You Have It All

Why did she come? What was she looking for? Nobody knows for sure where Sheba is. Some people think it’s what we would call modern-day Yemen, could be. Some people think it could be the southern part of Egypt, it’s possible. Some people think it could be the Horn of Africa, which is the eastern coast of Africa. Some people think it could be Ethiopia. Could be, could be, could be. There are reasons for and reasons against every one of those that I just mentioned. My personal opinion is that it was probably Yemen, but that’s a very light lean and it’s my opinion. It’s not fact, so take it as my opinion. There are also many who think that the wise men also came from Yemen and that the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon was sort of a precursor or a foreshadowing of the visit of the wise men to come visit the Savior. Could be. Regardless of where Sheba is, it’s a long way. And you notice what she brought with her. Camels and spices and gold and stones. And we also find out there was wood that she brought. There’s all kinds of stuff. This is one huge undertaking. Why do you do that? Why did she come? What was she looking for? The text doesn’t tell us for sure for sure. But the only answer that seems to make any sense is that she was looking for the big answers to life’s big questions. Everybody in the world at some level wants to know answers to questions like these. Who is God? And what is he like? This conscience keeps accusing me. Is there a way that my conscience can be set free and cleaned? Is there more to it than just this life that we see? What happens when I die? Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Intuitively, we kind of know there is. How do I get to the right place? Now, it’s likely that a lot of people haven’t actually articulated those questions. Quite that clearly. But at the end of the day, everybody has those questions. And it seems very likely that that’s why she had come. You see hints of it in our text. Part of why she came was her relation, what she had heard about Solomon’s relationship to the Lord. It wasn’t just that he was a smart dude, which he was, but it was connected to his relationship to the Lord. Who was that? She came to talk to him about everything that was on her, either heart or mind. I think heart is the better way to take it in this instance. One of the things that impressed her about Solomon was the temple worship, his worship of God. In other words, this seems to have been a spiritual journey. She’s looking for answers to life’s big questions. Why are you here this morning? Why did you come? Why did you come? Why I suggest it’s for the exact same reasons that we just outlined. We’ve sinned and made a mess out of it. What do we need? We need forgiveness. And where is there forgiveness? There’s forgiveness in Jesus and in Jesus alone. Because only Jesus lived, died and rose to pay for sins. Only Jesus, the God-man, could win salvation for human beings, for all human beings. Why are you here? Perhaps you’re here because you’ve seen the reality of our mortality. It’s the first Sunday of 2025. There were brothers and sisters who sat with us in these pews in the first Sunday of 2024, who now have joined the St. Triumphant. Will this be our last New Year’s service in this building? Will this be our last year on this earth? I don’t know. But the reality is it could be for every one of us. True? What do we need? We need to know that there’s life eternal. We need to know that heaven is sure. We need to know that heaven is our home. And this is the only message, the Bible is the only message that brings us those truths. And yes, you can hear the Bible other places and you can read the Bible on your own, et cetera, et cetera. But this is a really good place to hear about those things, amen? The big questions of life all find their answers in Jesus. The Queen of Sheba went to the right place. She went to God. Oh, she went to God through Solomon, but ultimately she was going to God. God had put Solomon on the throne. God had given Solomon his wisdom. God had given Solomon his riches. God had given Solomon his plans. God had put the Israelite nation at the center of all the trade routes of the Old Testament times. Maybe that was the secondary reason that she came, to enhance trade with Israel or through Israel. Don’t know. But ultimately she came to God. And so did the wise men. You think about how crazy that scene must have looked, huh? Powerful, wise people who traveled, again, we don’t know for sure, likely hundreds of miles, and they’re bowing down in front of what? A baby. But it was exactly the right thing to do, because that baby was Jesus. That baby was God. And that baby had all the answers to every question that we really need answered. So wouldn’t it make sense that focusing on Jesus and his word would be our absolute number one priority in 2025? The queen of Sheba was willing to travel hundreds of miles. I guarantee none of you traveled hundreds of miles this morning. She was willing to travel across, well, maybe you guys did. She was willing to travel hundreds of miles to get the answers to her questions. What about you and me? What are we looking for? If we’re wise, like the queen of Sheba, like the wise men, if we’re wise, we’re looking to keep on hearing the answers to life’s big questions. That’s what she was looking for. That’s why she came. And that’s why you’re here this morning. But there’s a big time warning we need to take from this text as well. The fact that you and I are here this morning, paying attention, listening, hearing the words of God, does not guarantee that we will be here at the end of the year, because our sinful hearts can turn away. Solomon in our text is a tragic example. Here in chapter 10 of 1 Kings, Solomon is great. He’s wise and he can answer all her questions and he’s organized and he’s got things rocking and rolling in Israel and wealth is pouring in and he’s worshiping God and presenting burned offerings. It’s great. And then we get to chapter 11. And what do we hear? We hear that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. And we find out that many of those wives, if not most of those wives, worshiped foreign gods. And we hear that Solomon’s heart was turned away, said he worshiped Chemosh and Molech, the detestable God of the Sidonians the Bible describes him as. And you know what’s tragic? We don’t know if Solomon died as a believer. Solomon may be in hell. What was he looking for? He had everything. The true God had appeared to Solomon twice, giving him specific promises, specific instructions. And he goes looking for what? I have no idea. The book of Ecclesiastes was almost undoubtedly written by Solomon. It may give us some degree of optimism regarding Solomon’s eternity. Some people think that it was Solomon writing about the time when he turned away from God and that at the very end of his life he came back. I hope so. But at the beginning of the book Solomon describes life without God. And he talks about things he had done. “I undertook great projects,” he says. And how did he find out about them? They were meaningless. He pursued more wisdom, even more learning. And at the end of the day, what does he judge it to be? Meaningless. He decided to pursue pleasure. Why not? And he found it to be meaningless. At the very end of the book there’s a passage that reads basically this. “Everything’s been considered. Here’s the end of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. This is the full duty of man.” The Hebrew is very hard to translate. This is the all of man is what it literally says. “Did Solomon come back to faith?” Maybe. I hope so. I pray so. “But boy is it a warning for you and me. What are you looking for in life? How is the devil going to tempt you and me?” Will it be the same things as Solomon? To try to do great projects? To pursue learning? To pursue pleasure? To pursue wealth? To pursue power? Something else? I don’t know. But this I can guarantee you. The devil will test and tempt you and me to try to throw all of this away. Because the last thing the devil wants is for you to have it all. And that’s why it’s just absolutely vital, my brothers and sisters, that you and I keep on being reminded of what it is that we have in Christ. In Jesus, you have the forgiveness of sins and life eternal. In Jesus, you know that God is love. In Jesus, you know that you are a beloved child of the Most High God. In Jesus, you know that you have life eternal, which is waiting for you, and that it’s going to be glorious and amazing. In Jesus, you know that you have guidance through this life, because Jesus promises to be with you always to the very end of the age. In Jesus, you have the treasure of baptism by which God has adopted you and his family. You have the treasure of the Lord’s Supper in which God gives you Himself, His true body and blood, forgiveness of sins, life eternal. All of that stuff you have in Jesus and in Jesus alone. Why did she come? She came because she needed the exact same treasure that you have. And my brothers and sisters, you have it all. And may that, the understanding that we have all that we need in Christ, may that shape our life pursuit today, every day, until that glorious day when God takes us home to heaven. You have it all. Amen? And amen.