The Endurance of the Saints -- FPC sermon excerpt
In his series of books called The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis created a fantasy world to teach lessons about the Christian faith.
Narnia is a land full of obstacles and opportunities, battles and betrayals, dangers and deaths — just like our own. The future of Narnia is balanced on the lives of four children, boys and girls who must find inside themselves the courage and the faith to work alongside Aslan the lion.
Aslan is one of the best fictional representations of Jesus Christ. Although good and loving, Aslan is not a tame lion. He represents what the book of Revelation calls “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (5:5), a powerful beast who calls on his followers to be brave and trusting as they face challenges together.
Both the visions of Revelation and the land of Narnia contain strange creatures, good and evil, who fight to control the future of the world. Evil is real in these accounts, and does fierce battle with goodness. These creatures make me wonder: In the middle of my own struggles, will I summon the courage to take a strong stand with God? When weakened by doubt and fear, will I find enough faith to resist the lure of the beasts that want to lead me astray?
After the last of the seven trumpets is blown in chapter 11, John looks to heaven and sees the first in a series of signs that are as dramatic as anything in The Chronicles of Narnia. He spots a woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (12:1). She is pregnant and cries out in labor pains — like people in a time of judgment. In his letter to the Romans, Paul uses a similar image of childbirth to describe the painful birth of God’s new creation (8:22-23).
At this point, the Book of Revelation becomes like an R-rated horror movie. A great fiery dragon appears, “with seven heads and ten horns, and seven [royal crowns] on his heads” (12:3). The dragon is Satan, and he stands in front of the woman to devour her child when she gives birth. But a divine power intervenes, snatching the child up to God as soon as he is born — the child is “a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (12:5). The woman flees into the desert, where God has prepared a place for her.
A war breaks out in heaven, in which the archangel Michael and his angels fight the dragon. John describes the dragon as “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (12:9). Satan is thrown down to earth along with his angels, and it looks like this ejection is going to create trouble for the inhabitants of the earth.
Furious at his defeat in heaven, Satan stomps off to make war on all those who “keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus” (12:17). It appears that the fighting between Satan and God’s people is going to escalate, as the dragon stands on the seashore and looks for an ally to emerge from the sea.
Narnia is a land full of obstacles and opportunities, battles and betrayals, dangers and deaths — just like our own. The future of Narnia is balanced on the lives of four children, boys and girls who must find inside themselves the courage and the faith to work alongside Aslan the lion.
Aslan is one of the best fictional representations of Jesus Christ. Although good and loving, Aslan is not a tame lion. He represents what the book of Revelation calls “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (5:5), a powerful beast who calls on his followers to be brave and trusting as they face challenges together.
Both the visions of Revelation and the land of Narnia contain strange creatures, good and evil, who fight to control the future of the world. Evil is real in these accounts, and does fierce battle with goodness. These creatures make me wonder: In the middle of my own struggles, will I summon the courage to take a strong stand with God? When weakened by doubt and fear, will I find enough faith to resist the lure of the beasts that want to lead me astray?
After the last of the seven trumpets is blown in chapter 11, John looks to heaven and sees the first in a series of signs that are as dramatic as anything in The Chronicles of Narnia. He spots a woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (12:1). She is pregnant and cries out in labor pains — like people in a time of judgment. In his letter to the Romans, Paul uses a similar image of childbirth to describe the painful birth of God’s new creation (8:22-23).
At this point, the Book of Revelation becomes like an R-rated horror movie. A great fiery dragon appears, “with seven heads and ten horns, and seven [royal crowns] on his heads” (12:3). The dragon is Satan, and he stands in front of the woman to devour her child when she gives birth. But a divine power intervenes, snatching the child up to God as soon as he is born — the child is “a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (12:5). The woman flees into the desert, where God has prepared a place for her.
A war breaks out in heaven, in which the archangel Michael and his angels fight the dragon. John describes the dragon as “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (12:9). Satan is thrown down to earth along with his angels, and it looks like this ejection is going to create trouble for the inhabitants of the earth.
Furious at his defeat in heaven, Satan stomps off to make war on all those who “keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus” (12:17). It appears that the fighting between Satan and God’s people is going to escalate, as the dragon stands on the seashore and looks for an ally to emerge from the sea.
posted by Henry Brinton | 10:25 AM
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