Solomon Is a Type and Shadow of Jesus in His Kingdom (1 Kings 10)

Solomon is a type and shadow of Jesus Christ while he rules and reigns in 1 Kings 10. The splendor and majesty of King Solomon’s kingdom prefigure the splendor and majesty of Christ’s future Kingdom. After Jesus's Second Coming, He sets up His Kingdom on the earth and reveals Himself as the true and greater Solomon. https://youtu.be/O3rQLoe2Fow Solomon is a type and shadow of Jesus. The splendor of Solomon’s kingdom prefigures the splendor and majesty of Christ’s future Kingdom. Table of ContentsGod revealed Himself to the world through Israel’s obedience and disobedience.Jesus is greater than Solomon in (part five) delighting God.Jesus is greater than Solomon in (part six) the throne he sits on.Jesus is greater than Solomon in (part seven) that He is the King of Kings.Jesus is greater than Solomon in (part eight) the worship he receives.Jesus is greater than Solomon in (part nine) his obedience. We spent the last three weeks looking at how Jesus is greater than Solomon, and we’ll conclude this morning. In our sermon last Sunday we started looking at how Jesus rules over a greater kingdom. To put it plainly… The splendor and majesty of Solomon’s kingdom prefigures the splendor and majesty of Christ’s future Kingdom. We will primarily be in 1 Kings 10, but first I want to show you some verses in 1 Kings 9. I’ll go ahead and open with the lesson and then show it to you through the verses… God revealed Himself to the world through Israel’s obedience and disobedience. I would like us to understand God’s evangelistic plan in the Old Testament, and we’re in the middle of a great example of it. Do you remember a few weeks ago when we studied the Davidic Covenant? It’s in 2 Samuel 7, and in verses 9-15 I counted eleven times God said, “I will,” because it was an unconditional covenant…it was not conditional on man. God was going to fulfill the covenant which is to say the Messiah would be the Son of David regardless of what man did or didn’t do. The Mosaic Covenant, on the other hand, was a conditional covenant because it was conditional on man. Instead of being filled with “I will” statements, it is filled with, “If you,” because if Israel was obedient, people would hear about how God had blessed them. Deuteronomy 28:1 “If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will SET YOU HIGH ABOVE ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH. All the nations of the earth would see how much God had blessed Israel and be drawn to God as a result. Deuteronomy 28:10 ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH SHALL SEE THAT YOU ARE CALLED BY THE NAME OF THE LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. If Israel was disobedient, people would hear about how badly God had punished them. Deuteronomy 28:25 “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And YOU SHALL BE A HORROR TO ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH. Deuteronomy 28:37 You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword AMONG ALL THE PEOPLES where the Lord will lead you away. But – and here’s the important part – either way : God was going to reveal himself He was going to be exalted It was simply a question of whether Israel wanted to make that easy or hard on themselves. Go ahead and look at 1 Kings 9:6. This is what it would look like if Israel was disobedient… 1 Kings 9:6 But IF (notice it begins with the word if because it’s conditional) you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, (so God would punish Israel and look what would happen…) and Israel will become a proverb and a byword AMONG ALL PEOPLES. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. EVERYONE PASSING BY IT WILL BE ASTONISHED AND WILL HISS, AND THEY WILL SAY, ‘WHY HAS THE LORD DONE THUS TO THIS LAND AND TO THIS HOUSE?’ 9 Then they (the surrounding nations) will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’” So the surrounding nations would see how badly God punished Israel for their sins…and this would reveal God to them…they would come to fear Him. What does this have to do with Solomon and the Queen of Sheba in 1 Kings 10? 1 Kings 10 is the opposite! We can see how God blessed the nation when they were obedient, and the surrounding nations were drawn to Him as a result. Let me show you a few verses making this clear. Look at 1 Kings 10:1… 1 Kings 10:1 Now when the queen of Sheba HEARD OF THE FAME OF SOLOMON CONCERNING THE NAME OF THE LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. Do you see God revealing himself through the way He blessed Israel? The Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame and it also says concerning the name of the Lord, so she heard about God too. Look at verse six… 1 Kings 10:6 And she said to the king, “THE REPORT WAS TRUE THAT I HEARD IN MY OWN LAND of your words and of your wisdom, She heard how blessed Solomon was in her own land…which was 1,500 miles away…and there was no television, radio, phones, text messaging, or social media. But the news was still reached her. It sounded too good to be true, so she went to check it out for herself. Look at verse seven… 1 Kings 10:7 but I did not believe THE REPORTS until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass THE REPORT THAT I HEARD. God blessed Solomon, and the nation of Israel, more than she even heard! Notice the word report, or reports, occurred three times in two verses to emphasize how much God’s blessing of Israel spread. So you say, “Well, was it really very evangelistic? Would this really bring people to faith in God?” It worked for the Queen of Sheba! Look at verse nine… 1 Kings 10:9 BLESSED BE THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHO HAS DELIGHTED IN YOU AND SET YOU ON THE THRONE OF ISRAEL! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.” She came to faith, which is why she served as a rebuke to the Jews in Jesus’s day: She heard Solomon’s wisdom AND BELIEVED. The Jews heard Jesus’ wisdom, but didn’t believe. Let me conclude this lesson by saying this… One of the things that stands out to me is no matter what man does – whether he obeys or disobeys – God will be glorified. Now we can move into the typology between Jesus and Solomon. Look back at verse nine, and in particular the beginning of the verse where it says… Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you God delighted in Solomon, but he only serves as a type of Christ in whom the Father truly delights…and this brings us to Lesson 2… Jesus is greater than Solomon in (part five) delighting God. Let me get you to think about something… Jesus didn’t say the Queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold someone wiser than Solomon is here. The reason he didn’t say that is it would be shortchanging himself! It’s not that Solomon is wise, and Jesus is wiser. It’s that Solomon is wise, but Jesus is wisdom: 1 Corinthians 1:24 Christ [is] the power of God AND THE WISDOM OF GOD. 1 Corinthians 1:30 Christ Jesus became to us WISDOM FROM GOD. Colossians 2:3 In [Christ] are hidden ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM and knowledge. Okay, now follow me for a moment… Because Proverbs is the book of wisdom, and because Jesus is wisdom incarnate, all the wisdom of the proverbs point to him. And this is why, to pursue wisdom is to pursue Christ. Let me say that one more time… To pursue wisdom is to pursue Christ. And this is why there are so many verses about wisdom’s value. Consider how easily the word wisdom could be substituted for Christ: Proverbs 3:14-15 [Wisdom’s] proceeds (or Christ’s proceeds) are far better than the profits of silver, and [wisdom’s] gain than fine gold. [Wisdom] is more precious than rubies. Proverbs 8:11 and 19 Wisdom is better than rubies, (or Christ is better than rubies) [its] fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold. Proverbs 16:16 How much better to get wisdom (or Christ) than gold. Because wisdom, or because Christ, is so valuable, what should we do with it…or with him? Pursue it! Seek it! And Scripture tells us to do this: Proverbs 2:4 Seek [wisdom] (or seek Christ) as silver, and search for [wisdom] as for hidden treasures. Proverbs 3:13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom. Proverbs 4:7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Now keeping that in mind, think about this… The Book of Proverbs is written as a father speaking to his son. Repeatedly you read something like… My son, hear the instruction of your father. One of the themes in the Book is the wise son makes the father glad: Proverbs 10:1 and 15:20 A wise son makes a glad father Proverbs 23:26 He who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Now let’s connect the dots… If Jesus is wisdom incarnate… And Proverbs is the Book of Wisdom… So all the proverbs point to Jesus… And a wise son makes his father glad… Jesus is the perfectly wise Son who makes his Father glad. Think of Jesus’ baptism… Matthew 3:17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The point is this… God delighted in Solomon, but think of how much more He delights in Jesus. Verse 9 says… Blessed be the Lord your God,