REDEMPTION AND GRACE IN MIDDLE EARTH AND NARNIA July 16, 2017

And it essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but it seemed that its most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its own solemn pattern.

–J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

1. The Great “Theme”: Cosmic Redemption in Middle Earth

a. The Song of the Ainur

b. Illustration: What is the whole story of the Lord of the Rings driving at?

i. From ______to ______

2. The Witch’s Folly: Cosmic Redemption in Narnia

a. Edmund, Aslan, and the Stone Table

i. By his mere return to Narnia, Aslan ended the Witch’s endless winter. Why then did Aslan have to die? 1. Law and Gospel a. Bad Understanding: “God broke the law for love”

b. Good Understanding: WCF 19.7 and Galatians 3:21-22

ii. What parallels between Aslan and the Stone Table and Christ and the Cross can you think of?

iii. Doug Wilson on LWW: “Even though I grew up in a Christian church and heard almost every Sunday that Jesus died for our sins, it was not until I read the story of Aslan and Edmund that the lesson really clicked. Suddenly I understood the cross – and the center of the gospel message – in a new and deeper way.” (What I Learned in Narnia, pg. 132)

3. Varied Grace: Individual Redemption in Middle Earth

a. Words of Grace: King Theodan

REDEMPTION AND GRACE IN MIDDLE EARTH AND NARNIA July 16, 2017

i. Gandalf, Grima, and the Power of Words

ii. Proverbs 18:21 | John 11:38-44

b. Persevering Grace: Frodo i. John Piper: “Not grace to bar what is not bliss, Nor flight from all distress, but this: The grace that orders our troubles and pain, And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.”

c. Unlooked for Grace: A Theme throughout The Lord of the Rings i. Eagles to the Rescue

1. Radagast and Gandalf at Orthanc

2. Battle at the Black Gate, Rescue of Frodo and Sam

ii. Ghân-buri-Ghân

4. There is Only One Way: Individual Redemption in Narnia

a. The Silver Chair: Jill’s Story i. We come because we are called

ii. We come because there is nowhere else to go

b. Was Lewis an inclusivist? Did he believe you need explicit faith in Jesus to be saved? i. The case of Emeth from The Last Battle

ii. Acts 4:12 | Luke 24:45-47

c. Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Eustace the Dragon

i. Stage One: What was Eustace like when we first met him?

ii. Stage Two: A Dragon, A Helpful and Sorry Dragon, But Still a Dragon

iii. Stage Three: Grace in Action

iv. What does Eustace teach us about grace?