terça-feira, 29 de março de 2011

The Chronicles of Narnia and the Gospel of Jesus Christ


When I watched this movie for the first time, I had already heard that the author (CS Lewis) based the book on many aspects of the Gospel, which were amplified in the film.
I knew the author was a Christian and who was an atheist before, and that he had written several Christian books, but had not seen the movie yet (nor read the book).

I will mention some scenes which I've noticed some similarities with the gospel of Christ:

1 - The fact that the wardrobe (Natural) lead to the world of Narnia (Spiritual).

This shows us that God used natural means to reveal spiritual things to men, because the Bible was written by men (natural), but through the supernatural and spiritual inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

If you look at a Bible with your normal and natural eyes, you can see a cover, several pages, several texts, and several books, chapters and verses numbers, like any normal book. BUT...

When you read it with your heart, you'll see that it is not just a regular book, but THE book that it will lead you to know God, the devil (origin and cause of evil on earth), and Jesus Christ, which is the proof of the love of God for us, who died on the cross for us, save us and make us children of God.

2 - Only the girl (Lucy) enters and after her brother, but older siblings can't see anything at first, just a regular wardrobe...

Jesus said, "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all" (Mark 10:15)

And that is why Jesus wants us to believe in Him, surrender our life to Him, die to sin and born again in Him, as new creatures and sons of God (as spiritual children who will grow up in Him).

The Bible says "I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil," and children are the best example of this !

3 - The Devil is represented by the White Witch, who claims to be queen of Narnia.

The devil thinks he's the owner of the world, but he is a liar.

He stole over the world (which was given by God to Man) by Adam's sin ...

By deceiving Edmund with candy and craft, we see that the devil deceives human beings with the temptations...

Temptations which in the beginning seems be good, but then they imprison, enslave and mistreat people.

4 - The power of sin and the grace of God.

The Spear of the Witch symbolizes sin, which imprisons and makes the separation between man and God.

Realize that at the beginning of the movie, Narnia is frozen, cold, colorless, gray ...

And this same ice increases the crown of the witch.

Sin makes the world an ugly place, where men are far from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), who created the human being with free will, and respect this freedom, without forcing man to believe in Him and have fellowship with Him obligation.

Therefore, the Bible says "the world around us is under the control of the evil one" (I John 5:19)

5 - Intercession and the deliverance of Edmund

By talking to Aslan (Jesus) about the arrest of his brother (and intercessory prayer), they receive answer (response of prayer, He sends his warriors (angels) to fight with the white witch's servants (demons).

If you pay attention, you will see that few warriors (angels) easily defeated many demons, in another words, God is sovereign and powerful.

6 - The sin of men and the grace and forgiveness of Jesus.

Aslan forgives Edmund, and says "Your past is clean for me, you're forgiven."

The Bible says this in II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." ·

7 - The Witch goes to Aslan, acuses Edmund and says that according to laws of Narnia, Edmund belongs to her now, and he has to pay for what he did.

"For the Wages of Sin is Death ..." (Romans 6:23 a)

But Aslan said that He will take Edmond's place.

"But the free gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23 b)

8 - Aslan gives himself in sacrifice for Edmund.

Here we see a representation of the Crucifixion, and we see that Jesus gave himself for us. (Isaiah 53)

9 - But He Ressurrects,and explains the concept of the substitute sacrifice of an innocent, and says that without the blood shedding there is no forgiveness.

Jesus is the eternal and perfect sacrifice.

Jesus never sinned, but paid the price of sin in our place, which is Death.
Death reigns in the world because of sin, like a law of action and reaction, because of Adam's Sin.

(You see this in Romans 5:12-19)

10 - A Hypothesis about the reason of the name Aslan.

The character is called Aslan maybe because it symbolizes that Jesus is the second Adam.


"So it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul, the last Adam (Jesus Christ), life-giving spirit."
(1 Corinthians 15:45)

11 - Peter gets a gift of a sword and shield.

That symbolize the sword of the Spirit (The Word of God) and The Shield of Faith
(Ephesians 6:10-17)

12 - At the Battle, Edmund breaks the white Witch's Spear with a sword.

In this we can see that through the Word of God (Sword) we can break the power of Sin in Us
"then you will Know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32)

And David, in Psalms 119:11 says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

13 - Aslan Revives the ones who were petrified by the spear of the Witch.

Only Jesus can give life to those who are dead in sin!

"At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God.

You used to act like most people in our world do. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power.

This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience.
At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.

However, God is rich in mercy.
He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace! And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:1-6)

14 - The children are crowned and their names have changed: The victory of the Church

" But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light."
(1 Peter 2:9)

15 - The Time in Narnia

When they left Narnia, although it seemed a long time, Time hasn't passed as much when they entered there through the wardrobe.

The Bible says that 1 day to God is like 1000 years and 1000 years is like one day.

16 - They talk to the professor about Narnia (the second coming of Jesus and the Rapture of the Church):

He says that Aslan (Jesus) will come back when you least expect, and they must keep their eyes open, that is: Watch and pray !

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