Warning: there are a few spoiler alerts in this column, so if you have not seen “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” yet, you may want to skip to the last few paragraphs.
Like many Americans this past week, I went and saw the new film in the Star Wars series, “The Rise of Skywalker.” I actually have seen all the Star Wars films, created by George Lucas, going all the way back to 1977.
I remember when the first films came out and the excitement they generated across America and the world. Along with Jaws, they were the first real blockbuster movies, and they forever changed Hollywood and our expectation when we go to the theatre now.
If I’m honest, I have to admit I have lost my way as to what happens in the chronology of these films, and I have liked some more than others. (Like many of you, I never cared much for “Jar Jar Binks.”)
But this latest edition, directed by J.J. Abrams, brings clarity to the whole series along with some surprise appearances from Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). There is also a fitting send-off of Princess Leia, played by the late Carrie Fisher.
The new lead character, Rey (Daisy Ridley), has been the point of reference to a whole new generation of Star Wars fans along with her friends and fellow fighters Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac). The beloved characters of the Star Wars franchise Chewbacca, C-3PO and RD-2D are there along with some new droids.
What I love about this new film, “The Rise of Skywalker,” is that it has a classic good vs. evil plot with some surprising spiritual overtones.
There is an evil character known as Emperor Palpatine who is ultimately defeated by a courageous Jedi who dies in the process and then is resurrected.
Sound familiar?
That is the story of redemption as presented in Scripture, which we all reflected on just a few days ago during Christmas. The Bible even uses symbolism that resurfaces in fairy tales — including a dragon that wants to consume a child.
In Revelation 12, we read of “an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads” who wanted to devour a child that was about to be born. We have any confusion cleared up with the fact that this dragon is none other than Satan, and the son he wants to destroy is Jesus Christ.
That is the Christmas story in a nutshell: Satan trying to stop the arrival of the Messiah, who was to be born in a manger in Bethlehem. But somehow, a red dragon trying to eat a baby does not seem like the best Christmas display in front of your house, but it actually is biblical.
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Greg Laurie
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