SCRIPTURE: 2 Chronicles 9
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
She exclaimed to the king, ‘Everything I heard in my country about your achievements and wisdom is true! I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of your great wisdom! It is far beyond what I was told. How happy your people must be! What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day, listening to your wisdom! Praise the Lord your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne as king to rule for him. Because God loves Israel and desires this kingdom to last forever, he has made you king over them so you can rule with justice and righteousness.’ [2 Chronicles 9:5-8]
Solomon gained a reputation for wisdom, his kingdom was known for its wealth and power.
The Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia) travelled many miles just to check it out, and she acknowledged his greatness.
Her expression of praise to God is not a sign that she follows Israel’s god, for the people of that time saw deities as tied to regions; they would honour whatever the god was of the region they were in.

The queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. [Matthew 12:42]
Jesus makes an interesting reference to this story, saying that one day the Queen of Sheba will approach those who rejected Jesus and say, ‘you fools, how could you have refused to listen to Him, He was even smarter than Solomon!’
And so we will see the queen of Sheba on judgment day!
When Paul says that every person will acknowledge Jesus as Lord, he means EVERYONE [Philippians 2:9-11]!

I take from this account that when people live in the power and blessing of the Lord, others will take notice.
The wisdom and power and blessing of Jesus – the King of kings and Lord of lords, greater than the greatest human rulers and kings of any and every age – are compelling to those who pay attention.
Even non-Christians acknowledge this; I am reminded of Ghandi’s respect for Jesus!

Was Jesus smart? Was He brilliant? Did He inspire awe and wonder at His intellectual acumen?
Dallas Willard makes these observations in The Divine Conspiracy: “In our culture, among Christians and non-Christians alike, Jesus Christ is automatically disassociated from brilliance or intellectual capacity. Not one in a thousand will spontaneously think of him in conjunction with words such as well-informed, brilliant, or smart… Far too often he is regarded as hardly conscious. He is looked on as a mere icon, a wraithlike semblance of a man, fit for the role of sacrificial lamb or alienated social critic, perhaps, but little more.”
What do you think?
Will the queen of Sheba one day point the finger at us for missing the obvious – the amazing wisdom of Jesus?

PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, help me to reflect on the brilliance of Your teaching, to consider it a privilege to stand in Your presence day by day, listening to Your wisdom!