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Of Horcruxes and Eternal Life

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So the beginning of the end…or the end of the beginning, depending on how you look at it, has finally arrived.  Harry Potter and his grand adventures are drawing to a close.  And as you know, the story is finishing in a two part format so everyone involved can make more money adventure in this magical culmination called The Deathly Hallows.

Experts are predicting Pottermania to soar through the skies like a Quidditch broom in full flight, so before we go any further it might be in your best interest to take a quick “You Know You’re Too Big of a Harry Potter Fan If” test. 

Ready? 

You mutter nonsense Latin words under your breath.

You call your least favorite teacher Snape.

Your computer says "You've Got Mail" and you run outside looking for an owl.

You sort everyone you meet into the four Hogwarts houses. (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.)

You were burned when you couldn't get through the flames of your fireplace.

You had to go to the hospital after you broke your nose running headfirst into the wall between platforms nine and ten.

You point to normal things like parking meters and say "Look at the things these muggles dream up!"

When playing chess, you yell orders to the chess players and get upset when they don't move.

You get extraordinarily emotional every time you hear "Hedwig's Theme."

You tell your teacher that your homework ate your dog.

(*Source: mugglenet.com)

I don’t think I’m actually spoiling anything by telling you that Part One basically revolves around Harry, Hermoine, and Ron on a desperate search for the horcruxes that give Voldemort eternal life.  All the while they are chased by Death Eaters and all sorts of additional peril…shocker, right?

But one thing that really intrigued me is the whole concept of the horcrux.  Basically it is a magical object that contains part of a person’s soul, so when he/she perishes, the horcrux can give you another life.  The only way to make a horcrux, though, is through the murder of an innocent person.  Voldemort obviously had experience in that area, which is why he could make so many horcruxes in an attempt to live forever - but shattering his soul into multiple pieces is also why he looks like E.T. on steroids.

Are you seeing the parallels here to the reality of the greatest story ever told?  Humankind for thousands of years makes up religions and tries desperately to find eternal life, only to fail and live shattered lives.

But then “God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Do you see how it took the murder of an innocent Person to open a way for true eternal life?  But Jesus was not just a human, He was also God in the flesh, which is why He could pay the penalty for all the world’s sin and offer everlasting life to everyone who receives it by faith.

But here’s the critical truth we often miss.  Every human being already has eternal life - that is we all have a soul that will exist beyond our time here on earth into eternity - the question is where will that time be spent?  In a perfect and unfathomable place called heaven, or in a tormenting and unspeakable place called hell?

That’s why the Bible defines “eternal life” as much more than something measured by time:“Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent” (John 17:3).

Eternal life is not found in an object and it is not just defined by quantity.  Jesus teaches us that it is a relationship of intimacy with Jesus for life on earth, then a perfect relationship with God in heaven after death.  That means the eternal life we have found through trusting Christ adds an eternal element to everything we do and say.  As Maximus said in the movie Gladiator: “What we do in life…echoes in eternity.”

Perhaps you feel like you are running through the woods of life being chased by your fears and the presence of evil.  You can stop running and rest in the fact that if you have put your full faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, you have received eternal life and “every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith” (1 John 5:4).

And don’t forget about your friends. Have you noticed that a central theme in all the Harry Potter stories is the valiant attempt to intervene and rescue friends in danger? It’s a theme that that should ring true in our lives, as well, when we remember that our friends who don’t know Jesus are in real danger too – the danger of spending an eternity separated from God in a place the Bible describes as unbearable and unending.  So share the good news of the gospel with the passion and fervor of a Harry Potter maniac, and God will use your efforts to place them into a beautiful story that will never come to an end!

 

The Harry Potter series provides an easy way to bring up the topic of spiritual things and the unseen world.  Don’t miss out on a great opportunity to use the fantasy world of Harry Potter to bring up the real truth about heaven, hell, and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

 

The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them (John 3:35-36).

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water” (John 4:13-15).

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).