Now of Jesus are great things spoken in the Holy Scriptures : and as the Queen of Sheba " believed not the reports concerning Solomon, till she came to see him with her own eyes," so respecting Jesus it must be said, " Who hath believed our report ''?" But if once we behold him with the eye of faith, we shall then indeed say that the half had not been told us. Two things in particular we shall be amazed at ;
1 . The glory of his person —
[Let us behold him in his whole office and character, and so behold him as to have any just conception of his excellency,
s ver. 5. ^ Rom. x. 16.
and we shall be altogether lost in wonder, so that there will be " no more spirit in us." Even in his human nature, wherein the glory of his majesty is veiled, we are utterly astonished at all his spotless perfections. His wisdom, his goodness, his love, and all his other virtues, surpass our utmost conceptions. In the view of him many hundreds of years before he came into the world, the Church exclaimed, " He is chiefest among ten thousand," "he is altogether lovely'!" In his divme nature, " he is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express
image of his person '^" In his mediatorial character, he
is " the power of God and the wisdom of God^" He has within himself all fulness treasured up"^ : nothing is wanting that can secure the happiness and salvation of his redeemed people. His meritorious sacrifice is a sufficient satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. His unspotted righteousness affords a robe, whereby all the fallen race of Adam may " cover their nakedness," and stand spotless in the presence of an holy God. In him is a fomitain of all grace, from which every believer may receive an inexhaustible supply". Let us only " behold, I say, his glory, as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth"," and we shall immediately exclaim with the prophet, " How great is his goodness, how great is his beauty p ! "]
2. The felicity of his people —
[This in particular was contemplated by the Queen of Sheba in reference to Solomon. After saying to him, " Thy wisdom and thy prosperity exceed the fame which I heard," she added, " Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wis- dom^!" But with how much greater propriety may this be said respecting the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ ! Much is said of it indeed in the Scriptures'^; but little of it is be- lieved, till it is known by actual experience. But let it once be felt, and truly we shall say, " The half had not been told us." Indeed the Scriptures speak of it in this very view : t\\e\v '' -^edice passeth all understanding;'' and their "joy is unspeakable and glorified." To this, as well as to the mysteries of faith, may we apply those words of the Apostle, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prejDared for them that love him : but God hath revealed them to us by his Spirits" It is to what is experienced in this world that those words are
i Cant. V. 10, 16. k Heb. i. 3. i 1 Cor. i. 24.
m Col. i. 24. n John i. 16. " John i. 14.
P Zech. ix. 9, 17. i ver. 7, 8. ^ Ps. Ixxxix. 15—17. s 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10.
336.J THE QUEEN OF SHEBa's VISIT TO SOLOMON. 36S
to be applied : but if we look forward to the eternal world, with what emphasis may we pronounce them then ! If the glory of Christ be so bright when beheld only through the dark medium of faith, how will it appear when we shall behold him face to face ! And if our happiness be so great now that we carry about with us a body of sin and death, what shall it be, when our corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and we shall possess without alloy the full fruition of our God ! Happy, happy beyond conception shall we be, when we are enabled to say, " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee ! "]