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The
Matrix - A Cyberpunk Parable?
B. THE PARABLE
5.
TRANSCENDENCE: Confrontation, Conflict, and Conquest
5b. The Mayhem
| KEY: |
| M = The Matrix Story |
| S = Spiritual Parallels |
| M. Neo and Trinity invade the military building,
destroying the guards in the lobby and on the roof. Agent Brown 'possesses' a rooftop
guard (Lt. Kim). When Trinity shoots Agent Brown, it is Lt. Kim's body that is dead. |
| S. There is no neutral ground between God and Satan.
Those who do not believe God are friends of the world system by default. God's judgment
against sin is righteous; we must either receive Christ taking the judgment for sin, or
reject Christ and bear sin's judgment ourselves. Thus, when God wars against evil, those
who are not allied with God through Christ are not considered 'innocents'. They will
perish as well as the enemy (Agents), even if they are 'oblivious' to the enemy they
serve. The people in the Matrix were not aware of the true nature of the Agents - but the
Agents enslaved and dominated them nonetheless! Those who do not believe in God often do
not believe in Satan either - but such unbelief does not make God and Satan nonexistent!
There is no neutral ground. 'Lt. Kim' represents someone who is directly possessed by the
enemy. Even though an Agent used him, Lt. Kim still died as part of the conflict with
good. As Jesus warned, "He that is not with Me is against Me" (Matthew 12:30). |
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| M. After Neo rescues Morpheus, Morpheus will tell Neo,
"There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path." |
| S. (see comments about this statement in the section
about the visit to the Oracle) |
| |
| M. Instead of running from Agent Smith in the subway,
Neo turns and faces him. |
| S. A Christian is not to retreat from Satan, but to
stand against him in faith (Ephesians 6:13). |
| |
| M. As Neo takes a stand, Morpheus says, "He's
beginning to believe [have faith]." |
| S. Faith in God is the backbone of the Christian.
"Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." (I
Corinthians 16:13). |
| |
| M. Agent Smith and Neo battle in the subway. Throughout
the film, Agents display supernatural strength and speed. When humans fight the Agents
according to the rules of the Matrix [natural laws], humans lose. Punches hurt, bullets
kill, gravity pulls. But whenever Neo fights according to the truth, he can
overcome the lie of the Matrix and defeat the enemy. |
| S. We cannot fight sin and spiritual forces with
natural means such as willpower, political maneuvers, social agendas, wisdom of man, etc.
But when a Christian uses spiritual weapons, he wins. "For though we walk in the
flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the
flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses…" (2 Corinthians
10:3). Spiritual weapons are faith, the scriptures, the Holy Spirit, and many more. |
| |
| M. In the subway fight, Agent Smith calls Neo "Mr.
Anderson" four times. Smith is trying to use Neo's "old" Matrix name to
destroy his faith, telling him he is no different than he ever was. Neo growls, "MY
NAME IS NEO!" and defeats Agent Smith in this round of battle. |
| S. Satan, sin, and the fallen world system will always
try to make a Christian think he is merely his former self in the natural, denying that he
was changed to a neo/new creature by faith in Christ. But a Christian must not walk by
sight, or by deception. He must have faith in God's truth, which gives him strength to
resist the lies and walk in victory. |
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5c. The Murder
| M. At room 303, Agent Smith shoots Neo and kills him. When Neo
is flatlined, Trinity tells Neo she loves him. She kisses him, causing him to revive and
fight to a victory. |
| S. The love of ‘Trinity’ (which can represent the
divine Trinity here) kept new-man ('Neo') going even through the shadow of death itself.
"Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor [many other things]…shall
separate us from the love of God in Christ…" (Romans 8:38,39).
"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for
You are with me…" (Psalm 23:3) |
| |
| M. Despite deadly danger, Trinity demonstrated calm faith in the
truth – that although Neo was dead, she reasoned in the truth that he could not stay
dead because it had been prophesied that Neo was the one who would save mankind. |
| S. If we now allegorize Trinity as a mere person, this scene
parallels a person's salvation by faith in Christ and His resurrection. "If you
confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead, you shall be saved." (Romans 10:9). This is faith in the word
of God (oracle) as well. |
| Like Trinity in the film, Abraham in the old testament was
required to have the same faith in a similar situation. God promised Abraham that 1) his
son Isaac that would be the father of a great nation, and then 2) told Abraham to kill
Isaac. Hebrews chapter 11 shows that Abraham 'put one and two together', reasoning that 1)
in order for Isaac to be the father of a nation meant that 2) God would have to raise
sacrificed Isaac from the dead. So, he acted in faith by obeying God's orders - but God
stopped the sacrifice of Isaac, although God would not stop the sacrifice of His
Son Jesus that Abraham's prophetic act foreshadowed. God was having Abraham provide a
living demonstration of faith in the resurrection - a picture of what a man must have to
become a Christian (see Romans 10:9 above). |
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| M. Trinity says, "Neo, I'm not afraid any more. The
Oracle told me..." |
| S. Faith in the true word of God banishes fear. |
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5d. The Master
| M. Neo revives, and the Agents shoot at him. Neo stops
the bullets in midair by faith [relying on the truth]. |
| S. This is a literal portrayal of "taking up the
shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles
[bullets] of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16). "No weapon formed against you
shall prosper." (Isaiah 54:17). |
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| M. As Neo looks down the hallway, he now sees the code
of the Matrix - the green streams of data. This lets us know that Neo fully sees the
Matrix world as it truly is. |
| S. God gives a Christian understanding through His
Spirit and His word, to identify the true nature of things. "Unless a man is born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3)", nor can he grasp the
false and temporary nature of the fallen world that opposes it. Also, in respect to Satan
[the Agents], Christians "are not ignorant of his schemes [like the machine's scheme
of using the Matrix to control humanity.]" (2 Corinthians 2:11). |
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| M. Neo does not destroy Smith by physically fighting
him, but by entering him and destroying him. |
| S. Spiritual enemies must be fought not with natural
means, but with spiritual means: prayer, faith, submission to God, using the Word of God,
truth, walking controlled by the Spirit of God, etc. God honors these weapons and will use
them powerfully against the enemy. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely
powerful for the destruction of fortresses…" (2 Corinthians 10:3). |
|
| M. A summary of this sequence: When Neo revives,
Trinity commands Neo, "Now get up!" Neo obeys and rises. The Agents fire
at Neo, and Neo says, "No!" stopping the bullets in midair by relying on
the truth. Neo destroys Agent Smith, and the other Agents flee. |
| S. This sequence is a literal portrayal of the verse
"Submit therefore to God ['Trinity'], resist the devil [Neo saying 'No' and fighting
Agent Smith] and he will flee from you [the remaining Agents flee]." (James 4:8) |
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| M. When the film began, Trinity was in room 303. Neo's
room was 101. Neo now exits the Matrix from room 303. |
| S. We can perhaps allow '3' to be representative of God
(the Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit). '1' can represent fallen man, who is lower,
single, and apart from God. When Neo ends the story in room 303, this shows that he has
completed his journey from isolated, unsaved man ('1') to being reconciled with God ('3'). |
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| M. Neo speaks into a phone at the end of the film,
saying that he is going to show the people the truth and set them free. |
| S. Jesus Christ gives every Christian the commission of
sharing His truth with a lost world, so that people can be set free from sin and death by
faith in Christ. |
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| M. The song that plays when Neo finishes his phone call
is Wake Up by the group Rage Against The Machine. |
| S. A fitting title. A Christian's commission is to be
used by God to help others wake from sleep, just as Trinity was calling Neo to "wake
up!" at the beginning of the film. The band name "Rage Against The Machine
[Matrix]" can suggest God's anger against the corrupt world system. |
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| M. In the final scene, Neo soars victoriously into the
sky. Compare this to his earlier fear of heights! |
| S. Neo flying up to the sky can represent a Christian
going to be with God after the earthly life is over (John 14:1-3). Also, as history comes
to a close, God will one day take all Christians up to be with Him in an immediate
'rapture' into the sky (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). Neo now has no fear of heights - he is
truly victorious in his faith. Notice that Neo looks UP before flying - symbolizing focus
on God, not on obstacles. |
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