The CS Lewis Chronicles of Narnia begin with four children, the Pevensies. While other children, and other characters, appear thoughout, most of us think of these books as primarily the story of Lucy Pevensie and her siblings.
The Last Battle
Many people who know about the Chronicles of Narnia have not read far into the series, maybe only reading the first story. However, the title of book 7, The Last Battle, will tell you that this is a story of Narnia's Last Days.Peter, Edmund, and Lucy appear under strange circumstances. They have adventures, and only later do we learn that they have died in a railway accident quite early in the story, entering eternal life from the Narnian world. (If this sounds awful to you, remember that they are clearly living in a different dimension, which makes the reader feel that the deaths are not worth thinking about, having changed their experiences so little.)
So this is the juncture at which the above photo of my book was taken. Three siblings arrive, one does not. "My sister Susan. . . is no longer a friend of Narnia."
Those are chilling words.
Not the end of Susan's story
But Susan, in our world, is still living. We don't know where she is in her faith life. The things important to her seem to indicate that, at this point, she isn't reaching "for the highest gifts of Heaven".We have a person in the New Testament, at a similar lifestage, to whom we are introduced.
The Rich Young Ruler
But is this his final answer?
Prodigals
Many of us are familiar with Jesus's parable of the Prodigal Son. He left home, and, supposedly a good Jewish boy, found himself feeding pigs to survive.Was he a pig when he was in the pigpen? Or still a son?
In his second letter, the apostle Peter talks of a cleaned-up pig and a vomiting dog.
Is the cleaned up pig any less a pig when he's cleaned up and not yet returned to the mud?
Susan Again
i think that's what we're seeing with Susan in The Last Battle. In the earlier books, we see her struggling with her faith. We have no reason to think she is not going through the same battle in our world.She could not have been unaffected by her siblings' deaths. Who knows how her life was impacted?
We humans cannot know the future.
'The Rich Young RulerAgain
Personally, i like to think that we meet the Rich Young Ruler again in Acts, Barnabas. Giving all the proceeds of the sale of his field might have seemed to him like a small step in the right direction. Not only had Jesus told him to give away everything, but, as a Levite, his owning land was somewhat problematic in the first place.But that's just an idea i have, which we have no way of knowing if it was so.
What about me?
Susan Pevensie and The Rich Young Ruler seem to be rejecting Christ in favor of a secular lifestyle and riches.Maybe that's the way they will end up, but maybe not. We cannot know from here.
So what's next?
How am i living?
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A lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son (or two lost sons?)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+15&version=NASB
Dr. J. Vernon McGee writing about Can a Saved Person Ever Be Lost?
https://www.ttb.org/docs/default-source/Booklets/is-it-possible-for-a-saved-person-ever-to-be-lost.pdf?sfvrsn=0
In the letter of First John, the apostle gives us come clues about knowing our own status. Here, Charles Swindoll summarizes the book:
https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-general-epistles/first-john
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When i asked Boom for comments on this draft, he responded that my thoughts about Susan are not new. The author himself indicated this is what is happening with Susan.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2013/11/c-s-lewis-on-the-salvation-of-susan/
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