June 2, 1953 — the significance of the date was lost on me as an eight-year-old. But in London, England, it was coronation day for Queen Elizabeth II, her formal crowning as monarch of the United Kingdom.
As grand and magnificent as Queen Elizabeth’s coronation was over six decades ago, it pales into insignificance when compared with another coronation yet future. This coronation will impact not just a single nation but the entire world, not just for a lifetime but forever. I’m talking about the coronation of Jesus Christ (Messiah) as King of kings and Lord of lords. From that day forward, He will rule over the nations and alter the destiny of our planet forever.
Many of the ancient Hebrew prophets spoke of the future reign of the Messiah when He would establish a new world order and rule over all the nations of the earth. Speaking of the Messiah, the prophet Zechariah says,
He will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. […] Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! […] And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one. Zechariah 9:10b; 14:5b,9
While many of the ancient Hebrew prophets speak of Messiah’s reign, only one of the prophets actually describes His coronation as King—Daniel. Think for a moment what you would expect to see if God removed the veil between heaven and earth, and you could see with your own eyes what heaven is like. Here’s how Daniel describes what he saw:
I was looking in my visions at night […] I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him; thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him […]. Daniel 7:9–10
What an awesome spectacle. But all of this is just a description of the setting for the event that is about to take place. Are you ready? Daniel is about to have a front-row seat at the coronation of the King of kings, who will establish His kingdom rule over the nations of earth forever. In describing his vision, Daniel continues,
I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. Daniel 7:1
Daniel is describing someone coming on the clouds of heaven who appears to be human but yet is clearly much more than human. It is no coincidence that in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus refers to Himself thirty-one times as the “Son of man,” clearly identifying Himself as the Messiah whose coming is foretold in Daniel’s prophecy.
Yet, before Jesus can establish His kingdom on earth, something else must happen first. Queen Elizabeth did not become queen of the United Kingdom with the power and authority to rule until first she had been coronated as queen by the Archbishop of Canterbury. And King Jesus will not become the King of all the earth until first He is coronated as king by God the Father. In describing what he sees in this vision, Daniel continues,
And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14
In reading Daniel’s account of this vision, we become eyewitnesses to the coronation of Jesus Christ (Messiah) as God appoints Him King over all the earth. After His coronation in heaven, Jesus will come to earth to claim His inheritance and to establish His rule over our planet and all the nations of the earth forever.
Just as Daniel is the only prophet in the Old Testament to give us a front- row seat at the coronation of King Messiah, so John is the only apostle in the New Testament to give us that same front-row seat. In the book of Revelation, John records visions from God, providing a panoramic view of the final days of human history. John writes,
Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.” Revelation 11:15–17
Daniel sees the Son of Man appearing before God the Father, surrounded by the assembly of the holy ones, to receive the kingdom that is His promised inheritance. But John gets to see the excitement and overwhelming response of the assembly of the holy ones when with the sounding of the trumpet, Jesus is crowned as King of the earth, with full authority to rule the nations. The book of Revelation gives us the rest of the story.
Finally, the words spoken in The Lord’s Prayer will come to pass—”Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). At last, our blessed hope will no longer be something that we eagerly look for in the future. It will be something that we will experience as a present reality. May we, along with John, again cry out with eager anticipation, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
– An excerpt from Allan Stewart Maitha’s book, “THE COMING: Our Only Hope For a Better World”. All Scripture references are taken from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise indicated.
