In a recent sermon, my pastor read a long quote from The Silver Chair that is one of the best examples of Christian symbolism in the book. This quote touched me so much that I wanted to reproduce it here at some length.
[Jill] came to an open glade and saw the stream, bright as glass, running across the turf a stone's throw away from her. But although the sight of the water made her feel ten times thirstier than before, she didn't rush forward and drink. She stood as still as if she had been turned into stone, with her mouth wide open. And she had a very good reason; just on this side of the stream lay the lion.
It lay with its head raised and its two fore-paws out in front of it, like the lions in Trafalgar Square. She knew at once that it had seen her, for its eyes looked straight into hers for a moment and then turned away -- as if it knew her quite well and didn't think much of her.
"If I run away, it'll be after me in a moment," thought Jill. "And if I go on, I shall run straight into its mouth." Anyway, she couldn't have moved if she had tried, and she couldn't take her eyes off it. How long this lasted, she could not be sure; it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.
"If you're thirsty, you may drink."
....For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, "If you are thirsty, come and drink," and... she realized that it was the lion speaking. ...She had seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man's. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.
"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.
"I'm dying of thirst," said Jill.
"Then drink," said the Lion.
"May I -- could I -- would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed as its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
"Will you promise not to -- do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.
"I make no promise," said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
"Do you eat girls?" she said.
"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.
"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.
"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."
"There is no other stream," said the Lion.
It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion -- no one who had seen his stern face could do that -- and her mind suddenly made itself up. It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went forward to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn't need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once.
I almost don't know where to start in pointing out all the Biblical references packed into this excerpt. Throughout Scripture, water is symbolic of the eternal life and true satisfaction that can only be found in God Himself. In Isaiah 55:1, God calls His people to Himself using this language: "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." In Jeremiah 2:13, God states, "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."
The New Testament reaffirms this use of the word water and clarifies that the way to receive this water is through Jesus Christ. When speaking to the woman at the well in Samaria in John 4:10-14, Jesus told her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.... Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Later on in John 7:37, Jesus spoke at the Feast of Booths and said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." And at the very end of the Bible, the book of Revelation describes heaven in this way: "The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:17). The description of heaven also includes a reference to "the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city" (Revelation 22:1-2).
The description of the majestic and stern Lion in this passage also brings to mind imagery about Jesus Christ in the New Testament. He is described as having "eyes like a flame of fire" and a "voice like the roar of many waters" in Revelation 1. Throughout the New Testament His miracles and teachings produce not just love and loyalty but also fear and awe among His followers, in much the same way that the Lion's majestic voice made Jill "frightened in rather a different way." The Lion's statement about having swallowed up kings, emperors, cities, and realms is reminscent of some of the shocking claims made by Jesus during His ministry, such as saying "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58), as well as His statement in Revelation 1: "I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."
And of course, the Lion's final statements that if Jill does not come to drink she will die of thirst and that there are no other streams remind us of Jesus' statement in John 14:6: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." God Himself is the only source of eternal life, and the only way we can know Him is through His Son Jesus. And just as when Jill drank the water her thirst was immediately quenched, so Jesus promises that "whoever believes in Me shall never thirst" (John 6:35).
What a beautiful illustration C.S. Lewis provides for us of the Gospel in this simple "kids' book"!
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