1 Kings 10:1 “And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.”

This was meant to be shorter but went a while, but if you’ve got “hard questions” and you’re interested in God’s word, and perhaps as hungry for truth as the woman in focus today was… watch out, it might be a blessing to you!

… In Matthew 12:42 , our Lord Jesus Christ commends the queen of Sheba “…for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”

He’s referencing a story found in 1 Kings 10! … and the Spirit of Christ moves upon all the pages of the Bible, but in some stories the gospel is truly gloriously illustrated… and this is one of those!

Out in a far country… “south” country…. just like us, as Jesus is from above and we are from beneath… out in the country, which Jesus described as the “uttermost parts of the earth” a queen heard of Solomon, and she came a very long journey to see him “faith cometh by hearing”, to see for herself. How about find out about Jesus Christ for yourself one of these days?

She came from the “uttermost”, and by his marvellous grace you can come from the uttermost too!… maybe you’re as far away from God as it would seem possible, maybe by intention or maybe through ignorance… maybe a massive “train” of sin in your life… but you can still get to Jesus, for “he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” Amen!

So this queen comes a long way on very little information to “prove” what she has heard, and WHO she has heard! That’s pretty good stuff… would you do that with Christ?

Jesus Christ is not afraid of being proven. Because he is proven. And we could go through the “many infallible proofs” but the most important proof is his proven love to you, he died for your sins while you were his enemy no less. Noone does that! Much less the Holy for the unrighteous. And yet he did, and now he draws you, as news from a far country drew a lost hungering soul from the south to Solomon’s palace “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.”

… but before you get saved, and even after, you gotta realize that you and God… are different. You don’t speak the same language, you don’t think the same way. This queen was from a different country far away, a kingdom not of Solomon, and the Bible says “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” That’s us. We have no idea how far away our sins have left us from God. We are foreign to God, and unless you get saved and a new birth and citizenship in heaven, you would be a foreigner to ever enter heaven… and no foreigners will be in there. This woman meeting Solomon is two different countries meeting, and you coming to God is earthly meeting heavenly, sinner meeting Saviour. Sorry to say, you’re not as heavenly as you think you are, noone is, only Christ makes us suitable for heaven.

It’s God’s grace that beckons us to “come and see”. It’s God’s grace that allows us audience with the King of glory. He doesn’t have to see you, but even as his enemy, yet in cords of love he draws you, even from very afar “ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ”

But just think about this, this woman had to traverse a continent to go and see Solomon, and he was just a man! All you need is to journey across the room to your dusty Bible (authorized King James of course) and with a willing heart open it’s pages to have all the conversation you want with the Saviour… who you don’t deserve to commune with, yet you can! Such grace!

… we have it pretty easy by comparison don’t you think? Maybe too easy because we don’t hunger and thirst for righteousness like she did.

And so Jesus said “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” And what a wonderful picture of a lost sinner seeking answers coming on a long journey to Christ.

And so the queen of the south was seeking answers, answers not found in the wisdom of her land. She was seeking fulfillment, not found in her riches of gold. She was seeking purpose, no matter how much “spice of life” she had. Go to the right place people. Many people go all the wrong places for what one man, the Son of man, alone can provide.

Note: She came to see Solomon about “the name of the LORD”… she came to see Solomon to get to God, and we know the way, the ONLY way to get to God is through Jesus Christ. If you have not come to God through Christ, you have not found God, just a sad lifeless imitation at best, no answers to give, no power to save, no life to transform.

Jesus said of God his Father “But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.” Noone knows God like Jesus does, because Jesus is from God, and Jesus is God. Only Jesus knows God, if you want to know God, you have to come through Jesus.

And so the queen sits down with Solomon, not knowing who she is dealing with yet. But answers will come when you begin to realize who Jesus Christ is.The Bible says “the knowledge of the holy is understanding”. See, you may have heard of “Jesus” but you have no idea until you get saved who he actually is, in much the same way you have no idea who anybody is until you really get to know them for yourself.

Anyway, this queen came to prove Solomon on a thread of truth she had heard in a far land, while we have so much more exposure to the gospel here and we do not come. Which answers a favorite question or excuse that people have about the gospel.

One of people’s favorite excuses they use is “what about the pygmy in the Congo” or people born in a muslim country… well you know some of the most spiritually rich areas in the world are there, not here! We have so much exposure and availability to the things of God and we don’t believe, and others in other countries do more with scraps than we do with the platter.

This queen heard a report which she didn’t even believe yet by the way! she had barely anything to go on, and yet did so much with it, and we have been saturated in so much familiarity with Jesus Christ, and are as apathetic, indifferent, unwilling, callous, hard and cold as you could get.

So this woman leaves home, and until you leave what you know, perhaps stepping outside your circle of friends, you’ll never get anywhere. You’ve got to get to where Jesus is at.

And it’s okay if you are not sold yet. She wasn’t convinced to start with either. She’d heard about it, and maybe you’ve heard how great Jesus is, and seen how great he is in the lives of some true children of God… but you’re not sold yet… well guess what!!, neither was she, she did not believe yet until she saw for herself, believed for herself and received for herself.

Look, Jesus Christ name is quite famous, she had heard of Solomon’s “fame”. It’s not people haven’t heard about Jesus, it’s they won’t come, they don’t see their need yet and many will never know what they missed on and rue their negligence and disobedience forever.

When she sat down with Solomon she got a surprise! She came to prove him, and instead Solomon looked into her life! You may come to God thinking you’re “bringing something to the table” and then you’ll find out he knows your heart better than you do.

This queen got so much more than she bargained for, but unlike us, she didn’t get offended, rather, the seeking heart latched hold of truth speaking incisively into her life “The entrance of thy words giveth light”

Salvation is a matter of the heart, this meeting quickly became a spiritual matter, and she bare her heart to Solomon. She asked, and he told. And he became proven in her mind, not only by what he said, but everything pertaining to his realm.

She saw his house, his meat, his servants, and their sitting and their attendance and their apparel and his ascent… and the Bible says “there was no more spirit in her”. To get saved, that spirit of disobedience and of this world that we all have has to go bankrupt! When you come to Jesus, he will not fill you up before you are totally emptied and broken of your own self righteousness “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit”. Salvation starts with the heart, and if Christ has not made a spiritual change “ye must be born again” then you’re not saved yet, no matter how good or religious you are.

But Christians take note… in this story, Solomon’s servants were a big part of the compelling proof to this woman! Firstly their “sitting”, and your rest in Christ and walk of life knowing you are seated in heaven is something that is the envy of people so busily running Satan’s hamster wheel in this uncertain, restless world.

Then Christians, your “attendance” on God, your faithfulness to God, your serving of God and putting him first above all else in your life, does have an undeniable testimony to those watching on. How are you attending on God, or is your Christianity all about him attending to your lust and pride?

Then Christians, your “apparel”, how you dress yes, but how God has clothed you with his righteousness, how he’s changed your life and now you look more and more like your Saviour every day… that speaks to this world… and it can add a lot of power to the gospel message.

But you know when this woman got saved?… she acknowledged the truth “thou desirest truth in the inward parts”. About herself and about Solomon. She acknowledged the truth of God’s word rather than fighting and resisting it in her pride.

And now she realized what every true child of God does, what you had heard of Jesus, when you see and experience for yourself his wonderful salvation “behold, the half was not told me”. You haven’t heard the half of it! There’s a life, an eternal life, out there for you truly worth living.

And I’m hurrying this because of word count, but she made a confession, her confession is as one that we all need to have “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” I hope this is you!

I hope you’ve got a personal walk with God, had your own personal experience of salvation, because this was a personal encounter, and no one can do it for you, you must be saved for yourself, you must know Christ for yourself.

And as a result of the change in her life, this woman gave everything she had to Solomon, because like with us, it’s the least we can do. It’s amazing how salvation changes a person, works do follow saving faith. She gave everything she came with to Solomon. Because we need to put everything, our life, our job, our money, our children, into his hands, because we ruin stuff, he redeems it. It’s not a waste to give your life to God… nay, it’s finding life.

And finally, guess what she left with? “The royal bounty”. Because we’ve got a royal inheritance that belongs only to children of God. Fact is, there was a big price on our heads, and Jesus’ precious blood purchased not just our salvation, but our souls. As a result, Jesus has inherited all things, and in his grace, he shares with us of his royal bounty, things like peace with God, joy in the Holy Ghost, new birth, resurrection, eternal life… and when you have received them, it is only then that truly “…. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace.”

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