2 Chron. 9:1-12
It is grace which is exhibited in David, and glory in Solomon. Grace had a very full display in David. It raised him from being an outcast to a place of honor; it comforted and sustained him in sorrow, restored him from wandering, and kept him to the end in safety. But when the time came for glory to shine forth, grace having thus displayed itself to the full, David delivers the throne into the hand of Solomon.
Each of these, grace and glory, has its peculiar method. Grace only divides the scene with other principles; glory forms it all alone. Grace meets David in his degradation, sorrow, and defilement, and brings honor, comfort, and restoration, leaving the struggle between the former and the latter things in measure to the end, and the whole a divided empire. But glory holds the entire scene at its disposal, and leaves either a trace or a reflection of itself on everything. It is not God's bringing out His resources to mingle with man's circumstances, but it is the supreme presence of the Lord forming the whole sphere of the action itself. This can be seen in the chapter we are considering. There is no darkness at all upon the scene abroad, nor working of nature in the heart within-no trace of man or of his passions; the finger of God and the Spirit of God delineate and animate the whole picture.
The Queen of Sheba is the witness of this. Her consciousness of what she saw tells us of glory being everywhere in the regions of the king of Israel-the stirrings of her own heart tell us of the absence of all the ways and principles of nature. She saw not the slightest thing that did not reflect the glory. As the stars of the heaven differ in their glories, but each of them is glorious and lends something to the sum magnificence, so it is here. There is the house of the king, with the ascent up to the house of God, but there is also the meat of Solomon's table, and the apparel of his servants, and each contributes to the glorious whole. The glory was leaving its reflection on all she saw. It might have a small part in the account, but still it was glorious. And because it was small, it was even more worthy of notice by the Spirit-led soul that delights to put honor on the uncomely member. This enabled the queen to give greater testimony to the fact that glory was everywhere. Just as another voice of the same Spirit, anticipating the sanctity or cleanness of the antitype of Solomon's day, tells us of "Holiness unto the Lord" being, at that time, upon "the bells of the horses," and that "the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar" (Zech. 14). The glory had taken over the whole scene, and there was nothing hidden from the reach of its beams. It was a morning without clouds-there was no shadow anywhere. All was in the light. The very equipage of the attendants and their deportment reflected it. All was delivered into the liberty of the glory (Rom. 8:21) and fashioned by the power of it.
The kingdom within was, however, as excellent in its own way as the kingdom without. If the day dawned around, the day-star had arisen in the heart of the queen of Sheba. There was no blemish of nature or of the flesh in her spirit, as there was no dimness or uncertainty in the scene around her. She was small in comparison with the king in Zion but in spite of this, she delighted in all that she saw, without envy or covetousness. She sought for wisdom, and valued the merchandise of it above gold or rubies. She offered the best of her land to king Solomon, doing all she could to beautify the house of God's glory. She considered nothing that she had too good for him.
0 the blessedness of all this within and abroad! Glory abroad, leaving its memorial everywhere and the beauty of the Spirit's mind within, ordering the whole conversation of the soul! Such scenes may be realized to the enjoyment of our hearts and eyes now, and to the glory of our Lord in the days of the kingdom!
It is well that now grace divides the scene with nature's misery and defilement, and it is well that then glory will know nothing but its own creation, for light and its principles will be triumphant. The light which God has brought in shines, it is most true, but shines in a dark place; the light that He will yet bring in will be light everywhere, the day-dawn around, and the day-star within (2 Pet. 1:19). It is now the valley of Baca with wells of water; soon it will be the courts of unbroken, undivided praise (Psalm 84).
"The Lord will give grace and glory."