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Narnia to fulfill a prophecy that sons and daughters of Adam will deliver Narnia ... From the moment they step through the wardrobe into Narnia their destiny is.
There  is  a  journey  we   must  take  first    

The  Kingdom  of  God  –  already  but  not  yet     In  The  Lion,  the  Witch  and  the  Wardrobe  four  children  enter  the  magical  world  of   Narnia  to  fulfill  a  prophecy  that  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam  will  deliver  Narnia   from  the  White  Witch,  and  rule  as  kings  and  queens  in  her  place.       From  the  moment  they  step  through  the  wardrobe  into  Narnia  their  destiny  is   fixed  and  certain.  They  are  kings  and  queens  already.  But  there’s  a  “not  yet”  part   to  the  story  too,  because  there  is  a  journey  they  must  take  first  to  grow  them  into   the  kings  and  queens  they  are,  and  it’s  no  bed  of  roses.  The  younger  of  the  two   boys,  for  instance,  is  swayed  by  the  White  Witch  into  siding  with  her.  She  wins   him  over  by  feeding  him  an  endless  supply  of  Turkish  Delight  that  never  fills  him,   and  then  seals  his  loyalty  to  her  by  promising  him  the  highest  position  in  her   kingdom,  higher  than  all  his  siblings.  He  then  lies  to  his  brother  and  sisters  that   he’s  met  her,  and  later  he  betrays  their  whereabouts  so  that  the  White  Witch  can   capture  them.         It  soon  becomes  a  journey  of  self-­‐discovery  for  all  of  them,  in  how  easily  one  of   them  is  deceived,  and  how  quickly  the  others  turn  against  him  and  bicker  among   themselves.  At  the  beginning  of  their  journey  they  are  still  very  much  children,   acting  purely  on  their  own  childish  strength  and  responses.     Meanwhile,  the  great  lion  Aslan,  the  rightful  ruler  of  Narnia,  has  returned  after  an   absence  of  one  hundred  years,  during  which  the  White  Witch  has  sunk  Narnia   into  endless  winter.  His  return  coincides  with  the  arrival  of  the  children  to  break   the  White  Witch’s  spell,  and  her  power  soon  begins  to  weaken.  But  the  trees  still   act  as  her  spies,  and  with  a  wave  of  her  wand  she  can  still  turn  a  disloyal  creature   into  stone.  The  children  are  in  grave  danger  every  moment  she  is  alive.         Their  destiny  as  kings  and  queens  is  never  in  question  but  Aslan  has  them  on  a   journey  that’s  designed  to  grow  them  up.  At  the  start  the  children  are  selfish.   They  ridicule  and  argue.  They  lose  heart  when  things  go  wrong,  and  they  easily   fall  prey  to  their  own  desires  and  fears.  They  doubt  the  younger  sister  when  she  

tells  them  about  Narnia,  and  they  aren’t  forgiving  to  the  brother  who  betrays   them.  As  they  spend  more  time  in  Narnia,  however,  they  become  more  forgiving,   more  patient  with  each  other,  more  courageous  and  more  positive,  and  by  the   time  they  face  the  White  Witch  in  the  battle  that  knocks  her  off  her  perch  they   are  fit  and  ready  to  replace  her.       But  when  they  first  stepped  into  Narnia,  did  the  children  know  this  was  the  plan?   No.  And  who  knew  that  when  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead  he  took  all  humanity  with   him  into  the  kingdom  of  God  in  fulfillment  of  a  prophecy  that  we  too  would   replace  the  evil  ruler  of  this  world  and  become  kings  and  queens  in  his  place?       So  there  we  now  stand  before  God  as  holy  royalty,  but  it  gets  even  better   because  God  has  a  journey  for  us  to  help  us  feel  like  and  act  like  holy  royalty  too.     It  means  “sufferings,”  Romans  5:3,  that  to  begin  with  reveal  all  kinds  of  negative   reactions  and  feelings  tucked  away  inside  us.  We  scare  easily,  we  doubt  and  we   lose  heart  when  things  go  wrong,  because  in  the  early  stages  of  our  journey  we   too  are  acting  mostly  on  our  own  strength  and  childish  responses.     In  time,  however,  we  find  ourselves  growing  in  "perseverance,  character  and   hope,"  verse  4.  Like  the  children  in  Narnia,  we  discover  we’re  still  intact,  despite   the  overwhelming  trials  we’ve  had  to  go  through,  and  gradually  a  thought  begins   to  form  in  our  minds,  that  we  are  invincible.  Paul  came  to  that  realization  too:  “I   can  do  all  things  through  Christ  who  strengthens  me,”  he  said,  because  from  long   experience  of  hard  knocks  and  suffering  he  found  himself  still  standing.  “We’ve   been  battered  but  never  crushed,  and  knocked  down  but  we  haven’t  broken.”   Nothing,  it  seemed,  could  knock  him  out.             It  helped  him  realize  what  God  was  up  to.  Paul  was  already  a  son  of  God,  yes,  and   already  a  king,  but  at  the  beginning  of  his  journey  he  was  only  a  son  and  king  in   title.  As  the  journey  progressed,  however,  he  could  feel  some  muscle  developing.   He  began  to  fill  out.  He  was  taking  on  the  stature  of  a  king  and  filling  the  mould   of  a  true  son  of  God.  The  journey  was  no  bed  of  roses  but  he  could  see  it  was   shaping  him  in  substance  what  Jesus  had  already  made  him  in  title.       No  wonder  Paul  said  we  can  "rejoice  in  our  sufferings,"  verse  3,  because  instead   of  crushing  us  as  they  used  to  in  the  early  stages  of  our  journey,  now  they’re   giving  us  some  real  mental  muscle.  And  it  doesn’t  matter  how  different  our   personalities  are;  Aslan  brought  four  very  different  children  through  very   different  tests  and  challenges  to  the  same  point  in  the  end.      

And,  like  Aslan,  Jesus  keeps  us  encouraged  along  the  way  -­‐  through  the  loving   help  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  verse  5  -­‐  so  that  our  “perseverance,  character  and  hope”   never  dim.  To  our  surprise,  perhaps,  we  find  ourselves  hanging  in  there  much   better  through  dark  times  (perseverance),  and  we’re  walking  through  pain  rather   than  feeling  sorry  for  ourselves  (character),  and  we  discover  there  is  always   strength  for  the  moment  to  keep  our  feet  grounded  and  our  heads  held  high,  and   therefore  there  always  will  be  (hope).       As  our  journey  progresses  it  dawns  on  us  what  God’s  up  to.  He’s  growing  us  into   kings  and  queens.  We’re  becoming  wise  from  experience,  and  we  stand  taller   under  pressure.  There’s  no  reason  any  more,  then,  to  feel  disappointed  or   dejected,  verse  5,  because  we  can  see  for  ourselves  that  we’re  not  the  selfish,   fearful  children  we  used  to  be.  We’re  growing  up.  We’re  more  forgiving,  more   patient  with  each  other,  more  courageous  and  more  positive.  And  that’s  when   some  real  “rejoicing”  in  God  sets  in,  verse  11,  because  we  understand  what  the   journey  is  doing  to  us,  and  it  fills  us  with  confidence.           The  children  of  Israel  could  have  experienced  all  this  too,  but  they  never   understood  that  God  had  them  on  a  journey  that  would  perfectly  grow  them  up.   So  when  trials  hit  they  fell  apart,  because  they  saw  no  purpose  to  them.   Whenever  a  new  problem  arose,  instead  of  walking  through  it  hand-­‐in-­‐hand  with   God,  they  got  angry  at  him.  Instead  of  persevering  they  were  paralyzed  with  fear.   They  felt  abandoned.  They  panicked  when  God  didn’t  intervene,  and  they  took   things  into  their  own  hands  with  disastrous  consequences.  For  most  of  their   journey,  therefore,  instead  of  it  building  confidence  and  joy  in  them,  they  lived   under  a  constant  cloud  of  worry,  insecurity  and  confusion  as  to  why  God  was   making  them  suffer  so.         Even  when  God  provided  for  their  every  need  and  they  came  through  a  dozen   trials,  battered  but  still  standing,  it  still  didn’t  dawn  on  them  that  God  had  them   on  a  wonderful  journey  of  discovery,  that  with  his  strength  they  could  face   anything,  and  that’s  what  all  these  sufferings  and  trials  were  for.  They  didn’t   cotton  on  that  they  were  on  a  journey  to  build  some  backbone  and  confidence  in   them,  so  that  more  and  more  they’d  feel  like  and  act  like  the  chosen  people  of   God  that  they  were.  But  that’s  the  part  Israel  didn’t  get.       So  now  it’s  our  turn.  We’ve  been  told  we’re  heirs  with  Christ,  but  when  we  first   set  out  on  our  Christian  journey  did  we  feel  like  we  were  fit  to  be  heirs  with   Christ?  But  now  that  we’ve  shared  his  sufferings  and  experienced  the  power  of   his  resurrection  again  and  again,  how  do  we  feel  now?  Now  that  we’ve  faced  

mind-­‐numbing  and  heart-­‐rending  trials  that  made  us  despair  of  life  at  times,  but   we’ve  come  through  them  all  with  Christ’s  strength,  can  we  feel  our  backbone   strengthening  and  our  confidence  swelling?  Because  that’s  what  the  journey  is   for.  It’s  to  make  us  feel  like  and  act  like  the  kings  and  queens  we  are.  What  we   are  in  title  we’re  becoming  in  reality.  We’re  filling  the  mould.     That  is  what  we  were  promised,  though,  that  Christ  in  us  is  our  hope  of  glory.   Share  his  sufferings  and  the  power  of  his  resurrection,  and  that  hope  of  glory   becomes  real,  because  we  can  see  we’re  gradually  being  made  fit  for  glory.       Jesus  has  a  glory  mould  for  every  one  of  us,  which  he  prepared  for  us  in  advance,   Romans  9:23,  and  now  we’re  on  a  journey  that  will  fit  us  into  our  mould  right  to   the  top  and  out  to  every  corner,  “For  we  are  God’s  workmanship,  created  in   Christ  Jesus  to  do  good  works,  which  God  prepared  in  advance  for  us  to  do,”   Ephesians  2:10.  We’ve  no  need  to  worry  about  anything,  therefore,  because   we’re  on  a  journey  already  charted  for  us  in  advance  by  God  that  will  take  us  to   exactly  where  he  wants  us  to  be.  It  doesn’t  require  any  perseverance,  character,   or  hope-­‐building  exercises  on  our  part,  either,  because  God’s  got  us  on  a  journey,   just  like  Aslan,  that  will  automatically  make  us  grow.       “God  is  the  builder  of  everything,”  Hebrews  3:4  -­‐  the  builder  of  glorious  destinies,   the  builder  of  kings  and  queens,  the  builder  of  children  like  his  own  beloved  Son,   the  builder  of  moulds  for  every  personality  to  be  perfectly  shaped  for  eternity  in,   the  builder  of  just  the  right  balance  of  challenges  and  tests  to  build  backbone  and   mental  muscle  in  us,  the  builder  of  confidence,  and  the  master-­‐builder  of  people   in  substance  what  he  has  already  made  them  in  title.       It  all  happens  on  the  journey.  That’s  why  there’s  a  journey  we  must  take  first.         Published  in  Northern  Light   Website:  gcicanada.ca