The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Luke 11:31
I was in the courtroom as the prosecutor was seeking a lengthy prison sentence for a man who had been convicted of manslaughter. The man had killed one of his neighbours in a violent dispute over property boundaries. At the sentencing hearing, I listened as the prosecutor described to the court the often violent nature of the convicted man. And then he began calling witnesses to the stand. Most of those witnesses were other neighbours. And most of them told of angry disputes they had been involved in with the convicted man. As they told their stories, the judge received a clear picture of the character of the person he was to impose sentence on. So I was not surprised when the sentence the judge handed down was for almost as many years as the prosecutor had asked. Those witnesses were like those who will rise up in judgment at the Great White Throne.
The religious leaders who rejected the Lord Jesus will encounter the queen of Sheba at the Great White Throne, as our text indicates. Her evidence will stand against them for rejecting One Who was greater than the king that she sought. She had traveled thousands of miles to find Solomon, while the Lord Jesus had come to where the Jewish leaders were. She had listened to words of wisdom from a mere mortal, albeit a very wise one, but the Jewish leaders had been openly challenged and confounded in every encounter by the wisdom and skill of the Son of God. They will have nothing to say in their defence because the evidence against them will be so overwhelming. God’s perfect judgment has a terrible doom for them, as it has for all who will reject the words of the Lord Jesus. Have you ever considered how we will be involved in such a judgment?
Because we are saved, delivered from the penalty of our sins, we will never need to face judgment at the Great White Throne. Although guilty, we have Heaven’s promise that there is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). But could we be called to the Great White Throne as witnesses against some of those who will be judged there? We don’t know for sure but our text indicates that we might. Our testimony might be used to prove that some people heard the Gospel through our words, our witness, and our support for the furtherance of the Gospel. For all we know, we might be witnesses against those who have persecuted the Christians and therefore have persecuted our Lord. All of this is just speculation, of course. But we know that the Judge of all the earth will do right. None of those condemned at the Great White Throne will be judged unjustly or be punished beyond what they deserve.
Think of it; our future in the Glory is assured. But we may well be in for more involvement in eternal matters than we realized. It depends on our involvement in our Lord’s affairs down here. – Jim MacIntosh