From the Business Manager

The Shadow of Things to Come

Like billions of others across the world this Saturday, I plan to watch the coronation of Charles III on television. I will do so partly because the crowning of a British monarch is so rare, this will be only the seventh such ceremony since 1800. But I will also do so because it reminds me of a day I look forward to very much, the one when Jesus will one day return to earth and take his place as the one true King of creation.

In the Bible, kings and rulers generally don’t have very positive reviews. In the Old Testament, God’s people were led by judges and priests, until they started asking for a king, to be like surrounding nations. Previously God had been seen as the people’s king, and so this desire for a human ruler was not well received. In the end, God approves their request and Saul is chosen as the first King of Israel. Saul starts well but ends badly and is replaced by King David. David reigns for a long time and is held up as the archetypal good king – a man after God’s own heart – despite his many failings.

After David comes his son Solomon, described as the wisest man who ever lived, but Solomon also goes astray and by the time his son Rehoboam takes over, the nation goes off the rails, eventually dividing into two. After that, most of the kings who are written about in the Old Testament are portrayed negatively.

In the New Testament, Jesus is also described as a king, the true king of Israel and indeed of the whole world. But his model of kingship is very different to that of those Old Testament rulers, and indeed many rulers today. His kingship is not about power or prestige, wealth or status. Most people who came across him in the first century would not have thought he was a king of any kind and when he was sentenced to death and crucified then faith in Jesus as God’s chosen King would have been very difficult to sustain. But the consistent witness of those who were there and wrote about these things is that Jesus rose from death after three days, and that one day he will return to this world. At that point, heaven and earth will be renewed and reconciled, and Jesus will return in power, as the King of justice and of peace.

Much of this lies behind the symbolism of the coronation of King Charles III. A coronation service of a British monarch, the only country to still hold such a service, is primarily a religious ceremony. The ring he will receive is marked with a cross, a reminder of the ultimate King in whose footsteps he follows. The rod he will receive is topped with a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, whose wisdom he will need to rule well. The orb, a representation of the earth, is crowned with a cross as a reminder that Jesus is the ultimate king of the world. And the oil with which he will be anointed is another symbol of the Holy Spirit, a prayer that God will anoint and equip the king to serve his people. While the coronation service has evolved over the centuries, the core elements have been unchanged for over a thousand years. The crowning of the monarch is just one of several distinct elements in the service.

You can read more about the religious symbolism in the ceremony here https://www.abc.net.au/religion/ian-bradley-religious-significance-of-the-coronation/102285034

The idea of crowning a King may sound foreign to some Christians, but it is an idea deeply embedded in scripture. On the feast of Rosh Hashanah, which occurs in the September/October timeframe each year, Jews around the world blow the shofar to announce the coronation of God as King.

The key spiritual event of Rosh Hashanah is the renewal of God’s kingship through a ceremony which is brought about through hachtarat hamelech (the coronation of the king). This means that at this feast the Hebrews submitted themselves to God with their total being and entreated Him to reveal His kingship “below,” in the physical world. The Jews’ request that God reveals His kingship is the constant theme of the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah.

In Jewish thought, God is crowned by us accepting Him as our King. We also enthrone Him with our praises. Psalm 22:3 says “You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (NRSV). The Christian hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns” is deeply rooted in Jewish thought.

Some biblical scholars believe Christ’s second coming is linked prophetically to Rosh Hashanah and a compelling case can be made for this. If Jesus died on Passover, and He rose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits, and He sent the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Weeks (in Hebrew, Shavuot), then it makes sense to assume that He is going to return on the next Jewish festival described in the Torah—the Day of Blowing (Yom Teruah, that is, Rosh Hashanah) when we hear the blast of the shofar (Lev 23:24; Num 29:1).

Scripture promises that Jesus will at the appointed time return with the blast of God’s shofar (1 Thess 4:16). And on that day the Jews will welcome him with the words “Baruch Haba B’Shem Adonai”, or in English, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matt 23:39).

What happens next? The coronation ceremony—when Israel crowns Jesus as King.

At the Messiah’s first coming, the Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head and mocked Him as being the King of the Jews. Pilate placed a sign above Yeshua’s head that read in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, “Yeshua of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

But at his second coming, a golden crown will be placed on Jesus’ head and we will experience the greatest coronation ceremony that the world has ever seen. Do you want to be at that Second Coming coronation ceremony? I know I do.

Peter Bain

Business Manager

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