Sermon on June 9th, 2012     “Now 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. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her. Then she said to the king: ‘It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.’ Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones. There never again came such abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Also, the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought great quantities of almug wood and precious stones from Ophir. And the king made steps of the almug wood for the house of the LORD and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers. There never again came such almug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day. Now King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal generosity. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.” (1 Kings 10:1-13)     The Queen of Sheba Who Sought Out King SolomonThis passage tells how the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of King Solomon and travelled a long distance to meet him and then return home. In recent times, the Jews, who were scattered all over the world, have started to return to their homeland of Israel. We hear about this from the media, but we also see that some of these Jews are from Ethiopia and, even though the color of their skin might designate them as Africans, they are also part of the Jewish nation. Some people speculate that when the queen of Sheba went to Israel, she became pregnant by King Solomon, while others suggest that this may have come about through one of his retainers. One thing is certain, however, and that is that while the Jews were scattered across the world, their outward appearances may have differed but within the body of each one of them there flowed the blood of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Rather than dwell on that matter, however, I would like for us to grasp the significance of the Bible’s account of the queen of Sheba in so far as it relates to us today. Let’s take a look at Luke chapter 11 from verse 29 and Matthew chapter 12 from verse 34.   “And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, ‘This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.’” (Luke 11:29-32)   “‘Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.’ Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.’” (Matthew 12:34-42) This passage may seem quite straightforward, but it is not as simple as all that. I have said this many times already, but we need to remember that when we study the Bible, especially the Old Testament, it is Jesus who is at the center of all these accounts. Of course, there are lessons for all of us to learn from these accounts, but if you are not careful, you may come to think that the people in the Bible represent some of the people around you and you may start judging them. About three thousand years ago, as the sovereign power over Israel passed from King David to King Solomon, a very significant event occurred. This was the building of the temple. It was Solomon who built the temple, but David prepared all the materials necessary for its construction. If we consider this matter carefully, we can see that even though it is a story of a father and a son, it is also a shadow of Jesus as He would appear in the future. The life of David, which was full of battles, shedding of blood and suffering hardships, is a shadow of the life and death of Jesus, who came into this world and suffered. Solomon the glorious king who built the temple is a shadow of the resurrected Jesus of whom it has been promised that He will come to this world once more for the sake of the Jews and to unite and reign over all the nations of this world. Jesus referred to Solomon in Matthew’s Gospel and in Luke’s Gospel. Solomon lived about 950 years before Jesus was born. And the events in the story of Jonah took place about 200 years after the time of King Solomon. In other words, Jonah lived about 750 years before Jesus. When we read passages such as these, we tend to try to understand them from our own present-day perspective. This is, of course, a reasonable and natural thing to do and there is nothing wrong with it. Let’s try to imagine, however, that we were present at the time when Jesus spoke these words. Jesus, who came to this world, revealing the significance of the Old Testament scriptures and performing many miracles, His words were lessons for the people, but, to put it in more extreme terms, His words were also an attack, piercing through like a sword. Also, He spoke of what was to come, starting from the point in time when He was active in this world. This is a passage that we need to think about more carefully. If you read it without much thought, you may think either that these things happened while Jesus was still on this earth, or that they occurred not long after He died. You may take the Bible on a very superficial level, thinking that Jesus was severely reprimanding the people at that time, and when the skies darkened and the earth shook upon Jesus’ death, those people had a taste of the wrath of God. Jesus spoke these words to the people living in the land of Israel at that time two thousand years ago and referred to Jonah who had lived 750 years earlier and the queen of Sheba who had been to visit King Solomon one thousand years earlier. As He referred back to those past events, He explained about the day of judgment which, someday, will come upon all of mankind. The Old Testament was recorded by the prophets who were inspired by God. These prophets not only foretold of events to come in the future, they also recorded events that had occurred in secret in the past. When the prophet Nathan spoke to David, he brought to light how David had killed Uriah in order to be able to take his wife. He also prophesied that the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David would die soon after he was born. In the books of the prophets, phrases are commonly used to indicate that a certain event will take place some time in the future, but even so, all these phecies are based on the premise of historical events. They are nothing like the words of some fortune teller who accepts money in return for reading a person’s palm. God goes back to things of the past and uses them to reveal events that will occur in the future. This is how the task of the prophets comes in. We can know this through the Bible. Jesus has the form of a king, as in the verse that says, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2), but He also has the form of a priest, as in the verse that says, “We have a great High Priest” (Hebrews 4:14). In addition, as He spoke to many people about events in Old Testament times and those that would occur in the future, He appears in a form similar to that of the prophets of the Old Testament. In the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, however, we find Jesus speaking of events that took place 750 years and 1,000 years before He walked on this earth. But He also spoke of the Day of Judgment and addressed His listeners as a “Brood of vipers!” Of all the people, those whose hearts were most pierced by the words, “Brood of vipers!” would have been the scribes and Pharisees. These people often featured in what Jesus said. They came to Jesus and said, “We want to see a sign from you.” They were unable to believe in Jesus, even though He had healed the sick, and so they asked Him to show them another sign. We might think that since He was who He was, he could have just said, “OK, I see,” and then perhaps proceeded to detach someone’s arm and then attach it again, or seal someone’s lips and then separate them. But Jesus did nothing of the sort. The reason Jesus performed signs and miracles was that mankind needs Jesus, and it was necessary to reveal the glory of God the Father through the sick and dying people who came before Him during those days when Jesus walked this earth. So when these people with their superficial thoughts came to Jesus asking for a sign, He did not say, “OK, I’ll do what you want.” Moses once made this mistake by the water of Meribah. They may have been prophets, but they were also human, and they made their mistakes and had their flaws. Yet, Jesus was born into the world, lived His life in the world, and died, all in accordance with the words of the Old Testament, so He did not suddenly perform miracles because someone asked for a sign. He did not take His actions lightly. So Jesus answered those Jews who asked for a sign at that time: “This generation of people who stand before Me now will all be judged on the Day of Judgment. The men of Ninevah will rise up in the judgment and condemn you. No sign will be given to you except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” It was not that Jesus did not know how to perform a miracle that led Him to say this. The scribes and Pharisees were well-versed in the law and were experts in matters of Old Testament history. It was to such people that Jesus said that no sign would be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah.   The Image of Israel Shown through JonahLet’s take a look at Jonah chapter 1 from verse 1.   “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.” (Jonah 1:1-4)   Jesus was speaking here about an event that took place about 750 years before He was born. God had commanded the prophet Jonah to go to and cry out against Nineveh, but Jonah did not go to Nineveh; he went down to Joppa instead to flee “from the presence of the LORD.” In other words, he was shirking his responsibility. Joppa was the place where Peter stayed later, just before he went to preach to Cornelius. When the door was opened for the Gentiles to receive the gospel, Joppa was mentioned once again. History was repeating itself. Jonah had already been to that place about 800 years earlier. Jonah encountered a tempest while he was on the ship from Joppa to Tarshish. Jonah had received God’s command, but he acted against it, turning his back on God and running away. Through this image of Jonah, we can see the image of a nation who turned away from God, disobeying the Law, worshiping idols and offering unclean sacrifices. This is an image of the Jews in the Old Testament times. As the tempest was raging at sea, Jonah was asleep on the ship. This image of Jonah asleep on the ship presents an image of the nation of the Jews living their lives with the Law right in front of them without them being aware of it or its grave importance. Jonah did not even go near to Nineveh, that distant land whose people needed only to hear the word of God in order to come to repentance. The people of Nineveh were living as they pleased, totally unaware of the conversations and actions that were taking place while Jonah was on the ship to Tarshish, having turned his back on God. This was an image of the Gentile nations who did not have the Law or circumcision and lived in this world doing as they pleased having nothing at all to do with God. W

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