Introduction: C. S. Lewis’ masterpiece, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third book in the Chronicles of Narnia. It comes to the big screen the weekend of December 10. We are actually purchasing a large block of tickets for 5 pm showing of the movie on Saturday, December 11. The tickets are discounted at $6.50 each. If you’ve gone to the movies lately, you’ll know that it’s a good price. Please let me know today or by e-mail or Facebook if you want us to reserve you tickets. Yes, you can invite friends. This would be a great event to invite somebody from outside FCC to come and experience with you.
C. S. Lewis is considered one of the greatest Christian thinkers of our century and wrote the Narnia fantasy series that has sold more than 100 million books in 29 different languages. The Chronicles of Narnia is a 7 book series that follows the adventure of some English children who discover another world—the magical land of Narnia. I’ve asked you to indulge me for two weeks, as we will be sharing some lessons from this classic allegory by Lewis. On December 12, we will start a series on Matthew.
Many are familiar with the two books in the “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and “Prince Caspian” because of the recent movies. In this book we are introduced to Aslan the great Lion who represents Jesus. The children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy discover Narnia through a wardrobe. They discover a land filled with talking animals that is under the White Witch’s spell where it is always winter and never Christmas. The redemption of Narnia comes through the death of Aslan, and victory through His resurrection. The four children return in Prince Caspian which takes us back to Narnia. It’s a year later for them…but its 1300 hundred years later for Narnia. They find the ruins of their castle, Cair Paravel, and a world that shuns the “old stories” of Aslan. It’s up to Caspian and the children to fight to restore the Kingdom of Aslan to its previous glory.
The main characters in “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” are the great lion, Aslan (the Christ figure), Lucy, Edmund, Prince Caspian, and the noble mouse Rheepicheep. Last week’s message was entitled “The Voyage.” I believe that C. S. Lewis used ‘voyage’ as a metaphor for the Christian life. On life’s ‘voyage’ we find adventure, transformation, and rescue. The ship the Dawn Treader was given the mandate to find and rescue the 7 lost lords. Near the end of their adventure, and to wake three sleeping lords, a small contingent has to sail to “Aslan’s Country.” We would know that as Jesus country or heaven. “Aslan’s Country” is simply a metaphor for heaven. As believers we are all on a voyage moving closer to “Aslan’s Country.”
As we move closer to Aslan’s Country we discover the…
1. Longing. The crew is told they must send someone to ‘go on into the utter east and never return into the world’—to Aslan’s country. Reepicheep responded, ‘That is my heart’s desire.’ The noble mouse longed for Aslan’s country…yet he struggled with what Lewis describes as ‘second things.’ You will see in the movie that Reepicheep is often more concerned with his honor than Aslan’s country.
We too have this deep longing for heaven. C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity wrote, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world.”
In “The Weight of Glory” Lewis describes a longing of “something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside.”
The apostle Paul wrote this about longing in 2 Corinthians 5: 1-10. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
So we long for heaven. We long to be reunited with loved ones. We long to be in a place with no cancer, no pain, no difficulties, and no tears. C. S. Lewis wrote in “Letters to Malcolm,” Joy is the serious business of heaven. We long to be there! Paul would go on to say that we have to set our hearts there.
Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
As Reepicheep sails into Aslan’s country he throws his sword overboard, suggesting that in the very end he makes second things second and first things first. He laid aside his honor to be in the presence of Aslan’s country. What do you need to lay aside…are you willing to set your mind on things above. Can you say with Reepicheep about going to heaven, “that is my hearts desire.”
As we move closer to Aslan’s country we find the longing…secondly we find the…
2. Glory. As the crew gets closer to Aslan’s Country Lewis describes what they experience in a chapter entitled, “The Wonders of the Last Sea.” We are told, “All was different. For one thing they all found that they were needing less sleep. One did not want to go to bed nor to eat much, nor even to talk except in low voices. Another thing was the light. There was too much of it.” They discover the sea water is sweet and unlike anything they have ever tasted. ‘That’s real water,’ Caspian exclaims, adding that it is ‘like light more than anything else.’ ‘Drinkable light,’ Reepicheep affirms. Lucy concludes, ‘It’s the loveliest thing I have ever tasted.’
As the get closer we have this description: ‘My Lord,’ said Caspian… ‘What do you see ahead?’ ‘Sire (said Drinian) I see whiteness. All along the horizon from north to south, as far as my eyes can reach.’ ‘That is what I see too,’ said Caspian, ‘and I cannot imagine what it is.’ It turned out that it was a sea of lilies. Here is the description, “Whiteness, shot with faintest colour of gold, spread round them on every side, except just astern where their passage had thrust the lilies apart and left an open lane of water that shone like dark green glass. To look at, this last sea was very like the Arctic; and if their eyes had not by now grown as strong as eagle’ the sun on all the whiteness—especially at early morning when the sun was hugest—would have been unbearable…there seemed to end to the lilies.”
And lastly, we have a description of what laid just beyond the horizon. “What they saw eastward, beyond the sun—was a range of mountains. It was so high that either they never saw the top of it or they forgot it. None of them remembers seeing any sky in that direction. And the mountains must really have been outside the world. For any mountains even a quarter of a twentieth of that height ought to have had ice and snow on them. But these were warm and green and full of forests and waterfalls however high you looked.”
In describing the sea water, the lilies, and the mountains, Lewis is attempting to describe the glory of heaven. But there is no better description than Revelation 21. Let’s begin in verses, 1-4 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Skipping to verses 9-14. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Revelation 21: 18-19 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.
Revelation 21: 22-27 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
As we move closer to Aslan’s country we find the longing, the glory, and lastly the…
3. Lamb. As the book is closing, Lucy, Edmund, and Caspian have one last encounter with Aslan. “But between them and the foot of the sky there was something so white on the green grass that even with their eagles’ eyes they could hardly look at it. They came on and saw that it was a Lamb. ‘Come and have breakfast,’ said the Lamb in sweet milky voice. Then they noticed for the first time that there was a fire lit on the grass and fish roasting on it. They sat down and ate the fish, hungry now for the first time for the first time for many days. And it was the most delicious food they had ever tasted. ‘Please, Lamb,’ said Lucy, ‘is this the way to Aslan’s country?’ ‘Not for you,’ said the lamb. ‘For you the door into Aslan’s country is from your own world.’ ‘What!’ said Edmund. ‘Is there a way into Aslan’s country from every world too?’
‘There is a way into my country from all the worlds,’ said the Lamb; but as he spoke his snowy white flushed into tawny gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself, towering above them and scattering light from his mane. ‘O, Aslan,’ said Lucy. ‘Will you tell us how to get into your country from your world?’ ‘I shall be telling you all the time,’ said Aslan. ‘But I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river. But do not fear that, for am the great Bridge Builder. And now come; I will open the door in the sky and send you to your own land.’
‘Please, Aslan,’ said Lucy. ‘Before we go, will you tell us when we can come back to Narnia again? Please. And oh, go, do, do make it soon.’ ‘Dearest,’ said Aslan very gently, ‘You and your brother will never come back to Narnia.’ ‘Oh, Aslan!’ said Edmund and Lucy both together in despairing voices. ‘You are too old, children,’ said Aslan, ‘ and you must begin to come close to your won world now.’ ‘It isn’t Narnia, you know,’ sobbed Lucy. It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?’
‘But you shall meet me, dear on,’ said Aslan. ‘Are—you there too, Sir?’ said Edmund. ‘I am,’ said Aslan. ‘But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.’
This is a clear reference to Jesus having breakfast with his disciples after his resurrection. John 21: 4-14 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. 6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
When we get to heaven it will be the Lamb who will be front and center. Revelation 5: 11-13 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!”
Heaven is going to be wonderful. There will be no more suffering, we will be reunited with loved ones, and it will be a place of glory. But I wonder, if we would be satisfied if the streets weren’t paved with gold. I loved what young Lucy expressed to Aslan as she was leaving Narnia:
“It isn’t Narnia, you know. It’s You.” This suggests ‘that at the root of the children’s
longing for Narnia…and Aslan’s Country…is a longing for Aslan himself’ (Brown). Can you say with Lucy…it’s not heaven really…it’s you Jesus.
As we move closer to Aslan’s country we find the longing, the glory, and the Lamb.
Conclusion: C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, that Christians are to look forward to heaven, but that doesn’t mean we are to leave the present world ‘as it is.’ He writes “that throughout history the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those ‘who thought most of the next.’”
May we be a unique group of believers who thinks a lot about the next life, that we might make a difference in this one!
Let’s pray…
