The End is just the Beginning

It is finished! We celebrate these words during Resurrection Weekend and we heard them again on the final installment of The Bible on the History Channel.  I've have generally enjoyed the series, but most of all I have enjoyed the conversation that has grown out of it.  There is opportunity here, in this moment, to engage the world with Scripture, we MUST take it!  At least one Wal-Mart that I know of actually sold out of the DVDs of the series the first day they were available.  We can either use it or run from it, I hope we use it.

Things They Missed:

1. The Resurrection: It would have been nice to see the power of the resurrection take place.  We are brought immediately to the empty tomb but I would have liked to see how they would have portrayed the event.  This is not a big miss, I think they did okay, but the other issue I had was that (as Pastor Paul mentioned) it was still dark when Mary went to the tomb and it looked like it was about noon or at least late morning in the show.

Where Are We?

We've now seen the fourth installment of "The Bible" on the History Channel and we are moving closer and closer to the point of all of history, the death and resurrection of Christ.  The tension is mounting between the old religion of Judaism and the birth of Christianity.  Again, those who have been working on this series have done a great job of presenting the bible to the world as a unified whole with a consistent theme.

Hope - Jesus has Come!

Once again the cinematic quality of the series continues to astound me.  The special effects are second to none and the acting continues to be believable, well cast (if you can lay aside a few things) and extremely well acted.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this series and now that Jesus has come I look forward to seeing him "change the world!"  Which is exactly what the Christ event did.  It not only changed the world, but eternity and the direction of the human race.

However, this week's installment offered some of the most troubling inconsistencies thus far, and disappointed me in many ways.  Here are a few things "they missed:"

Homeland - From Conquest to Kingship

As Pastor Paul touched on, the motif of "God is With us" and "Trust in God" is still alive and strong in the miniseries' third and fourth episodes.  I really like the way they are retelling the stories and touching on this major theme.  It seems to be pointing to an overall theme of Jesus being "God with us" when he is born.

It is quite obvious (and this is not a negative thing at all) that the producers, directors and writers of this miniseries always had Jesus in mind first and foremost.  I like what they've done so far, and I hear that Jesus is coming this next Sunday, so that is good news indeed!

Things they missed:

1. Conquest of Canaan: To the casual observer on Sunday evening the Israelites defeated Jericho and everything else fell into place.  The conquest of Canaan wasn't all neat and tidy for the Israelites though.  Immediately after Jericho the Israelites were defeated at Ai because of Achan's sin.  Again, I understand and respect that they must blitz through many of these stories for time's sake but there are quite a few gems missed here.