The astounding new movie from award-winning director James Cameron "Avatar" has become the highest grossing film in history and drawn gasps of amazement from across the globe. His new 3-D technology has revolutionised the future of cinema and will no doubt inspire a plethora of similar types of films over the next few years. His story of a human outsider who lands on the beautiful and mysterious planet Pandora and becomes initiated into their exotic culture and consequently falls in love with one of their people has also become a fascination of cinema-goers. The whole concept has inspired people to look at our world and ponder what our future could be.

In a nutshell the story of Avatar focuses on the paraplegic former marine Jake Sully who after undertaking an interstellar mission to a distant planet called Pandora is transported down to the surface and is enlisted by the leaders of a human mining colony there to infiltrate the planets culture and investigate its people. The people of Pandora are ten feet tall, blue skinned humanoids called the Na'vi and are a very spiritual race of people who spend all their time absorbing the life-force of the world around them. Their home is a colossal monolith known as "Hometree" which serves as their physical and spiritual centre. Jake Sully is enlisted by the human leaders of this mining company to infiltrate Hometree and observe the Na'Vi and to asses their culture. By doing so they hope that Jake will give them the information they need to lead their expedition into Pandora's heartland to extract an extremely valuable mineral and consequently destroy the Na'Vi's natural Habitat. However things become extremely complicated when Jake falls for a beautiful na'Vi princess and by doing so actually defects to the Na'Vi side resulting in an all-out war against the humans who are actually the real villains.

The main gist of the story however is what an "Avatar actually is. Because the environment and surface of Pandora is naturally far too harsh and toxic for humans scientists have constructed a genetically enhanced hybrid body for themselves known as an "Avatar". An Avatar is basically a copy of the bodies the na'Vi have which are faster, more powerful and more agile than our own. So scientists have devised a way to transport humans consciousness into these "Avatar" bodies so that they may wear these Avatars and by doing so infiltrate their otherwise hostile environment. Jake in his Avatar body penetrates the Navi's Hometree and switches his allegiance to them when he unexpectedly falls in love with the Na'Vi chieftain's daughter. The whole concept is very unusual and raises some very interesting questions along the way.

What many people do not realise however is that "Avatar" is actually a true story- well sort of. The very concept of an otherworldly being taking on a different type of "body" and living among an alien culture actually happened. The astounding truth is that the story of the real Avatar is immeasurably greater and more significant than the plot of James Cameron's ground breaking movie. It truly has an element that is universe-wide in its significance. Also its very impact has a direct consequence regarding, get this every man, women and child that has ever lived! So who is the real Avatar? The answer is God Himself! Yes 2,000 years ago God took on his "Avatar body" and came to this earth as the man Jesus Christ. It was truly an event of tremendous cosmic significance, but really happened?

In The Beginning

How did it all start then?
Well to answer that I think we have to go back into the very very distant past. A past before the "Big Bang" that created our universe. Lets say we go back four quadrillion years. What existed four quadrillion years ago? Or who existed? The answer lies in the book known as the Bible. John's gospel opens with these words: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." (John 1.1-2).

The original Greek manuscript renders God as "Theos" and the word as "Logos." So God and the word or Theos and Logos existed together. Later in John's gospel we are introduced to another Personage known as the "Counsellor" or "Helper" (14.26) also known as the Holy Spirit (same verse) who together with God and the Son (word) functions as one being or one Godhead. (2 Cor 13.14). The Greek word rendered Counsellor is "Parakletos." So we have God "Theos" also known as the Father, the Son first introduced as the word "Logos" and the Holy Spirit or Counsellor "Parakletos." These three God-beings functioned as one unit or one Godhead called by many the "Trinity." The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were one unified Godhead that had existed ALONE-for the entirety of past eternity.

So what was the relationship like between these three God-being before anything else existed say four quadrillion years ago? Concerning the relationship within the Godhead the Son says of the Father "I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning before there was ever an earth..... when there were no depths, I was brought forth....then I was beside him as a mastercraftsman and I was daily his delight rejoicing always before him." (Proverbs 8.23-24.30) The Father loved the Son and the Son loved the Father and the Holy Spirit was the fruit of Their Love. These three had existed throughout eternity as one unity of love and happiness in perfect co-operation with one another. And yet the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God yet distinct in three persons or you might say "God-beings."



Creation and Man

What did God do? God's first act outside of himself was to create other beings out of pure Love. His first creation were spiritual beings like himself, known as "angels" or "messengers" God created all things through the Son or Jesus Christ (Eph.3.9).
Concerning the Son the Bible says: "By Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him" (Col. 1.16). The Holy Spirit was also an agent involved in creating the universe: "By His Spirit He adorned the heavens"(Job 26.13) and "You send forth your Spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the earth" (Psalm 104.30).
So the Godhead is already at work in creation.

Eventually God turned his attention to creating humans who were physical creatures combined with a spiritual essence(Gen 2.7, Job 32.8, Matt 10.28, 2 Cor 5.8, Phil 1.21-23).
He created Adam and placed him in a beautiful paradise on earth and formed Eve to be his companion.


What Happened?

Man was created to have forever friendship with God. Adam and Eve were created perfect in every way, physical and spiritual and were placed by God in the Garden of Eden, however Adam and Eve were both deceived by an evil entity who openly rebelled against his maker. Ever since this happened, mankind has found itself completely lost and cut off from God. But now the story of the real Avatar finally occurs in what the apostle Paul described as the "mystery of the ages"(Rom 16.25, Eph 3.9).
And what was this mystery of the ages?
Verse 14 of the first chapter of john's gospel continues from the opening verses...."And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father.... The apostle Paul wrote about the mystery of Godliness how "God was manifested in the flesh...." ( 1Tim 3.16).

So there you have it. God was so moved by mans suffering and plight that He actually tabernacled with us here on earth in human flesh and took on His own "avatar" body. The Creator of the universe Who is composed of eternal Spirit takes on a physical body, a male body and "pitches His tent with us."
God takes on a human body with a set height, weight and with a particular colour of hair and eyes-His own avatar body. He becomes Our Saviour Jesus Christ. Concerning Himself Jesus declares "a body you have prepared for me." (Heb 10.5). In Galatians 4.4, Paul writes "when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law." So Jesus takes on a human body, His own avatar not unlike Jake Sully in James Cameron's epic movie. He infiltrates our civilisation and becomes one of the people a Jew of the house of David, "born under the law." Jesus experiences temptations, our weakness's and finds out what it is like to walk around as a human being, swapping the throne of the universe which he co-shared with the Father for a life filled with potential hardship, experiencing bullying and taunting and yet always responding with a spirit of perfect Love and humanity. Paul explains how Jesus took on His avatar body in this way: "being in the form of God He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross." (Phil 2.6-8). So Jesus truly took on his human body or avatar body with all traits that we possess and became as human as anyone ever has. God learned what it was like to experience temptation, physical, sexual or spiritual and became tired, thirsty and experienced physical pain and weakness and endured considerable hardship including bullying and physical intimidation. But this was essential so that Jesus would be able to sympathise with us at every level possible. "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Heb 4.15).


The Sacrifice

Now we come to the pivotal part of Jesus's earthly ministry. It was at this point that Jesus gave Himself over to the jeering mobs and crowds who under the orders of the Draconian and morally corrupt religious authorities of His time led him to be crucified. In other words God died an agonising death at the hands of a cruel vengeful mob. In Luke 23.33 we read "And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him and the criminals one on the right hand and the other on the left. " Paul wrote that in doing this "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." (2Cor 5.19). So this sacrifice was completely essential for our salvation and enabled us to become reconciled with God in a way far beyond what Adam and Eve had even experienced. Paul also wrote about this when he stated that though "He (Jesus) was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been perfected he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. " (Heb 5.8-9). In Colossians 1.20 he also writes that through Christ God would "reconcile all things to himself by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." So through His own death on the cross Christ accomplishes the unthinkable, He not only reconciles us with God the Father but ultimately the whole creation!


The Final Word

Of course the story does not end there on that Good Friday 2000 years ago. On the third day the risen Christ appears to a chosen group of people including His own disciples and among other things he tells them "I am ascending to My Father and your Father and to My God and your God." (John 20.17). Christ however is not yet glorified but makes numerous appearances to various people in his new resurrection body. So the story of the real Avatar takes on a new dimension of meaning as Christ permanently takes on our own humanity residing now forever in His new "Avatar body" as did Jake Sully at the end of the movie. The story finally reaches its ultimate fulfilment when Christ ascends back to His Father with the words in John 17.5 finally reaching fulfilment. "O Father glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was." Further more we read how "God also has highly exalted Him and given Him (Jesus) the name which above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in Heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth." (Phil 2.9-10). Christ in his glorified "Avatar body" now controls and sustains the entire universe as the all-powerful King of kings and Lord of lords. And the story does not end there as Christ will one day return to this earth and reign with the saints for a thousand years in the wonderful world tomorrow establishing a one-world supergovernment restoring peace to all nations. (Rev 22.2)

So now perhaps we can truly meditate on this story and view the Avatar movie in a different light, realising that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.