One of heaven’s ‘remarkabilities’? Both the queen of Sheba and I will feel at home there!
Let’s linger a little longer with the queen of Sheba as she says goodbye to Solomon. Why? Because the Lord Jesus made the link Himself in Matthew 12:39-42. He drew a remarkable comparison between two seeming opposites. In the first case, a reluctant Jewish prophet was coerced to make a long sea journey to bring a heavenly-imparted message to some exceedingly repulsive Gentiles in Nineveh. In the second case, it was a very endearing Gentile who herself took the initiative to make a long desert journey to hear heavenly-imparted wisdom from a Jewish king in Jerusalem. What do the stories have in common? Three things: unlike the majority of Jews in Jesus’ day, both Nineveh and the queen responded positively to heaven’s message; both had messengers who were far inferior to the Incarnate Word Himself, who in massive understatement is simply called “greater than Jonah” and “greater than Solomon” (vv 41-42); and both “will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it” as witnesses for the Prosecution. Those, on the other hand, who have responded, like Sheba’s queen, to the One greater than Solomon can see our situation reflected in hers. Seeing his wealth, wisdom, and works, she was overcome. Meeting our King, Solomon-like, the facts far surpass the fame. She noticed how happy his servants were (I hope that’s true of us), and, like every journey we make to the heavenly palace, our experience in leaving should agree with hers. She received the Big 3 Blessings: “all she desired, whatever she asked, much more than she had brought to the king” (2 Chron 9:12). Our King can afford it, delights to share it, and lavishes on us even more than we ask or think!