Where it’s Winter But Never Christmas
Advent Part 1
Intro. The title is a quote from C S Lewis’ book “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” part of a seven volume series called The Chronicles of Narnia.
C S Lewis was a professor at Oxford University who was an atheist. But due to the influence of J R R Tolkien and others Lewis came to faith in Jesus Christ.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the story of four children - Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy, who during the bombing of London during WW2 are sent to live in the country
One day while exploring Lucy checks out a wardrobe full of fur coats and ends up walking into a land called Narnia. Narnia has been under the Spell of the White Witch for 100 years.
Eventually Lucy and her siblings will play an important part in the redemption of Narnia by Aslan, the Lion, the Son of the Great Emperor.
In 1950 when Lewis began writing this first book in the Chronicles of Narnia he states that he did not set out to write a story which pointed to the attributes of Christ - but that is where he ended up.
When a little girl named Hila wrote to Lewis asking him to tell her Aslan’s other name. Lewis responded with clues from the stories.
“Well, I want you to guess. Has there ever been anyone in this world who
1) arrived at the same time as Father Christmas,
2) Said he was the son of the Great Emperor,
3) Gave himself up for someone else’s fault, to be jeered at and killed by wicked people,
4) Came to life again, and
5) Is sometimes spoken of as a lamb (see the end of Dawn Trader)?
Don’t you really know His name in this world? “Think it over, and let me know your answer.”
Another reader, a young Christian, actually became worried that he had come to love Aslan even more than Jesus. A concerned mother wrote Lewis for advice. Within 10 days she received this reply,
“Laurence can’t really love Aslan more than Jesus, even if he feels that’s what he is doing. For the things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply things that Jesus really did and said. So that when Laurence thinks he is loving Aslan, he is really loving Jesus; and perhaps loving Him more than he ever did before.”
Today as we begin our Advent journey I want us to focus on the condition of Narnia. The best description is one that we have already used this morning - “where it’s winter but never Christmas.”
You see when evil enters a land everything is effected. As we think of Advent being a time of preparation for Christmas - today we are actually asking why did Christ need to come.
1. The Winter of Narnia is like Darkness
The scriptures speak of people who are walking in darkness
- Job 12:25 (NLT) hey grope in the darkness without a light. He makes them stagger like drunkards.
- Isaiah 59:9b (NIV) We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
- John 3:19-20 (NLT) Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. [20] They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished.
Ephes. 4:18 (NLT) Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him.
Psalm 42:9 (NLT)
"O God my rock," I cry,
"Why have you forsaken me?
Why must I wander in darkness,
oppressed by my enemies?"
2. The Lampost of Narnia reminds us of Light
There is a symbol in Narnia that reminds me of hope. It is at the entry point for the children to Narnia and it is a Lampost
Psalm 107:13-15 (NIV)
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
[14] He brought them out of darkness and the
deepest gloom
and broke away their chains.
[15] Let them give thanks to the Lord for his
unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
Job 12:22 (NLT) "He floods the darkness with light; he brings light to the deepest gloom.
Psalm 18:28 (NIV) - You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
Matthew quotes Isaiah 9:2 (NIV) The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Acts 26:18 (NIV) to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Ephes. 5:8 (NLT) For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it!
3. The Winter of Narnia is Like Bondage
White Witch has Narnia held captive
Spies - Mr. Tumnus
Statues - the Courtyard
Galatians 4:8 (NIV) Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
Romans 6:6 (NIV) For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--
4. The Spring of Narnia & Father Christmas Reminds of Redemption
With the arrival of Aslan in the land and of the four children Father Christmas arrives. Finally it IS Christmas.
Next Spring begins to come to Narnia. The snow begins to melt. Flowers begin to bloom.
Now in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe these are merely signs that redemption is coming. Later we will see the grand story of redemption.
Isaiah 14:3 (NIV) On the day the Lord gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage,
Jesus would stand in the synagogue in Nazareth and read Isaiah 61:1 (NIV) The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. And he would say that these words were now fulfilled.
But the redemption is not for man alone. Just as in Narnia where the coming of Aslan brings Spring
Romans 8:19-21 (NIV) tells us that:
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. [20] For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Concl. As we continue our journey toward Christmas through the eyes of C S Lewis story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe we will see even more reasons why Jesus Came.
But for today let me ask you:
- Is there a darkness in your life where the light of Jesus needs to shine?
- Is there a bondage in your life where you need to be set free by the redemption of Jesus?
You don’t have to wait to know more of the story, you already know enough.
