The Stone Table & The Cross: Easter 2026

In this episode of Faithful Fables, we look at the similarities between Aslan and Jesus and why both of their sacrifices are so important! 

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Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Welcome to Faithful Fables, a podcast dedicated to exploring the Christian themes in fantasy stories such as the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and many more. Join me on this journey as we look into the lore and the symbolism of these stories, and we learn how to apply these things to our everyday lives. And remember to stay faithful. And I wanted to just do a sort of special Easter episode, with of course Easter just happening this last weekend. So in two weeks, we'll get back to Voyage of the Dawn Shredder. And even if this episode is a little shorter, it's I'm treating it as a bonus episode, so not really part of the official first season. And before we get into this, I know this is maybe often repetitive and maybe a little annoying, but bear with me. I just ask that you leave a comment and a review or one or the other wherever you're listening to this. And the reason why I'm asking is that it actually will help the podcast to get out in front of more people, to have a better chance of getting into certain algorithms. And we have a better chance then of having even more people hear the good news of the gospel through this podcast, which is the main goal of the show is to reach people with the gospel. And so if you guys could do that, that would help me out a whole lot. If this is content that resonates with you, if you enjoy this content, please do me that favor. And of course, as you've seen, if there is a comment uh given, I can also share that in a future episode. And so that's all I'll ask for from this episode. But if you guys could do that, that would help me out a lot. So now, let's get into this. As many of you already know from listening to this podcast, Narnia is not written as an allegory with one-for-one comparisons, but it's written instead as a supposal, where C.S. Lewis is supposing what if God sent his son to a different world than Earth, and instead of sending his son in the form of a man, he sends his son in the form of a lion. And what would that look like? And so that's basically the framework of what Narnia is. And so, because of that, we see some obvious similarities between Aslan and Jesus. And there's many of those. I've gone over those kind of in detail. If you want to listen to that, you can check out the full-length episode I did called The Lion. That was early on in this season. And if you're more interested in like a quicker overview of it on my YouTube, I have a shorter video, about three to three and a half minutes, uh going over some of those similarities. But seeing as this is an Easter episode, I want to kind of cover probably the most significant and the biggest similarity between Aslan and Jesus, and that is giving their life for their innocent life, mind you, for a guilty party, and then also rising back from the dead, conquering death itself, and giving a way of salvation and redemption for everybody. That is kind of the biggest similarity between the two. And so I kind of want to cover a little bit of those two stories individually. I think I'm gonna start with Aslan, I'm gonna start with Narnia, and I'm gonna end with Jesus in the Bible. And so, yeah, let's get into this, guys. This is actually something that really gets me excited about Narnia. Is is this comparison? And actually, I'm filming this on, or sorry, I should say I'm recording this on a on Saturday. And just yesterday, Good Friday, I had watched Lion the Witch in the Wardrobe with my girlfriend, and I was like, not only is this a Christmas movie, but this is actually also an Easter movie very much as well. And it just, I don't know, it kind of helps paint the picture. You know, obviously watching something like The Passion of the Christ does a great job and tug really tugs on the emotions, and I think that Narnia kind of does that as well. Like watching Lion the Witch in the Wardrobe, it kind of if you understand the symbolism that's going on, it really does help paint the picture of exactly what Jesus did for us. And so I want to read not all of both of the stories, but just read a little bit from each, and then hopefully we can show some of the similarities between the two even more than we have already. So I'm gonna start with reading from Narnia. At last, the rabble had had enough of this. They began to drag the bound and muzzled lion to the stone table, some pulling and some pushing. He was so huge that even when they got him there, it took all their efforts to hoist him onto the surface of it. Then there was more tying and tightening of cords. The cowards, the cowards, sobbed Susan. Are they still afraid of him, even now? When once Aslan had been tied, and tied so that he was really a mass of cords, on the flat stone a hush fell over the crowd. Four hegs, holding four torches, stood at the corners of the table. The witch bared her arms as she had bared them the previous night when it had been Edmund instead of Aslan. Then she began to wet her knife. It looked to the children when the gleam of the torchlight fell on it, as if the knife were made of stone, not steel, and it was of a strange and evil shape. At last she drew near. She stood by Aslan's head. Her face was working and twitching with passion, but his looked up to the sky, still quiet, neither angry nor afraid, but a little sad. Then, just before she gave the blow, she stooped down and said in a quivering voice, And now, who has won? Fool, did you think that by all this you would save the human traitor? Now I will kill you instead of him as our pact was, and so the deep magic will be appeased. But when you are dead, what will prevent me from killing him as well? And who will take him out of my hand then? Understand that you have given me Narnia forever. You have lost your own life, and you have not saved his. In that knowledge, despair and die. The children did not see the actual moment of the killing. They couldn't bear to look and had covered their eyes. They heard the voice of the witch calling out, Now, follow me all, and we will set about what remains of this war. It will not take us long to crush the human vermin and the traitors now that the great fool, the great cat, lies dead. At this moment, the children were for a few seconds in very great danger. With the wild cries and a noise of scurling pipes and shrill horns blowing, the whole of that vile rabble came sweeping off the hilltop and down the slope right past their hiding place. They felt the spectres go by them like a cold wind, and they felt the great shake beneath them under the galloping feet of the minotaurs. And overhead there went a flurry of foul wings, and a blackness of vultures and giant bats. At any other time they would have trembled with fear, but now the sadness and shame and horror of Aslan's death so filled their minds that they had hardly thought of it. So this here is basically the moments that the White Witch kills Aslan. And like I mentioned before, the whole reason that this is happening was because Edmund had betrayed his siblings. He was going to he was supposed to bring his siblings to the White Witch so that she could uh kill them all, and then the prophecy would not come true. This prophecy, of course, would be that when four sons of Adam, or two sons of Adam, two daughters of Eve, would sit on the thrones and care paravel, that you know, the the evil reign of the queen essentially would be over. And so she wants to prevent this. And so when she had met Edmund, she was like, Hey, bring me your siblings. She, of course, doesn't tell him why. She doesn't tell him that, you know, he knows nothing about this prophecy and and whatever. And she uses her means of uh manipulation and she gives him some enchanted Turkish delight, which gives him this craving for it constantly. He wants more and more. And when someone eats this enchanted food, basically they crave it, they would eat it so much until literally they would die. And so she uses means like this to convince him, and obviously he he ends up failing to bring them all there. He he's selfish and prideful, and he goes in by himself, and so she gets mad and all and goes just even even worse on her on her just reign of terror. But essentially, because he betrayed them, there's a deep magic in Narnia that all traitors belong to the white witch. And so even when Aslan and the good guys have rescued Edmund, she comes back for him because b because of this dark magic he belongs to her. And so because of that, Aslan makes a deal with her that she would spare his life and she could kill Aslan instead. Now this must have been this must have been like a no-brainer for the witch, because I mean if you killed Aslan, like the creator of Narnia, the most powerful being around, you know, because remember, Aslan is Jesus, he is God in this world. If she could kill him, she would be victorious, she wouldn't even need to worry about the four. And and especially then at that point, with with Aslan out of the way, she could kill the four no problem and be done with it, and then she would reign forever. And so that's why she kind of taunted him there before she killed him on the table. She's taunting him, saying, like, you really thought that this would help, that this would save anybody? Like with you gone, who's gonna stop me from from taking him and from taking Narnia? Right? So that was her you know, for her, she thought she won. Like she thought she won. Like she she killed Aslan, he was out of the way. Narnia is hers. And I feel like there's similarities there because the devil must have also thought that he won when Jesus died. He must have also thought that, okay, well now this this is it, this is done. Like, you know, he he must have had a I feel like I I mean I don't know this for sure, he must have had a sense of victory. But in both cases, they were mistaken. I mentioned that there was a dark magic that would send all traitors to the hand of the white witch, but what she failed to know is that there is a deeper magic that only Aslan knew of. And that deeper magic was that if anybody if anybody innocent would die in the place of a traitor, someone guilty, that the stone table would crack and time itself would go backwards. Or sorry, death itself. That's it. Death itself would even would go back would turn backwards. And she didn't realize this.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

She didn't realize that you know by someone sacrificing themselves when they didn't deserve it and the other person did, but they take that punishment instead. That that is actually the greatest form of love to lay down your life for someone else.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

And Aslan did this, and we'll see later that Jesus also did this. But yeah, the witch was mistaken. After a few hours, the sun comes up and Lucy and Susan hear a great cracking sound. C. S. Lewis described it as if a giant had broken a giant's plate, which kind of puts it in perspective. But they turn around and they see that the stone table is cracked from end to end, just right in half. And there's no Aslan on it. And so they're wondering, like, hey, is this some sort of magic? Like, what's happening here? And then they hear a great voice behind them, and they turn around they they turn around again and they see larger than they saw him before, with his main grown back, Aslan, standing there in the in the light. He was back from the dead, and from there they celebrate, they have this kind of romp where they're celebrating, they're playing, and again, more detail in the full episode I did on the lion, but from there he takes Susan and Lucy and they go to the witch's house and he restores the statues that she had turned to stone, and it's a really beautiful chapter. And yeah, you guys gotta check that check out those other episodes I did, but basically he restores those statues and he brings and then he goes out and he helps the b them in the battle.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

He defeats the witch, and yeah, that's kind of the story arc there.

The King of Kings

The Gospel

SPEAKER_01 16:58

And so we see a death and a resurrection in Narnia and of course we see that with Jesus as well. So I'm gonna read some of the crucifixion story now, and so let's see if you can also see some of the parallels here. Now the men who held Jesus mocked him and beat him, and having blindfolded him, they struck him in the face and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is the one who struck you? And many other things they blasphemely spoke against him. As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both the chief priests and scribes, came together and led him into their council, saying, If you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, If I tell you, you will by no means believe, and if I also ask you, you will by no means answer me, or let me go. Hereafter the Son of Man will sit at the right hand of the power of God. Then they all said, Are you the Son of God? So he said to them, You rightly say that I am. And they said, What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from his own mouth. Then the whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate, and they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Then Pilate asked him, saying, Are you the king of the Jews? He answered him and said, It is as you say. So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, I find no fault in this man. But they were more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the man were a Galilean, and as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see him, because he had heard many things about him, and he hoped to see some miracles done by him. Then he questioned him with many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes stood and vehemently accused him. Then Herod, with his men of war, treated him with contempt and mocked him, arrayed him with a gorgeous robe, and sent him back to Pilate. That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at epity with each other. Then Pilate, when he had called together his chief priests and rulers and the people, said to him, You have brought this man to me as one who misleads the people, and indeed, having examined him in your presence, I have found no fault in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him. No, neither did Herod, for I sent you back to him, and indeed nothing deserving of death has been done by him. I will therefore chastise him and release him, for it was necessary for him to release one of them at the feast. Now they all cried at once saying, Away with this man and release to us Barabbas, who was who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in this city and for more murder. Pilate therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called to them, but they shouted, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Then he said to them the third time, Why, what evil has he done? I have found no reason for death in him. I will therefore chastise him and let him go. But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified, and the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. Requested, and he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison, but he delivered Jesus to their will, and as they led him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon, a Serenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. And a great multitude of people followed him, and women who also mourned and lamented him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, and but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, Blessed are the barren wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry? There were also two others, criminals, led with him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him, with the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided his garments and cast lots, and the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, He saved others, let him save himself, if he is the Christ, the chosen of God. The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine, and saying, If you are king of the Jews, save yourself. And the inscription also was written over him, in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, This is the King of the Jews. Then one of the criminals, who were hanged, blasphemed him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuking him, saying, Do you not even fear God? Seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last. So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, Certainly, this was a righteous man. And the whole crowd who came together to that site seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. And all his acquaintances and the women who followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. So we already see some parallels here in both scenarios. The mocking and just yeah, the mocking and the torture that both Aslan and Jesus go through. And even to the point where there's people watching, like the women who followed are watching. So like we we just read that from the Bible, and in Lion Witch in the Wardrobe, uh Lucy noticed Aslan sneaking away from the camp at night, and so she and Susan follow him and they keep him company. And so again, not one for one parallels here, but there is very much uh similarities in these two stories. But the most again, the most important thing is the enemy thought that they had won. The enemy thought it was over. If you kill Aslan, if you kill Jesus, it's over.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

But whether they're not very smart or whatever it is, they don't realize that resurrection is coming.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

And that we have to remember, this is why we celebrate Easter. We celebrate the sacrifice that God himself, who took on flesh, came down to die for our sins. I love how Paul puts it in Philippians two. He says he's describing Jesus here, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. So that's that's what Jesus is doing, he's he is the very form of God, he is God, right? But he humbles himself. He comes as a bond servant in the likeness of men, and he continues, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Now imagine that he is God himself, but he comes to be obedient to the Father, so he comes in the form of a man humbling himself. That would ha you would have to humble yourself to come into the form of what you created. You're you're so much higher than that, right? As as Hebrews describes how great Jesus really is. You're so much higher than man. It would have to take a lot of humility, which of course God, He He is the most humble, but still, like to come down as your own creation, or in the form of your own creation. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him Jesus the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I love how Paul describes that. And I love how the author of Hebrews describes it as well. And I say the author of Hebrews because I believe the consensus is that we don't actually know. I know some people suspect that it's Paul, but I'm not going to say one way or the other 'cause I don't know. But it says here in Hebrews two, talking about Jesus, for he was not put for he has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels, but one testified in a certain place saying, What is man that you are mindful of him, or the Son of Man that you take care of him? You made him a little lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not un not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who is made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. And that right there, verse nine, I think sums it up fairly well. Well, I don't know if sums it up, but it says it very well. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels. So like Philippians says that he came in the likeness of man, well, that would be a little lower than the angels, right? So he was made a little lower than the angels, for what purpose? For the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, Jesus, by the grace of God might taste death for everyone. This goes back to well, I mean, this goes back to the old testament, really. I mean, in the old testament, under the old covenant, I mean, God is a just God, and sin always has to be paid for, it has to be atoned for. God if God is just, he can't just sweep your sin under the rug. And I think that's what a lot of people have as a misconception, where like thinking that, well, Christians can just live however they want because God forgives them. But yet Paul actually says no to that. He says, no, we shouldn't continue sinning, right? We have to have this repentant heart. And it goes back to the Old Testament where at that time they had to do the animal sacrifices because blood has to cover for that sin. And in Romans, Paul describes it, he says that the wages of sin is death. You know, you get paid with death for the sin that you commit. That's just how it is. That's how serious God takes your sin, is that you deserve death. And so now here, you know, for sin to be atoned once and for all, like God sends his son, the second person of the Trinity, down to earth in the likeness of man, a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Guys, this is I mean, we could we could dive deeper into this, but this is something very beautiful, and I think something like to be honest with you, I think I take for granted a lot. I mean, yeah, C.S. Lewis, you know, he he symbolizes it well through the Narnian story, but like if you dive into scripture, like even like the book of Hebrews in itself, like describing Jesus, the way that Paul describes Jesus, and really understanding what happened, and if you look into how brutal and gruesome the crucifixion was, and you really understand that you guys, Jesus did this for you.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

He did this for us. You know, the famous Bible verse of John 316, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whoever whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Guys, he did this for you. That you may believe that you may believe in him, and I want to stress this.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

I I it is your choice, whether you believe it or not. It really is, guys. Like maybe on another episode we can dive into that, but I really want to stress that's what I believe, that's what I see from Scripture.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

It's our choice. Jesus did this for you.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

And if you believe in him, and if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. Now, does that mean that you keep sinning? No. Obviously, you won't be perfect, you will still sin, but you have this mindset and this lifestyle of repentance where when you do mess up, you confess it to God. And I mean, to repent means to turn away from. So if you have this attitude of turning away from your sin, yeah, you confess it, you ask him for forgiveness. He's already forgiven you. But guys, we have an active part to play in all of this. We're not just we're not just passive puppets or robots. Like we we have an active part to play in this. We we still have a part to play. Like we have to ask him for forgiveness. We have to physically, mentally, spiritually repent of what we're doing. We have to turn away from it. And the thing is, when when you are a believer and you're living for God and the Holy Spirit dwells within you, like, yeah, like you won't want to continue in that lifestyle. Like, yeah, sure, your flesh will still want those things. But the Holy Spirit will be greater in you that you you know that this is wrong, and it's like it's a str that's why it's a struggle, right? Your flesh is fighting against what you know, and it's written on your heart that no, this isn't right. I need to turn from this, and so I I just want to encourage everybody listening, like turn to Jesus, trust him in this, ask him for help, right? And and ask him, what do I need to learn about this? How can I do this? Like, what what do what can I do in this? And ask him to teach you. And I truly believe that he will. And it's not gonna be easy, like this life isn't easy. So after Jesus resurrects, he reveals himself to the disciples, uh and then eventually to five hundred people before he sends up to the Father. And Paul describes it he he says it for what it is that if Christ did not resurrect, then our faith is in vain. It means nothing. Jesus needed to resurrect in order to show that he is God and that he can be trusted. I mean, think about it logically. Like if if you know somebody personally in your life and they claim and they and they prove that they resurrected from the dead, like I'm gonna trust everything that guy says. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 38:44

So all of this considered, guys, turn to Jesus. He loves you, he died for you.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

And he, yes, obviously loves you as you are, but he doesn't want you to stay as you are. He wants better for us. He wants us to live holy and faithful lives as best as we can.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

And I'm I'm inviting everybody listening, you know, to come to Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

Your life will change. Now I want to say too, like, not everybody is going to have this big moment where like your entire life now looks different. I've heard those stories. Where now your life is suddenly every aspect of it is different and everything's changed. Not everyone's story is gonna look like that. It's not gonna look the same for everybody. But because sanctification, as we learned with Eustace a few episodes ago, like it takes time, it's going to take time. But if you keep trusting in him and you keep learning about him, asking the Holy Spirit to teach you and to come into your life and and just show you how you can be faithful in every moment, your life will change. Even if it's not like drastic and you're not like, you know, like I don't know, I don't know how to say it. But people around you will notice, you yourself will notice. And I don't I'm not saying this to say like it's about being noticed, but I just I'm just saying it to encourage you guys, like your life will be better following Christ. Yes, there will be persecution, and yes, it won't be easy. God doesn't say that it will be easy, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:48

But it's about your where you're gonna spend eternity.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

So I just kind of went off, I just actually don't think it was me, but we just went off on that there. And I really wanted to just highlight this, guys. Like this is what Easter is about. And I know it can be hard to to fully grasp and fully understand, and I think every year I learn more and more about what this truly means, what his sacrifice truly means, and how important it is for the faith that we have.

SPEAKER_00 41:32

So, all this being said, guys, I think I'm gonna end it here.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

I could keep going, but I wanted this to not be a full episode. It looks like it is pretty much a full episode. That's okay. Uh, it was really like I I even I I didn't even make any notes, I just kind of found stuff to read, and I honestly I'm just trusting the Holy Spirit, and I'm praying that this episode can reach people and can speak to people, and that and that God can use this episode for his glory. And guys, choose Jesus. He's there waiting for you, and choose him every day. If you already have him in your life, if you're already living for him, choose him every day. Make that choice every single day. Thank you guys for listening. Happy Easter. Christ is risen, Christ is Lord, he is now seated at the right hand of the Father on high. That's incredible if you think about it. That's incredible. That God Himself came down in the form of man just like to die for us, to atone for our sin. I pray that we can all grasp that in our lives and that we can apply it to every single day. Thank you all for listening. Happy Easter, and we will see you next time as we continue our journey, the voyage of the Dawn Shredder. And until then, you already know, stay faithful.