don't appease the Deep Magic

So, I'm sitting on my couch watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe...

In the scene of Aslan's death, we are to find ourselves drawn to the sacrifice of our own righteous king who laid down His life that we might live. Its a powerful, emotional, gut-wrenching scene. But tonight, as I was watching, I was struck by something different that I thought I'd put down in here...

As the White Witch stands over Aslan, after having him bound, shaved, and humiliated, she stands and declares, "Tonight, the Deep Magic will be appeased!" She states this to great cheers of triumph from her minions.

For whatever reason, it has never struck me in any way before, but tonight... it is a clear warning. The desire of the witch is that the absolutes be followed in perfect accordance. It is even her statement to Aslan in the preceding scene, making threats of an overturned Narnia if she is not granted the blood of the traitor Edmund. Her chief end is to uphold the merit of the law, and to threaten a reckoning if the demands of her will are not met. She threatens (and succeeds for many years) to hold Narnia in bondage based on her absolute view of the Deep Magic. This should serve as a fervent warning to us that if all we seek is the righteousness of the Law upheld in our lives, our legalism defies the promises of Christ. If we hold so tight to an absolute that we would threaten to overturn the Kingdom of God should the rules not be kept in perfect order, then we are not the recipients of faith, grace, and mercy that we believe ourselves to be.

Following Aslan's return to life, we find that he can give a much more accurate translation to the Deep Magic. He even goes so far as to say that the White Witch had improperly interpreted the words. We must be willing to look to the one who was there wen the Word was written in order to begin to grasp the fullness of what it says... we can not begin to lean on our own understandings, especially when it comes to the depth of the Law.