Today is the 95th birthday of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, only days after the death and burial of her husband of 73 years.

She has served her country well and overseen a period of tremendous change in the life of Britain and the British Commonwealth, a Commonweath that has grown from eight countries at the time of her marriage to 54 members at present from all around the world.

This change is summarised in Celebrating Ninety-Five Years by Stewart Binns, which I read today while sitting in the sunny climes of Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands just north of Balmoral, where the Queen and her former husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, found time to relax and where they were “always at their happiest in Balmoral”. I found only an occasional misprint in this happy recollection of a long life well lived. No wonder, for even the Queen admitted to a few mistakes, “her biggest regret” being her tardiness to visit Aberfan after the 1966 disaster, which is reputed to be one of the few occasions she was seen to shed tears in public. Another mistake, not identified as such, was the Queen telling Charles and Diana to divorce. Although divorce would require the monarch’s consent, no-one not even the monarch has the right to tell other people to divorce. This is interfering with a marriage and falls under the divine censure – ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ – ‘Thou shalt not break up a marriage’, the biblical definition found in no dictionary nor legal textbook that I have consulted, which adopt the general opinion that adultery is illicit sex with a married person. The Bible describes illicit sex as ‘fornication’ and adultery as the breaking up of a marriage.

Celebrating Ninety-Five Years reminds us that the Queen observed her Christian coronation with great seriousness, and she was particularly affected by being anointed Queen, during which the congregation sang Handel’s Zadok the Priest. The world and even the Christian world has still to learn the significance of Zadok the priest in the future hegemony of international events. So I will explain the Bible’s teaching on the subject. When the seventh angel shall sound his trumpet, accompanied with the announcement that “the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ” Rev 11:15, the world will witness the blessed global effects of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the advent of the biblical Millennium the Christian church will recover both the Establishment Principle and the Regulative Principle through “the Zadok zeal” of that godly generation that shall arise to establish the Christian church throughout the world, illustrated in the latter half of the prophecy of Ezekiel. Zadok zeal and faithfulness Ezk 44:15 symbolize the Jewish Pleroma Ezk 44:16. The world has still to experience this but the reigning King of kings and Lord of lords will oversee its fulfilment according to His own agenda and timing.

Sitting in the sun on my decking, with a clear blue sky and white clouds above my head and the green grass in front of me, I examined my 24-carat gold coin minted for this unique occasion and just arrived in the post. Sovereign coins are usually 22-carat gold, but this one on this rare occasion is 24-carat gold. After all, how often does the world witness 95-year-old monarchs? Scripture points to a significant 70-year-long monarchial reign Isa 23:15 as something noteworthy, and our Sovereign Lady is racing towards her 70th year as Queen on 6 Feb 2022. This reminds me of others pursuing a similar lengthy course. Although I do not yet possess the Queen’s email address, this morning I sent a congratulatory email to a lady who has shared the same birthday as the Queen for the past 83 years. The Queen has to ‘make do’ with my tweet instead, one among many congratulory tweets. People complain about dignatories being “out of touch” with ordinary people, and truly they are out of touch in the sense that it is difficult to get through to them surrounded by their private secretaries. Jesus was not like this – people could speak to Him and even touch Him.

Even the Royals need the Gospel of Jesus Christ – yet how few there are who will present them with the Gospel. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it, and how few will show it to them. However, it will not always be so. Meanwhile …

“God save our gracious Queen, Long live our noble Queen, God save The Queen! Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us, God save The Queen!”

The British National Anthem

May my readers join in the happy celebration of the birth, advent, coronation and victory of our never-dying King of kings, Lord of the Universe, through Whom the nations will yet sing:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Luke 2:14

Update

16 May 2022: testimony to her 70 years at the beginning of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

2 June 2022: Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celerations begin.