I’ve got to tell you all that I am incredibly excited about this week. For one thing, my first male progeny will likely be born this Friday. But there is another event that has really divided my anticipation. Now many of you know that I have what you might call a mild appreciation for C. S. Lewis’ writings. In fact some of you may call it an obsession, but I think that’s a bit unfair. On that very same day, the film version of Lewis’ most popular work of fiction, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is being released and it’s sure to be a huge success over the next several weeks. And since the story is full of Biblical imagery I thought it would be good to spend some time delving into some of the themes of the book.
I don’t want to give away too much before you have a chance to see it, or read it, but the story centers around four siblings (Peter, Susan, Edmond, & Lucy) who are evacuated to the country home of an eccentric old professor during the London air raids of World War II. One day, while the children were exploring their new home Lucy, the youngest of the family decided to investigate a large old wardrobe tucked away in a spare room of the house. At first she is just excited to find it is full of fur coats, but the biggest surprise comes when she finds that the wardrobe has no back and that it leads into a snow-covered forest. She comes to find out that she’s found her way into a magical world called Narnia which is filled with talking animals and all sorts of other mythical creatures.
Eventually, Lucy finds her way back through the wardrobe by following the light of a mysterious lamppost. And when she returns from Narnia she’s excited to share her adventure with the others but they don’t believe her story. They think she’s simply making believe. In fact Edmond, the younger of the two brothers is actually pretty mean about it. He keeps asking her if she’s found any other new countries in other cupboards all over the house.
Now, this is just the beginning of the story, but to me it says a lot about the nature of faith what it means to See the Unseen. Lucy believed in Narnia because she’d been there. The others didn’t believe because they had never experienced anything like it. Their belief was limited to what they could examine with their senses. It reminds me of one of Jesus’ disciples named Thomas. After Jesus’ resurrection, the other disciples told him that they’d seen Jesus. But Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” Well, that’s exactly what happened when Jesus came to them again. And John 20:29 says, “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” In a lot of ways, modern western culture is like a culture full of Thomases, believing only what we can see.
In his other writings, C. S. Lewis compared faith to learning to swim or rock climbing. You may trust your instructor and you may know logically that these things are safe and possible. The challenge is to go on believing when you’re on the cliff edge or suspended in the water. He says, “Here as in the New Testament, the conflict is not between faith and reason but between faith and sight.”
Another example of struggling to see the unseen comes from the book of Luke. It’s a common passage during the month of Dec. because it deals with the birth of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. You see, John’s father, a man named Zechariah was a priest in the Jewish temple. And we’re told that he and his wife Elizabeth were honorable people who strictly followed the religious laws. But they had no children and were well along in age. Then, one day when Zechariah was on duty in the temple an angel appeared to him and told him that Elizabeth would bear him a son and that son would become a sort of forerunner for the Messiah.
Now look at Zechariah’s response in Luke 1:18, “Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”" (Luke 1:18-20, NIV)
Even in the midst of this incredible angelic encounter, Zechariah was unable to see the unseen. His senses told him that he wouldn’t be having any children and he had a hard time overcoming the limitations of his own vision. But the thing that stuck out at me as I was reading this is that Zechariah was a very religious man. But for some reason he still had trouble believing in what he couldn’t see. I’m convinced that sometimes religious people can be the biggest unbelievers. You see, when our worship becomes dominated by the sights, sounds, and smells rather than by the invisible God that these things are meant to point us toward then our vision is limited. But if we allow ourselves to believe in what we can’t see, then everything takes on a new tone. In fact the Russian author, Dostoyevsky once wrote that, “If God exists, everything is possible.” Think about that for a minute.
In fact, the New Testament actually defines faith as confidence in the unseen. Hebrews 11:1-3 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." (Hebrews 11:1-3, NIV)
Not only does this passage remind us that faith give us confidence in what we can’t see, it also reminds us of the importance of the unseen world. Not only is there a whole other world out there beyond what we can see and touch, but that world is the source or the foundation for what we can see. And if that’s true, then doesn’t it make sense that we should seek to focus on the unseen?
You know this time of year is kind of the season of the unseen. Everywhere you look during the Christmas season you see an increased sensitivity to the unseen world. Christmas is dominated by the miraculous. We see everything from angels to flying deer. But you’ve got to wonder why that sensitivity doesn’t last. Think about it. Jesus said we are blessed when we believe even though we can’t see. And if God is real, and there really is a whole other universe beyond our 5 senses, then anything is possible. Where should our focus be?
In one passage in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul was writing to Christians who were going through some pretty difficult circumstances. He was encouraging them by telling them that their eternal glory is in some ways much more substantial than their physical suffering. And here’s what he said to them in 2 Corinthians 4:18, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." His challenge is this, which world deserves our greater attention.
In the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney there was one competitor that stood out among all the others. Despite being legally blind for 22 years, Marla Runyon qualified for the finals and finished 8th in the 1500 meter race. Marla can’t see in color, and what she does see is just a fuzzy blob. So, in a race she just follows the blob of figures in front of her. She told a TV commentator that the real difficulty was in rounding the final turn and racing toward a finish line that she can’t see. She just knows where it is. I think that’s a great analogy for what Paul had in mind when he talked about fixing our eyes on what is unseen.
It’s difficult. The things that do fall into our range of vision are so overwhelming. Life is full of temporary things that distract us and draw our focus. It is so much easier to place our trust in what we can see, hear, feel, touch and taste. Wouldn’t it be great if we could, like Lucy, walk through a wardrobe and experience the unseen world first hand? What if there really was a way that we could connect with the unseen? Well, I’m here to tell you that there is.
There is a bridge between the unseen world and the world of our senses. But it’s not through a wardrobe or through any other type of cabinetry. Actually, it’s not a way for us to enter the unseen world, but just the opposite. The Bible records what many believe to be an ancient hymn about Jesus in the book of Colossians. It says this, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:15-17, NIV)
You see we don’t need any magical doorways into the unseen world. It came to us. The very invisible God who created the universe, both seen and unseen, actually stepped into time and matter some 2000 or so years ago. Jesus’ birth, his life, his death, and his resurrection are the greatest links that we have the unseen world around us. And as a result of those things, the doorway is always open.
So, don’t just trudge through the world as if all that we can see with our eyes is all that there is. There is so much more. There is a God who makes anything possible. We simply have to be willing to see it. Fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Jesus promised that if we do that, that we would be blessed.
