A Better Monarchy

JUST before their royal wedding British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote that “in these troubled and changing times, only fortunetellers, Marxists and Jehovah’s Witnesses will venture to prognosticate whether Prince Charles and Lady Diana will actually one day mount the throne as King and Queen of England.”

Mr. Muggeridge was, of course, mistaken. Jehovah’s Witnesses offer no prediction of that kind. What Jehovah’s Witnesses do say, however, is that should Charles mount the throne of England his reign may well be short.

Why is that? It is not due to any failing on the part of the prince. Nor is it due to any real likelihood of a republican revolution in Britain. No, the reason is far more profound.

Bible prophecy indicates that the British monarchy, along with all others, will soon be replaced by a much better monarchy​—one capable of carrying out numerous badly needed programs that Prince Charles himself will surely approve of. Indeed, statements by the prince indicate a remarkable harmony between his desires and the goals of the coming world monarchy under the kingship of Jesus Christ. Here are three examples:

I. Righteous Judgment

“So many people are judged by outward appearances,” commented Prince Charles during a recent tour of a mental hospital. “You’ve got to keep telling yourself that appearances are often not what’s underneath.” The desire of the prince to avoid superficial judgments is certainly laudable, but does any man really have the discernment to do so? As God rightly pointed out to his prophet Samuel: “Mere man sees what appears to the eyes; but as for Jehovah, he sees what the heart is.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Jehovah has given this ability to his Son. Hence, Jesus could say: “You judge according to the flesh; I do not judge any man at all. And yet if I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I am not alone, but the Father who sent me is with me.”​—John 8:15, 16.

While Jesus was not sent to earth as a judge in the first century, there is no doubt that he will serve as Jehovah’s Judge under God’s coming kingdom. Regarding that time, the prophet Isaiah predicted that “he will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:3, 4) What a heartwarming prospect!

II. Golden Rule

“The only motto I go by,” commented the prince while visiting a factory, “is ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’ I try to put myself in other people’s positions. That way I hope I can reasonably do the right thing.”

Surely Prince Charles has an excellent motto. Perhaps you realize that he was quoting from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said: “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them; this, in fact, is what the Law and the Prophets mean.”​—Matthew 7:12.

Who, then, could better apply that “motto” than Jesus himself? Was not his whole life spent doing good for people? No wonder the Bible refers to him as the “fine shepherd” who ultimately “surrenders his soul in behalf of the sheep.” (John 10:11) Indeed, Jesus proved time and again his interest in doing good for mankind.

III. End of Hatred Coming

“There’s so much bigotry about, it’s appalling. Fear . . . ignorance. . . . Whatever the reasons behind it, it’s such a tragedy. Because in the end we’ve all got to get along together, or what’s the future going to be?” The prince was here speaking of a serious problem in British society, but his remarks are equally true of most places in the world today. Prince Charles’ dislike of racial hatred and his personal example of goodwill to men of all races are very commendable, but what can Prince Charles, or any human ruler, do to change deep-seated prejudices? Little, as most people realize.

With God’s kingdom, however, it is different. The Bible assures us that it will bring to pass man’s age-old dream of universal brotherhood. Unlike human governments, God’s kingdom will operate on the principle that the apostle Peter appreciated when he said: “For a certainty I perceive that God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.”​—Acts 10:34, 35.

No wonder that in vision the apostle John saw “a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb . . . saying: ‘Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:9, 10) Yes, John was seeing the people who would live under God’s kingdom, and those people were without national or racial divisions. They were worshiping God harmoniously together, just as Jehovah’s Witnesses are doing even now in all parts of the world.

Your Decision

The fine qualities of earthly representatives of monarchy, such as Prince Charles, endear them to many. Yet their good qualities pale before those of Jesus Christ, “the image of the invisible God,” Jehovah. (Colossians 1:15) Really, is there anyone who would make for this earth a better ruler than Christ? No!

Divine Monarchy Is Coming!

HISTORIANS tell us that monarchy has been going out of style for centuries. Most countries today are ruled by representatives of the people, at least in theory. Even where monarchs still exist, such as in Great Britain, they have little real power.

Why, then, would God purpose to govern the entire earth through a monarchy? Doesn’t he realize that such an idea is unfashionable in these republican times? Yes, but Jehovah God does not care about what is fashionable among men. He is going to give the earth the type of rulership it needs, regardless of what people think they want.

God does not purpose to conduct a worldwide referendum to see if people will accept his kingdom, his monarchy. Instead, here is how the Bible describes the establishment of that kingdom. The setting is a dream that an ancient monarch had regarding the future of world government, represented by a huge statue of gold, silver, copper, iron and clay.

As ancient King Nebuchadnezzar regarded that composite image, “a stone was cut out not by hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and of molded clay and crushed them. At that time the iron, the molded clay, the copper, the silver and the gold were, all together, crushed and became like the chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away so that no trace at all was found of them. And as for the stone that struck the image, it became a large mountain and filled the whole earth.”​—Daniel 2:34, 35.

The symbolic meaning is clear. World governments are in for destruction! But at whose hands? Who is responsible for the great stone that destroys the statue? What is the large mountain that fills the whole earth after the world’s governments are destroyed?

We do not have to guess, because the Bible explains the king’s prophetic dream, saying: “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite; forasmuch as you beheld that out of the mountain a stone was cut not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the copper, the molded clay, the silver and the gold. The grand God himself has made known to the king what is to occur after this. And the dream is reliable, and the interpretation of it is trustworthy.”​—Daniel 2:44, 45.

No human is going to put God’s kingdom into power! It will be set up by divine irresistible force, destroying whatever world governments exist at the time it comes to dominate the whole earth, like a large mountain. Since God’s Word assures us that the vision is reliable, there is no reason to doubt that God will do just what he said. There is no excuse for religious organizations failing to alert people to this important fact. They do this by teaching people that God’s kingdom is just an abstraction or a state of mind!

The question is not whether God intends to set up a worldwide kingdom, but when will he do so. From their study of the Bible, Jehovah’s Witnesses are convinced that the time is very near. Why?

Here are two good reasons—

First, the same prophetic book of Daniel containing this vision also contains chronological prophecies clearly pointing at our century. For example, Daniel chapter 4 contains a prophecy in which God’s kingdom is pictured, not as a stone or a mountain, but as a tree. Jehovah’s Witnesses have proved in detail that the “seven times” that were to pass until the fulfillment of that prophecy lead directly to this twentieth century.a (Daniel 4:25) There can be no question concerning the chronological accuracy of Daniel’s visions. One of those visions correctly predicted the time the Messiah was to arrive. (Daniel 9:24-27) No wonder Jesus Christ referred his followers to the book of Daniel when discussing future events!​—Matthew 24:15.

A second reason is found in the words of Jesus Christ himself. If you read Matthew chapter 24, Luke chapter 21, or Mark chapter 13 you will find his discussion of the world conditions that would mark the time of his return as King of God’s kingdom. No discerning reader can fail to be impressed by the similarity between the wars, famines, earthquakes and lawlessness foretold by Jesus and the wars, famines, earthquakes and lawlessness daily reported in the news.

So Bible chronology and Bible prophecy combine to prove that all of us, including Prince Charles, are living among people of the generation that will see God’s kingdom begin to rule this earth, sweeping away the present squabbling monarchies and republics of men like so much chaff from a threshing floor. When that day arrives, are you going to be ready?