Which other scriptures warn against the dangers of material wealth and greed? The Marketplace Mourns (Revelation 18:11) “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo.” Babylon’s fall exposes how fragile earthly wealth really is. Scripture keeps sounding that same alarm all through the canon. Wisdom Literature Sounds the Alarm • Proverbs 11:28 — “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.” • Proverbs 23:4-5 — “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. When you gaze upon wealth, it is gone, for it suddenly sprouts wings and flies away like an eagle toward the sky.” • Proverbs 28:22 — “A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty will overtake him.” • Psalm 62:10 — “If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” • Ecclesiastes 5:10 — “He who loves money is never satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is futile.” The Prophets Cry Out • Isaiah 5:8-9 — “Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room… Surely many houses will become desolate, large, splendid houses without occupants.” • Jeremiah 17:11 — “Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly; in the middle of his days it will abandon him, and in the end he will be proved a fool.” • Micah 2:2 — “They covet fields and seize them; they also take houses… so they deprive a man of his home.” • Zephaniah 1:18 — “Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the LORD’s wrath.” • Haggai 1:6 — “You have planted much but harvest little… the wage earner puts his wages into a bag with holes.” Jesus on Treasure • Matthew 6:19-21 — “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” • Matthew 6:24 — “No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve both God and money.” • Luke 12:15 — “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” – 12:20-21, the rich fool: “You fool! This very night your life will be required of you… So is he who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” • Mark 10:23-25 — “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God… It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” • Luke 16:13-15 — “You cannot serve both God and money… What is exalted among men is detestable in God’s sight.” • Matthew 13:22 — “The seed sown among the thorns… the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” • Luke 16:19-25 — The rich man and Lazarus: earthly luxury offered no rescue in eternity. Apostolic Warnings • 1 Timothy 6:6-10 — “Godliness with contentment is great gain… For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil; by craving it, some have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” • 1 Timothy 6:17-19 — “Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God… to be rich in good works.” • Hebrews 13:5 — “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” • James 5:1-5 — “Come now, you rich, weep and wail for the misery to come upon you… You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.” • Colossians 3:5 — “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature… and greed, which is idolatry.” • Ephesians 5:3 — “But among you there must not be… greed, because these are improper for the saints.” • 1 John 2:15-17 — “Do not love the world or anything in the world… The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God remains forever.” • 2 Peter 2:3 — “In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words.” Living with Open Hands Revelation 18 shows merchants mourning because their lifeline—earthly wealth—vanished in a moment. The rest of Scripture keeps reinforcing the same truth: riches are temporary, deceptive, and powerless against judgment, while generosity, contentment, and devotion to Christ endure forever. |
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