Narnia: The Universe Next Door

N a R n N i A : THE UNIVERSE NEXT DOOR

1. The Land

2. The Lion

3. Liberty

1. The Land

a. ,,The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C. S. Lewis is a very relevant book for our days. We have a spiritual universe next door. (Narnia), but we don’t see it, because we need faith as the four children - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - needed, and we need action - to open the wardrobe.

The spiritual battle, in which we are involved, can be seen only through the glasses of faith. Faith means that we anchor in the reality which is not seen (with eyes), and that reality becomes the reality of those who believe.

Illustration: In China, during WWII, a woman has tried to help a hundred orphans to escape from that country. When she realized the impossibility to move and the lack of food they needed, she wept. Her daughter, said, “Mother, don’t you remember the story you told us about Moses, who escaped from Egypt with 2 million, and how God gave them food. “Yes, I remember but I am not like Moses.” “But God is still God!”

We need genuine faith to live and pray, as God is the same: full of love, goodness, and almighty. God’s protection and providence is still in action.

We need to walk by faith.

b. Narnia is a land of everlasting winter as many hearts are nowadays: icy and cold. Your heart is the most important part of you. It is the “you” that will live forever. It is the place where you make decisions about whom you will love and whom you will forgive and with whom you will forbear. It is your heart that relates to God.

Do you find yourself saying, “I’ve read God’s Word but an hour later I can’t remember what I read.” Or “I’ve heard God’s Word preached in church, but I’ve already forgot what I heard by the time I get to the front door.” The enemy has snatched away that seed that was sown into your heart, because the soil was unbreakable and the seed didn’t penetrate. He just plucked it off the surface.

Now, don’t just avert this one. Honestly ask yourself, do I have an unbreakable and cold heart?

So if your heart is open, I encourage you to have a test. Ask God to show you your heart condition and give you insight into how you might grow and change and be all that God has created and called you to be.

2. The Lion

,,Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour".1 Peter 5:8

a. The devil is a master of disguise. II Corinthians 11:14 tells us that the prince of darkness masquerades as an angel of light. The lion is the most powerful animal .He comes ,,as a" lion, as good, truth, light but he is evil, he is a liar, and he is dark.

As in The Chronicles of Narnia: the Witch is as I were good , because is named the White Witch. But her heart and actions are dark.

Edmund is attracted to the witch, with the first idea of Lucifer, to be upon the throne .He acted in a prideful way, and betrayed his friends. Satan tries to deceive us in a diplomatic way.

b. But Satan is not omnipotent, is not a real lion. Jesus is omnipotent, is the Lion of Juda.

Illustration: In the Sunday School the following question was asked: “Why wasn’t Daniel eaten by the lions?”

A little girl responded: “Because the Lion of Juda stood between them.”

Jesus comes with us in our problems, sufferings, and in our temptations

“To this end was the Son of God manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil.(1 John 3:8)"

3. Liberty

a. Edmund is sad when he realizes that is condemned for eternity to be the witch’s slave because of his betrayal. But Edmund’s history doesn’t stop here. His life is only about witchcrafts, betrayal, sadness and the absence of liberty, but it also speaks of restoration. Because he has a meeting with Aslan, the real king, the real lion. .As all the sins, all the acts of betrayal must be paid with death. Edmund becomes free when Aslan dies in his place, and the death goes back because the lion was pure, without sin.

The moment of the sacrifice, death, and resurrection is not only the climax of the story, it is also filled with many spiritual meanings. Narnia is saved. The greatest reality in the history of the world is the victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, and His victory guarantees our victory in the spiritual war of the ages.