A Familiar Story of Expectation

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Ok, so one of my all time most favorite stories/movies happens to be none other than….(drum roll!) THE LION, WITCH and the WARDROBE by C.S. Lewis! :) I was first introduced to the story in Mrs. Carlson’s 5th grade class and I remember her saying, “Now there’s an underlying theme that some of you may pick up on so when you do, you should come tell me!” As the plot continued to unravel, I slowly began to recognize that this story sounded awfully familiar and then BAM! It hit me when Aslan, the lion, was preparing to die on the stone table. Leading up to that scene however, all of Narnia was being transformed. The animals were seeing drastic changes taking place and word was spreading like wildfire that Aslan was coming and winter would soon be over! Queen Jadis, the evil, extremely-pale-looking woman would soon be overthrown and there would be peace in all Narnia! Mr. and Mrs. Beaver were anticipating the return of Aslan and were the first to relay the message to the children. I love the part when they are being chased by the wolves and all of a sudden “Father Christmas” comes out of no-where and gives them their weapons for the battle that will take place before the peace in Narnia. Aslan was calling for an army to rally with him in the fight to overthrow Jadis and the “dark side.”

What does this all have to do with the message Pastor Rick shared on Sunday you may be asking? Well, besides me getting super excited about the movie, if you recall, Rick spoke on expectations and how often we wait in anticipation for something, like Christmas, and then it ends up not being at all what it surmounted to be. Although the superficial things of Christmas may not meet your expectations, the true meaning behind Christmas will: Jesus Christ.

Did you know that Jesus is coming again? This time however, he will not be just a babe in a manger, he will be in all of His glory and splendor.We too are to be like the animals of Narnia and await the expected arrival of Jesus (Aslan if you didn’t catch the subliminal message earlier, hehe). We should be preparing and expecting a full-out battle with real evil (if you're not encountering the battle already!). Revelation is often thought of as a scary and complicated book. To me however, this passage of scripture appears to be pretty uplifting and straight-forward:

Jesus Is Coming
7"Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
10Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. 11Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."
12"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you[a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
17The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
(Revelation 22:7-17 NIV from www.biblegateway.com)

See, something just tells me that..oh I don't know, "Jesus is Coming?" How many times does He say it? Ha, sometimes I giggle as to think how often He has to repeat Himself in relaying messages like this in his word because of thick-headed people like myself! With all that aside, perhaps over the long Christmas break, you should join me in studying Revelation. After hearing Rick’s message and reading a passage like this, my expecations of Christ’s second coming has heightened and I want to know all that I can about His return. Do you think it's too late to ask Father Christmas for some weapons of my own? I'm sure we could quick add it to our lists--he still has 20 days!