The Song of the Emperor's Son

The creation story demands the Christmas story.

Why? Because there is evil afoot. Like Narnia, this new world is barely seven hours old and evil is being planned and mankind will fall and need to be rescued. That's why you discover in the Word that even before the song began that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had already chosen along with the Spirit and the Father to die to redeem mankind before anything was created. Christian author C.S. Lewis wrote a well-loved series called The Chronicles of Narnia. In it, he gives us many timeless analogies to Christianity. One is found in his depiction of the creation of the world. In that story, Aslan, the character who represents Jesus, sings a song. At the sound of his voice, all the world is made. Does that sound familiar? Today on Wisdom for the Heart, we begin a series you're going to enjoy. Stephen Davey used The Chronicles of Narnia as the basis of a Christmas series called The Chronicles of Christmas.

This message is called The Song of the Emperor's Son. On November 29th, 1898, an Irish baby boy was born and his parents named him Clive Staples. It's no wonder his friends called him Jack or with his initials, C.S. He grew up with his brother Warren in their large home with lots of interesting places to play and hide. Their home in Belfast, Ireland was a happy one. Jack's parents loved to read and they passed that love on to their two sons.

Jack would later write, there were books in the study, books in the dining room, books in the cloakroom, books in the bedroom, books piled as high as my shoulders in the attic, books of all kinds. Their lives were suddenly uprooted when Mrs. Lewis died of cancer when C.S. was only nine years old. After that, Jack was off to boarding school for the boys. Their first school was so poorly run and the students so badly mistreated, the courts actually closed it down.

When C.S. Lewis was 17 years old, embittered by his mother's death, still he wrote to a friend, I believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof for any of them and from a philosophical standpoint, Christianity is not even the best. Eventually, he became a student at Oxford, believing that the gospel was just a myth for weak-minded people. Yet years later, as a 32-year-old professor at Oxford, C.S. Lewis had become a Christian.

What had happened? Well, for one thing I learned, he made friends with others, professors and scholars who challenged his skepticism, other professors who, like one of his friends, wove Christian truth into his fictional fantasies, one of which he named Lord of the Rings. But C.S. Lewis would later write that the major influence in his life concerning the gospel was a 19th century pastor named George MacDonald. George MacDonald was also a storyteller. His stories wove together mythical creatures and spiritual truth, talking animals and knights and kings and queens which delivered the truth of the gospel.

It may seem ironic to such a brilliant mind as C.S. Lewis's and others who were his friends, but the truth of the gospel opened on the heels of a story. Lewis would later write to the same friend he wrote to as a 17-year-old boy and he wrote these words, Christianity is God expressing himself through real things, namely the actual incarnation, the actual crucifixion and the actual resurrection, true things.

Not surprisingly, C.S. Lewis would one day pick up his pen and begin to write his own stories of mythical places and talking animals and fierce battles between kings and queens and a land called Narnia, stories interwoven with biblical truth and spiritual themes. He wrote seven of them in all. I had determined I would read all of them this past week in preparation for today. I read four.

I'm not finished yet. But since the 1950s, more than 100 million copies have been sold, not to mention his classic work, Mere Christianity, in which he approaches somewhat philosophically the arguments against Christianity, and that book has won untold thousands to faith in Jesus Christ. Of his seven fictional stories, the most well-known, no doubt, is entitled The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where four children enter into another world through an old wardrobe in their country home where they've gone to stay. If you're like me, you haven't seen the movie, but you've read the book. I don't know what's come across the screen in the movie version, but there should be no doubt what C.S. Lewis had as an intention and motive for that story.

This is what he wrote in 1961. The whole story of Narnia is the story of Christ. I asked myself, supposing that there really was a world like Narnia and supposing it had like our world gone wrong and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it, what might have happened?

Well, these stories are my answers. Since Narnia is a world of talking beasts, I thought he would become a talking beast there as he became a man in our world. I pictured him becoming a lion there because the lion is the king of beasts and because Jesus Christ is called the lion of Judah in the Bible. Just a few months before his death, he stated the biblical theme for each of his stories, and they covered everything from the incarnation to Antichrist. I'm not going to preach the Chronicles of Narnia as much as I like them.

They are not inspired, but I am going to use them as a launching point. We'll go to the word to hear its clear language for us today. So I want you to just settle back for a little C.S. Lewis story and then you're ready to open your Bibles. Don't complain. The alternative is Romans 13, next verse.

Consider this my Christmas gift to you. You could turn ahead to Colossians 1, John 1, and Genesis 1, and we have just a few brief moments to look at them. The magician's nephew is one of his stories. In fact, of the ones I've read, I like this one the most. It was written later than other stories, yet it was intended by Lewis to be read first.

This was the genesis of this account. This would tell the beginning of Narnia, the creation of that world. The story opens with two children, Diggory and Polly, who live next door to one another, and one day they were exploring Attic passageways and they unexpectedly entered the room of Diggory's mean-spirited Uncle Andrew, whom most people thought was a bit crazy. Evidently, Uncle Andrew had dabbled in magic and had fashioned special rings that could transport people to worlds beyond. He hadn't tried the rings on people, but he had sent some of the household pets into oblivion, disappearing into outer space. There were two rings, one to travel outward and another ring to travel homeward, although he wasn't quite sure they really worked. Since Uncle Andrew was afraid to try the journey on his own, when the children stumbled into his room, he quickly locked the door and tricked them into using the rings, and they ended up leaving Earth and traveling to a distant country where there lived an evil queen. They tried to escape her by traveling back to Earth, but she clutched at Diggory as they made their journey and ended up traveling back with them, whereupon the evil queen began to wreak havoc in their London neighborhood and forcing everyone in the restaurant to bow and riding on top of the cabbie as if it were a chariot. In an effort to get the wicked queen away from Earth, the children used their rings again, and this time, along with that cab driver and Uncle Andrew and a few others that were touching them at that moment, they traveled to yet another world, and this time they ended up in a world of complete darkness, totally black, nothingness.

As they were about to use their rings to escape back to London, they suddenly were hushed by a sound. It was distant at first, but it grew stronger and stronger. It was music. There was a voice singing. Soon other voices joined his, and then as if on cue, the black sky erupted with a billion stars. They sang in harmony with this voice, and then colors emerged from the horizon followed by more melodic instruction where the sun began to rise and the chorus continued and hills and valleys were spawned and rocks and rivers all bursting into life. And then, it was then that the children saw him. He was a large, shaggy lion, and from his mouth, this song was coming. And as he continued to sing, trees and frogs, panthers and mice, grass and birds and all forms of living creatures blossomed into being, and then to the thrill of the children, they heard the lion speak and he said, Narnia, awake. And it came to pass. Aslan is introduced as the son of the emperor who dwells beyond the sea, and it would be the song of the emperor's son that would bring to life Narnia.

But wouldn't you know it? I mean, wouldn't you know it, evil is afoot in Narnia. You see, that evil queen that was transported from another world has slipped away. She doesn't like the music of the lion.

She hates it, in fact, and she is already planning her mischief. And so Aslan says to Diggory and Polly, you see, before this new clean world I gave you is even seven hours old, a force of evil has already entered it. Now, it isn't difficult for us as believers to understand the imagery of that story, and you'll have to read the rest of it to find out what happens. At the very outset, we're introduced to the emperor's son, the creator and creation of the world, the universe and the entrance of an evil one filled with hatred for the lion.

What C.S. Lewis envisioned as the creation song, we understand as the creation story. The apostle Paul makes it very clear in Colossians chapter one, where he begins with verse 15 by declaring, and he that is Jesus Christ, and he is by the way, isn't he, the emperor's son. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation that has a reference to sovereignty and priority, not being personally created. For by him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

You could easily take your pencil and you could circle the word all over and over and over again. All, it is the Greek word panta. It refers to all things individually, specifically, separately. It's a word that is actually a reference to the infinite detail of everything in creation. Big things were individually created by him for one example, the star Antares, which is only one of billions of stars within our galaxy, but just this one star is 64 million times larger than our sun revolving with the rest of its galaxy at about 200 miles an hour. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ has named every one of the trillions upon trillions of stars throughout this galaxy and a billion others, and he knows them all by name. The writer Isaiah said, lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars. The one who leads forth their host by number, and he calls them all by name.

David will sing. He counts the number of the stars and he gives names to all of them. He has individually, specifically, separately, as it were, though it took him but a moment, created the magnitude of our universe and small things were created by Jesus Christ as well. One drop of water we know can contain 500 million microscopic creatures so small that a teaspoon of water is to them like the Atlantic is to us.

In fact, if you took the millions of molecules within one little grain of water and exchanged each molecule for a grain of sand, you would have enough sand to build a highway from the East Coast to the West Coast, a foot and a half thick and a half a mile wide. He has created everything from the massive to the minute. How did he do it? Don't ask me.

I have no idea. We're not told how. We're simply introduced to who. With that explanation and without much description, Moses delivered the truth and you know it by heart.

Say it with me. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Moses evidently didn't follow the theory of origin that was popular in his Egyptian high school. They believed that a primeval ocean somehow produced an egg and from that egg was born the sun god and the sun god would have some children and they would battle one another for power and control and out of their battling, the universe would be created. The Babylonians had their own creation story. If you want to believe theirs, it's the story of plotting and counter plotting among selfish and jealous gods who bring the universe into being to play with it as toys. The Greeks, they would believe that Atlas, that giant held the universe upon his shoulders and his bent head. The Hindus believe the world rests instead on the backs of three elephants who are balanced in turn on the back of a giant tortoise which swims around in the cosmic sea. You could be an American since the 1800s who have postulated at least 80 theories of origins that we have come from seaweed or descended from apes. One theory that is growing more believable by many over time is what one author seriously contended that we evolved from material left on this planet by some prehistoric intelligence left behind after visiting us billions of years ago.

No wonder there would be such despair and frustration. You believe the account, you believe by faith. I believe this account by faith that God through his son Christ specifically and individually and separately by the power of his word created all there is. Without it, you will be like Xenophanes, that Greek philosopher who denied the record of scripture and said, quote, guesswork reigns over all. John's gospel, if you want to turn there, delivers the answer that there's no need or reason to guess.

Here is the account of the inspired record. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by him.

That word all again is panta. All things came into being by him and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overwhelm it.

Darkness but now by the word of his mouth, by the song of the emperor's son is light and life. If you go over to Genesis chapter one, the crescendo of that song reached its highest peak when the triune God said in verse 26, let us, wonderful word, the circle, let us, a reference to our triune God, make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. In other words, let's create a king and a queen to rule earth in fellowship with us.

Let's create them, however, differently than any other creature we have created thus far. In verse 27, we're told that God says, let us make them male and female in our image. The word image is the word Salem. It comes from a root word that refers to carving. God says, let's carve man. Let's carve them.

What does that mean? Let's carve mankind. Well, first of all, it would mean that humans are not the result of some random mutation in the genetic code. Humans are not creatures brought about by a deviation or an evolution of some higher primate's DNA.

The truth is, those who disregard the record of scripture would look around and become confused. Certainly we have biological features that are common to other animal creatures. We share the same environment. It would be reasonable for God to create us in a way that many of these same biological and physiological characteristics would be in common with animals. Our internal organs work in similar ways. Our skeletal structure has similarities. Our DNA shares similar construction. Frankly, humans look similar in many ways to primates.

None of you in here, of course, but I'm thinking of others. So how do you know that humans are special or unique in the created order? Are we, as our world tells us, just another animal?

We just happen to walk uprightly. Well, we know because of the record of scripture that we are made in the image of God, which means that it has nothing to do with how we look or how our organs operate or how our DNA is constructed or what kind of expressions we can have on our faces. In fact, being carved in the image of God cannot refer to anything biological because God is spirit.

Spirit, Luke 24, doesn't have flesh and bones. Being made in the image of God is something way beyond physical construction. It's that part of us then that scientists will never discover in our DNA. It isn't programmed into our chromosomes. It's spiritual. It sets us apart from all the other created beings. We have been given a spirit.

It was breathed into man, passed down to mankind, this life. We have been given unique spiritual attributes that animals do not have. God is carved into us self-awareness, a moral consciousness, a consciousness of others, a consciousness of God.

So that even though the unbeliever will say does not believe in God, the law of God is written on his heart and he knows it. We are capable then of fellowship with God. We alone among the creatures of earth commune with him. We can set goals. We can feel the guilt of sin.

We can communicate ideas. We can pursue holiness, truth and goodness. We can feel the emotions of zeal and sorrow and joy.

We alone can worship the Savior. For above and beyond all of our attributes created by God himself, we then can have a redeemer who can bear our sins in his body on the tree so that we can be dead to sin and live under righteousness. And according to the Apostle Peter, all of creation, the animal kingdom, in fact the planet, the entire universe, will one day be wiped away with a roar, he writes, and the elements will melt with intense heat and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. The heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat. In other words, everything that was created will be incinerated.

Everything will cease to exist except God and humanity and the angelic hosts for whom God will create an eternal heaven, a new Eden and an eternal hell. And fill it once again as it were, this new heaven, this new earth with fruit trees and animals for us to enjoy in our glorified condition. Which means, as one author put it this way, creation is merely God's theater upon which God's great redemptive drama can be played out. This is the purpose for which the entire universe was created so that the attributes of God would be seen, so that we would know his grace and mercy and compassion as he lavishes it upon us creatures whom God has created in his own image. And in the end, the theater will be destroyed and a new one, this time unending, will be created.

You know what that means? Among other things it means that this creation song is going to require a Christmas story. The creation story demands the Christmas story.

Why? Because there is evil afoot on the planet. Like Narnia, this new world is barely seven hours old and evil is being planned and mankind will fall and need to be rescued. That's why you discover in the Word that even before the song began, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had already chosen along with the Spirit and the Father to die, to be crucified, to redeem mankind before any, anything was created. It was part of his incredible plan, Acts 2-23 and Revelation 13 verse 8, slain before the foundation of the world, creation then will demand a crucifixion. Which means that we must not only believe by faith that the emperor's son is our creator, we must believe by faith that the emperor's son is our savior. The one who came as a baby boy, there he is in the cradle, he is destined for the cross. He who was your designer must be your savior.

This one, as many as receive this one. To them he gives the right to become what? Children of God. So you must place your faith in this one who is your creator, who came, who was laying in that cradle, who was destined for that cross, who even today wears the crown. You must believe in him and say with the apostle Paul who wrote of him, oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, how unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been his counselor? For unto him and through him and by him are all things, to him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Thanks for tuning in today to Wisdom for the Heart. With this lesson, Stephen Davey began a three-part series called The Chronicles of Christmas. The famous work by C.S. Lewis called The Chronicles of Narnia is filled with biblical imagery. Stephen's taking a look at a few of those images in this series.

And of course, pointing us to God's Word, the only source of absolute truth. We've taken this series and made it into a booklet. It would make a great addition to your resource library and it also makes a great gift. This booklet, The Chronicles of Christmas, is available on our website. We also have a free resource this month.

It's a copy of Stephen's ebook called An Indescribable Gift. Information on both of these resources is found at wisdomonline.org. We can also give you information when you call us at 866-48-BIBLE.

Let me give you that numerically. It's 866-482-4253 and we'd love to talk with you. If you haven't already, I encourage you to install our app to your phone so that you can quickly and easily access all of our Bible-based resources. That app contains the audio and the transcript of each of these daily messages. It's free to install and use and is a great companion for your personal Bible study. Well, thanks again for joining us today. We're so glad you were with us and I hope you'll be with us for our next lesson tomorrow, right here on Wisdom for the Heart.