Presbytery Statement read out in all of our Free Presbyterian Churches on Lord’s Day 11th September, 2022 and which was followed by our congregations standing for a minute’s silence, and concluded by a brief word of prayer.
It was with the deepest sadness on Thursday evening 8th September 2022 that the ministers and ruling elders and members of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster learned of the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
As a Church we lament the passing of a monarch who ruled for over seventy years with dignity, wisdom, and diligence. We thank God for her exemplary, personal, public, conduct as a monarch, and for the stability that she brought to our nation over the seven decades of her illustrious reign.
As a denomination, we express to the Royal Household our sincerest sympathy. Scripture, in 1 Timothy chapter 2, commands the Christian Church to pray “ . . . . for kings and for all that are in authority.” Therefore, we will be interceding for Her Majesty’s family, praying that the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort will impart to their hearts the true consolation of the grace of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At her coronation service on June 2nd 1953, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, presented the new Queen with a copy of the Scriptures and said, ‘Our gracious Queen: to keep your Majesty ever mindful of the Law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords.’
It is still the Holy Bible that carries the infallible message of God for the Royal family, our nation, and the entire Commonwealth. True comfort in life and in death, is found in Christ Jesus alone. The gospel declares, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life.’