The Meaning of our Banner

The Bible and CrownKing William III

The Bible and Crown

One side of our banner depicts an Open Bible, surmounted by the Royal Crown and Sceptre of the British Isles, alongside of which lies a copy of the Bill of Rights. The message is quite clear : "The Throne is established by righteousness." Proverbs 16:12

The British Monarchy is a unique institution and there are two things in particular about it that stand out :

1. Britain's Monarchy is Biblical.

Some four thousand years ago, Almighty God promised the patriarch Abraham that: "Kings shall come out of thee." Genesis 17:6

Many years later when Abraham's grandson Jacob, whom God had renamed Israel meaning a "Prince or Ruler with God," was old and about to die, he pronounced prophetic blessings upon his twelve sons, the progenitors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In doing so he singled out the Tribe of Judah as the one through which the Royal line would eventually come:- "The Sceptre (Royal Authority) shall not depart from Judah." Genesis 49:10

Centuries later the prophet Samuel anonited the shepherd-boy David of the tribe of Judah to be King of Israel. When David had subdued all his enemies and was firmly established in Jerusalem, God through the prophet Nathan made a Covenant (a solemn binding contract) with the King to the effect that he would always have a descendant ruling over the Israel people wherever they would be found in the earth.

"And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers I will set up thy seed after thee ... and I will establish his Kingdom ... thy house and thy Kingdom shall be established forever before thee thy throne shall be established forever." II Samuel 7:12-16

The promises are reiterated in the Book of Psalms:

"I have made a Covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant thy seed will I establish forever and build up thy throne to all generations, Selah ... Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David His seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven, Selah."

Moreover, the prophet Jeremiah declared:-

"Thus saith the Lord, if ye can break my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night and that there should not be day and night in their season then may also my Covenant be broken with David my servant that he should not have a son (successor/heir) to reign upon his throne... if my Covenant be not with day and night and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Jeremiah 33:20-26

As long as we have heaven and earth, day and nigt, sun, moon and stars in the heavens, so there must be a descendant of David ruling over the Israel people in the earth today. We dare to proclaim that our gracious Queen Elizabeth II is that direct blood descendent, ruling over the so-called "Lost Tribes of Israel" today; the Celto-Anglo-Saxon people, the British, the Covenant people of God.

From the burning ruins of Jerusalem the prophet Jeremiah, his scribe Baruch and his wards, the Princess daughters of King Zedekiah, escaped first to Egypt and then by way of Spain to Ireland, where the Royal Princess of the Daridie line, out of the Pharez section of the tribe of Judah was married to the Heremon or High King who was of the Zarah section of the tribe of Judah, the people of the uplifted Red Hand. From there our Royal Daridie line was overturned to Scotland and subsequently to England.

Not only is our British Monarchy unique in its Biblical Origin, but also in the fact that :-

2. Our British Monarchy is Protestant.

As a result of the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, which swept the Papist King James from the throne and transferred it to his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, certain legal safeguards were enacted by Parliament to safeguard the Crown of Britain from any further Roman Catholic conspiracies.

Thus the Bill of Rights and Act of Settlement which appears alongside the Bible and Crown on our banner, states:-

"Wheras it hath been found by experience that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant Kingdom to be governed by a Popish Prince or by any King or Queen marrying a Papist... Every person who is or shall be reconciled to or shall have communion with the See or Church of Rome, or shall marry a Papist, shall be excluded and be forever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the Crown or Government of this realm and Ireland, and in every such case the people of these realms shall be and are hereby released of their allegiance."

The Act of Settlement declares that:-

"The said Crown and Government shall from time to time descend to and be enjoyed by such persons or persons being Protestants."

At her Coronation our Queen took an Accession Declaration in which she solemnly swore before God:-

"I do solemnly swear, and in the presence of God profess, testify and declare that I am a faithful Protestant, and that I will according to the true intent of the enactments which secure the Protestant succession to the Throne of my Realm, uphold and maintain the said enactments to the best of my power, according to the law."

Today we are alarmed that there is an orchestrated and growing campaign to remove the Coronation Oath and destroy the Protestant Character of our Monarchy; this would indeed be the first stage down the road to its abolition. We are equally saddened to think of how our Royal Family have departed from Biblical standards of worship and morality; fraternising with the Pope and his church system, attending Roman Catholic worship, and even in the case of the Duchess of Kent, converting to Rome.

How we need as Protestants to pray for our Queen and our Royal House, how we long for the day when God will pour a spirit of grace and supplication upon the Royal Line of David and we will see them turn to the Lord - with their whole heart and together with the rest of our nation call upon God, with true repentance to deliver them.

King William Crossing the Boyne

The other side of our banner depicts William III Prince of Orange, deliverer of Protestant Britain, as a conquering King riding his white horse across the River Boyne, sword in hand to inflict crushing defeat upon the armies of the Papist King James II on 1st July 1690.

This was no minor skirmish between Irish Roman Catholics and Protestants as some would seek to portray it today. It was a battle of European proportions and with European significance.

On the outcome of the Battle of the Boyne hung the fate of Protestantism in Britain, in Europe and ultimately word wide. Had William been defeated, the Protestants of Ireland would have been exterminated, like the Huguenots of France had been just a few years earlier. James II and his French allies would have used Ireland as a base to invade Scotland and England and drive William and Mary from the Throne. The revolutionary Settlement which secured the future of British Protestantism would have been overthrown. William, once defeated in Britain, would have been unable to hold Holland against the French, and Roman Catholicism would have marched in triumph to achieve its Counter-Reformation goal of re-conquering Europe.

When we see the serious implications of the Battle of the Boyne, we can understand why forces from all over Europe took part in the conflict. On the side of James were the Roman Catholic French and Irish, whilst the army of William contained not only English, Scottish amd Ulster Protestants but also Dutchmen, Danes, Swedes, Finns, French Huguenots and German Protestants. In fact, the Williamite army was indeed the "Lord's Host" containing as it did soldiers representing all the European nations which had accepted the Reformation and in so doing has clearly been identified as the Descendants of the so-called "Lost Tribes" of Israel.

As we see King William II on the banner we also think of an even greater deliverer, the one whom we await with expetancy, the conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords, even Jesus. Remember these words from the Apocalypes:-

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Fathful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he head a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." Revelation 19:11-16

Just as William of Orange, a Prince of the House and Lineage of David came to claim Britain's Royal Throne and deliver God's people in the isles, North and West of Palestine, by the overthrow of priestcraft, popery and tyrannical power, so in like manner He who is great David's greater Son is coming again to cut short the days of tribulation, to save His own elect people and destroy Mystery Babylon. Whilst William's Kingdom had an end, the Kingdom of Christ will have no end, of Him the Scriptures declare:-

"The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." Revelation 11:15
Until all creation owns his sway, until this scripture is fulfilled:-

"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my hold mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isaiah 11:5-9

In that day the Lord Jesus Christ will sit on David's Royal Throne, ruling the nations with a rod of iron, banishing all sin, sickness, poverty, disease and death. May you be ready to meet him in that great day. Ever so come Lord Jesus.

With thanks to Open-Bible Ministries, PO Box 92, Belfast, N. Ireland.

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