Before The Dawn Of Time

In C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, a young boy, Edmund, betrays his brother and sisters to a terrible witch who holds the kingdom of Narnia under her evil spell. When he is caught in his crime, the witch demands justice. Under the law, she says, Edmund must die:

. . . unless I have blood as the Law says all Narnia will be overturned and perish in fire and water.

All seems lost until Aslan, the great lion, King of many kingdoms, reveals a far greater law, one set down before the beginning of time.

But if she (the witch) could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table (on which is written the law) would crack and Death itself would start working backward.

So it was in the fictional land of Narnia that Edmund was saved by the death and resurrection of a fictional lion. And so it is that in our world, we are saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

This is the Good News we celebrate this Easter, that Christ is risen and that if we pledge our allegiance to Him, we will dwell with Him forever.

One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4

And with this Good News comes a warning, for it makes clear that if we die without Christ in our lives, we will be judged under the law and perish.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1:6

So let us remember the message of the angel to the women who came to visit the tomb of our Savior:

But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Matthew 28:5-6

In celebration of Easter, let us spread the news that Christ has delivered us from our sins, that with His resurrection He has overcome the spell of death that enshrouds our dark and dying world. Let us answer the message of the angel in the presence of all who would hear:

Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!