Casting Crowns
On St Nicholas’ Cliff, Scarbrough, stands a fine statue of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Her back is to the sea and she benevolently gazes on the town which saw fit to preserve her memory. She wears a rather heavy crown which I am unable to identify from the current regalia; I suspect it is something of a fanciful recreation. Furthermore, Victoria spurned the use of large crowns as being too heavy for her head, having a miniature one made instead. That she would wear that heavy crown at Scarborough is therefore doubly unlikely.
In the fourth of Revelation we read that:
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
“You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honour and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.” 9-11, New King James Version
The identity of these elders is unclear, yet there they sit, crowned and honoured, until they all feel prompted to remove them and cast them before the throne. If the redeemed in heaven are given literal crowns to wear, they shall soon come off, as their wearers gaze upon the dazzling majesty and feel the gracious love of Him who purchased them with His own blood.
Finish then, Thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be;
let us see Thy great salvation
perfectly restored in Thee.
Changed from glory into glory,
till in heav'n we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before Thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise!
Charles Wesley, 1747
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