Introduction:

The bible talks much more on money than people realize. It opens with a description of the wealth God placed in the ground.
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. Genesis 2:10-12.

If God wanted us as sick, sad and disgusted and as poor as a church mouse as some people say, why would He would tell us in the creation account that gold was good and plentiful and inspire Ezekiel to describe what many students believe was Lucifer, who we now know as satan, this way-
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Ezekiel 28:13

At the end of His book, God talks about Heaven. I have been there and have seen solid gold streets, trees made out of precious gem stones, diamonds as big as motorcars adorning garden beds and so on. God walks on solid gold pavement and lives in the midst of sparkling gemstones!

We shall see in this study, various accounts where God talks about these matters. There have been six major wealth transfers in the earth and we are about to enter the Seventh!

At this point, may I ask you, “Do you consider yourself to be an heir of God… a joint heir of Jesus Christ and of the seed of Abraham”? If you do, then let us start with Father Abraham.
Abraham went to Egypt where Sarah was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Plagues struck his house because of that and he returned her untouched to Abram. See Genesis 12:14-20 where we read …they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had. Notice my emphasis. We next see… And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. Genesis 13:1-2.

This was before God cut the covenant with him! Apparently God was not concerned about wealth so why do some Christians fight it?

This was the first recorded wealth transfer.

The second wealth transfer happened with Isaac. This account is found in Genesis 26:12-14. If you read the entire chapter you will see that Abimelech asked Isaac to leave because of his wealth and all it produced.
Please remember that these two transfers happened in the worst of conditions.

Isaac sowed in the middle of a major drought and famines in those days were disastrous and he reaped an hundredfold in the first year (Genesis 26:12). Please do not count or think in terms of 100 times as much. A fold is not fixed numerically. To explain, the printed version of this study is printed on A4 paper that is folded in the middle. There are 16 pages in all, but I only used 4 sheets of paper. By adding one single A4 sheet of paper this document would produce 20 pages. By folding, not multiplying, the results have greater effect. Image what may happen when you Fold your offering by 100!

We must stop thinking in natural terms and stop limiting God. I was showering when the Lord spoke to me saying, “Stop Limiting Me”. I thought I was a man of faith and He said that? On reflection, He was right.
Unbelief and fear, preconceived religious mind-sets have hampered us for far too long and changes have to come and are coming.

The third wealth transfer came to Jacob and is recorded in Genesis 31:6-9.

The fourth transfer came to Joseph. He was sold into slavery by his own brother, falsely accused of a distasteful incident, thrown in to prison, but became second in charge of the whole of Egypt and in charge of all properties and possessions. See Genesis 41:39-44.

The next wealth transfer came to Israel.
History records that Abraham’s descendants went into Egypt where they remained for 430 years. We know of the plagues that struck Egypt and of the Passover but look at what God said about the manner in which they were to depart-
And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. Exodus 3:21-22.

God ensured that when they came out, that they received 400 years of back pay, with accrued interest.

He took them by way of the treasure city! They crossed the Red Sea carrying all that wealth with their livestock and arrived at the place where God called Moses into the mountain. He gave Moses instructions for building the Tabernacle and here the story gets really interesting.

You know of the golden calf of course. They made it out of the gold they brought from Egypt. They might have carried it out on the backs of their animals, but where it really counts most is the fact that they carried it out in their hearts! 
This is one reason why Jesus spoke about the treasure of our hearts. God is not as concerned about wealth as we are. He requires our hearts to be seated with Him and not in a bank vault! That is the difference.

Those who say we are supposed to be poor and almost seem to fight you for that viewpoint have just as much heart problem as those who have riches have heart problems. Many churches that oppose any form of prosperity are struggling, but they keep taking up offerings!
 

Several years ago I responded to a young man in response to a question he posed on social media about entering the ministry and recommended several ministries where he could be trained. The backlash of responses shocked me, but when I first mentioned David's offering it was like unleashing the hordes of hell! He and the group of churches he attended all questioned me, asking what bible did I get that from and so on. I replied with the relevant scripture references I shared with them adding that they could check it out in any bible version they wanted and do all the cross-referencing they wanted and they fumed and spluttered and told me I was a liar and so on. My goodness! They were vicious. I asked to be removed from their mailing list after that.
One thing that they do not consider is that you cannot have what you preach against and one question this young man asked was how he could pay for his bible seminary training!
Think on it.

A denominational church I know has a second-hand rumble stall in the rear of their church. I know the pastor who is a nice man, very well educated and a man well versed in theology but the dear folk in this church (and many other churches I know) have a poverty mentality. God never expects us to deal with cast-off materials. He wants the cream of the crop. He wants the first fruits. He is not a cheapskate, but they are!
An aged care centre that they run is decrepit, mold is everywhere and really needs demolishing and rebuilt. They have a small bus with a wheel-chair lifting device and take residents out on outings in this bus. It urgently needs replacing and two offers to provide one were turned down.
One was from a local Casino fund that gives money to charity and they have denied elderly residents the privilege of having a new bus because they did not want gambling money. Whilst we do not agree with gambling, the money unconditionally offered comes from people like those Egyptians. It is hypocrisy.

Those dear people’s lives are put at risk because the pastor’s heart is out of order! It is ridiculous. Someone might make an anonymous donation to that church and he wouldn’t know where it came from. He is not alone! Many other denominational teachings are denying God’s people their rights because of lopsided teaching. It is as if they are afraid of money, but they still use it! Take the offering buckets out of the church and the truth will be revealed.

God had no concerns about accepting sinner’s wealth and giving it to His people! Some of them misused it of course, but there was a Godly cause.

The Tabernacle:

GOD spoke to Moses: "Tell the Israelites that they are to set aside offerings for me. Receive the offerings from everyone who is willing to give.
These are the offerings I want you to receive from them: gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goats' hair; tanned rams' skins; dolphin skins; acacia wood; lamp oil; spices for anointing oils and for fragrant incense; onyx stones and other stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breastpiece. Let them construct a Sanctuary for me so that I can live among them. Exodus 25:1-8.

The wealth that God’s people brought out of Egypt was carried there to build God a house! He asked for it! He had a plan for it and He wanted it built His way and He used sinner’s money!
Please remember this when we come to the Temple later and it is a point to remember when we attempt something in God. Our own ministry has a big plan, but we will not do a thing without direct input from the Lord. We want His plan… not ours and this is where far too many churches and preachers fail! They decide to do a certain thing and then ask to bless it! They want to start a church that God may never have ordained!
Church planting is a big deal with certain denominations. I know… I was once involved in that stuff until the Lord set me free. You see, Jesus is building His Church—but they are building their churches. As it was with Moses, it must be built according to the pattern God has prescribed.
You are to construct it following the plans I've given you, the design for The Dwelling and the design for all its furnishings. Exodus 25:9.

That whole chapter of Exodus 25 and more describes what took place. It concludes with the words- Study the design you were given on the mountain and make everything accordingly. Exodus 25:40.

I have been involved in numerous church building projects and was very enthusiastic about them, until the Lord revealed certain things to me on such matters. It is good to want a church, but there is a right way to go about it—a God way, not a man’s way and far too many are the latter.
I supported my pastor at the time in one such project, as I should, until I realized that God had never asked him to embark on that building project. He was power motivated and ego driven.
He left that church with massive debts, went elsewhere and repeated the process twice. He is now dead. I am a pastor and I will never do to people what he did.

In fact when we finally build our new facility, it will be somewhat different to the usual church seen today and will be 100% out of debt, paid for and completed without placing one burden on anyone. God has given us a plan! We intend following that plan and not our own, even if we have to wait (as we have been doing now) for the right timing.

The Israelites brought so much to Moses he had to ask them to stop giving! There was no pressuring of people in any way to give. They wanted to give and God loves a cheerful giver.
Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop.
I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.
God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done.
As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.
Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone.
Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need.
2 Corinthians 9:6-14

The Tabernacle was much more than a simple tent. I was not able to find any references to the cost, but it was very significant.

The Ark of the Covenant was approximately 1200mm long and 690 mm wide, constructed of Acacia wood and overlaid with gold. The Mercy Seat or cover was made of solid gold with two angels sculpted of gold on top.

The golden candlestick was fashioned out of one piece of gold. Gold was everywhere!

The tabernacle proper was made of wood overlaid with gold. Silver fittings were also used. It was a very expensive piece of work!

The Priests’ Garments:

Exodus 28 gives the details of the priestly garments. The cloth was expensive, even by today’s standards, using dyes derived from molluscs. Such materials were renowned for vibrant lasting colour intensity. Fine twined linen was used and gold thread was embroidered and woven into the material.
Two large onyx stones were used on which six each of the names of the Tribes of Israel were engraved. The stones were set into gold rosettes.

The garment was held together on the shoulders with twined gold chains.

A nine square inch breastplate was similarly constructed. The details are as follows-
The breastplate shall be square and doubled; a span [nine inches] shall be its length and a span shall be its breadth.
You shall set in it four rows of stones: a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle shall be the first row; The second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond [so called at that time]; The third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
And the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree.
And the stones shall be twelve, according to the names of the sons of Israel, like the engravings of a signet, each with its name for the twelve tribes.
You shall make for the breastplate chains of pure gold twisted like cords.
You shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold and put [them] on the two edges of the breastplate.
And you shall put the two twisted, cordlike chains of gold in the two rings which are on the edges of the breastplate.
The other two ends of the two twisted, cordlike chains you shall fasten in the two sockets or rosettes in front, putting them on the shoulder straps of the ephod; And make two rings of gold and put them at the two ends of the breastplate on its inside edge next to the ephod.
Two gold rings you shall make and attach them to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod in front, close by where they join, above the skillfully woven girdle or band of the ephod.
And they shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the skillfully woven girding band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not become loose from the ephod. Exodus 28:16-28.

One outfit was made for Aaron and one for each of his sons. It must have been an amazing sight to see them dressed in those garments as they ministered to the Lord. Imagine the glitter and gleams they reflected from the light or fire of God.

There are more illustrations I could use, but I’d like to jump now to David.

The era of David and his son Solomon ushered in the sixth wealth transfer.

Then David said, “This is the house of ADONAI, God; and this is the altar Isra’el is to use for burnt offerings.” David ordered that the foreigners in the land of Isra’el should be assembled, and he appointed stone-workers to shape stones for building the house of God. David prepared a large store of iron from which to make nails and clamps for the gateway doors and, a quantity of bronze too great to weigh, and cedar logs beyond numbering—because the Tzidonim and the people from Tzor brought cedar logs in abundance to David.
David said, “Shlomo my son is young and inexperienced, while the house to be built for ADONAI must be so magnificent and splendid that its fame and glory will be known in every country; so I will make preparations for him.” Therefore David made extensive preparations before his death. Then he summoned Shlomo his son and charged him to build a house for ADONAI, the God of Isra’el. 1 Chronicles 22:1-6.

The Temple was a magnificent structure, the value of which in today’s economy would rival the national economy of many large countries.

David had a desire to build a house for God, who did not permit him to build it. He made preparations for the construction giving his son Solomon charge to fulfil the task God did not permit him to build. It appears that this was his personal offering, or tithe.

He appointed masons for the stonework, provided an abundance of iron nails, provided so much bronze it could not be measured and provided an abundance of cedar. The detailed list of his offering is revealed in the rest of the above chapter.

It is as follows-

• 100,000 talents of gold
• 1,000,000 talents of silver
• Too much iron to weigh
• Too much bronze to weigh
• Too much timber to measure
• Too much stone to list

Metrology:

To facilitate our studies, the topic of Metrology needs to be addressed. Metrology is the science of weights and measures. It deals with linear measurements, dry measures, liquid measures, weight and value or money. We shall concentrate on the matters of weight and coinage.

Because of the various ways of measuring and valuing objects employed by various countries it not a simple matter to convert to today’s modern methods of assessment. Even in our present time, varying standards in different countries of the world are used, requiring conversion an interesting exercise.
In my own country of Australia for example, our metric system of weights and measures, uses measure kilometres for distance, litres, grams and kilograms for measuring liquids and weights whereas in the United States the units are miles, gallons, pounds and tons.
The difference between imperial and US measurements may vary. One US ton is the equivalent of 0.89285714 pounds in the U.K.

Primitive measuring processes relied on parts of the human body such as a handbreadth or span, or a reasonable weight for a man to carry in one day and so on. A cubit for example was the length of the arm from the point of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. In like manner, a handful was originally used for measuring purposes.

When measuring weights the shekel was the most common unit and was the standard God established for His people. Also seen in the bible are measuring units of the Bekah, the Gerah, the Maneh and the Talent, which was the largest unit of measurement by the Jews.

With regard to money, a wide range of units of measurement was employed with both coined money and un-coined money. The denarius, farthing, penny and shekel were common measurements or denominations.
A piece of gold or silver was also used.

For such reasons, these factors and conversion rates were taken into consideration and I have been conservative in my calculations, deliberately erring when rounding off to minimal values.

The precise equivalent of one talent is not easily defined, but is up to 125 pounds in weight. I have opted to use 100 pounds for my calculations.

My cost estimates are based on world prices of precious metals, easily obtained by Internet searches.

Gold:

Gold is provided by several means, such as gold bars and coinage. The most common way of handling gold is by bullion. Bars are available in differing sizes. What is knows as a Good Delivery Bar, weighs 400 troy ounces. 1 Kilogram bars, 100 gram, 10 Ounce and 1 Ounce units are also used.
Gold bullion coins are also widespread.

Gold prices at November 2011 on which this study is based were $1787 per ounce.

Silver:

 Silver bars usually come in 100 Ounce (3.11Kg) and 1000 ounce  (31 Kg) bars and 1 Kg bars. Like Gold, silver is also available in coinage.

Silver prices as of November 2011 were $465 per ounce.

The Gold David Collected:

The bible says that David provided 100,000 Talents of gold. If 1 Talent equates to between 100 Lbs (US) and 125 Lbs (US), David provided somewhere between 10,000,000 Lbs of Gold. I will use the smaller amount for calculations, based on US measure.

10,000,000 Lbs is equal to 160,000,000 Ounces.

At the current updated price of $1787 per Ounce at the time of writing, David provided a mind-boggling amount of Gold.

At today’s price, his offering of gold amounted to $285,920,000,000.

Physical statistics of the gold:

If 1 bar of gold weighed 10 kilograms or 22.2 pounds, David provided 405,405 bars.

If 1 bar of gold weighed 25 kilograms or 55 pounds, David provided 163,636 bars.

To give you some idea of the size of his gold offering, one ounce of gold measures 42mm long, 24mm wide and 2 mm thick. The overall dimensions of the gold he gave would thus be something like this-

• When stacked one on top of each other his gold would have been be 288 Km or 179 miles high.
• When stacked end to end, it would have been 604800 Km or 375805 miles long.

The world's largest gold bar today weighs 250 kg or 551 lb. It measures 45.5 cm x 22.5 cm x 17 cm or 17.9 in x 8.9 in x 6.7 in. This equates to 17403.75 cm³ or 1062.04 in³.

The Silver David Provided:

David provided 1,000,000 talents of silver.

Using similar calculations, he provided 100,000,000 Lbs, or 1,600,000,000 ounces of silver. This equals 4,535,923,700,000 Grams.

In silver bars that weighed 5 Kg, David gave 907,184,740,000 bars, coming to a value of  $74,400,000,000.

Total Value of David’s Precious Metals:
We have not been able to ascertain the amount of other materials David provided. The bible merely states that these amounts were beyond measure. His gold and silver alone was equal to the national budgets of many countries, coming by my calculations to a staggering $360,320,000,000.
This is, as I mentioned earlier, based on a conversion rate of 100 Lbs per Talent, but if the equivalent is more like 125 Lbs per talent, then David’s offering is even higher.

Solomon:

David did not build the Temple. His son Solomon accomplished that task. His dedication prayer and peace offering seen in 1 Kings 8 reveals the extent of his wealth that vastly exceeded that of David. Solomon sacrificed 22,000 oxen and 120000 sheep.

The Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s great wealth and came to see for herself, bringing gifts that the bible says were very great including 120 talents of gold! When she saw how his servants lived, she fainted! Solomon’s income of gold in one year was 666000 talents. You can read the full account in 1 Kings 10.

It seems that the Temple was covered with gold! Imagine entering a building today that was overlaid within and without with gold plate!

The detailed accounts are found in the books of Kings and Chronicles and it is simply amazing how much hold is mentioned. In one bible search alone, I discovered 391 references in the Old Testament alone concerning gold! When I shared part of this on another occasion, religious people threw their hands up in horror and asked me what bible I used. I told them… no I challenged them to use any version of the bible they wished and conduct their own independent research, but they declined! Brainwashed? Religious? Sick, poor and broke? Yes to all questions. Sadly the church has been programmed very effectively to believe a lie so that we are rendered less effective in helping establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.

The seventh wealth transfer is coming to the Church.

There are numerous scripture references to confirm my statement. Proverbs 10:22 says-
The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.


Notice that it says “blessing” singular...not blessingS (plural). It is the BLESSING of God, or the BLESSING of Abraham that is on the Body of Christ and the ascension gift ministries in particular… to get the job done.

I recentgly spoke with the pastor of a denominational church and he fiercely debated with me about finances, almost spitting out the statement that I was one of those "Charismatics" and started speaking on a nasty way about some world renowned ministers who is very wealthy. He labelled him and one of those "prosperity preachers" and a televangelist who was always on about money. I personally know this ministry and corrected some glaring errors. I told him that he does not know what this preacher does with his money and that he operated totally by faith! I told him that he has paid mortgages of people's houses, provided much aid to disaster ridden communities and more.
What was sad about it is that this pastor had been begging people in the church to give more in their offerings so that the office could keep running. It was sickening and needless to say, they had to close the office.

There are numerous churches around like this...and to be truthful...they are not getting the job done, because they do not have the finances to do it!

Proverbs 13:22 tells us that
the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just

Sinners may be holding onto it at present, but in reality they are amassing great wealth and storing it up for the Church.
Though he heaps up silver like dust, And piles up clothing like clay—He may pile it up, but the just will wear it, And the innocent will divide the silver. Job 27:16-17.

Those of us who have a specific call of God that requires massive funding are going to receive their allotment very soon.

I must hasten to add that I believe that Christians are not going to come into wealth that they cannot handle.
This wealth transfer is not for all!
Money without a mission is a waste and may in fact be harmful to those who cannot handle it.

Jesus was never broke. He made the things I have spoken about, but did not draw on them for resources because the need as we understand it just was not there.  He did not need an intercontinental jet, or a television program, but we could! That is the difference. We need a massive injection of finances in the end time church to get the job done and it is time that the lie that the devil has successfully injected into the church about Christians having to be poor to be spiritual stops.

I am fast running out of space, but have shared enough by now to let you see that God has no problems with us being wealthy. In fact, the wealth of the sinner is being stored up for the righteous. Such scriptures as Proverbs 13:22 affirm this. It is all there, but at present is merely in the wrong hands.

For additional study, you may like to look at Exodus 23:35; Leviticus 26:4; Deuteronomy 28:2; Psalm 65:9; 68:19; 107:38; 144:13; Isaiah 30:23; 54:12; Joel 2:26; Amos 9:13; Zechariah 10:1; Malachi 3:10; Matthew 6:33; Luke 18:30; 1 Timothy 6:17.

I must close now, but want to leave you with a thought about Heaven and the Holy City of Jerusalem. As the song says (about Jesus), it is beautiful beyond description. Too wonderful for words…

Her streets are made of gold. Precious gems adorn her walls. Her gates are made of pearls and it is reported that each pearl is 200 Km in diameter!
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls—each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was clean gold, like transparent glass.

When I visited Heaven, I saw streets of pure metallic gold that appeared to be transparent. On one occasion what I saw was like a freeway made of this gold that disappeared into the distance and seemed to melt into a crystal sea that was smooth, calm, transparent and looked like molten gold!
 I am not embellishing a thing. Nor am I adding to, or detracting from anything being mindful of such scriptural statements as Revelation 21:19.

Please prayerfully weigh up what I have shared. It may give you caused to rethink your viewpoint on God’s perspective… not man’s on what we call wealth.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!”  So he took me away in the Spirit to a huge, majestic mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
The city possesses the glory of God; its brilliance is like a precious jewel, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper.
It has a massive, high wall with twelve gates, with twelve angels at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel are written on the gates.
There are three gates on the east side, three gates on the north side, three gates on the south side and three gates on the west side.
The wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The angel who spoke to me had a golden measuring rod with which to measure the city and its foundation stones and wall.
Now the city is laid out as a square, its length and width the same. He measured the city with the measuring rod at fourteen hundred miles (its length and width and height are equal).
He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits according to human measurement, which is also the angel’s.
The city’s wall is made of jasper and the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.
The foundations of the city’s wall are decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
And the twelve gates are twelve pearls — each one of the gates is made from just one pearl! The main street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass.
Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God — the All-Powerful — and the Lamb are its temple.

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb.
The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur into it.

Its gates will never be closed during the day (and there will be no night there).

They will bring the grandeur and the wealth of the nations into it, but nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:9-27

I hope you will live there with me!

Robert