SALVATION: NARNIA STYLE

I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia last weekend and I was very impressed with the special effects and the way in which the movie was so faithful to the book. I highly recommend the movie. There were many good scenes, but one sticks out in my mind as most profound.

As you probably know, the move is about four kids who find their way into the land of Narnia through an old wardrobe. Once inside, they discover that the land of Narnia has been under the control of the White Witch and frozen in a winter wonder land for 100 years during the absance of it's true king Aslan. During that 100 years, many of the creatures of Narnia were frozen into rock-hard ice statues by the dark magic of the White Witch. After the four children enter Narnia, they eventually find out that a friendly Fawn named Thomnas has also been turned into an ice statues as penalty for his treason against the White Witch for helping the youngest of the four children, Lucy.

Eventually, the movie culminates with the death and resurrection of Aslan. Aslan then begins the last great battle where the White Witch is utterly destroyed and summer is once again restored to Narnia. While Aslan and all of His faithful subjects wage war against the White Witch and her minions, they pass through the courtyard of her evil lair. In this courtyard stand all of the creatures whom she has turned to ice and Thomnas is one of them. It is at this time that the one scene occured, which stands out in my mind as the most profound.

This scene illustrates the salvation of a lost sinner better than anything that I believe I have ever seen. Aslan, the true King walks up to Thomnas' lifeless, icey silouette and blows on him. Immediately, the icey form begins to transform back into a living being, and Thomnas is brought back to life!! This is truely amazing, because this is exactly what happens to a lost sinner when the Spirit of the Living God blows upon them!!

The fact that Thomnas is an ice statue and does not possess the power to come to Aslan for healing is a direct representation of the lost sinner. We are told in (Eph. 2: 1) "But you were dead in your trespasses and sins. . ." This means that every person outside of Christ is just like Thomnas spiritually - completely unable to come to Christ for healing. Christ must take the initiative to come heal us if we are ever to be healed, just like Aslan took the initiative to heal Thomnas or he would never have been healed. Now, I know that I depart from my arminian brothers and sisters on this point, but Christ is very clear when He speaks of our inability to come to Him. In (Jn. 6:44) Jesus tells us "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him. . ."

The fact that Aslan blew upon Thomnas is a direct representation of how the Holy Spirit of God must blow upon the dead soul of lost sinners in order to bring them back to spiritual life. Jesus, again, has the word for us in (Jn. 3:8) "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." This is the miracle of regeneration. Arminians have this process backwards. They think that sinners are regenerated becasue they embrace Christ, but Scripture says otherwise. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him. . ." The fact of the matter is, we don't become regenerate because we embrace Chrsit, but rather, we embrace Christ because we have been regenerated.

Notice also, that Thomnas did not have any choice in the matter. He could not simply choose to remain a block of ice. Nor do we have the choice to remain dead in our trespasses and sins when the Spirit of God sovereignly takes the initiative to blow new life into our dead souls. While it is true that God many times does not regenerate a dead soul upon the first encounter, it is also true that the Holy Spirit will not fail to accomplish that which He come to fulfill. It is a universal experience among Christians that they heard the gospel many times before they finally embraced Christ; and becaus of this they believe they had the power to resist the Holy Spirit of God. But this assumes that God intended to regenerate them the first time they heard the gospel. But this is simply not the case. Sometimes God chooses to regenerate people upon the first hearing of the gospel; but more often than not, He chooses to work on them for a period of time before decisively bring them to faith in Christ. Jesus, again, has the decisive word for us in (Jn. 6: 37) "All whom the Father has given Me, WILL COME TO ME. . ." In the end, everyone who is a Christian was decisively brought to faith in Christ at the exact moment, in the exact place, and in the exact way that God chose to accomplish their salvation before the foundation of the World, regardless of how long He chose to work on them beforehand.

Aslan sovereignly chose to save Thomnas, and He did not fail. If you are a Christian today, it is because God sovereignly chose to save you, and He did not fail. Instead of railing against this glorious truth, we should all fall on our faces before the Lord of our Salvation and offer up to Him ceaseless praise and thanksgiving for accomplishing for us what we could have never accomplished ourselves, the salvation of our souls. Let us give all of the glory to God and steal none of it for ourselves. He is the true King who has broken winters long, dark night and caused "The Sun of Righteousness to rise with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:2).

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shane Morgan