The Chronicles of Narnia is one of the most well-known Christian-based mainstream film series on the market. I remember walking through high school and hearing everybody talking about how much they loved The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and I heard the same thing when Prince Caspian came out. It has a major theme of the sacrifice of God for us to claim victory over evil, but there are a lot of other more underlying themes that you don't always see.
One of the biggest themes is the fact that God's not dead. In the beginning of the movie we find out that there has been winter for a hundred years and that the whole time, Aslan (God) has not been seen the whole time. When we meet the beavers, there is this sense of urgency because God has returned to Narnia and is preparing for battle.
A lot of times it can seem the same way in our own lives. We settle down into the "Routine of life" and it seems like life is just coasting along. I've struggled often with just knowing that God is working in my life and even present with me! But then it seems we find a place where we get a sense of Spiritual urgency and we get excited because we see God moving in lives. For me, that's always been at Dare 2 Share conferences and Maranatha Bible camp. I leave those places pumped up to see God working in my life and the lives of countless others but within a month, I'm back to the normal routine, forgetting that I have this God inside me working miracles every day. It's easy to lose track of the fact that we serve the LIVING God, not just god.
The God we serve calls us to fight every day. Just like the four characters from Narnia, we have a duty to fullfill! But we aren'r always ready for that duty.Think about the timeline used for the battle of Narnia. When the four children show up, do they simply march into battle? NO! They take a long journey just to find Aslan, a metaphor for the journey we take to find God. Then, even when they find Aslan, they don't just march out and take on the White Witch - they practice with their weapons, just like we practice with ours! We learn how to overcome sin and we get materials to help us do that!
Peter is a perfect example here. Before he gets the courage to fight for Aslan, he fights Maugrim to save his sisters. It's a short fight, but it still gives him the courage to stand up to the mountainous task of defeating the white witch. Then, he has to get suited up in his armor to fight. Ephesians 6:10-17 says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. " God has equipped us for battle! We have everything we need to march out and take on the armies of evil!
My last point is this: God is a loving God, but he is also a just God. In one of the last scenes of the great battle, Aslan attacks and kills the witch. Even for someone who read the books and knew the plot, I was still a little awestruck by it. Throughout the movie, Aslan had been this collected, majestic, loving lion and then He just attacks the witch ferociously? I lost track of the idea of what Aslan was! Aslan is a lion, just like God is described in the bible as the "Lion of Judah." The bible doesn't say things without a reason. A lot of times, we as christians tend to make God a little kitten that is there to love on us, but that's only part of what God is. God is a lion, willing and ready to fight for his beloved. The question is this: Are you ready for God to fight with you?
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