In C.S. Lewis’ beloved classic, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” we find a boy, Edmund,... trapped under the law of the deep magic of the land. A wrong had been committed, a debt was owed. Edmund was a traitor and his blood must be spilled. If Aslan, king of Narnia, refused, Narnia itself would be overturned. In this Good Friday sermon on Matthew 26:39, Pastor Luke Herche delves into the ironclad justice of God, looking at Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane with a focus on four words: “if it be possible.” Since God’s answer to this prayer is in the negative, we must ask what is not possible for God? Why is it not possible? And what difference does it make?

Note: The audio quality improves after the first three and a half minutes.

In the children’s book “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” C.S. Lewis writes of the White Witch... who claims her right to execute a traitor according to the laws of the “deep magic” of the land. The witch was correct about the deep magic and its governance of justice. But Narnia’s good king Aslan knew of a deeper magic: “When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Stone Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

Though the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is just a story, the “deep magic” of justice it portrays is real—and the “deeper magic” is no less real. Though God’s justice must be satisfied, when sinless Jesus died in the stead of sinners, it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Try as it might, death’s power had met its limits. Listen as Pastor Luke Herche preaches on Acts 2:24, addressing three questions surrounding the resurrection: What is not possible? Why is it not possible? And what difference does it make?