And immortality makes this other difference, which, by the by, has a connection with the difference between totalitarianism and democracy. If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilization, which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual. But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or a civilization, compared with his, is only a moment.
I believe Lewis makes an excellent point here. It is easy to suppose that an individual is relatively unimportant in comparison with a state or nation, or even a whole civilization, especially when a nation or civilization seems to endure for a much longer time than an individual. Indeed, it has been the conceit of many totalitarian rulers over the years that the state they have created will last forever, or at least, for a very long time. Thus, the First Emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi (reigned 221-210 BC), declared, "We are the First Emperor, and our successors shall be known as the Second Emperor, Third Emperor, and so on, for endless generations" (quoted in Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors, by Ann Paludan, p. 17). This was a man who ruthlessly unified China through brutal military force and executed scholars and burned books to prevent the spread of subversive ideas. Qin Shi Huangdi established the pattern for modern totalitarian rulers, like Hitler, who boasted of his "Thousand Year Reich."
However, rulers like Qin Shihuangdi and Hitler were merely deluding themselves. They failed to learn from history, which is full of examples of great states and civilizations that rose and fell. Qin Shihuangdi's own dynasty only lasted for a few years after his death, and Hitler's "Thousand Year Reich" endured for only 12 years. The Chinese emperor's presumptuous assumption that his empire would be eternal reminds me of the poet Shelley's Ozymandias, who boasts:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
And yet, all that is left of Ozymandias' works are "two vast and trunkless legs of stone" and a "shattered visage," which were once part of a statue of the self-styled "king of kings":
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
On the other hand, individual human beings, for all their seeming insignificance, are truly immortal. Their immortality is reflective of the fact that they are created in the image of God. Being so created, they are of highest worth and dignity. Consequently, they are far more important, in the long run, than any country or civilization. This is important to remember, especially in a time in which the pretensions of government--even in a democracy--seem to be growing.
Nevertheless, there is, of course, one g0vernment that shall be eternal--"the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ" (Revelation 11:15). We are now in that season of the year in which we remember the coming of Him who will one day reign over that kingdom, in which His servants shall live forever. As we remember His first advent, may we all the more anxiously yearn for His second advent!
Image of C. S. Lewis from christianpost.com