James 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
In Luke 12:20 the Lord God called a rich man a fool! This was no mere name calling as entered into by mortals! This is God labeling this creature what he knew him to be! The biblical definition of a fool is one who hath said in his heart, There is no God. (Psalm 14:1). And this rich man was said to be a fool because he left God out of his consciousness by thinking only within himself! This is the damning sin of Sodom and of the last day! (Luke 17:28-30; Ezekiel 16:49,50). He called his eternal soul, “my soul,” and promised himself “many years,” whereas God didn’t allow him to survive that very night!
Those seeking to pile up riches upon earth do so at the expense of the riches of God in eternity! Luke 6:24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. 25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. For heaven is ruled over by the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and here is his example to all human beings. 2 Corin. 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Both the rich men and the husbandmen are directed to look towards the future!
The rich men are told to begin their weeping and howling now, for the miseries that shall come upon you! (v.1) Then the Lord begins to list out the certain cause of their misery! First was that in which they had trusted, their riches, which shall be corrupted, moth eaten, and shall rust out! Then he tells them that the aspect of their rusty, corrupted possessions shall so inflame their passions at their loss, that even their physical health shall be destroyed in the shock! (v.3) For they have heaped together treasure, nourishing their hearts only for the day of slaughter, like one fattens a calf for butchering!
Rev. 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, 18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
The next witness against them comes from the private prayer chambers of those whom they have afflicted as their cries reach the very “ears” of the Almighty Lord! (v.4) Fervent prayers from these souls gripped in agonies exacted upon them by the rich have the Almighty’s attention! Heaven is silenced at the opening of the seventh seal for the hearing of the prayers of the saints, mediated by that One with the nail scarred hands! And when those Spirit-prompted prayers are co-mingled with the purposes of God in the cross, they are cast into the earth for the shaking of these earthy rich men by providence! (Revelation 8:1-5). Make no mistake, dear readers, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16).
And God’s law from ancient times stands against them! Deut. 24:14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: 15 At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.
The believers, imitating the husbandmen, or farmers, also have their minds directed toward the future! They are instructed to endure such afflictions in spiritual patience which shall mature and establish their hearts, as the coming of the Lord is getting closer! And entirely opposite from the rich men’s treasures that corrupt, the believers treasures shall continue to grow into precious fruit! (v.7)
Matt. 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Their treasure is contained in earthen vessels (human natures), in order that the excellency of their power may be seen to be of God! (2 Corin. 4:7). And the little seed of Christ (Gal. 3:16), buried deep into their hearts, unseen by human eye, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, for an holy habitation of God through the Spirit! (Eph. 2:21-22).
For their fruit is called precious because it is the fruit of the spirit! Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. They have been inwardly conformed to the very image of Christ! {1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.} Whereas the character of the rich men is still filled with the lust that drew them into this damnation to begin with. And for the rich men the fires of Hell shall never be quenched, and the gnawing worm of their lusts shall abide eternally, as there are no devices there to satisfy them! (Mark 9:44,46,48).
James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
But the final state of these believers is beyond human comprehension! 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Phil. 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
For this was the prayer of Christ, our Mediator! John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
But what is the witness of the husbandmen believers? The treasure of the believers is patience! – even long patience! (v.7) For it is within the spiritual grace of patience that they possess their supernatural identities! Luke 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls. For it is not those who start out well, but those who cross the finish line who are the true regenerate! Matt. 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
And it is these to whom the Father will grant glorification, they being those to whom the Spirit has given a new birth, wherein lies the grace of patience in tribulation. Romans 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
For these have in spiritual patience continued in the confident hope and trust in the Lord and his word! Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Notice that the husbandmen-believers are said to have “long patience!” (v.7)
Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
The believers themselves are also said to be the crop as well as the farmer. Believers are called “wheat!” (Matt. 13) And the patience of the believer is to be a granted grace until the heart is established. For to bring the produce of the earth to its maturity there is required the water from heaven in the form of the early and latter rain! The early moisture is required for the planted seed to germinate and spring forth. As the Lord God breathed out breath with its contained moisture into the formed image of the ground and physical man was created, (Gen. 2:7), so the God-breathed word enters into the soul of the elect sinner and spiritual man is brought forth. (John 3:8 where the wind is the breath of God.) Deut. 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
We see this also in John 9:6 when the same God (our Lord Jesus Christ, who made all things – Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16,17), with the same spittle, from that same mouth, fashioned new eyes for that blind sinner!
And so there shall be the latter rain distilling from the heavens that is essential when the produce is ripening. And so there is available to all believers from him who has begun a good work, a full and completing performance unto the desired maturity of the soul! (Phil. 1:6). 1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
The witness of the Lord’s rain is designed to fill both the mouth with food and also the heart with gladness! Acts 14:17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. But it is his Person and not just his provision that shall bring every elect soul into the final glory! Proverbs 16:15 In the light of the king’s countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain. Hosea 6:3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
Pastor Gene Breed
July 3, 2010
