Read: 2 Chronicles 9:1-12; Luke 11:29-32
I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. (2 Chron. 9:6)
Recently my wife and I made a trip to New Mexico. We traveled to Chaco Canyon, one of the best-preserved ruins of ancient indigenous people in the Americas. Seeing the ruins and imagining its original grandeur, the guide commented, “It was built to impress.”
The Queen of Sheba came to visit the impressive buildings of King Solomon. After looking over all of Solomon’s kingdom she commented, “I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it” (v. 6). It was built to impress. But we know from the book of Kings (1 Kings 10-11) certain details missing in Chronicles’ description of the queen’s visit. There’s no mention that Solomon’s wealth and marriages to foreign wives imported idolatry. The Chronicler leaves this out of the story; his readers in Jerusalem were small and struggling in the midst of mighty empires. The Chronicler tells only the story of Solomon’s kingdom “built to impress” to encourage his readers to imagine God’s kingdom of justice and righteousness.
We also know in our own faith journey the story of sin, but we need to imagine God’s kingdom of “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). Solomon’s kingdom was temporary, but in Jesus who reigns, “something greater than Solomon is here” (Luke 11:31)! Jesus Christ impresses us now and to the end of the age.
As you pray, focus on Jesus’s reign, which can encourage you in the midst of daily struggles.
About the Author
Kent Fry is a retired pastor and visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute in Holland Michigan.
