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Servant-Kings in the Sky

Writing of fourth century Greek philosopher/scholar Chalcidius, C.S. Lewis remarks,

He wholly rejects the anthropocentric cosmology of Genesis in which the heavenly bodies were made ‘to give light upon the earth.’ He holds it would be absurd to suppose that the ‘blessed and eternal’ things above the Moon were ordered for the sake of perishable things below (The Discarded Image, p. 51).

Chalcidius, in this respect, would fit in well with moderns, but not with the biblical account of God’s purpose in creation. We (the earth) are not the center to be sure. But consider the paradox:

The Sun is the center. The Sun and the Moon rule over darkness. And yet, in ruling, they exist to serve and give. It’s not a leap, then, to recognize that when Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world,’ he is declaring himself to be a Servant-King.

Those who cannot fathom that the heavens were ordered for the sake of perishable things see only kingship in the heavenly bodies. They cannot see the stars as servants. How much less then can they fathom the King of the universe, who came not ‘to be served, but to serve’ and give his life ‘as a ransom for many’? Walk in the light of the Servant-King.

  • Genesis 1:15 And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights- the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night- and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

The Light of the World (2): Always Winter and Never Christmas

I have been reading a good bit of Jonathan Edwards lately. At the same time my family and I have been reading the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (again). I am not aware of anywhere in his writings that C.S. Lewis interacts with the writings of Jonathan Edwards. But time and time again I have discovered significant overlap in their thought (I may post on this in the future). I came across one such overlap this week, and a helpful one at that.

Let me say few things to set the stage. When I began reading Lewis, as well as Tolkien, I was struck by an element of seriousness in their writing. Call it a certain ‘melancholy.’ Yet in their melancholy, a certain joy is still evident. They both, but Tolkien especially, had the ability in their writing to make the happiest events seem sad and the saddest events seem happy. It’s hard to describe. It’s a mood more than anything else. You pick it up if you read enough of them.

I am not a big fan of the recent Narnia movies, but there are a few things the movies do well. One relates to the mood I’m speaking of. In the closing scene of Prince Caspian, the image of the Pevensie children walking away from Aslan in Narnia into a crowded train station in the ‘real world’ is striking. I remember, after seeing the movie for the first time, telling my wife that that scene perfectly captured my weekly mood transitioning from Sunday to Monday. Sunday is my favorite day of the week. It’s like Narnia in its brightness and glory. But then on Monday morning I face the real world. Yet Sunday is the real world to me, not Monday. Aslan tells the children later in the Chronicles that they must get to know him in their own world by another name. Narnia is just a glimpse, just one manifestation. In the humdrum of the train station is where they will truly get to know him.

I digress, but this captures the mood I’m speaking of. It’s like a joyful sadness, a happy mourning. I wrote about it HERE and, using Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ expression, called it ‘serious happiness.’ (If you are a regular reader of mine and haven’t read that post, I’d encourage you to do so. That post is as clear an expression of my thinking as anything I’ve ever written).

In Narnia, in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the land is bewitched so that it is ‘always winter and never Christmas.’ That is, until Aslan returns and the thaw of spring begins. In Jonathan Edwards sermon on John 8:12, where Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world,’ he expresses he same idea about the return of Christ:

Is Christ Jesus the light of the world? What glorious times will those be when all nations shall submit themselves to him, when this glorious light shall shine into every dark corner of the earth, and shall shine much more brightly and gloriously than ever before. It will be like the rising of the sun after a long night of darkness, after the thick darkness had been ruling and reigning over all nations and poor mankind had been groping about in gross darkness for many ages. When this glorious morning comes, then those that never saw light before shall see it and be astonished at its glory. Then the world, which has been in a kind of dead sleep for this many ages, shall rouse up and begin [to] open their eyes and look forth to behold this glorious light of the world; then will the sweet music of God’s praises begin to be heard.

Then will Christ say unto his spouse, as in Isaiah 60, at the beginning:

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For the Gentiles shall then come unto her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising.” Now, indeed, darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon his church and his glory shall be seen upon her. Then shall “the light of the moon be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold” (Isaiah 30:26). The world has had a long winter of sin and ignorance; for many ages has the Sun of Righteousness been in the Tropic of Capricorn; but when this time comes the world will enjoy a glorious spring: then holiness and God’s kingdom shall revive as the fields and trees revive in spring. Then shall the time come when all creatures shall praise the Lord, and the mountains shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands…

The light that is Christ is already shining in this world. The thaw of spring has already begun. Dark, blind, cold, dead sinners are already having their eyes opened, are being warmed by the love of Christ, are coming alive by his Spirit. We see him, and we see that he is light. But we wait for a day when that light will shine so brightly as to swallow up all the darkness. And so we pray, ‘Come, Lord Jesus.’ Then the melancholy will disappear, but joy will be more serious than ever.