Narnia: The Triumph Of Aslan - An Example Of True Love Series

The Triumph of Aslan - An Example of True Love

What is your view of God? J.B. Phillips wrote a book a few years ago titled, “Your God Is too Small.” In it he describes the different negative ideas we have of God; Resident Policeman, Grand Old Man; Managing Director… [To that I could add, Nagging Parent…] He is often pictured as remote and out of touch with our world. But in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, on the big screen, C.S. Lewis has given us another picture of God. It seems the “Church in the Cinema” has brought to life the character of our Savior.

As with any symbol, Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe doesn’t completely portray the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is a study that will expand your understanding of His mission and ministry.

As we dive into the story once again I must tell you that some things I say are dependent on you having a knowledge of the book or the movie. I will try not to make too many assumptions…

Today I want to focus on Aslan. He is the lion in the story. We looked at Lucy tripping through the wardrobe in our first study, last week we looked at the temptation of Edmond and we ate some Turkish Delight. Today we will study the Triumph of Aslan.

Aslan is the central subject of the Chronicles of Narnia…but Aslan doesn’t appear immediately. In fact, Lewis has delayed his appearance to create the sense of anticipation portrayed throughout the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ…for His first appearance, and then for His coming again.

As you read the book you get eager to meet Aslan? And it seems like it takes forever for the children to finally see Him? It’s like waiting for Christmas… or as Lewis suggests, “something even better than Christmas.”

For our first point I want to do a bit of a review under the subject of facing temptation…

1. FACING TEMPTATION

In our first study Lucy discovered a world where it was always winter, but never Christmas. A world under the control of the White Witch. It is a picture of our world under the domination of the prince of this world, Satan. But last week we focused in on one young man, Edmond, by name, who was taken captive by the White Witch.

We saw that Edmond has a choice, but he ignored the warnings and yielded to the temptation. He is not unlike each of us. We live in a sinful fallen world, but when given the opportunity we choose to ignore the warnings. WE are described in Ephesians 2:3 [MSNT]:

“Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our lower natures, indulging the cravings of those natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state deserving of anger [God’s wrath-KJV] like all others.”

We talked at length last week about the fact that we all make choices and we can choose to follow the Lord or Satan’s subtle suggestions. Yogi Berra said, “If there is a fork in the road, take it!” The fact of the matter is, we all must choose to take the right course, or we have already chosen to take the wrong path. Underline “governed” and “indulging” in your outline. Last week we looked at the steps down into sin, and how we can have victory over temptation…

[read verse 6 again]

Now look at verse 7. It begins with a remarkable phrase that speaks of God’s intervention on our behalf…in the KJV it simply says, “But God…” Let me read on in the NIV…

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

We are alive in Christ and can have victory over sin!

“But God” speaks of the intervention of Aslan on behalf of the traitor Edmond. We left him last week chained at the witches house…

Today we break into the story with the 3 Pevensie children; Peter, Susan, and Lucy running and hiding from the White Witch with the Beavers. Have any more of you had a chance to see the movie. I had someone tell me this week, “It’s a kids movie!” It is!

They awake before dawn to the sound of sleigh bells…that’s a nice sound at Christmas, unless you are in their shoes and think the sleigh is that of the wicked white witch and she has just found them! But when Mr. Beaver investigates, he calls to the children, “It’s all right! It isn’t her!”