Elements I love about the movie "Thor"

So, like most folks that know me, I am really all about movies. ‘Matter of fact, I am usually happiest left alone to immerse myself in film-after-film and just as equally stuffing my face! He he he! Anyway, so I had promised myself to make it a tradition every year to watch Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ . However, I reneged on that promise. I guess, I wasn’t that keen to watch it again this year or maybe I was too busy. I don’t know.

But what I did watch, during the Passion week, was the 2011 box office hit Thor. Ah, yes, you Holy Ghost ladies out there, don’t hate on me! Lol! Yes, I sat down and watched it again and was grinning like an idiot from the beginning to the end. Truthfully, isn’t Chris Hemsworth the yummiest thing ever?! I practically audibly groaned at that scene where the scientists were trying to fit him into normal every day clothes- THAT  BODY!!! (swoon!).  Like someone once said, it was like God was in a really good mood the day He made that nephlim (the word I use to describe beautiful men.) Alright moving on!

Now, in spite of all the gorgeousness, folk lore and fantastical elements to the film, I couldn’t help but see some similarities between the character of Thor and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Now, before you hiss and close this silly article, please just hear me out, ok? There were some specific parts in the movie that jumped out at me, bringing me to the above inference- some of which I shall try to describe.

For instance, that scene where Thor walks up to the giant of destruction sent by Loki, his brother, and tries to appeal to him to stop all the destruction in exchange for his life:

"Brother, whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am truly sorry! But these people are innocent. Taking their lives will gain you nothing. So take mine and end this". 

The next thing that happens is that the giant turns to walk away but suddenly turns back and hits Thor hard, sending him flying through the air and when he falls, he is all battered and broken and then dies. When our hero lies dead, the Mjollnir (Thor’s magic hammer embedded in the stone that everyone had tried to lift to no avail) suddenly lifts itself from the stone and flies straight into the hand of Thor bringing him back to life after which Thor gets up and defeats the death giant.

After he destroys the giant, Thor struts out from the dust in triumph. This time no longer in his tattered earth clothes but garbed in his royal, god-status robes of majesty, power and glory?! Wow!  I couldn’t help my shouts and squeals of victory and immense pleasure because him now glorified was truly something to behold and a sight for sore eyes!

Now, relating all of the above mentioned snippets of the film to Jesus, do you not see elements of Christ in the now humble Thor, who gives his life to spare the lives of his friends? Does it not remind of the words of Christ:

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

(John 15:13 King James Version) 

Just like Jesus, he willing gave up his life to save his friends. Just like the devil, Loki takes his life believing he was forever done with Thor. And just like Loki, the devil had no idea that he was going along with God’s plan for the redemption of all of mankind by killing Jesus. According to the Apostle Paul:

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

(1 Cor. 2:8 . King James Version) 

How were the ‘princes of this world’ (referring to the devil and his satanic host) to know that killing Jesus was exactly what God wanted them to do? They never would have thought that His death was the secret God had been hiding from them through the ages. Because, it is through His death that all who will believe in and receive Him can come into newness of life and truly begin to live. In the same vein, Loki had no idea that killing Thor was the key to reinstating him to his god-status and his (ie Loki) eventual downfall.

Another scene that jumped out at me was that part where Odin (Thor's father) in his comatose state, weeps when his son dies. I couldn’t help but relate his sorrow to the pain God the Father must have felt watching His Son hanging on the cross and bearing upon Himself the sin of the world. Remember, John the Baptist had 3 years earlier pointed out Jesus by saying of Him:

 "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

(John 1:29. New Living Translation)

The truth of the matter is that God cannot bear the sight of sin and so had no option but to turned away from the sight of His Son, covered from head to toe with the sin of the whole world. That’s saying nothing of the excruciating, mind numbing, out-of-this-world pain that He knew His precious Son was experiencing at this time. It therefore possible to infer that Jesus must have physically felt God withdrawing from Him which therefore was probably why He cried out in anguish so deep that it must have made even God weep:

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?!

(Mark 15:34. The Message Translation)

When Jesus died, He passed on to the same place all human spirits go to when they die. It is important to stress here that He did indeed die as it is actually documented that he was pronounced dead after a soldier pierced His side with a spear and blood and water gushed out, solidifying the fact that He was indeed dead. 

So, there He is trapped in the place of the dead with no hope whatsoever of ever getting out. And here comes Satan and his cohorts squealing in glee and victory that their enemy was finally in their custody. Imagine the relief and excitement they must have felt thinking that they had finally beaten God at His own game. Imagine all the blasphemous taunts and jeers they must have thrown at Jesus. One can only imagine the kind of satanic party that must have been declared in hell that day!

Well, they shouldn’t have been so quick to celebrate because 3 days later from nowhere, a light so bright that it temporarily blinded everyone streamed into the depths of hell and infused the body of Jesus (just like Thor’s hammer flew to him and brought him back to life) and right before their very eyes, the one who was supposed to be one of their slaves was suddenly, that’s right you guessed it, ALIVE and shinning like the light from the Sun! Yee ha!

This equally reminds me of another similar film where a powerful mortal gives up his life  to save a loved one and eventually receives his god status back after such a sacrifice- the 1997 Disney animation Hercules. For those of you who have seen it, I wonder if you remember that scene where he makes a deal with Hades, god of the dead, to trade places with Meg. In other words, to stay in the pool of death forever and let Meg go free and back to the land of the living.  What he didn’t realize, before jumping into the pool, was that he would die even before he reaches the floating soul of his beloved Meg.

And just as the 3 Fates held his mortal thread of life to snap it in two and thereby forever sealing his fate in the bowels of hell, something glorious happened! They thread would not cut. ‘Matter of fact the more they tried to snap it with their devilish scissors, the more their scissors broke into pieces! They failed to observe that the thread had changed from the weak, puny white thread of a normal mortal into a robust and golden one.

As for Hades, he just couldn’t believe the son of his hated rival had not only survived and was actually now walking out free and victorious, but that he had equally rescued Meg, was alive, healthy, shinning like the light from the sun and was now a god! The magnitude of what he was seeing with his eyes nearly gave him a heart attack! He he he!

And just like the scriptures, both Hurcules and Thor in their own small way, depict what Jesus did the instant He was resurrected. I LOVE the way the Message Bible Translation puts it:

He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets!

(Col. 2:15)

No wonder Satan has done everything, through-out the course of time since then even till now, to make the Cross of Jesus and the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus into a joke. He has watered down the magnitude of his defeat by replacing it with the Easter bunny and Easter eggs.  In the entertainment industry, he has turned the cross to a fashion accessory and made a mockery of all references to the blood of Jesus and the power behind the mention of the name of Jesus!

When the truth of the matter is that every time that name is mentioned by a blood washed saint, who fully believes in the finished work of Jesus, Satan gets a flash back of that day. He remembers when Jesus, God in the form of a man, took them all by surprise (like the Trojan horse) and calmly collected the keys to hell, snatched back all the power that he had stolen from Adam, and in the presence of all his captives, stripped him and all his demons and angels to their skivvies with a blink of His lashes and marched them up and down in total, utter, unredeemable humiliation- on their own turf!

And just like Thor and Hercules strutted out in triumph and glory from the pits of hell, Jesus walked out of that grave victorious, glorified and immortal. And just so we don’t forget, He reminds John in Revelations 1:18:

I AM he who lived and died, and behold, I am alive to the eternity of eternities, amen, and I have the key of Death and of Sheol.

(Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

These days, the devil has deceived billions into think that Jesus never really existed or that even if He did exist, well, that He never really died on the Cross but that he was switched. Or that even if He did die, He never rose from the grave. But Jesus, in His own words, tells John in the above scripture that He existed right from the beginning of time (reference to the phrase I AM used above. It is the name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush), took the form of man lived on earth (all man and all God) died a death so shameful and cruel on a criminal’s cross and rose from the dead, not to later die again but lives forever more- never to die again. And not only that, He now holds the keys to Satan’s front door and death no longer has a hold on Him as all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him (Matt. 28:18). And just as He is so shall we eventually be. Hallelujah!

Another similarity between Thor and our blessed Lord Jesus is the scene, where Thor says to Jane Foster just before He returns to his homeland with his friends to continue the battle:

I must go back to Asgard. But I give you my word, I will return for you.

Doesn’t that remind you of the promise of Jesus to us:

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

(John 14:3. King James Version)

That scene where he kisses her hand after he made that promise suddenly let me see, just a tiny bit, why the church is referred to as the Bride of Christ. Because He has gone, just like any bridegroom goes to make a home ready for his new bride, to prepare a home for his wife- a preparation that has taken over 2,000 years. It is so amazing what He is doing up there that the Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:9 says:

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."

(New living Translation)

And one fine day, God like turn to His Son and give Him that secret nod signaling, “It is time”. Then Michael, the archangel, will give the shout and the trump of God shall sound as Jesus Himself comes down, like an eager bridegroom, to receive His bride.  It will a great sight indeed to once again, see dead folks like my Popsie raising from the dead and the rest of us blood washed saints, who heard the shout and the trumpet sound, in an instant, transformed with incorruptible bodies and we will all go to finally be reunited with the One who loved us enough to die in our place. We would be that beautiful glorious bride walking down the aisle to meet our Groom and be joined to Him and be forevermore with Him! Hallelujah! (1 These. 4:16-17)

This is why none of us should miss the rapture of the saints because according to how the scripture paints it, this wedding ceremony is a party to end all parties and one that will never occur again so that if you missed it, sorry! I mean, we are talking of a party that will be running for 7 years by earth’s standards! Wowzer! Not even P Diddy can throw such a party!

Hollywood has, over the course of time, been taken over by the princes of this world and has managed to deceive billions of people as to the nature and person of God. Yet, despite the thick saturation of demonic influence God, in all His love and power, still shows bits of Himself in tiny flashes here and there and if you are observant enough you will catch glimpses of Him. Rom 1:20 so clearly corroborates this concept. I love the way the Aramiac Bible in Plain English version puts it:

For the secrets of God from the foundation of the world are appearing to his creatures through intelligence, even his power and his eternal Godhead, that they will be without a defense,

‘Defense’ there meaning that folks will no longer have any excuse to say, oh, we didn’t know that God exists. I don’t know about y’all but movies literary mean the world to me and every one of I watch, at the end of it I always like to go over it in my mind as to what lessons I learned from it or where I saw flashes of God. This is not to saw that ALL of them show bits of God but I am always watchful for those delightful flashes.

Going back to the 2 specific movies I mentioned, I want us to realize that the Jesus we celebrate every Easter/Resurrection Sunday is not some weak, puny, sad looking Jewish guy that was beaten till he practically bled to death or the broken creature hanging from a cross. Oh yes, He was broken and thoroughly battered on that cross- no doubt. But right now, He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, a conquering Warrior, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He’s literary so awesome Thor, Hercules or all of the super heroes combined have nothing on Him. He beats each and every one of them in billions, hands down!

But the best part of it is that it’s not some pretty movie star He has sights on- it’s you precious sister reading this. He’s got eyes for only you! And unlike Jane Foster who may have lost all contact or hope of ever seeing her love again, we have the promise of the One who never lies or makes a mistake or ever taken by surprise- a promise that He will one day return for us to be with Him forever and never ever to part again.

not only that- I truly am convinced that as He hung on that cross and felt even God abandoning Him, He knows exactly what it feels like to be all alone with nothing or no one to lean on. That is why, I believe, before He left His disciples, He made this solemn vow:

Lo, I am with you to the end of time!

(Matt. 28:20)

And He kept it cos unlike Jane who had to endure time away from Thor, we get to have Him with us every single second, minute and hour of every day in the person of the Holy Spirit. ‘Matter of fact, He’s sitting right there beside you!

One example of someone who fully grasped the truth of this promise was the Scottish missionary to Central Africa, David Livingstone. After 16 years of service in Africa, he returned to Scotland and was asked to speak at the University of Glasgow. One of his arms had been rendered useless, the result of a lion's attack. His body bore physical evidence of the suffering he had endured with 27 bouts of jungle fever. His face was a leathery brown from exposure to the elements. And it was creased from the cares of a hard life battling the Turks and the slave traders. 

A hush swept over the students at the University of Glasgow as they prepared to listen to this man, realizing this was no ordinary person.

"Shall I tell you what sustained me amidst the trials and hardship and loneliness of my exiled life?"

He asked as he knew that that was the question on everyone’s mind.

"It was a promise, the promise of a gentleman of the most sacred honor; it was this promise, 'Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.'" 

(Matt. 28:20)

When Livingstone died, they found his body bent in prayer as he had knelt by his bed. Beside him was a well-worn New Testament opened up to Matthew 28. In the margin beside verse 20 was this notation:  

"The Word of a Gentleman."

Happy Resurrection/Easter celebration in arrears and may the fullness of what the Lord did for us fully be impacted in your minds and spirits! Have a glorious day, sisters! Love and kisses!!!