James 5:3

"Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be. witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!"Your gold and your silver have rusted" -"In the judgment, their corrupted wealth will stand as. witness to their misuse of God's provision. No excuses will undo the evidence of their hoarded wealth, which was used only for selfish luxury, not for assisting others" (Kent p. 170). "The whole picture of these three basic types of wealth is the picture of wealth unused" (Draper p. 144). "There is no book which condemns dishonest and selfish wealth with such searing passion as the Bible does…(Amos 2:10; Amos 2:11; Amos 2:4; Isaiah 2:8)" (Barclay p. 137). Once again, in the sight of God, their wealth was corrupted. Silver and gold do not rust, but they can corrode."their rust will be. witness against you" -"evidence against you" (RSV), "it will serve as. proof of your wickedness" (Thayer p. 392), "that which serves as testimony or proof" (Arndt p. 493). "The witness is about the non-use of the materials; the rust becomes the proof of their sin" (Roberts p. 184) The same condemnation is found in Luke 16:19 ff; Luke 12:17. "and will consume your flesh like fire" -"burning into your flesh" (Bas). 1. "As rust eats through, and destroys metal, so the greed, avarice and love for money which characterized these people would destroy them" (Woods p. 261). 2. "What happens to our riches, our clothes, our gold and silver is but. symbol of what is happening to our soul. That wealth that soon slips through our fingers, that we cannot hold on to, is but. symbol of what is happening in our heart" (Draper pp. 144-145). 3. The fire here refers to the fires of hell (Matthew 5:29; Matthew 22:1; Matthew 10:28). "It is in the last days" -"You have been building the wrong kind of treasure" (Draper p. 146). "These people have treasured up as if they would live and the world would go on forever" (Davids p. 177). The phrase "last days" can refer to the Christian age (Hebrews 1:1; Acts 2:17; 1 Peter 1:20), which naturally includes the whole period of time up until the Lord's return(John 6:39; John 6:44; John 6:54; John 11:24; John 12:48). Of course, we must reject the view that the apostles and other inspired writers thought Jesus had to come within their lifetime. Such would contradict their claim to inspiration and go against what they actually did teach (1 Thessalonians 5:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:1 ff). The treasure they have stored up will only condemn them at the judgment. But the death of Christ did begin. period of time known as the last days (Acts 2:17), and during this period of time Jesus could come at any time. "you have stored up your treasure!" -How many people today are making the same mistake? All their plans are concerning this earth and this earthly life and all their efforts are towards those ends. There is so much talk today about IRA's, social security, investment in the stock market, and so on. Where is your treasure? What have you been heavily investing in and what are you depending on? What is your true security?