In his book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis tells the Easter story through the lion Aslan, his figure for Jesus Christ. In the story, Edmund becomes a traitor to his brother and sisters and is liable to the Deep Magic that wrongdoing must be punished. Edmund is to be executed by the White Witch at the Stone Table—a symbol of the stone tablets on which the 10 Commandments spelled out God’s law. Aslan takes Edmund’s place on the Stone Table and dies a gruesome death, very much like Jesus’ death on the cross.
Two of the children, Lucy and Susan, witness the death of Aslan on the stone table, just as Jesus’ disciples witnessed his crucifixion. Then Lucy, and eventually the other children as well, meet Aslan alive again. Susan asks, “What does it all mean?”
Although the White Witch understood the Deep Magic (the Law), Aslan explains there is a still deeper magic she did not know. Aslan continues:
“Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she 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 would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”
Aslan is pointing to two amazing consequences of Easter. First, the Table cracks. The Stone Table, the place of sacrifice, cracks because God’s law has now been fulfilled. The Law need condemn no one, because the Law’s penalty for wrongdoing has been satisfied. This is indeed good news!
Second, Death itself starts working backward. This is the glorious message of Easter! Even death—our final enemy in this world—begins working backward. The apostle Paul describes it this way (I Cor. 15:54-57)
“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
But perhaps best of all is the Deeper Magic.
God created a moral universe that would operate according to certain principles, including the moral law that all wrong doing must be punished. But even before creation—even “before Time dawned”—God was already planning to reverse the condemnation that betraying the law would inevitably bring to every human being.
Yes, God is the righteous judge of the universe. But underneath God’s justice is God’s grace. The Deep Magic from the dawn of time is God’s law. But the Deeper Magic from before the dawn of time is God’s grace.
We see God’s grace at Easter.
Question: What about Easter has been most meaningful to you? What questions do you have? Please share them in a comment.
