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Another Royal Wedding |
Dear Brethren,
This week's Countdown to the Return of Jesus Christ
is by John Jewell. It seems amazing to me that at
the point of beginning this letter, it is only just
over a week, in fact 10 days, since the wedding of
the decade took place in London. And if you don’t
know which wedding I’m referring then I shall have
to ask you which planet you are on! Because it was
virtually impossible, almost anywhere, to escape the
fact that Prince William, second in the line of
succession to the British throne, was marrying Kate
Middleton and that this was happening in Westminster
Abbey watched and witnessed through the power of
television in nation after nation around the world.
It is sometimes forgotten that the monarch of the
United Kingdom is also the Head of the Commonwealth
of Nations comprising some 32 nations of which she
is Queen of 16 of them including Canada, Australia
and New Zealand and Head of a number of small
territories which thereby have the United Kingdom
protecting them. These include the Isle of Man and
the Channel Islands. She is also the Duke of
Normandy and the Great Chief of Fiji! She became
Queen on the death of her father, King George VI in
1952 and is Queen or Head of State for roughly 128
million people.
Last year, in
July 2010 she addressed, for the second
time, the United Nations organization in New
York. Like many millions of people my wife
and I witnessed with fascination the wedding
of Prince William and Kate Middleton through
the BBC’s television transmission, which was
brilliantly engineered as is to be expected
of the BBC on such occasions. Looking at
the scenes of the enormous crowds lining the
streets of London and filling the vast space
in front of Buckingham Palace took me back
to the time I was part of a similar throng.
This was for the wedding of the then
Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip in
1947. World War II had only been concluded
two years and clothing was still rationed in
Britain. This included Princess Elizabeth
and everyone else of the Royal Family so it
wasn’t quite the lavish event as the one
which recently took place.
Watching the
television footage brought out so clearly
how important to the world the British
throne and monarchy is. It does, whatever
you may otherwise feel, hold a significant
position in and for the world at large that
no other political position in the world
today can equal, a position that
surprisingly perhaps is generally
recognized. When we understand the history
of the throne and position of King David of
Israel and what the Bible says about it,
things become a little clearer. In the
first book of Kings, chapter 8 and verse 25
we read that there would always be someone
occupying the throne of King David of
Israel. In the next chapter, chapter 9 and
verse 5 God promises that there would always
be someone occupying that throne.
In Isaiah
chapter 9 and in verses 6 and 7 it refers to
a child to be born who would sit upon the
throne of his father David. The context of
this passage shows that this is Jesus Christ
who is to return as made clear in the gospel
of Luke, chapter 1, verses 32 and 33 which
says that God will give him the throne of
his father David. This is to happen on
Christ’s return to this planet. He returns
to a throne and position which is still in
existence and today is in London. Recorded
history reveals an amazing account of how
that position was moved from Israel to
Ireland and thence to London. In Genesis,
the first book of the Bible, chapter 49,
verse 10 says that “The sceptre, [the symbol
of authority], shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between His feet until
Shiloh come;” A British monarch at a
coronation will have an orb in one hand and
a sceptre in the other. It is generally
accepted that the word Shiloh indicates
Jesus Christ. He will replace the
descendants of Judah upon the throne of
David. The facts are all documented and are
published.
Prince
William’s father is Prince Charles who is
now 62; it is possible that upon the death
of the Queen, whenever that is, that the
succession might well pass to Prince
William, who is now 28. Prince Charles,
however, is the next in line to succeed to
the throne. Bearing all these things in
mind it was also very interesting to read
the full text of the proceedings of Prince
William’s and Kate Middleton’s marriage. We
are not sure if the Bishop of London who
gave the sermon which formed part of the
marriage ceremony, actually realized what he
was saying. As we were following the
ceremony it was truly amazing to hear his
words. He was basically talking to the
bride and groom, but by extension to
everyone who heard him. He said “Be who God
meant you to be…” and continued “Marriage is
intended to be a way in which man and woman
help each other to become what God meant
each one to be, …” He went on “… In a sense
every wedding is a royal wedding with the
bride and groom as king and queen of
creation, making a new life together so that
life can flow through them into the
future.” Then, specifically addressing the
bride and groom he said “… William and
Catherine, you have chosen to be married in
the sight of a generous God who so loved the
world that he gave himself to us in the
person of Jesus Christ. And in the Spirit
of this generous God, husband and wife are
to give themselves to each other.
Jesus Christ,
at his return to this world, is to enter
into a particular relationship with the
Church of God. The Church becomes the bride
of Christ and at His return he enters into a
marriage relationship with the Church. The
bishop was saying, which he might not have
realized, that marriage is to represent the
future union between Christ and the Church
of God.
The bishop
continued: “Marriage should transform, as
husband and wife make one another their work
of art. It is possible to transform as long
as we do not harbor ambitions to reform our
partner. There must be no coercion if the
Spirit is to flow; each must give the other
space and freedom.... As the reality of God
has faded from so many lives in the West,
there has been a corresponding inflation of
expectations that personal relations alone
will supply meaning and happiness in life.
This is to load our partner with too great a
burden. We are all incomplete: we all need
the love which is secure, rather than
oppressive, we need mutual forgiveness, to
thrive. As we move towards our partner in
love, following the example of Jesus
Christ,” (as he moves towards the Church His
bride, whom He will marry on His return)
“the Holy Spirit …. can increasingly fill
our lives with light.”
“This leads to
a family life which offers the best
conditions in which the next generation can
practice and exchange those gifts which can
overcome fear and division and incubate the
coming world of the Spirit, whose fruits are
love and joy and peace.” The bishop then
prayed that those millions watching the
ceremony would support and uphold William
and Kate – he continued to pray for God’s
blessing upon them and then said this: “God
our Father, we thank you for our families;
for the love that we share and for the joy
of our marriage …. strengthened by our union
help us to serve and comfort those who
suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus
Christ.”
The bishop
didn’t need to say that it is only by
marriage, the union of one man with one
woman before God, that there CAN be a
legitimate next generation! And a
subsequent wonderful future for mankind
beyond the physical and beyond the grave.
This sermon by the bishop actually came
after the marriage vows and prayers. The
vows if made in every marriage between a man
and a woman and if seriously kept would
transform society. And transform it for the
better. To link it with the return of Jesus
Christ and His subsequent marriage to His
bride, the Church, could bring a new and
better dimension to the life of the British
nation and maybe the rest of the world.
What were the words of the vows? You
probably know them already, but here they
are as heard by the multiple millions of
people around the world: To the man: “…will
you have this woman to your wedded wife, to
live together according to God’s law in the
holy estate of matrimony? Will you love
her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in
sickness and in health? And, forsaking all
other, keep you only to her, so long as you
both shall live?” To this he responded “I
will.”
Then to the
woman: “ … will you have this man to your
wedded husband, to live together according
to God’s law in the holy estate of
matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him,
honor and keep him, in sickness and in
health? And, forsaking all other, keep you
only to him, so long as you both shall
live?” She responded in the same manner
with “I will.”
They then had
to make the solemn promises, repeating the
words as the Archbishop said them to “…live
together according to God’s law… “ and to
love, comfort, honor and keep each other in
sickness and in health” and forsake all
others, keeping to each other as long as
they both shall live.”
The same words
or similar, are repeated throughout the
professing Christian world so why do we have
so many marriage problems and why so many
human relationships which fly in the face of
what we witnessed barely two weeks ago! The
answer, as always, is in the Bible. In the
second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 4
and verse 4, the apostle Paul says that “the
god of this world, (that is Satan who is
also a very real being) has blinded the
minds of those who don’t believe in God,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine to them.” “Isaiah chapter 8, verse 20
“ If they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.”
But many think they know best however, as it
says in Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way
which seems right to a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.”
No wonder this
nation is in a catastrophic state. No
wonder that we have a crisis of education so
that our young people are not growing up,
not being brought up, to be responsible
young adults who can themselves have
successful, happy marriages with happy,
balanced young of their own. All looking
forward to the soon-coming return of Jesus
Christ and to the clear law of God being
applied throughout the world. A
world which, finally with the right
government, will be at peace, productive,
happy and conscious of there really being a
wonderful future.
John Jewell
***
Sermon:
"Follow Me"
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