiping it. But we need to remember what caused the Israelites to do such a thing. The Israelites simply did not know or understand God even though they saw many miracles. They had the leader, Moses, who taught them about God and His law but they did not obey God from the heart.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from people, but from God. (Romans 2:28-29)

This false obedience was clearly shown in Numbers 16. The Israelites supported Korah and his group secretly and were angry at Moses when they were punished.

But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people!” (Numbers 16:41)

The obedience of the Israelites was false. It did not start from the heart of flesh because God did not give them the heart of flesh.

Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. (Deuteronomy 29:4)

Even in the OT, God gave His elect people the Spirit to understand His words and works. But they were chosen regardless of their background. The Israel nation was built to teach the elect that one’s salvation is not from his/her will or works. It appears that the Israelites suffered for our education. But their suffering was from their own sins. In fact, they enjoyed sinning and rebelling against God. The new Israel, the church on the earth, is the same. Christians say that they reform continuously but they have adopted false doctrines. I am referring to the Covenant Theology, the Dispensationalism, and other false doctrines. They misinterpret the OT starting from Genesis chapter 1.

One must understand the purpose of all creation – the Kingdom of God. God plans and carries out all His plans without changing. Therefore, grace is 100%. Salvation is not from our will or works. God is faithful and fulfills all promises to His chosen people.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He made us into a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:4-6)

In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to put you to the test, to do good for you in the end. (v. 16)

So they said to Him, “What then are You doing as a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work are You performing? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have indeed seen Me, and yet you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of everything that He has given Me I will lose nothing, but will raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:30-40)

If anyone thinks that the Israelites could have had a better life if they had kept the law, that person needs to read the Bible again from the start. God could have made the Israelites to be the rulers of Egypt if He wanted to. But He did not because He wanted to teach them through suffering. God led them to the wilderness where food and water were scarce. He gave them all they needed for living. Their life was far from the luxurious life of rulers of the world. But they had the riches of witnessing God’s works. However, they did not understand God because they focused on their life on the earth.

When Christ came, he did not have earthly wealth or a handsome look. The world despised Him.

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we would look at Him, Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him. (Isaiah 53:2)

The Israelites despised manna. In John 6, people demanded miracles from Jesus. They did not understand why God gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness.

God’s grace is absolute and no one deserves it. It is freely given to those whom God has chosen before the foundation of the world. God trains His people through suffering in the world. We become humble and seek God. We come to know God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

However, churches today no longer talk about Christ’s humble appearance and suffering. They hate the cross of Christ. They run after other gods that they think would give them earthly wealth.

Being one with God is God’s will. Jesus Christ was sent here to become our bread and water. He shed blood and died for us to make us children of God. The foundation of the kingdom of God is self-sacrificing love, which only God can do. The written code in the OT leads us to the cross of Christ but it is not the foundation of the kingdom.

He was despised and abandoned by men, A man of great pain and familiar with sickness; And like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we had no regard for Him. However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, and our pains that He carried; Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, struck down by God, and humiliated. But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings; The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5)

But this is what you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, smash their memorial stones, cut their Asherim to pieces, and burn their carved images in the fire. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (vv. 5-6)

The carved images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become designated for destruction, like it; you are to utterly detest it, and you are to utterly loathe it, for it is something designated for destruction. (vv.25-26)

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered. (2 Peter 3:10)

The foundation of our salvation is God’s love and mercy. God did not choose any of us because of what we did well.

The Lord did not make you His beloved nor choose you because you were greater in number than any of the peoples, since you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)

Those who misinterpret the law think that they can earn salvation by keeping the law. They use it to enslave others because the law brings fear and obedience. They take people back to Egypt. However, their falsely pious life attracts people. They continue to live that way until they die. The saints suffer under these idolaters. But God always looks after them and saves them in the end.

Churches around the world seek after wealth. Everything will melt, even their precious gold and money. The reason why they go after money is because they do not know God or His will. They say that the kingdom of God is coming. But they don’t believe it. God does not give them the wisdom to know Him. Therefore, all they have is the life on the earth. They exploit others to please themselves because this life is all they have.

The Reformed churches boast that they are true churches. However, I found out that many people boast about their wealth and believe that their wealth is proof of God’s blessing on them. They misinterpret the OT and think they are Abraham. The material blessings given to God’s people in the OT symbolize the riches of God’s salvation shown on the cross of Christ. Wealth in the OT is connected with the promised land, which symbolizes God’s kingdom. The material wealth that we have in this life is often a snare because it makes us proud.

And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:24)