Preparing to Meet Royalty

Speculation has been growing in recent months that the infamous Irish Republican Martin McGuinness is preparing to meet Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth the Second. As a seasoned observer of the Northern Irish political process I would imagine that a meeting is indeed in the pipeline and that the recent drip feed on this story is merely the Republican base being prepared for such a meeting.


However, my reason for writing is not to make any kind of political commentary on this matter, I will leave that to others better qualified. I was simply struck by a spiritual parallel that we would all do well to consider.

Effectively Martin McGuinness is preparing to meet Royalty, something that every man woman and child should do. However, I’m not thinking about meeting the Queen of the UK, I am thinking about the day when we will have to meet the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. A verse of scripture in Amos chapter 4 springs to mind…

‘Prepare to meet thy God.’

The Person

If we were ever invited to meet the Queen, at perhaps a garden party, we would be instructed in advance how we must act and how we must address Her Majesty. In essence we have to take account of the person. When we think about a meeting with the God of Heaven we need to consider His person.

He is Holy, that is, morally pure. He has no sin; in fact He hates sin and must punish it wherever He finds it. That will leave our meeting with Him very difficult. As sinners, we are the subjects of God’s wrath.

‘God is angry with the wicked every day.’ Psalm 7 v11

A righteous, Holy God must and will punish sin.

‘But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.’ Revelation 21 v8

That meeting with God would not go well if it was not for a great plan…

The Plan

While God is Holy and angry with the sinner, we can be thankful that he is also merciful and has provided a means of escape for the sinner. He did that at tremendous cost to Himself in that God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, had to be born into a human body, live in this world and suffer the death of the cross, a cross on which He bore our sins…

‘Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.’ 1 Peter 2 v24

Having done all of the hard work, all God asks of us is to repent (turn away) from our sins, and trust in the finished cross work of the Lord Jesus. Then and only then will we be ready, or prepared, to meet God.

‘…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ 1 John 1v7

Are you prepared?