The Bible describes spiritual warfare in Ephesians chapter six, among other places. What if it were possible to roll back the screen of the supposedly tangible, and actually see the battles that take place between angels and demons? What if we could see more clearly than ever the actual truth of the spiritual world that we claim to believe in, but so often act as if we do not?
These interesting questions are explored by Randy Alcorn in his book, Edge of Eternity. The earlier-reviewed book, The Chasm is a later-written adaptation and expansion of part of Edge's narrative. In the story, a wealthy businessman, Nick Seagrave, is trapped in a storm on the way to a hunting trip and stay at his cabin in the woods. He finds himself in a strange land where he is attacked by some animals and protected by others.
He proceeds to follow the road to the City of Light, called Charis. Along the way, numerous evil forces try to corrupt him and turn him to the path of evil. Well, actually, they do turn him to the path of evil, but he is rescued by the working of the King and the King's mighty army.
When he gets near the city, he finds the way blocked by a fearsome, infinite chasm. He despairs of there ever being a way to cross it. What hope is there in any path? Won't he just die in this strange world no matter what he does? Then something interesting happens.
Nick takes part in a brutal execution of an innocent, who turns out to be the King, and is redeemed when the King rises from the dead. The King even helps him and several other of his murderers reach the other side of the chasm. Now placed on his journey with a group of fellow "Chasm-crossers", Nick and his friends must navigate the strange world in which they find themselves, with the help of the "Guidebook".
To identify which book was the "inspiration" for this story would be difficult. I'd say that it is bits of The Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan, Lewis's The Pilgrim's Regress and The Great Divorce, and a smattering of some of Tolkien's poetry that has facets of journeys to otherworldy realms, as well as tiny bits of, and references to, others. All of these influences are rolled together and used to create a gripping tale that has truly convicted me of the enormous sins in my life.
I see so many of the person that I am, and the sins that I commit, in the fictional person of Nick Seagrave. These include both the supposedly "minor" ones (a nice fiction, there are no truly minor sins), and the supposedly huge ones, all committed by Nick Seagrave. He was a US Marine in Vietnam, and I was a Soldier in Iraq. I won't go further into the comparisons as to what sins or failings, but they are there.
I think to myself how awful I am. I think of how my relationship to my King, Father, Savior, Lord, and God, is not what it ought to be. I am going to endeavor anew to make it what it ought to be. With His help, I will succeed.
Yes, there are some drawbacks in the narrative. The shoutouts which were really neat at first to other theologians and to Lewis and Tolkien, get mighty tiresome eventually. I found myself rolling my eyes at them. I also felt that I was reading Alcorn's attempt to mimic the cosmic descriptions of song by the angels to God at the end of Perelandra, and not a good mimicry either. I also would have liked to have seen Nick's further life as he attempted to ask his family for forgiveness and witness to then. I feel like the story was left hanging.
Nevertheless, the not-so-good parts were even quite good, and who knows, maybe there will someday be a sequel. Perhaps the most significant thing I can say about the novel was that it truly convicted me with this view into a fictional representation of the truth of the spiritual battles going on around us. Please, read this book. Think on what it says. If you don't know Christ, come to Him as Savior. If you're pathetically ungrateful and away from Him, like I am, then turn back to Him as well. Please.
Highly Recommended.
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