At the Center of It All

By Grant Gaines

Have you ever noticed how pretty much ever super hero movie follows the exact same plot? Each movie will have different heroes, villains, twists and turns, but at the end of the day all the movies follow along the same basic storyline.

The audience will quickly fall in love with the hero even though the hero isn’t beloved by the rest of the characters in the movie. Things will start to go really well for the hero only to crash back to reality quickly thereafter. The hero will fight against the evil villain only to seemingly be out of time and out of luck. But of course as the movie comes to an end, the good guy always wins. Not only does he slay the villain, he also saves the world.

Despite the fact that every Batman, Spiderman, and Superman-type-movie all follow this general plot line, why do we still pay a hefty fortune to go see these movies in the theaters? The answer: because whether we or the directors who produce the movies know it or not, these films are simply following the script of the greatest story ever told-Jesus’ sacrificial death and victorious resurrection that gives life to us all.

Obviously Christ’s life isn’t just the theme of Hollywood, He’s the theme of the entire Bible-even the Old Testament! Check some of these examples out.

In Genesis 22 we read of the time when Abraham was tested by the Lord. God spoke to Abraham and said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love-Isaac-and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you” (Genesis 22:2, NIV). Abraham obediently agreed to the Lord’s unfathomable command. He took his only son Isaac to the foot of the mountain where he started the journey to the place where he would offer his beloved son as an offering to the Lord.

As the father and son walked up the mountain, Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice and asked his father, “The fire and the wood are here…but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22: 7, NIV). To which Abraham calmly replied to his son that he loved so dearly, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering…” (Genesis 22:8, NIV).

And thankfully, that’s exactly what happened. Right as Abraham had Isaac on the alter ready to sacrifice, the Lord stopped Abraham and told him not to harm the boy at all because He was simply testing Abraham to see if he loved Isaac more than he loved God. It was at that exact moment when Abraham turned around and saw a ram with its horns caught in a thorn bush which he offered in the place of his son.

In a similar fashion, thousands of years later, Jesus walked up the same exact mountain-Mount Moriah which today we call Mount Calvary-carrying the wood for the sacrifice (the cross) as the only Son obediently followed His Father’s commands. But rather than being spared as Isaac was, Jesus, whom John 1:29 (NIV) describes as, “…the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” was the ram caught in the thorn bush as He was crucified with a crown of thorns on His head.

Or take the story of Joseph as another example. Joseph was beloved and favored by his father but hated by his brothers. In fact, his brothers hated Joseph so much that they plotted to kill him only to later decide that they should sell their brother to some foreign merchants for money.

After an extended period of time, Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt in search of precious grain that was hard to come by because of a severe famine that swept across their land. The brothers came before Joseph whom they all thought was dead. But rather than finding a foreign dictator in charge of the grain, the brothers quickly discovered Joseph had become the Pharaoh’s right hand man. With this position, Joseph controlled the life-giving food which they could find nowhere else and Joseph gave it to them at no cost whatsoever. Over the next few months, Joseph heroically saved the very ones who sold him into slavery and brought his entire family to safety.

Jesus, beloved by the Father but hated by His brothers (the Israelites), was sold out by Judas for money to the Pharisees who crucified Him and left Him for dead. Three days later, however, Jesus rose from the grave and is now seated, just as Joseph was, at the right hand of the King interceding for us! Even though we rebelled against Him as Joseph’s brothers against Joseph, Christ graciously offers us the free gift of true life that we can find nowhere else.

Finally, take a look at the story of Joshua leading the Israelites across the Jordan River in Joshua 3-4. The Israelites had just spent 40 years mindlessly wandering through the desert, unable to enter the Promised Land because of their sins. Finally they reached the edge of the Promised Land in Joshua 2 only to be faced with the impossible task of moving their entire nation across the Jordan River which was at flood stage (Joshua 3:15), meaning it was roughly a mile wide.

But what was impossible for the Israelites to do on their own was made possible for them if they chose to follow Joshua through the river, which they did. In parting the river, Joshua successfully brought the Israelites from the desert of their wanderings into the land they had so eagerly longed for.

And that’s the exact same thing that Jesus does for us when we chose to follow Him. He leads us across the insurmountable gap from the desert of our doubts, disappointments, and depravity into the free gift of eternal life. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the coolest part of this story- “Jesus” is the Greek name for “Joshua” which means, “The LORD Saves.” So in other words, in order to get the promise of eternal life, just as the Israelites followed Joshua through the dry river bed, you must follow Jesus across the gap caused by sin that only He can lead you through.

Obviously there are a countless number of other examples in the Old Testament that we could look at right now but I think you get the point: Jesus is the centerpiece of existence. He’s the theme of the Bible and He’s the theme of the greatest movies Hollywood produces every year…whether they know it or not.

But here’s the real question that we must all ask ourselves today: is Jesus the true centerpiece of our lives? Does Christ sit on the throne of your heart or is He just a weekend habit that you’ve occasionally run to throughout your life. As AW Tozer once said, “Either [Jesus] is the Lord of all or He’s not the Lord at all.” He’s everything, or He’s nothing.

What is Jesus to you?