The Last Battle

Intoduction

• "...we see the world through different colored lenses and backgrounds, the central task of all believers is to love god."
  -Dr. Brian Hartley

Aslan, the Christ figure of Narnia

Emeth the Calormene

• Undergoes various stages in his faith

• He wasn't blinded by the words Shift the ape gave, but sought the truth.

• Aslan saw the puroty of heart Emeth exhibits and rewarded him.

Emeth was a Servant of Aslan

• He sought the truth behind Shift's eyes.

• He knew that puzzle wasn't the real Aslan, Tash or any other God.

• "Everything that you have done, you have done unto me." Aslan talking to Emeth in The Last Battle

Emeth as a Servant of Tash

• Emeth wanted to come face to face with god they were calling "Tashlan," even thought it meant an almost certain doom.

• This fervor and devotion to his god and Aslan recognized that devotion. His heart was pure, but simply misguided.

Narnia, the Great Onion of Life

• "I see," she [Lucy] said. "This is still Narnia down below, jsut as it was more real and more beautiful than the Narnia outside the Stable door!"

• "Yes," Said Me. Tumnus, "like an onion..."

The Stages of Life

• Narnia can be representative of a human's individual walk with Christ. The outer shell is the lost, or non-Christians. This shell is just a shadow of the next shell, which represents the enslaved.

• Then you have the final shell, or the inner core, which represents freedom. Until we reach this inner core, we can never truly achieve a right relationship with Christ.

Loft and Slavery

• "To Jews who had believed in him Jesus said, 'if you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free,"      -John 8:31-32

• In order to find freedom we must find this truth, that only those who seek him are set free by his grace. Until then we are slaves to our own sin.

Doors to Narnia

• Until we find truth, we are slaves to the shadows. These shadows will come in various forms. Some are as doors, while others are trials and tribulations,

• "I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in."
  - Jesus (Aslan) in Revelation 3
• Aslan was on one side and the childeren the other.

Freedom

• What happens to an individual when they peel and onion? Most would shead a tear. As with a real onion, we must shed tears when we peel the layes off of the Christian one.

Talk about trials, Jesus died on the cross for you and me.

Shadowlands

• "They did not recieve the things promised... they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth... they are looking for a country of their own... they are longing for a better country - a heavenly one... He has prepared a place for them.
  - Hebrews 11:13-16

Living in the Shadows

• The characters on Narnia were living in the shadow lands until they reached New Narina.

• Like them, none of us are at home here on earth.

• We are constantly seeking a way out of the shadows and into the light.

• Christ (Aslan), and a friendship with Him, is the only way to reach the light.

Living Through the Shadows

• "Where is God in tragedy? Does God want us to suffer?" C.S. Lewis from the movie Shadowlands.

• These trials annd tribulations are of the shadow land which we now are a living in. We must overcpme these times of pain and suffering in order to come through the shadows and into the light.

"Mainly About Dwarfs"

From the Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

• "I don't think we want any more Kings...No more than we we want any Aslans. We're going to look after ourselves..."
  -Griffle "the black dwarf"

• "That's right," said the other dwards. "No more aslan, no more kings, no more sill stories about other worlds. The dwarfs are for the dwarfs."

The Ever Cynical Dwarf

• The dwarfs in the Last Battle are classic examples of characters living in these shadows.

• They were taken in once, so they assume everyone else will try to take advantage of them too. This paranoia leads them to disillusionment and denial of all things that are in the light and good. They have choose darkness because they feel that it is safer than being taken in.

The Choice

• The childeren who follow Aslan try to show the dwarfs the light. They want to make friends, but the dwarfes' self-absorption blinds them. They are truly lost to the shadows.

• It is only then that the childeren realize that everyone has a choice to respond to the light; or they can sit in a self-imposed darkness unwilling to see the beauty that surrounds them.

Conclusion

• Hopefully we are not like those dwarves, lost to our own petty grievances and lost into the shadows. We too must ask ourselves the question; do we walk in the light or forever in the shadowlands?

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."
-Author unknown