Long Live the Queen!

According to a well-established tradition, the Irish had formerly used the Stone of Scone to crown their high kings at Tara. Many hold to the conviction that this same stone was the one in Jerusalem on which ancient King David was crowned. When Jesus Christ returns to the earth, He will sit on the throne of David. So, it may be helpful to consider the past and future of this ancient throne, and the character of the woman who presently sits on that throne, whose 60th anniversary as a monarch is now being celebrated.

For four days of ceremony, Her Majesty the Queen maintained a sterling performance of duties that would have been tiring for someone half her age. At 86 years of age, the Queen is just three years short of equaling her great, great grandmother, Queen Victoria’s record of 63 years on the throne. The streets and buildings all over the country were festooned with the Union Jack and symbols of Great Britain.

One highlight of the weekend was a pageant on the River Thames. More than a thousand craft and their sailors braved cold and wet weather to travel from Hammersmith to Tower Bridge, with Her Majesty and the Royal Family travelling on a specially built royal barge. The flotilla was made up of kayaks and yachts, a few of the small boats that took part in the Dunkirk evacuation, river vessels and an assortment of long boats.

On Monday night, Queen Elizabeth attended a concert in front of Buckingham Palace with notable performers including Sirs Tom Jones and Paul McCartney and Dame Shirley Bassey. For the evening finale, the Queen lit the Diamond Jubilee beacon—the last of 4,200 such beacons to be set alight from New Zealand to the British Isles.

A BBC interviewer asked former British Prime Minister Sir John Major what the celebrations were really about. His answer was simple. He said, “We joined together to recognise the life of a ‘sacrificing servant.’” In the Queen’s final address to her people, she declared that the celebrations were “a humbling experience” and that she was “touched deeply” by seeing so many people celebrating together.

“Where were all of the republicans?” some asked. Polls differ as to the mood of the people, but support for a republic in Great Britain remains consistently around 18 percent. If you surveyed the 80 percent of Brits who came out in support of their queen, they may have been excused for saying that those republicans were conspicuous by their silence and absence.  Well may royalists say, “Long live the Queen!”

The Queen’s example, as heartening as it has been for Britons, is nevertheless just a small foretaste of what the world will soon experience when the King of kings—Jesus Christ—returns to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth. When Jesus Christ returns to sit on the throne of David, the world will be guided by a sacrificing servant whose example is unmatched. And He will be assisted by today’s most faithful Christians, who upon His return will be born into the very Family of God as His literal sons. To learn more about Christ’s monarchy and its human precursors on the earth, please read our booklet, The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy.