How Far Would You Go?

“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.”  Matthew 12:42

As was a usual event in each day of Jesus’ time on earth, He was confronted by the religious leaders of Jerusalem, men who despised Him mostly because they were worried that because He was attracting attention from the people, they would begin to lose power and their prestigious positions over the people of the holy city.  I think some of the most difficult kinds of people to deal with are those who are power hungry or control freaks because it’s all about them and their mission, policies, ideas, etc.

Here were the scribes and Pharisees face to face with Jesus, the Son of God, even though they denied His true identity.  They had either seen Him do miracles before the people or at least had heard about these miracles.  It had only been a short time since Jesus had healed a man who was possessed with a devil, blind, and couldn’t speak (Matthew 12:22) which caused the people who witnessed this miracle to ask, “Is not this the Son of David?”  Uh oh.  I can just imagine the anger that was rising up within the hearts of the Pharisees.  They even accused Jesus of doing miracles by the power of the devil.  He gave them a quick lesson in the meaning of blasphemy.  Even after all of this, they still wanted to see a sign from Jesus to prove His identity.  He could have done a thousand miracles before them, but they were so dead set against Him, it wouldn’t have convinced them that Jesus was sent from God.

Jesus then told them the only sign that He would give them was Jonah’s three days and nights in the whale’s belly, symbolizing His own three days and nights in the heart of the earth after His crucifixion.  Of course, they didn’t understand, but Jesus went on to speak of how the people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, but now Someone much greater than Jonah was among them, yet they refused to hear Him.  He then reminded them about the queen of the south, the queen of Sheba, whose story can be found in I Kings 10:1-13.  We are not given her name, but her homeland was believed to be somewhere in Arabia South of Judea (Isaiah 60:6).  This was a Gentile area, a fairly good distance from Israel.  When Sheba’s queen heard of the fame of Solomon, and, in particular, his relationship to the LORD, she came to ask him some very deep questions.  There was no mass nor instant communication in those days like we have now, but any important news about events or people would eventually spread across borders.

What the queen wanted to know above anything else was to find out if it was indeed the LORD God of Israel who had made Solomon such a wise man.  Like Solomon, she was blessed materially and had brought spices, gold, and precious stones as gifts for King Solomon.  His riches impressed her as did the loyalty of his servants, and his luxurious palace, but what impressed her the most was Solomon’s relationship with his God.  She began to ask him questions, and he answered them all.  We are not told the content of their conversation, but speculate that Solomon likely told her about his father David, a man after God’s own heart, about how God had answered Solomon’s prayer for wisdom to lead his people (I Kings 3:5-15) and also gave him riches and honor, and perhaps he told of how God had granted him a peaceful reign.  The queen, after their conversation and inspecting Solomon’s wealth, praised Solomon’s LORD.  She went back home convinced of the power, majesty, and sovereignty of the LORD God of Israel.

Jesus did not go over this account with the religious leaders because they would have previously known about it, but by Him reminding them of the queen’s visit to Solomon, He used this to rebuke them, charging that she would be able to “rise up in the judgment with this generation, and would condemn it”.  She had gone a great distance to hear about the God-given wisdom of Solomon, yet the religious leaders were standing face to face with the Son of God, and not only did they not want to hear Him, they wanted to destroy Him.

How much trouble or to what great distance would we go to hear the word of God preached and join in the praise and worship of the Lord?  In our nation, there are thousands of churches across the land.  I would guess that most of America’s population live within two or three miles of a church.  Of course, not all churches are Bible-based, spirit-filled, and welcoming to visitors.  From the latest polls, as I blogged about a few days ago, true Christian churches led by pastors who have a Biblical world view are becoming fewer and far between.  That’s not God’s fault.  We have made it so easy to attend church.  We have comfortable buildings with all the latest electronic means to spread the gospel.  There are services on online every Sunday, yet fewer and fewer people are connecting with the church.  Those of us who are concerned about the lost and concerned about those who have dropped out of church need to pray for revival because we are desperately in need of one.