I can’t help but feel sorry for our our church family in our small group who meet once a month in our home. While you had an opportunity to read my rambling regarding the “Chronicles of Narnia” in two sittings, our small group will not be so lucky! In September I always share my summer reading. I often give a short promotional summary of each book and offer the book to anyone who might like to read it too. Oh friends, “The Chronicles of Narnia” alone will take me an hour. It might be a 2 cups of coffee night! Beware!
In the fourth book, Prince Caspian, the four children return to Narnia. Just one year has passed in their time at home in England, but 1000 years has passed in Narnia and things are very different. The rightful king of Narnia, Caspian the Tenth, has grown up unaware of his rightful position. The truth about Narnia is revealed to Prince Caspian, and the children and a small band of loyal Narnias join Caspian in battle against his Uncle and the usurpers. We are given pause to consider faith and following Jesus Christ, regardless of the cost, as the children decide to follow or ignore Aslan.
Lucy sums up the internal struggle we face when she tells Aslan, “I couldn’t have left the others and come up to you… Yes I could have, but I would have been alone… But I wouldn’t have been alone, you would have been with me.” Aslan replies, “You mustn’t think about it… Just follow me.”
Her sister Susan refused to believe and follow Lucy when Lucy was the only one to see Aslan. Susan finally admits to Aslan, “I really thought it was you but I wanted to get out of the woods.” And Aslan replies, “You have listened to your fears, child. Come let me breathe on you. Be brave.” How often I have listened to my fears and refused to rely on and follow the call of the Holy Spirit.
In the fifth book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, two of the original four children are joined by their somewhat miserable cousin Eustace. Eustace, with Aslan’s help, undergoes a transformation during his time in Narnia’s parallel world and we are given much to think about with regards to our transformation in Christ.
Because of his greed, Eustace finds himself physically altered. He is trapped, if you will. He is changed into a dragon and is forced to accept his lot in life. His temperament begins to change as he accepts his cousins’ friendship and compassion that he had stubbornly snubbed in the past.
With Eustace’s transformation of character, Aslan appears to remedy the exterior. He tells Eustace to physically scratch and remove the dragon skin from his body. Eustace peels skin after skin and laments, “Oh dear. How many skins will I have to scratch off?” Aslan replies, “You will have to let me.” “ With your claws?” questions Eustace. When Aslan began pulling the first layer off it hurt worse than anything Eustace had ever felt, and yet it felt so good to feel the skin come off.
Eustace winced, “ Be careful, I’m so tender,” when Aslan whispered, “ You must dress now.” Aslan assured Eustace, “I will dress you in the clothes I have prepared.” As I read this my mind raced to the promise of Isaiah 61:1-3.
Isaiah reveals God’s intent to bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, open the prison doors to those who are bound, proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, give those who mourn a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the garment of praise to those with a faint spirit.
The Silver Chair is the sixth book in the chronicles and deals with disbelief in the world and the Truth and Wisdom to be found in God’s Holy Word.
The story begins when Aslan hears a cry for help and opens a portal to allow Eustace to return to Narnia. Eustace was with Jill, a school friend, and had called to Aslan when bullies surrounded them on the playground. Jill, who’d not been to Narnia and had not met Aslan, was awe-struck. Jill refused to listen to Eustace’s warnings, standing too close to a cliff and in his attempt to rescue her, Eustace fell from a cliff. Aslan immediately appeared and blew Eustace to safety.
Jill found herself thirsty and alone with Aslan. Aslan offered Jill a drink from a stream. Jill was certainly aware of the possible danger in turning her back to the lion. She asked Aslan to promise that he would not do anything but Aslan refused to make such a promise and we are reminded that Aslan is not safe or tame, but he’s a good lion. It was the worst thing Jill ever had to do but it was the coldest, most refreshing water she’d ever had. She didn’t need to drink much because it quenched her thirst at once.
Aslan explain to Jill that her task on the journey would be difficult. He gives her signs by which he will guide her journey. He told her that it was important for her to remember the signs as he said them. Aslan was patient with her as he taught her the signs and gently corrected her when needed.
Unfortunately, Jill forgot the habit of repeating the signs to herself and was easily confused when situations presented themselves in a different way than expected. Aslan never told Jill what would happen, he only told her what to do. She learns, often the hard way, that Aslan’s instructions always work, without exception, and eventually reflects, “What good was learning the signs if we weren’t going to obey them?”
I was reminded time and again that the Word of God “…[is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,” Psalm 119:105, and I can ask myself the same question Jill asked, “What good is learning the Word if I’m not going to apply it to my life and allow the Holy Spirit to refine my mind and spirit?”
The Last Battle, the seventh and final book in the Chronicles, introduces us to the concept of the Anti-Christ, death, Heaven, and Hell. It begins with an ape named Shift who finds a lion skin floating in a pond. Shift fashions a costume for his dupe, a befuddled donkey named Puzzle. Shift, who has heard of Aslan but knows no one in Narnia at that time had seen Him, knows that he will be able to deceive Narnians by claiming that Puzzle is Aslan. Shift is the Anti-Aslan mouthpiece and gains control of the kingdom.
Tirian, the true king of Narnia is not easily fooled. When he hears that the talking trees of Narnia are being killed and the animals enslaved he knows the true Aslan is not responsible. Tirian, though he’d not met Aslan, called on the name of Aslan for help saying, “Aslan always came in when things were at their worst. Let me be killed, but come and save all of Narnia.”
In the meanwhile, Shift formed an alliance with the rulers of an outlying community, the Calormene, and deceptively claimed that the Calormene god Tash and the Narnian Lord Aslan were one and the same, and were simply called by different names. The evil alliance grew stronger as the Calormene called the demon Tash into battle.
Jill and Eustace appear in Narnia again to battle with Tirian, the true King. Through the battle, the children and Tirian share many revelations that made me think of my walk in this world as a believer. I’m substituting the name of Jesus for the book’s shadow Aslan. “Proclaim the truth and take the adventure that Jesus sends you. I’d rather be killed fighting for Jesus than grow old and stupid in my own world. Why not live like outlanders and grow stronger than any attack. A stable once had something in it that was bigger than the whole world. Satan and Jesus are opposites. All good is done by God and all cruelty is done in Satan’s service.
When the battle is over and Aslan appears, it is revealed that the children have actually died in England in a train accident and the entire cast is heading to Aslan’s Father’s land, The Land of the Great Emperor across the Sea. As the parallel Heaven is described the animals rally cry is heard over and again, “Further up and further in!” I couldn’t help but think that that should be our rally cry in our relationship with Christ.
As they begin to have an understanding of the Land of The Great Emperor one of the children exclaims, “One can’t feel afraid, even if one wants to!”
Aslan explains that the reason the children loved the old world was because it was a shadow of the real world. And that the adventures in the old world are only the cover and the title page. That eternity and the real world we’re meant for is a book that no one in the old world has ever read and that every chapter is better than the one before.
So… further up and further in my friends!