On Her Majesty the Queen’s Christmas Day Speech

Her Majesty the Queen’s Christmas Day Speech to the Commonwealth was a joy to listen to from start to finish.

It was a gloriously courageous testimony of her own, personal, faith in God and belief in the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It was a delight to listen to and, no doubt, a huge inspiration to so very many believers at a difficult time, when the mere fact of being Christian in Britain is to risk opprobrium and public ridicule on a scale bordering on hate speech.

The Head of the Church of England has spoken out bravely, and in doing so will have given much courage and strength to Christians everywhere, not just to those who had the privilege of watching and listening to her address on the television and radio this afternoon, but also to those who will have the chance to read her Speech.

In speaking out with such graciousness, as well as with such personal conviction, Her Majesty succeeded in trumping the Christmas speeches and sermons of most other Christian leaders, important as many of them have been. I can scarcely think of a recent, seasonal sermon by any church leader that was the theological and scriptural equal of Her Majesty’s Speech today.

Her assertion that the marriages of her two grandchildren earlier this year are ‘each in their own way a celebration of the God-given love that binds a family together’ is fully within the stream of Christian and biblical orthodoxy. Marriage as we have always understood it, presently under attack from so many directions, is the fruit of a ‘God-given’ love, and we cannot but be grateful to Her Majesty for her forthrightness and sheer personal courage in saying so.

Her unashamed use of the name of Jesus is in such marked contrast with so much of the contemporary Church and its associated agencies that amazingly manage to airbrush all mention of the Lord’s name from their events and publicity.

Her Majesty also saw very clearly the need to apply the message of the angels, that the shepherds should not fear, to the alarming state of the world at this moment. People are afraid of the present and of the future. Like a seasoned preacher, Her Majesty pastorally applied the word of God to the very real and worrying circumstances that we all face.

It was exceptionally inspiring and heart-warming to hear Her Majesty say, about the birth of Jesus, that ‘God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.’ Her Majesty understands the Gospel. That is clear. The Gospel is, as Her Majesty told us, a message all about the human need for salvation, and of the divine provision of a Saviour, Jesus.

Forgiveness and reconciliation with God are the world’s most pressing needs. We should all be grateful that we have a monarch who is not afraid to point that out with such clarity and to point us all in the direction of the One who alone has the power and the authority to rectify the problem of sin and unforgiveness.

At the end of a wonderfully evangelistic message, Her Majesty said:

“In the last verse of this beautiful carol, ‘O Little Town Of Bethlehem’, there’s a prayer:

‘O Holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us we pray.

Cast out our sin

And enter in.

Be born in us today.’

It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.”

How uplifting it was to hear Her Majesty speak so confidently about central Christian themes, and to recognise the importance of the prayerful conclusion to that carol, with its plea for the casting out of sin and for the inner residence of the Holy Child in each one of us.

May God, in His great and boundless mercy, see fit to grant Her Majesty’s prayer for us all, that we might find room for Christ in our own lives. In the granting of that most crucial prayer, lies our greatest hope and joy.

Three sincere and grateful cheers for Her Majesty the Queen.

Soli Deo Gloria

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