Our Last Battle (18)

Only Jesus 

I am going to conclude our reflections on Our Last Battle with a quote from Chapter Twelve and a quote from Chapter Thirteen from The Last Battle. After that, I may have an epilogue, one more reflection, in which I summarize what I see in Our Last Battle and why I wrote this series. 

The concluding chapters of The Last Battle, which I’m not going to cover, are some of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever read. I’m not going to cover them because they occur in the real and eternal Narnia and that is beyond the scope of this series. However, just as Revelation chapters 21 and 22, they form the glorious beginning of our glorious never-ending destiny in Jesus Christ. As I have often said, if I had to choose only one book to bring with me to the proverbial desert island (in addition to the Bible), it would be the one volume edition of the Chronicles of Narnia. (If you prefer an audio dramatized version, which I think is exceptional, the Focus on the Family, Radio Theatre series is outstanding. I consider the movies a failure.)

Aslan holds the Narniad together, just as Jesus holds the Bible together. The Narniad reveals Aslan, the Bible reveals Jesus. In the Narniad we are always looking for Aslan, in the Bible, hopefully we are learning to always look for Jesus. 

In Chapter Twelve of the Last Battle, as Jill considers the Stable door and the death she thinks it leads to, Jewel the unicorn says to her, “Nay, fair friend. It may be for us the door to Aslan’s country and we shall sup at his table tonight.” 

In Jesus Christ, all of death’s doors lead to Him and His Table of Communion. 

In Revelation 12:11 we read that we overcome Tash and his minions because of the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony – our testimony being that of the Lamb, and that our overcoming in Jesus Christ encompasses self-denial, even unto death. As Paul writes, “Death works in us but life in you” (2 Corinthians 4:12). 

We can live this Way because Jesus Christ has “abolished death” (2 Timothy 1:10) and brought “life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” In the Gospel we see the present reality of life and immortality, a reality that consumes death and the fear of death, a reality that envelopes us in the Light and Life of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus, our Elder Brother, came to set “free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:15). He rendered the enemy “powerless” who once had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). O dear friends, if we only realized the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, that in Him we can cry out “Abba! Father!” and live in freedom as the daughters and sons of the Living God (Romans 8:12 – 25). 

Our quote from Chapter Thirteen occurs within the real Narnia:

“Then he fixed his eyes upon Tirian, and Tirian came near, trembling, and flung himself at the Lion’s feet, and the Lion kissed him and said, ‘Well done, last of the Kings of Narnia who stood firm at the darkest hour.’” 

This is all that I desire for myself, for you, for others, for those close to me, my family, my neighbors; that we would stand firm in Jesus during the dark hour in which we live.

What makes this an especially dark hour, perhaps the darkest hour, is that we have substituted dead lion skins for Jesus, we have forms of Christianity masquerading as Jesus. Some of these forms may have had the testimony of Jesus at one time, just as the Seven Churches of Revelation once did, but now they have substituted other ways of life and thinking for Jesus, while still claiming to be the church.

There are those who think that being “liberal” or “conservative” or having a certain worldview or coming from a certain religious tradition or following a syncretistic American – Christian nationalistic agenda is akin to the Gospel and Person of Jesus Christ, but this simply isn’t true. Jesus Christ is a Person, He is God, and we are to worship and follow Him – not an ideology, not a worldview, not a religious tradition, not a system of thought, not a form of worship – we are to be in a love relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus is to be our passion, our desire, our Friend, our Bridegroom, and we are to love and worship and serve Him with all that we have and all that we are.

An irony for me is that when I was a young Christian I was taught that there is a difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Him – of living in a relationship with Him. I still believe this, and I have shared this truth with many over the years. I have seen others come to know Jesus Christ as they came to see the truth of this statement – we can know about Jesus or we can actually know Jesus.  

The irony is that much of the element of the professing church that taught me this truth has now abandoned this truth. We have been taken captive by sociology and philosophy and marketing and economics and politics – and even those who profess a high view of Scripture now insist that we employ naturalistic methods to interpret the Bible. (I have been making this a point of emphasis because if our starting point is wrong then our trajectory will be off, our ending will be off. What we plant in the ground is what will come from the earth. The seed we plant determines the fruit we will eat.)

If Jesus isn’t everything then Jesus isn’t anything. This is my message. This is the call of Jesus we see in Mark 8:34 – 38. 

God help us return to Jesus…perhaps for the first time.