Over the past few months we have been reading the Chronicles of Narnia to the boys before bed. Although they are too young to appreciate the fullness of the stories in depth, they enjoy them tremendously. They love the battles, kings, princes, talking beasts, and of course Aslan (the Christ figure of the stories). We are now finishing the series with the last book – The Last Battle. Anthony (51/2) has already asked if we will be starting the entire series over again! Dad needs a break from Narnia.
In The Last Battle, an ape named Shift tricks the inhabitants of Narnia into believing that he is Aslan’s spokesman. He does this by dressing up a donkey named Puzzle in an old lion skin they found floating in the river. When the king of Narnia learns of this he works to make things right. During his struggle he sets a group of dwarfs free from the clutches of the enemies who were taking them to be slaves. Yet a strange thing happens. The dwarfs refuse to serve the King. In fact, they refuse to believe in the false Aslan (Puzzle) as well as the real Aslan himself. The dwarfs refuse to believe in anything but the dwarfs. The land of Narnia becomes divided against itself as a result of the evil tricks of the ape.
Satan is clever. His name is also Diablo – the divider. God is the God of unity. Satan seeks disunity. He does this only by twisting that which is good and holy into something evil. Like Shift, Satan often dresses up others to appear as Christ in order to lead souls astray. Like Shift, he seeks to set a house or kingdom against itself. Satan wants us to follow the Ass dressed as the Lion, or at least follow the lead of the dwarfs and believe only in ourselves.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us “Every Kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste.” He is showing His contemporaries that their thinking He casts out devils by the name of the devil is illogical. In other words, if Satan and his minions didn’t have one common goal, their kingdom would be destroyed. Jesus ends by saying that anyone who is not for Him is against Him.
Like the good Narnians in The Last Battle, we are called to follow the King. We are called to fight the enemy who mocks God. We are called to side with Aslan (Jesus) even though we cannot see Him and in fact have never “seen” Him but only heard tale of Him. We are to press on in His name until it is time for us to enter Aslan’s Country (Heaven).
The Devil can’t create he only imitates….
C.S. Lewis had a reason for the two lions….
Jesus Satan
Lion of Judah (Rev 5:5) Roaring Lion (1 Peter 5:8)
James M. Hahn, Author 