THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Kings: The Kings Of Israel And Judah From Solomon To The Babylonian Captivity

I. The United Kingdom, 1 Kings 1:1-11:43

H. Trusting A Sovereign God's Agenda Amid Facing Corrupt Overseers

(1 Kings 10:1-29)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Corrupt overseers, those who afflict subordinates in various realms, is one of Americans' biggest concerns:

(1) In last year's Chapman Union Survey of American Fears, of the 1,207 American adults who were polled on their level of fears across a spectrum of 80 different fears, their biggest fear, according to 74.5% of those polled, was being "'afraid'" or "'very afraid'" of corruption in government officials. (Nial McCarthy, "Corruption Of Government Officials Ranked America's Top Fear Of 2017; forbes.com, October 19, 2017)

Americans have reason to be concerned: (a) at the federal level, Veronique De Rugy's piece, "Million-dollar space blame game" (Republican-American, January 27, 2018, p. 8A) complained that "the lack of transparency works to the favor of a Congress uninterested in putting America's fiscal house in order," for "it's hard to shame the ruling political class into action when citizens have no idea what's actually being done with their money."

(b) At our own state's level, legendary talk radio show host Brad Davis on "The Talk of Connecticut," last Thursday claimed many elected state officials have been lying to the public, hiding Connecticut's financial crisis. He added, however, that the "chickens are finally coming home to roost," with officials talking of installing toll booths and raising the gas tax to gain more revenue for state coffers.

(2) We face corrupt overseers even in church realms: over the years, we have either heard reports of or seen dreadfully ungodly actions by leaders in area churches that leave us grieving for what the people in the pew must feel!

Need: So, we ask, "Why does God let corrupt overseers afflict subordinates, and how are we to respond to it?!"

I. The visit that the Queen of Sheba paid to Solomon was marred by his spiritual corruption as king:

A. The Queen of the nation of Sheba "in the southern part of Arabia" (Ryrie S. B., KJV, 1978, ftn. to 1 K. 10:1), would have seen Solomon's ships travelling by her country as they went to Ophir for gold, 1 K. 9:27-28; Ibid.

B. We have learned from past sermons that Solomon's gold mining venture rose from his need to reimburse Tyre's king Hiram for his $170 million loan of gold to Solomon to finance his building projects and to replenish his depleted royal reserves, and that these needs in turn were caused by Solomon's violations of Deuteronomy 17:14-20 (1) not to marry pagan women, (2) not to multiply wealth to himself, (3) not to lift up his heart above his countrymen in forcing them into excess slavery, (4) not to multiply horses to himself to build up his nation's defense and (5) failing to read Scripture daily, what had led to these other four violations!

C. However, the presence of Solomon's ships sailing around Sheba (modern Yemen) not only got the attention of the Queen of Sheba, but they also may have threatened the caravan routes that enriched Southern Arabia, Ibid.

D. The Queen thus visited Solomon in part to alleviate her concerns caused by all of his ship traffic by her country, what is evident in 1 Kings 10:11-12 where, as a result of her visit, (1) she gave Solomon $170 million in gold, much spices and gems and Almugwood, a strong, beautiful, long-lasting wood that was black outside and ruby red inside, for decorating the temple, Solomon's palace and for making musical instruments, (2) and for Solomon in turn to provide her with whatever she desired of his bounty, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 507.

II. Solomon's corruption is amplified by the 1 Kings 10:14-29 descriptions of his other ventures for wealth:

A. He eventually acquired by slave labor in his gold mining operation 800,000 ounces of gold per year, $960 million worth of gold in today's market (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to 1 Kings 10:14), besides all the revenues of regular commerce (1 Kings 10:13), and he decorated his palace with $86.4 million work of gold shields (Ibid., ftns. to 1 Kings 10:16 and 10:17) along with other lavish decorations (1 Kings 10:21-23a), a massive buildup of his chariot army (1 Kings 10:25-29) in multiple violations of the Deuteronomy 17:14-20 rules for Israel's kings!

B. What had begun as a mining venture to pay off a debt then also diversified into acquiring silver, ivory, apes and peacocks to meet Solomon's desire for more wealth (1 Kings 10:22) in violation of Deuteronomy 17:17b.

III. However, GOD had an AGENDA that ALLOWED Solomon ROOM to VIOLATE God's Deuteronomy 17:14-20 rules for Israel's kings, a truth that is seen in the visit of the Queen of Sheba in 1 Kings 10:1-13:

A. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself mentioned the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon in Matthew 12:42, noting she came to hear his wisdom, and from what she had then learned, she would rise up in the final judgment to condemn the people who heard Jesus speak in His earthly ministry for refusing to believe in Him!

B. This truth is reflected in 1 Kings 10:1 where we learn that the Queen of Sheba had heard of Solomon's fame "concerning the name of the Lord," when one's name represented his reputation (Z. P. E. B., v. Four, p. 364).

C. Thus, the Queen of Sheba had heard that Solomon's GOD had promised him surpassing wisdom, wealth and fame in 1 Kings 3:12-14 so that God's REPUTATION as GOD was on the line with the Queen of Sheba!

D. She thus came to "test" Solomon's wisdom, wealth and fame as a means of also testing his GOD'S credibility, what would show GOD to be the true God only were Solomon to be very wise, very rich and very famous!

E. With HIS REPUTATION at stake, God had given Solomon room even to violate Deuteronomy 17:14-20 though God wanted Solomon to heed Scripture and let GOD give him wealth, fame and wisdom! Either way, though, when pagans would meet Solomon, they would marvel at Solomon's GOD, fulfilling GOD'S agenda!

F. Thus, when the Gentile Queen of Sheba met Solomon and saw his great wisdom, wealth and fame (1 Kings 10:1-5b), she was overwhelmed (1 Kings 10:5c) and admitted that the half had not been told her (1 Kings 10:6-7). She stated how happy Solomon's servants must be who waited on him (v. 8) and in accord with GOD'S AGENDA, she blessed Solomon's GOD who had delighted in him to enthrone him due to GOD'S eternal love for Israel that Solomon might practice justice and righteousness, 1 Kings 10:9 ESV!

Lesson: Though the WAYS Solomon functioned to become rich and famous OFTEN VIOLATED SCRIPTURE, GOD had a vested interest in BLESSING him with much wisdom, wealth and fame for GOD'S GLORY, so He SOVEREIGNLY gave Solomon room EVEN to SIN that GOD'S SOVEREIGN AGENDA might be FULFILLED!

Application: (1) If concerned about a corrupt overseer, (1) may we trust in Christ to have eternal life, John 3:16. (2) May we then TRUST that God has sovereignly ALLOWED the overseer room to sin that God's GREATER, SOVEREIGN WILL might be done, and simply obey the Lord in our lives, cf. Romans 13:1. (3) Applied especially to our predicted Laodicean Church era (Revelation 3:14-22), we recall that the Revelation 3:21 reference to the "overcomer" being seated by Christ "IN" His earthly throne alludes to Revelation 7:17 where Christ Who is "IN" the Father's heavenly throne shepherds in a nurturing way afflicted believers who come out of the Great Tribulation. Thus, believers in our era who fellowship with God will see Him open opportunities to minister to those afflicted by evil overseers with a nurturing ministry of God's Word. We must then expect GOD to LET overseers in government, business, church and other institutions OPPRESS their subordinates so as to CREATE a THIRST in the subordinates for BALM, a balm that only CHRIST can fill by the nurturing ministry of the Word!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

(1) After last Sunday's morning worship service, two ladies, Church members, told me how "protected" they were by our Church's ministry. They were responding to the sermon's closing illustration where I had said how glad I was that God had before led us to take a stand against adding secular views to Scripture, what affects much alleged "Christian counseling," and how such a stand was recently validated by God and works to protect us as a Church!

One lady appreciated a stand we had before taken to oppose Reiki "healing" practices since they were experience-based and left people vulnerable to demonic activity. She has since learned that Reiki practitioners widely suffer from similar ailments, typical of evil spirit activity, so she was glad she had been warned about the practice!

The other lady told how happy she is to be edified opposite abuses she faces in the world outside the Church!

In light of what we noted in section "3" of the "Application" above, such "balm" is what we are to expect to need to minister as a body in our Laodicean Church era as predicted by Christ in Revelation 3:14-22! God is letting troublesome overseers in various realms arise to drive afflicted subordinates to seek for balm, a balm to be found only by faith in Christ for salvation and by life as a believer of relying on the Holy Spirit to heed the Word of God!

(2) Last week, God directed me on HOW to continue to perform this ministry of balm: while revisiting John C. Whitcomb, Jr. and Henry M. Morris' book, The Genesis Flood, 1974, p. 92, I was amazed to read that the start of the wide acceptance of uniformitarian thought behind the theory of evolution occurred when Georges Cuvier, a famous paleontologist and supporter of the Noahic Flood who thus won the following of many Christians, added his own extrabiblical idea that there had been "a series great floods, separated by immense periods of time, and long before the creation of man." That view allowed Lyell and Darwin to gain wide acceptance by Christians in asserting evolution in denial of the Noahic Flood and Genesis 1-11! (Ibid., p. 92-97) Thus, an extrabiblical idea by an influential supporter of the Genesis Flood opened the floodgates for evolution in Christendom!

Like Paul charged in 2 Timothy 4:1-4, and what we also taught in last Sunday morning sermon's closing illustration, we must then hold to and preach Scripture, ONLY Scripture and NOTHING BUT it for your BALM!

May we accept and adjust to God's divine agenda that we might faithfully live for and serve Him!