A Story of Rescue

The talking animals, the green forests, and the roaring Lion are bits and pieces of the beautiful land of Narnia where everything is more colorful, more lovely, and more exciting. Ruled by the Lion, Aslan, Narnia is a world were animals talk, Kings and Queens rule, and magical things happen. But Narnia also isn’t too different from our world in some ways. Narnia was created by a God, sin entered by another source, and history has purpose.

In Narnia, Aslan, the great magnificent Lion, is God. Singing Narnia into life, Aslan is the creator of Narnia, as God is the creator of our world. When the Lion sings, lights appear, the earth is covered in growing things, and animals appear from humps in the ground. “Narnia. Narnia. Awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters,” Aslan says. Aslan is omnipotent. Aslan always forgives wrongs, even the worst wrongs. Although Aslan always forgives, he is a holy perfect God and firmly wants justice, and believes that all wrongs must be righted. Sacrificing himself in the place of the traitor, Edmund, Aslan dies as the perfect offering, but rises again because he had done no wrong. Aslan, who is perfect and holy, laughs, cries, and talks with his creation. He is all-powerful and personal.

Like the Biblical view of our world, the nature of Narnia is that it was created by God and it has a seen and unseen portion. Created by Aslan, Narnia is intricately designed and didn’t pop into being by chance. God made it. “Thus, with an unspeakable thrill, she [Polly] felt certain that all the things were coming (as she said) ‘out of the Lion’s head.’” There is and unseen portion too. Sadly, some in Narnia can’t see Aslan or hear his voice because they are too focused on unimportant things or because they choose not to. “The trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in the Lion’s song. Soon he couldn’t have heard anything else even if he had wanted to.” The nature of the Narnian world, which follows the Biblical word view, is that it is created by God and that there is a seen and unseen portion.

The cause of evil and suffering in Narnia is the free choice of individuals and is from an outside source. Evil doesn’t come from Aslan. In Narnia, all are given free will and aren’t the slaves of Aslan, but are his friends. Absolutely different from Narnia, the ancient city of Charn is where Diggory wrongly rang the bell, which caused evil queen Jadis, to awake and escape to Narnia. Although evil found its way into Narnia it was because of a wrong choice from another source, and not because of Aslan, who is holy and perfect.

Throughout the lives of the people of Narnia, Aslan is involved, weaving in and out of the circumstances and developing his plan through them. Proudly parading through the streets of Tashbaan, the so called “great” royalties notice only their own riches, wealth, and power, which is all they value. Although not immediately apparent to many, there are things of importance that don’t fit into the category of the flashiest fashion or the newest gossip in Tashbaan. Aslan, King of All, is right before them, nudging his plan along, but they pay as much attention to him as if he were in another dimension. “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). There is a meaningful sequence of events in Narnia. Pushing Shasta to shore when he was baby, Aslan saved his life so that years later he could save Anvard. Aslan has a plan. In Narnia the sequence of events is significant even outside Aslan’s plan. Because Diggory rang the bell in Charn, the witch woke and escaped to Narnia, which eventually led to Aslan sacrificing his life. Similar to the Bible, in Narnia there is another world adjacent to ours, which is Aslan, and the sequence of events is relevant.

When Aslan, who is the God of Narnia, created Narnia, it was completely perfect because Aslan is perfect. Tragically, sin contaminates Narnia because of another’s choice in another place. Because history has meaning, this choice leads to Narnia becoming a desolate place for years to come. The reason this story is most beautiful is that it’s our story, the story of our loving God rescuing us because we couldn’t rescue ourselves.