The queen of the south, or the earnest enquirer

‘The queen of the south shall rise up in the 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

Suggested Further Reading: 1 Kings 10:1–13

‘The Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.’ And so souls that know the beauty of Christ give him all they have. Nothing gives Christ greater delight than the love of his people. We think our love to be a very poor and common thing, but he does not think so—he has set such a store by us that he gave his heart’s blood to redeem us, and now he looks upon us as being worth the price he paid. He never will think that he had a bad bargain of it, and so he looks upon every grain of our love as being even choicer spices than archangels before the throne can render to him in their songs. What are we doing for Christ? Are we bringing him our talents of gold? Perhaps you have not one hundred and twenty, but if you have one bring that; you have not very much spices, but bring what you have—your silent, earnest prayers, your holy consistent life, the words you sometimes speak for Christ, the training up of your children, the feeding of his poor, the clothing of the naked, the visitation of the sick, the comforting of his mourners, the winning of his wanderers, the restoring of his backsliders, the saving of his blood-bought souls—all these shall be like camels laden with spices, an acceptable gift to the Most High. When the Queen of Sheba had done this, Solomon made her a present of his royal bounty. She lost nothing; she gave all she had, and then Solomon gave her quite as much again, for I will be bound to say King Solomon would not be outdone in generosity, such a noble-hearted prince as he, and so rich. I tell you Jesus Christ will never be in your debt. Oh, it is a great gain to give to Christ.

For meditation: Giving begins with God; we can never repay him, but we can give back to him what he has given to us (1 Chronicles 29:14). Even then God is no man’s debtor (Malachi 3:10; 2 Corinthians 9:7–8; Philippians 4:18–19).

Sermon no. 533
4 October (1863)