When Aslan Rights the World

No news is good news. 

I’m sure you’ve heard this adage before and taken it in its intended sense—that not having a haunting suspicion verified leaves you with hope. But I think it’s also true in a second sense— that for most mainstream media today, none of the news is good. It seems like an event’s newsworthiness is in direct proportion to its tragedy, violence, or shock value. No surprise there; in this world, brokenness abounds.  

Ergo, most news is bad news.

The Good News

And yet there is hope. 

The world didn’t begin this way, and it won’t end this way. The King is coming, and He has promised one day to right all wrongs. That may sound like pie in the sky, but it’s the actual truth. When He returns, reporters in search of something scandalous will be out of a job. The most scintillating headlines will read, “King of Beasts Found Napping with Livestock,” and “Boy, Age Three, Unhurt Near Snake Nest” (Isaiah 11:6-8). Friend, if the sorrows of sin threaten to overwhelm you, take heart—the King is coming. 

The Return of the King

C.S. Lewis draws a beautiful picture of Christ’s return in his Chronicles of Narnia series. Surprisingly, I’m not just talking about the end of The Last Battle. I recently listened to the unabridged Narnia audiobooks and found myself in tears at the end of Prince Caspian. Aslan returned to Narnia in defense of his people, and it was beautiful. The wrongs that he set right were so reminiscent of the pain that surrounds us today that my heart squeezed some sehnsucht out of my eyes.* We all long for the return of the King.

The Thick of the Battle

In case you can’t scamper off and read the book immediately, I’ll tell you about some of the scenes that delighted me most. In the book, Narnia has been besieged by a wicked army, and the young Prince Caspian blows a magic horn to call for Aslan’s help. Sadly, it seems that nothing happens. The battle is just as desperate, and now Caspian and the others are disappointed and without hope. 

But what they don’t know is that Aslan has return and has even sent the Pevensie children—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy—to come to Narnia’s aid as well. The Pevensie boys join the battle and turn the tide. The girls follow Aslan into the surrounding towns to gather those faithful to the great Lion. 

The Wrongs He Sets Right

Aslan and his wild, merry company begin their cavalcade through the streets. Like Jesus during His earthly ministry, Aslan encounters a variety of people whose hearts toward him determine their outcomes. Also like Jesus, Aslan sees each need and deals with it in wisdom, justice, power, and joy. Just look at the brokenness he mends! 

Wearisome Duty

Aslan frees a young lady who would love to follow him but feels she must stay and teach the terrible, piggish boys in her class. He scares the boys away, and the young woman is delighted to join him. “And it was said afterward (whether truly or not) that those particular little boys were never seen again, but that there were a lot of very fine little pigs in that part of the country which had never been there before” (196).

Ignorance

In another school, a girl named Gwendolyn sees Aslan through the window during her history lesson. This “‘History’…was duller than the truest history you ever read and less true than the most exciting adventure story” (194). The teacher reprimands her for lying about a lion, but Aslan lets loose a roar that sends the teacher running along with “her class, who were mostly dumpy, prim little girls with fat legs” (194). Aslan invites Gwendolyn to join them, and she’s overjoyed.

Captivity

At the sight of Aslan, animals who had lived in woeful captivity become young and vigorous again. “Sad old donkeys who had never known joy grew suddenly young again; chained dogs broke their chains; horses kicked their carts to pieces and came trotting along with them” (195).

Cruelty and Injustice

A man is beating a boy with a stick. Aslan turns the stick into a flowering branch and the man into a tree. “The boy, who had been crying a moment before, burst out laughing and joined them” (195). 

War

The battle that had been going so poorly comes to an abrupt end when Aslan returns. He awakens the trees and sends them to battle. All faithful Narnians—from Giant Wimbleweather to the mouse Reepicheep—had fought valiantly, and the trees finish off the enemies who flee. 

Death Itself 

Probably the sweetest scene is when Aslan banishes death itself. A child is crying because her Auntie is on her death bed, so Aslan lifts up the whole house to speak with her. When the old woman sees Aslan, she says, “’Oh, Aslan! I knew it was true. I’ve been waiting for this all my life. Have you come to take me away?’” “’Yes, dearest,’ said Aslan, ‘But not the long journey yet.’ And as he spoke, like the flush creeping along the underside of a cloud at sunrise, the colour came back to her white face and her eyes grew bright and she sat up” (197). He gives her water turned into wine, and she’s so revived that she gets right up and rides on Aslan’s back to join the celebration.

Rewards

After making right these wrongs, Aslan turns to the rewards of honor, restoration, feasting, and rest. He honors Caspian with kingship because the boy knows himself to be unworthy. He restores a new tail to the valiant but vain Reepicheep because of the love that his fellow warriors have for him. 

Then Aslan provides a feast of jewel-toned wines, “sides of roasted meat that filled the grove with delicious smell, and wheaten cakes and oaten cakes, honey and many-coloured sugars and cream as thick as porridge and as smooth as still water, peaches, nectarines, pomegranates, pears, grapes, strawberries, raspberries—pyramids and cataracts of fruit” (205). And then, best of all after a battle, Aslan gives them rest. 

All this and more will Jesus do at His return. 

The Best News

I started these musings with the adage, “No news is good news,” but I’d like to revise it—This  news is good news. This is the gospel, the best news of all. In this world we will have trouble, but take heart; our King has overcome the world. 

Revelation 21:3-5 say, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’” Amen! Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. 

* “Sehnsucht is a German noun translated as ‘longing,’ ‘desire,’ ‘yearning,’ or ‘craving.’ Some psychologists use the word to represent thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for ideal alternative experiences.” (Definition provided by Wikipedia.) This concept is probably the most pivotal, essential topic of Lewis’s life and works. For more about sehnsucht, feel free to read his fabulous spiritual autobiography, Surprised by Joy, in which joy is synonymous with this longing.