The Servant Queen

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, offers thoughts upon hearing of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Queen of the United Kingdom for 70 years, she maintained that the teachings of Jesus Christ served as her guide throughout the entirety of her very long life—indeed, that Christ is the King she serves. In the foreword to The Servant Queen and the King She Serves (Bible Society, 2016), Queen Elizabeth expressed profound gratitude “to God for his steadfast love” throughout the duration of her life. She was also keenly aware of the reality that death is the great equalizer—as the Orthodox funeral service states, in the grave “kings and beggars dwell together.” In Money and Salvation: An Invitation to the Good Way, Andrew Geleris writes, “From the perspective of eternity, only during the relatively brief interval between birth and death does anyone have any control over money. And even this control is somewhat illusory. When, for example, we purchase a home or a plot of land, we claim that we ‘own’ it. However, the land has already seen many owners come and go over the preceding centuries, and one would expect that many more would claim such ‘ownership’ over the land in the future. Therefore, any claim of land ‘ownership’ requires a preposterous suspension of historical awareness.” The land, the wealth, and the honors of this world are all temporary. The Lord Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19–21 NIV 1984). Queen Elizabeth possessed extraordinary wealth as monarch. The question today for her is not, Did I have wealth on Earth? But, How did I use that wealth to store up treasure in heaven? For further study, see Andrew Geleris, Money and Salvation: An Invitation to the Good Way (https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-money-and-salvation-an-invitation-to-the-good-way-and-on-wealth-and-poverty-by-st-john-chrysostom-foreword-by-hank-hanegraaff/