Even as thy soul prospereth . . .

People usually think of the word “prosperity” in the sense of money, but its Bible context is more about being successful.

When Joshua took the nation Israel into the Promised Land, for example, the word “prosperous” referred to their journey for the successful overtake of the land of Canaan.

Genesis 24:21 reads, “And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.”

Jordan explains, “It’s a journey where he found the wife for the boy. It didn’t have anything to do with money. In fact, it’s going to cost him money. You know, it’s like Barney Google said, ‘When I was single my pockets did jingle.’ It wasn’t a matter of making money; it was a matter of fulfilling the job that he had.”

In the same context, the Apostle Paul talks about hoping for a prosperous journey in Romans 1:10.

“Now people say based upon that verse that when you’re traveling you should pray for ‘traveling mercies,’ ” says Jordan. “I had never heard that term until I moved to the Midwest.

“Paul thought a successful journey was one having some fruit among the people he ministered to. It had nothing to do with getting somewhere on time and not losing his baggage.

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"In the Old Testament under Moses, it was a good thing to be rich; it was a sign of God’s prosperity. But in the earthly ministry of Christ, it wasn’t a good thing at all to be rich.

“I’ve often wondered why it is all the ‘name-it-and-claim-it’ preachers want to talk about having this blood-bought covenant with God to make you rich and prosperous, but they never discuss Jesus’ teachings about money. Didn’t He say, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God’?

“In this same passage in Luke 18, Jesus urges, ‘Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.’

“We’re told in Matthew 19 that when the rich young ruler heard these things from Christ ‘he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.’

“I would suggest that the ‘great possessions’ had the young man, too, because it says ‘he was very sorrowful’ (Luke 18:23). And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, He said to His disciples, ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!’

“I have never yet heard one of the prosperity preachers, I don’t care who it is, quote Luke 18. They’ll quote that verse from III John 1:2 (‘Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth’) and tell you God will give you wealth, and make you prosper in your finances just like your spirit prospers in Christ, but there’s none of them who quotes that passage from Luke 18.

“Now you tell me, from Luke 18, it sounds kind of tough to be rich, doesn’t it? ‘It’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye’? That’s an impossibility, isn’t it? That’s why all the new Bibles re-translate that to ‘the gate of the city’ and all that kind of stuff. . . so the guy can wiggle through. But, no, Christ is saying it’s impossible. It’s as impossible for a camel to go through a needle’s eye as it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of god.

“Well, if that’s true, and He said that to the Apostle John—John was one of the people who was standing there when Christ taught that—then do you think III John 1:2 is talking about money? Being rich in material things?”

“The doctrine in the verse says that your soul would prosper in Christ. In Christ, all spiritual blessings are yours upfront, and John says, ‘I pray that you would prosper in the material realm and in health, just like your soul prospers spiritually.’

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“In I Corinthians 16:2, Paul says the standard for a Believer’s giving is 'as God hath prospered him,' meaning, as God has given us material wealth, therefore we should give on that proportion; on that basis.

“The first thing a reader of III John must recognize is that it was the Apostle John who wrote it. In Galatians 2:9, we’re told that John, along with Peter and James, came to understand that Christ had given Paul a new and advanced revelation over what He’d given the apostles, and they, in turn, extended to Paul ‘the right hand of fellowship,’ recognizing the further disclosures in God’s plans revealed through him.

“They recognized that Paul had been given a new ministry, with a new message to a new agency of people—the Body of Christ—and that it was different from their kingdom ministry to the nation Israel.

“John, as an apostle of the circumcision, committed the uncircumcised over to Paul. If John stood here today, on the basis of Galatians 2:9, he’d tell you III John was written to the circumcision about Israel’s program, and God’s plan and purpose for the nation Israel, and that you shouldn’t try to steal their mail.

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“In I Corinthians 16:2, Paul is instructing the Corinthians about their giving to the ‘poor saints who were in Jerusalem,’ and was telling them they were to give systematically—‘as a man purposeth in his heart, let him give.’

“It was to be a thoughtful, determined kind of a thing, systematically. They were to give sacrificially. But they were also to give proportionately as God hath prospered them. That is, according to their sense of God’s goodness toward them.

“Now, how does God prosper us? How does He make us successful in material ways? There’s two ways. One is what I call the natural things. We read in I Timothy that He’s ‘given us all things to richly enjoy.’ God gave you creation, folks, to make you rich so that you can richly enjoy the bounty of creation.

“God has fixed a creation out here that provides for your needs whether you’re a believer or an unbeliever. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that He ‘causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.’

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“In I Timothy 6:17, Paul writes, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”

“When he says ‘charge them that are rich,’ that means, ‘Put them under orders, those that are rich—those that abound, those who have financial prosperity and are rich in this world with physical things—that they be not high-minded.’ They’re not to look down at people who don’t have wealth nor trust in uncertain riches.

“People will tell you God gives them to you for certain if you do certain things, but Paul thought that wasn’t true.

“You remember in Deuteronomy 28 when God said, ‘I’m going to make you the head of the nations and not the tail. I’m going to make you prosper and everything you touch is going to turn to gold. You’re going to have the Midas touch and you’ll have more than you can spend.’

“God said, ‘I’m going to give you that money,’ and yet to the same people later on, in Jesus Christ’s ministry, He says, ‘It won’t be good for you to have any money because if you do, you’re going to miss the kingdom.’

“Do you understand why if you don’t ‘rightly divide the word of God’ you’re never going to get that straight? That’s God promise to Israel about the future abundance in her kingdom, but He said, ‘Right now, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’

“Israel had to find God’s righteousness before they were going to get the things God was going to give to them. You better be careful about quoting Matthew 6:33 yourself because, while it’s a good thing to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you’ve got no guarantee that those things are going to be added unto you.

“In fact, the instructions to you (in this Dispensation of Grace) are, ‘Don’t expect them to be added—get a job!’ Go back to Matthew 6 and see that He told those people, ‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.’

“There’s going to be a time in the future of the nation Israel, where in order to be a child of God you won’t take the ‘mark of the beast,’ and, as a result, you won’t be able to buy, sell, have a job, do anything.

“And God said, ‘When that time comes, Israel, I’ll take care of you; you don’t worry about it. You just trust me, and if you’ll seek me and my righteousness, you won’t need to worry; all that other stuff will be added to you.’ "