Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2778
“And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions…So Solomon answered all her questions: there was nothing so difficult for the king, that he could not explain it to her” 1 Kings 10:1-3.
Those of you who were here last Thursday evening will recollect that I spoke to you upon our Savior’s words, “The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.” [Sermon No. 2776, Volume 48—
THE QUEEN OF SHEBA, A SIGN]. I tried, then, to prove that the queen of
Sheba is a condemning sign to those who do not believe our report concerning Him, or who do not act upon it so as to seek His face. Tonight we will follow the queen of the south little further.
As our Lord has given the queen of Sheba for a sign, it would be unbecoming if we did not try to learn all that we can from that sign. She came “to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” But Christ is “greater than Solomon” in every respect. He is greater in wisdom, for, though Solomon was wise, he was not Wisdom, itself, and that Jesus is. In the Book of Proverbs Jesus is referred to under the name of Wisdom and the Apostle Paul tells us that He is made of God unto us wisdom. They who really know Him know something of how wise He is and how truly He may be called Wisdom. Because He is with the Father and knows the Father, He has such wisdom as no one else can have. “No man knows the Son, but the Father. Neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomever the Son will reveal Him.” He knows the deep things of God, for He came down from Heaven bringing His Father’s greatest secrets in His heart. To Him, therefore, men ought to come if they wish to be wise, and ought we not to wish for wisdom? To whom else can we go if we go not to Him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”?
In speaking of the queen of Sheba coming to Solomon as a type of our coming to Christ, I will, first, call upon you to admire the queen’s mode of procedure. Then, secondly, we will try to imitate it in reference to Christ And, then, thirdly, we will close by answering certain questions of a truly practical character
I. First, then, I call upon you to ADMIRE THIS QUEEN’S MODE OF PROCEDURE WHEN SHE CAME TO SOLOMON. We are told in the text that “she came to prove him with hard questions.”
She wanted to prove whether he was as wise as she had been led to believe and her mode of proving it was by endeavoring to learn from him. She put difficult questions to him in order that she might be instructed by his wisdom. And if you want to ascertain what the wisdom of Christ is, the way to know it is to come and sit at His feet and learn of Him. I know of no other method—it is a very sure one and it will be a very profitable and blessed one if you adopt it. He has Himself said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.”
Jesus came forth from God to be “the faithful Witness” to the Truth of God and, therefore, we are bound to believe what He says and, certainly, we shall never fully appreciate His wisdom unless we are willing to receive His testimony. The Psalmist says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good,” but, in this case we must test and prove that the Lord is wise. There are some who despise the wisdom of Christ and if you probe them, you will discover that they were never willing to
learn of Him. His own words are, “Except you are converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” The wisdom of Christ cannot be known by those who refuse to be disciples, that is, learners. We must learn of Him before we are competent to judge whether Christ is wise or not—and never did a disciple sit humbly at His feet, never did one, in the spirit of a little child, sit with Mary at the feet of the great Teacher, without saying, as he listened to the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth—“The half was not told me. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge that are to be found in Him!”
The queen of Sheba is also to be admired in that, wishing to learn from Solomon, she asked him many questions— not simply one or two, but many. Some people say, though I do not know how true it is, that curiosity is largely developed in women. I think I have known some men who have also had a tolerably large share of it. In this case, however, the woman’s curiosity was wise and right. It was a wise thing, on her part, when she was in the presence of such a man of wisdom, to try to learn all that she could from him and, therefore, she questioned him about all sorts of things. Very likely she brought before him the difficulties connected with her government, various schemes relating to trade, the modes of war, or the arts of peace. Possibly she talked to him concerning the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the air. But I am persuaded that she also talked about higher things—the things of God—and I am led to that conclusion by the expression in the first verse of my text, “When the queen of Sheba heard of the name of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.” The report that came to her had to do with Jehovah, the God of Israel, as well as with Solomon! So we may rest assured that she put to him many difficult questions concerning the state of her heart, her character, her present position before God and her future relationship to Israel’s God. Questions on those points are not easy to answer, but she took care to ask them so that when she reached her home, she might not have to say, “I wish I had asked Solomon about that matter—then I would no longer be in doubt.”