Seventh-day Adventists are known as an end-time people; our heritage is steeped in a knowledge of the prophecies relating to end-times. We have for years preached about the pending social collapse depicted in Matthew 24. We have been able to explain the recent re-emergence of power on the part of the Roman Catholic Church—an institution in the news once again, with the recent passing of Pope Francis. We likewise understand recent moves in the United States towards union of church and state.
However, we have often been silent on another, less known and discussed sign of the end that is found in the Bible.
Go to now, [ye] rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon [you]. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 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. 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. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned [and] killed the just; [and] he doth not resist you (James 5:1-6).
A Sign of the End
You will note in these verses the term “last days.” So this is a prophecy of the end-times. You will also note that it depicts the total destruction of material wealth. It is a well-known fact that even in the worst of depressions or economic downturns, a small and exclusive group of people are able to maintain or even grow their material assets. Henry Ford and other millionaires of the Great Depression era are proof of that. Such persons have immense resources that can withstand substantial losses while they remain relatively rich, in contrast to others who can lose all their resources in negative economic times. In addition, these privileged souls have access to investment options not available to ordinary people [1].
However, the event depicted in the above passage from the apostle James indicates this wealth will be totally destroyed, and that the rich will be left destitute. Logically, the only time this could possibly happen in the context of the final crisis is during the seven last plagues, when all systems by which wealth can be earned and maintained are ripped apart by the cataclysmic events depicted in Revelation 16. The sores, the seas and rivers turning to blood, the sun increasing its output, will all totally disrupt the mechanisms of any form of economy, interrupting all means by which humans are able to maintain their wealth in the face of normal economic collapses. Of this time, Ellen White makes this comment:
The rich prided themselves upon their superiority to those who were less favored; but they had obtained their riches by violation of the law of God. They had neglected to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to deal justly, and to love mercy. They had sought to exalt themselves and to obtain the homage of their fellow creatures. Now they are stripped of all that made them great and are left destitute and defenseless. They look with terror upon the destruction of the idols which they preferred before their Maker. They have sold their souls for earthly riches and enjoyments, and have not sought to become rich toward God. The result is, their lives are a failure; their pleasures are now turned to gall, their treasures to corruption. The gain of a lifetime is swept away in a moment. The rich bemoan the destruction of their grand houses, the scattering of their gold and silver. But their lamentations are silenced by the fear that they themselves are to perish with their idols [2].
Here we see the destruction of human riches as a principal event that will occur at the time of Jesus’ second coming.
Is God a Communist?
Some Protestant Christians get nervous when focus is placed on the Bible’s rebukes to the wealthy. This is because many of them have embraced the heresy of believing wealth to be a sign of righteousness [3]. Some have even taken the view that God endorses capitalism at the expense of other economic systems [4]. But when we consider that in the Garden of Eden everything was provided by God for free, we are forced to conclude that the concept of money, capital, trade, and commerce has come about only because of sin.
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat (Gen. 2:16).
Man’s food did not need “manufacturing” or complex preparation, but was ready to eat on trees and vines and available without cost.
It was the work of Adam and Eve to train the branches of the vine to form bowers, thus making for themselves a dwelling from living trees covered with foliage and fruit. There were fragrant flowers of every hue in rich profusion. In the midst of the garden stood the tree of life, surpassing in glory all other trees. Its fruit appeared like apples of gold and silver, and had the power to perpetuate life [5].
The Garden itself was their dwelling, and that too was provided free by God. Their food, shelter, and clothing were all divinely provided with no purchase required. There was no need for trade or commerce, and no concept of money or capital. The need for trade, commerce, and currency arose only after the fall. The concept of capital likewise arose after the fall.
Even the concept of private ownership, often pushed as “godly” by certain Christian theologies, is a result of sin. In fact, the earth belongs to God, and we are only stewards of its resources.
For every beast of the forest [is] mine, [and] the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field [are] mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world [is] mine, and the fulness thereof (Psalm 50:10-12).
Nonetheless, because of the fall, Christians have to live in a world dominated by money and the human ownership of assets. While a Christian is free to gather wealth by trade, provided that trade is done in accordance with God’s law, the accumulation of vast amounts of wealth by the exploitation of others is clearly condemned in the Bible. Although the Bible speaks favorably of God giving people “the power to get wealth” (Deut. 8:18), and gives examples of godly men who amassed great wealth (e.g. Job, Solomon, Nicodemus), Jesus reminds us that too often the acquisition of such gain in this world involves acts of unrighteousness:
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God (Matt. 19:24).
Of course God, in spite of His warnings as to the dangers inherent in accumulating wealth, does not thereby endorse Communism. A realistic survey of that system finds that it too facilitates the creation of a small group accumulating power and material assets at the expense of the many. Nor does God promise social justice by setting up human systems of wealth redistribution. The final actions of justice in human affairs will be achieved directly by the Lord Himself.
Latter-Day Wealth Accumulation
We have seen how God declares of the latter-day rich: “Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days” (James 5:3).
The word “heaped” indicates they have accumulated much more than their fair share of wealth. That is, they have created a huge gap between the rich and the poor. This is very much a hot topic in our day. There is more than just anecdotal evidence of a huge wealth gap developing over the past few decades. No wonder the ancient apostle writes:
Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud (James 5:4).
Those condemned in this passage have accumulated wealth by wage fraud, also very much a hot topic in recent times. Again, there is more than anecdotal evidence of a rapid escalation of profits over workers’ wages since the 1970s.
A Sign of the End
What is happening today fits exactly what the apostle James, many centuries ago, said would happen. It is indeed a sign of the end. When we look at the eschatological signs, such as the accelerating push for unity between church and state in America and the rapidly increasing wealth gap driven by keeping wages down while profits rise, we can certainly see the storm clouds gathering. Alas, due to our Laodicean condition, many of these signs are being ignored by too many contemporary Adventists.
But the apostle John’s warning remains painfully relevant:
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. For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (I John 2:15-17).
Many of today’s First World Adventists have grown comfortable with the world because it has reasonably, reliably provided most of us with good food and a good place to live during the decades since the Second World War. This has tempted us to forget that God is our only true provider. However, the apostle John reminds us that this world “passeth away.” In a way, the world is passing away right now, as financial collapse and increasing poverty for the ordinary person increasingly looms ahead. This should serve as a reminder that when all is said and done, God is our exclusive our source of food, shelter, and clothing.
But while the worldly outlook is gloomy, we should remember that the hour of our deliverance draws nigh. Just a few verses from James’ exposure of the behaviour of the wicked rich in the last days, is this reminder:
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh (James 5:8).
REFERENCES
1. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/investing-for-the-ultra-rich:-9-assets-available-only-to-the-wealthy
2. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 654.
3. https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/protestant-ethic-of-prosperity
4. https://mises.org/mises-wire/god-capitalist
5. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 47.
Tony Rigden, a former atheist/deist, came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1980 as the result of a miraculous conversion and the reading of the book The Great Controversy by Ellen G White. He has since been a regular Sabbath School teacher, very part-time lay preacher, elder and briefly head elder. Formerly an electronics technician and computer programmer, Tony is currently still part-time programming but mostly retired. Former hobbies included diving and private flying. Currently he is a volunteer guard (train conductor) for one of New Zealand's leading vintage railways.