A powerful and surprising reminder of God’s amazing love

The King of Kings—Angel Studios’ new film about the life of Christ—set a record for animated faith-based films at the box office, bringing in an estimated $19 million in its opening weekend. It joins The Chosen and House of David as recent success stories in sharing the Bible with a broad audience.

But where those live-action shows stress making Scripture come to life in a way that is both engaging and relatable, The King of Kings opts for a different approach, and the film is better for it.

Now, I have nothing against The Chosen or House of David and genuinely enjoy watching both shows. But there was something about the simplicity of The King of Kings that resonated with both me and my kids in a way I really needed this Easter season.

While that simplicity has been a source of derision among many critics, that critique misses the beauty and purpose of the film. And that fact becomes clear when you take an honest look at what the film was created to be rather than judging it by what so many have become accustomed to seeing.

Experiencing the gospel for the first time

The King of Kings doesn’t start with the story of Jesus. Rather, it starts with Charles Dickens.

That may seem like a strange place to begin, but the film is loosely based on a version of Christ’s story called The Life of Our Lord that he would read to his children every Christmas. But whereas Dickens’ version focused more on Jesus as a moral example worth following, The King of Kings rightly emphasizes his role as the Son of God and the importance of faith.

To that end, the film opens with Dickens performing a telling of A Christmas Carol in front of an audience when he is interrupted by his youngest son Walter’s antics backstage. After order is belatedly restored and he’s able to finish the show, he returns home to find that his wife has promised Walter that Charles will tell him a story about the greatest king once he arrives.

You see, Walter is obsessed with the story of King Arthur, and his parents use that interest to introduce the King of all kings, Jesus. What follows is a largely accurate, if simple, version of the Gospels that culminates in Christ’s death and resurrection.

Throughout the story, Charles and Walter become part of it. Walter even interrupts at times to ask questions about the Passover, what a manger is, and several others meant to remind the audience that he has never heard the gospel before.

And that perspective is really what makes this movie both unique and powerful.

There is little about the details of Christ’s life, the way the film is animated, or even the voicework—though well done—that stands out from the many other Jesus films that have been released over the years. Instead, what makes this movie special is the joy and amazement evidenced by Walter as he hears the story for the first time.

Walter’s reactions throughout the film are a reminder of the fact that, far too often, our familiarity with the story of Christ robs us of its wonder. And, especially during the Easter season, most of us could probably benefit from regaining a bit of that wonder.

A powerful reminder of God’s love

Ultimately, if you go into The King of Kings expecting a story of comparable depth and nuance to The Chosen, you will leave disappointed. If you buy a ticket hoping to be entertained with spectacle or breathtaking animation, the film will probably fall short as well.

However, if you can set aside those preconceived notions and simply accept the movie for what it is—a simple retelling intended to convey the essentials of the gospel message—then you will be better equipped to experience it as Walter does and to share in his amazement at the love God has for each of us.

So this Easter season, please don’t take the gospel for granted just because it’s a story you’ve heard before. The truth of God’s grace and mercy is as relevant and needed today as when you first heard it. The King of Kings reminded me of that fact, and I’m grateful for it. I pray that you will be as well.

Denison Forum

Holy Tuesday and my spiritual blindness

In these financially stressful times, if your home often doubles as an office, workout gym, movie theater, and restaurant, you’re not alone. Now let’s add another space you may not know you need: “wellness rooms.”

According to a Dallas designer, “Spaces for wellness, retreat, and recharging are all really popular right now.” You can create “soundbathing” spaces to immerse yourself in soothing instrumental and natural sounds. You can sleep on a bed that uses low-frequency sounds and vibrations. You can even shower using technology that customizes water, steam, lighting, and music options.

A New York designer says, “Having a private space is essential. A wellness room should be a space where the outside world dissolves; no background noise, no movement beyond your own. This is where you go to let go; to drop into something quieter, something deeper.”

Then there’s the other side of the spectrum: “panic” rooms are booming as well. One home near Dallas is being outfitted with an underground tunnel connecting a bunker to the client’s home. The trend is no longer just for the wealthy: one company makes $20,000 bunkers for people who “drive Chevy pickup trucks, not Ferraris.”

Storage buildings in South Dakota have been converted into leasable bunkers for the same purpose. People are installing secret gun closets, panic rooms, and moving fireplaces that lead to escape tunnels. In one home, the fireplace opens while the James Bond theme is played on a nearby piano.

According to a 2023 survey, one-third of American adults are preparing for a doomsday scenario, spending a collective $11 billion over twelve months to do so.

When “everything bitter is sweet”

We can make all the preparations we can make, but they may not be enough. As today’s anniversary of the Titanic disaster reminds us, the ship was “unsinkable” until it wasn’t. (For more, see my website article, New images show Titanic crew gave their lives to save others.)

Bunkers cannot protect us from pancreatic cancer or panic rooms from traffic accidents. In fact, placing our security in buildings built by humans can blind us to the most significant and urgent issues our souls face today.

On Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus spent much of the day teaching the people in the temple precincts. When a group was “speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings” (Luke 21:5), he warned them: “The days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (v. 6). In AD 70, the Romans fulfilled his prediction. I have stood many times beside the first-century pavement cratered by massive blocks from the temple “thrown down” by Titus and his soldiers.

A thousand years earlier, King Solomon warned the people, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring” (Proverbs 27:1). However, he also observed, “To one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet” (Proverbs 27:7).

The problem is, we don’t know it at the time.

I was so lost I had no idea I was lost

Imagine that you and everyone you know have been blind for your entire lives. You would not know what you do not know. You would assume that the world can be known only by touch, smell, taste, and sound. You wouldn’t ask someone to heal your blind eyes because you wouldn’t know that you need to be healed.

The Bible warns soberly, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). I can testify personally to the effectiveness of Satan’s work. Growing up in Houston, Texas, I was so lost that I had no idea I was lost. I was not searching for the gospel because I did not know it existed to be sought.

I thought church was what church members chose to do with their Sunday mornings just like golf was what golfers did with their weekends, neither of which seemed relevant to me. If Christians had not left the church building to bring the church to me, I would never have come to them.

This is why God’s word commands us: “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11). If you saw a child who was about to step in front of an oncoming car, would you do all you could to save them? If your doctor discovers that you have life-threatening cancer, do you want her to avoid telling you so as not to hurt your feelings, or do you want her to do all she can to save your life?

“His energy that he powerfully works within me”

Holy Week is a wonderful time for spiritual conversations with people who might not otherwise seem interested. According to researcher Dr. Thom Rainer, 82 percent of unchurched people are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited; the number is even higher for significant holidays like Easter.

However, if offering such an invitation and sharing the gospel seems daunting, let’s close with this good news: the One who came to open blind eyes through his incarnate body now wants to do the same through ours.

Oswald Chambers explained: “Eternal life is not a gift from God. It is the gift of God—the gift God makes of himself to his children. This same life, not a copy of it, is manifested in us when we are born of God” (his emphasis).

Consequently, he added:

The weakest among us can experience the power of Jesus Christ if we are willing to let go. If instead we cling to our own power, we will blur the life of Jesus inside us. We have to keep letting go, keep identifying with him. Slowly and surely, the great full life of God will invade us in every part of our being, and those we meet will sense that we have been with Jesus.

“Christ in you” is “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Jesus entered our broken world in his incarnate body and again in ours. Now we are called to “tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ” (v. 28 NLT).

When this is our purpose, we can say with Paul,

“For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (v. 29).

For what purpose will you “toil” today?

Quote for the day:

“Our high and privileged calling is to do the will of God in the power of God for the glory of God.” —J. I. Packer

Our latest website resources:

• New images show Titanic crew gave their lives to save others: A hopeful reflection on the anniversary of the disaster
• Rory McIlroy’s Masters win and a transforming life principle
• Is “The King of Kings” worth seeing? A powerful and surprising reminder of God’s amazing love
• Why I miss Moses this Passover
• Dire wolves: A Christian ethic on de-extinction and cloning

Denison Forum

The latest World Happiness Report was recently released, and Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden remain in the top four spots. Their high ranking should not come as much of a surprise given that all four nations are generally considered solid places to live with relatively few threats to their way of life. That is not the case, however, for one nation that few likely suspected would make the top ten: Israel.

Israel came in at number five in the 2023 report and has ranked toward the top of the list for several years. Between then and now, the war with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and even Iran itself has served as a constant reminder of all that its people risk by simply choosing to live in Israel. It would be understandable if the happiness and general well-being of the Israeli citizens began to weaken in the face of such danger and death.

And its resilience in the face of these trials is relatively rare.

As Natan Sharansky and Gil Troy describe, “At No. 8, Israel contrasts sharply with other war-torn countries that are quite reasonably miserable: Ukraine sits at 111, and Lebanon, which opened a second front against Israel in October 2023, is third from the bottom, at 145.” What separates Israel from those other nations is the degree to which social factors like high social support, generosity, and a sense of equality drive the happiness and identity of its people.

And, if anything, the war has only brought them closer together as a culture.

Do our differences define us?

In a recent article on Denison Forum, Reuben Nevo wrote of how Israelis’ response to the repeated bombings by the Houthis illustrates the resilience that has allowed the nation to withstand the onslaught from various terrorist organizations without losing their identity and happiness. As Reuben describes, “The drills and practices here in Israel are always the same. We run/walk to the shelter, wait for ten minutes, and then go back to normal life. It’s amazing how fast we continue with our daily life.”

A big part of why they can get on with life so quickly is the recognition that they are not doing life alone.

Sharansky and Troy illustrate this point well when they note that “Despite searing political divisions, Israelis remain united culturally. Cherishing family, community, country, and history shapes their faith in the future.” They don’t ignore their differences, but they also don’t allow those differences to define themselves or others. And, in that, there is a great deal from which we can learn.

What is “good tribalism?”

To quote Sharansky and Troy one more time, “The West needs good tribalism: A healthy commitment to community, connectedness, and history anchors us.”

America has not had much trouble with generating tribalism over the last few decades. However, I don’t think many would describe it as good.

While there are a number of reasons why that is the case, perhaps the most important is that we lack the kind of cohesive foundation seen in Israel and other nations. And, for the most part, we don’t seem terribly interested in finding it.

After all, America was founded largely upon the ideals of individual liberty. While certain events like 9/11 or the Olympics can bring us together for a time around a common cause, there is always a basic understanding that it’s not going to last. And that’s alright.

The solution to why the US rates as a less happy place than Israel is not to adopt a more communal lifestyle or try to mirror what makes Israel unique. At the same time, we shouldn’t give up on the idea of community either.

God designed us to need other people. It’s why he said man being alone was the only part of his original creation that was not good (Genesis 2:18). Now, what that community looks like can vary from person to person, but we should not be surprised if we struggle to experience the fullness of God’s joy when attempting to go through life by ourselves (and I say that as someone very much inclined to try and do just that).

A life God can bless

Ultimately, recognizing our need for others is a sign of humility rather than weakness. And while we should never entrust our happiness to the fickle nature of fallen people, embracing the notion that God designed us to need relationships with other people is a necessary step toward experiencing the abundant life that he offers us.

Just as importantly, community—especially a community of believers—can be essential to resisting temptation and growing in our relationship with the Lord as well (Ecclesiastes 4:9–12).

While other people can never be a substitute for God’s presence in our lives, they can be a gift from him to help us experience greater joy, happiness, and purpose on this side of heaven. Such community can also provide a small glimpse of what awaits us once that veil is lifted and we step into eternity, where we will stand among “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9).

Living in community with other believers and with whomever else God brings along our path is a key part of what the Lord has called each of us to do. And it can be one of the best ways to experience a little slice of what awaits us once this world fades.

So what communities are you invested in today? Are there any relationships you’ve allowed to fade prematurely? Do you see other people more as a potential gift from the Lord or as a burden to bear?

There are times when the same person can feel like both a blessing and a burden—and that’s true of each of us—but don’t give up on living in community with others just because it’s hard. God did not intend to give us that option, so we should not be surprised when he refuses to bless it.

Instead, embrace his call to community and prayerfully seek ways that he can use it as a blessing to you while also using you as a blessing to others.

Do that, and you will begin to understand just a bit of what allows Israelis to face their trials without losing their joy.

Where do you need that joy today?

Quote of the day:

“When we have a choice, people usually choose privacy, control, and comfort—and then we’re shocked when we wind up lonely. We put up ‘privacy fences,’ and then complain about how nobody knows their neighbors anymore. But communal bonds have always been tightened by necessity.” —Eve Tushnet

Our latest website resources:

• Luka Dončić’s Dallas return and “The Great Gatsby” anniversary
• A book review of Mark Turman and Ryan Denison’s “Who Am I?”
• Trump’s tariffs, financial anxieties, a Masters preview & hot take, plus more trending news | Ep. 14
• American tourist arrested for trying to contact lost tribe
• What does the Bible say about identity? – Part 2

Denison Forum