Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! (2) Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. (3) Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. (4) Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. (5) You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. (6) You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.
The verses we study today were written by James, the half brother of Jesus Christ as a prophesy of judgment to come – a warning written to shore up the Christian faithful. James refers to ” the last days” – the last days are now; all time between resurrection and the end of the world which is surely coming. But the last day for us is our death and no one escapes God’s judgment.
James is calling his readers to a certain future event – our last day – and he focusses on those who gave in to the temptation of earthly riches and warns of the dangers of pursuing wealth which is a snare. James compares the souls/heart of people of this world – those who have denied the reality of eternity – to that of animals fattened only for slaughter.
The evidence is everywhere that we live in a transitory world. We can actually see the erosion of material things: clothing and food rot, the grasses and flowers of the fields wither away; beloved pets have a shorter life span and flourish and die; our bodies age before our eyes. No one escapes death.
James is encouraging the faithful Christians – reminding them that all is dying but in their spirit/their hearts, they know that God is the reality – the evidence is around and in us. God is faithful and true to His promises of eternal life. He is condemning those who refuse to look at this world as transitory – those who do not attempt to see the reality behind the illusion of this world. Those who don’t realize that God has turned things upside down – what we see is illusory and with only a hint of the reality behind it. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as I am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) If we deny God He will deny us. Reality, eternal life, begins and ends with God and our bodies exist in time for just a bit.
James is not condemning riches but is saying the sin is in how we gain and use material wealth. Riches are seen as stewardship, not ownership – and come with obligation and temptation. Are we hell bent on getting rich??? These words from James – this prophesy of wrath to come – should remind us that our eyes should be on heaven. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (matt 6:21)