There are many in the world today who, like the rich man of Luke 12, are only concerned with present things, and have no thought of God. This foolish man no doubt thought himself very wise in making abundant provision for this life, but he was unwise in not seeking God and the things of eternity. Had God been in his thoughts, the riches he had acquired in the providence of God would have been used in view of eternity. If we have only this life to think of, if there is no life after death, with Paul we might well say, “If the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). This is also the conclusion of the writer of the Ecclesiastes when he viewed things as “under the sun,” without reference to the future life, “Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun” (Ecc. 8:15).
But there is a resurrection, and a life after death, and those who are really wise will rather seek to be rich toward God than rich in material things that perish, and that are very readily lost. The rich man of Luke 12 thought he had many years to live, and for these he had abundant provision, but he had not reckoned with God, nor imagined that his days on earth were numbered. With self as the centre of his thoughts, and self-gratification his main object in life, this rich man was a “fool,” for he had not considered what the end of his life would bring, and how soon his life might terminate. He “thought within himself,” and resolved what he would do with his rich harvests, but God was not in all his meditations, and he answered the description of Psalm 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.”
Commenting on this man, the Lord said, “So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). From this word we can readily understand that the only riches that are of real worth are those “toward God.” Those who are rich in material things, and are not rich toward God, have received in this life the only consolation they will ever have (Luke 6:24); but those who are poor in this life, but are rich toward God, will have their consolation and portion in the life to come (Luke 16:19-31).
In Luke 21, the Lord Jesus watched those who were rich in present things casting their gifts into the treasury, “And He also saw a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.” The Lord made it very plain as to who was rich toward God, for the poor widow had given all that she possessed in support of the house of God. Like the poor of whom the Apostle James writes, she was “rich in faith” (James 2:5), counting on the Lord to sustain her as having given her all to Him.
When teaching the principles of the kingdom of God, the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 6, said “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (verses 19–21).
In this, as in all else, the Lord Jesus expressed in Himself what He taught. There was none so poor as Jesus, yet none so rich. Of this world’s treasure, as Man on earth, He had nothing; neither home nor money, yet He was the creator of all, and when He used His divine power it was not to enrich Himself, but for the help and blessing of others.
It was not until Jesus came that men learned about treasure in heaven. Saints of God had learned to count upon Him, and to look to heaven for blessing on earth, and treasure on earth had been the evidence of divine blessing, as in the case of the patriarchs, and the nation of Israel, who had received from God a land “flowing with milk and honey.” The coming of Jesus had altered all that for His disciples. They were no longer to look upon material prosperity as a sign of divine favour, or to consider wealth on earth as a divine blessing; but they were to be followers of a rejected Christ, who had become poor, and they were to view heaven as the place for depositing their treasures.
Great possessions, given in the providence of God, instead of leading the heart to God in thanksgiving, might form a great barrier that hindered the soul from acquiring the true riches of divine favour. It was so in the case of the man who came running to Jesus, and kneeling down, asked Him, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). It would seem that he had everything, in the way of present possessions, that a man naturally could wish, yet he knew that he had not the eternal life, the possession of which he evidently thought would complete his happiness.
This young ruler had a lovely character, for “Jesus beholding him loved him,” but he was not prepared to let his earthly riches go and follow a rejected Christ, from whom alone he could receive the eternal life his soul desired. Instead of the gladness that the company of Jesus would have brought to him, he went away sad and grieved. How much better would have been the divine blessing in the company of Jesus than the grief and sadness his possessions brought. He might have used his present possessions to lay up treasure in heaven, and have sacrificed what God had given him for the earth to be eternally rich toward God through faith in the Son of God into whose presence he had come.
The commentary of the Lord on this sad incident was, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” This astonished the disciples, but the Lord said, “Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God.” Here is the secret, and the snare: those who possess riches almost invariably trust in them rather than in God. Only the sovereign intervention of God can separate the rich man from his trust in what he possesses, and give him to have his trust in God.
Those who trust in the Lord have the eternal life that riches cannot acquire, and Christ Himself becomes the treasure of all who believe in Him, even as the Apostle Peter wrote, “Unto you therefore which believe He is precious” (1 Peter 2:7). How wonderful is the treasure in heaven that God has given to His own in Christ, for He “has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,” and “in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:3, 11).
There is that which every true believer has by faith, and according to the eternal counsels of God, the most wonderful riches, “which God ordained before the world for our glory,” things beyond the reach of the natural senses, but revealed unto us by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:7-11). There is also the treasure that we can lay up now, that which the Lord calls the “true riches” (Luke 16:11), riches that will last, and obtained through fidelity to the absent Christ of God. All that we are and have should be used now in view of the coming day.
If such as the poor widow could use all for the Lord and His interests, the rich believer can also use what God has made him a steward of for Himself. Of this we read in 1 Timothy 6, where Paul writes to Timothy, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (verse 17). The lessons of the rich young ruler are to be learned: the rich are not to trust in riches that may take wings, but in God Himself. Such as have riches are to enjoy themselves in distributing to others what God has given them in stewardship.
How very sad it is to see the professing church, which claims to represent Christ in this world, boasting in present wealth instead of seeking the divine riches that are in Christ. Such is Laodicea, to which Christ has said, “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:17). This is the state of the professing church today: it has enriched itself with all that this world affords, and boasts of its acquisitions. It has abundance of material wealth, gold, silver and precious stones; its great buildings are enriched with the best architecture and ornaments of the world; it has beautiful music, an adorned priesthood, and learning that rivals the world’s philosophies.
When Christ was here, He was poor, but His false spouse is rich, stooping to enrich herself from the world by which the One she pretends to love is rejected and despised. Filled with pride, and boasting in her achievements, she does not realise her true condition in the eyes of Him to whom she is so unfaithful, for He has said, thou “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Coveting and securing the riches of the world, the professing church has missed the true riches, for she is poor in the esteem of Christ, not rich before God. The spiritual and heavenly riches that last for ever have been lost because the heart has been set upon what attracts the eye of the natural man, things that are passing and perishing.
In marked contrast to Laodicea, which boasted in being rich but which Christ said was poor, is the church in Smyrna, which Christ knew to be poor in things present, but rich in things heavenly and eternal, for He said to her, “I know thy…poverty (but thou art rich)” (Rev. 2:9). How much better to be like Smyrna, following in the steps of her Master who was poor, than to be like Laodicea, turning from the One she claimed to represent, but so unlike Him, having no heart to share His place of rejection in this world.
Like the church of Smyrna, the churches of Macedonia, were truly rich, though poor as regards present things, for Paul writes of them, “In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty has abounded unto the riches of their liberality” (2 Cor. 8:2). Beyond their ability, they impoverished themselves to communicate what was needed by the servant of the Lord. They had the spirit of the widow with the two mites who gave all she had for the service of God’s house. In giving thus to the Lord and His servant the saints in Macedonia were manifesting that they were rich toward God, and were laying up for themselves treasure in heaven.
The liberality of the assemblies of Macedonia led the thoughts of the Apostle to the One who has made believers rich, who has given them riches before God, writing, “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” (2 Cor. 8:9). It is beyond mortal ken to apprehend the riches possessed by the Son of God before He became Man, but He laid aside the form of God, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Nor can we rightly enter into the depths of poverty that Jesus entered into in becoming flesh, and in going into death.
After laying His divine glory aside, yea, veiling His Godhead in human form, He relinquished all that was rightly His as the Son of David, the crown and the throne, and had not where to lay His head. And who can tell the depths of His poverty when He entered into death? He endured the cross, despising its shame, that His own might be eternally blessed, and made eternally rich in association with Him, sharing “all things” (Rom. 8:32) with Him in the coming day.
The days of His poverty are over, and now as Man He has “unsearchable riches” (Eph. 3:8); and we are rich in Him, and soon to be rich with Him, and owing all to Him, for His work on the cross, and owing all to the Father who freely gave Him to die, and who purposed all in eternity.
R. 7.12.66.