I’m a big fan of C. S. Lewis. There’s nothing of his that I’ve read that I didn’t enjoy. My six year old daughter is developing a love for him as well. About six months ago I started reading her The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She was absolutely enchanted with the story. Since I’ve been reading her a chapter of Chronicles of Narnia almost every night before bed.
As you may or may not know, Lewis wrote the Narnia stories as an allegory for the Christian faith. The other night my daughter and I were reading a chapter from The Silver Chair (Narnia). At a key moment in the book the lead characters, Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole (from our world), Puddleglum the Narnian Marsh-Wiggle, and Prince Rilian of Narnia have been captured by an evil witch in underworld. They’ve been enchanted by her music. The witch is trying to convince them that the land on the surface, where they’re from, is only a dream.
In their enchanted stupor the try to convince her of the truth of the overworld. They try to describe the sun to her. In so doing they use a lamp as an illustration. It’s like the lamp, only better. Then they try to describe the great Aslan to her. He’s like a cat, only better.
Often, I feel like Eustace, Jill, Puddleglum, and Rilian when I try to explain to people about my life with Jesus. It’s like ordinary life, only better. But like the witch, why should someone believe me if the only way I can describe following Jesus is by saying it’s like that only better. Who can blame people for reacting like the witch and saying what a lovely dream that must have been.
Ultimately, Eustace, Jill, Puddleglum, and Rilian would rather hold on to their dream than submit to the dull “reality” of the witch. Once they’ve committed to this they are able to defeat the witch and are vindicated when they return to the surface.
It reminds me of Pascal’s wager. Pascal, the French philosopher, mathematician, and Christ-follower, argued that following Christ is a simple choice. In Pensees he argued that it only makes logical sense to follow Jesus whether it’s true or not. He said if you follow Jesus, you have the potential to gain everything but no matter what you lose nothing. If you don’t follow Jesus, you have the potential to lose everything but no matter what you gain nothing. How about you? How would you respond to Pascal’s wager?
Eternal Life (Part 2)
Thursday, February 18th, 2010In part 1 we examined the only occurrence of the phrase eternal life in the Old Testament, Daniel 12:2. In that context eternal life was a reward given to the righteous after they were resurrected.
Today we’re moving on to the first occurrence in the New Testament, Matthew 19:16.  It is part of the story commonly known as the Rich Young Ruler and occurs in all three of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18:18-30). One thing we need to remember here is that the focus of this story is not eternal life. This story focuses on the things that keep us from experiencing eternal life because we value them above God.
Yet, we learn something about the nature of eternal life. In Jesus’ answer to the man we learn three things. These are adapted from Matthew: From Biblical Text to Contemporary Life (NIV Application Commentary Series)
by Michael J. Wilkins. (1) Eternal life is a way of living different from the normal humans experience (Matthew 19:17). Jesus doesn’t, at this point, clarify the nature of this life. It is only clear that it’s different from the life the young man is experiencing. (2) Eternal life is closely associated with the Kingdom of Heaven/God. They are not one and the same, but you can’t have one without the other. (3) Eternal life is part of salvation.
As you can see, the New Testament has expanded our view of eternal life. The gift is not only received at the resurrection, all who are saved experience it. It is a type of life different from the normal life experienced by humanity and is closely related to the Kingdom of God.
What other differences do you see from Daniel’s portrayal of eternal life and the Gospels’ presentations here?
Tags: Bible, eternal life, Gospel, Matthew, Michael J. Wilkins, NIV Application Commentary, Theology
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