With all the advancement in computer effects and movie making, I cannot believe producers still haven’t come up with a digital masterpiece that depicts the Biblical book of Revelations in the best and truest way possible. Why can’t the story of how this world is going to end not being told properly?

We’ve had movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon that depict what it would be like for a comet or asteroid to hit the Earth in present day times. Several other disaster movies about volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tidal waves have hit the screen. Horror movies have show what it is like to have plagues and other gory stuff happen to people when confronted by the supernatural. We’ve had the Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Narnia to show what a battle with other-worldly beings might be like.

There are simply many topics that can be very exciting in the Book of Revelation:

• Depicting the throne of God and the four living creatures
• The seven seals and the four horsemen
  • White horse
  • Red horse
  • Black horse
  • Ashen horse – 1/4 of the world’s population is killed by the sword, famine, pestilence, wild beasts
• The 144,000 sealed
• The sounding of the seven trumpets
  • How 1/3 of the earth will be burned up
  • 1/3 of the sea creatures die and ships destroyed
  • How water sources become “bitter” and cause the deaths of many
  • How 1/3 of the stars / sun / moon will be darkened
  • locusts that probably paralyze men preventing them from killing themselves despite having tremendous pain
  • Abaddon
  • 4 angels bound at the great river Euphrates who will be released to kill 1/3 of mankind
• The two olive trees / lamp stands who will have powers similar to Moses and Elijah
• The woman and the dragon
• The beast – how he deceives many and how he restricts trade only to those with the 666 mark
• Angels proclaiming the gospel and warning people against receiving the mark of the beast
• Jesus Christ harvesting the Earth
• The seven bowls of the wrath of God
  • Sores on those who received the mark of the beast
  • Every living thing in the sea dies
  • All rivers and springs of water turning to blood
  • The sun scorching men with fierce heat
  • Darkness falling upon the kingdom of the beast
  • The Euphrates drying up preparing the way for the kings of the east
  • The three unclean spirits
  • The greatest earthquake ever know to man
  • 100 pound hailstones
• The judgment of the great harlot
• The battle of Armageddon
• Christ’s 1000-year reign
• Satan’s release and deception of Gog and Magog
• Final judgement
• New Heaven and New Earth

I wouldn’t mind a simple narrative of the entire book of Revelation. Or directors can re-tell it from the perspective of someone going through the events. I wouldn’t mind either if the movie were an animated film like the Prince of Egypt or a completely digital movie like Toy Story.  With the number of topics above, they might need to tell the tale in several movies, or perhaps a television miniseries.

So here’s to the hope that I see a good movie version of this book in my lifetime. And to experience the real thing in my lifetime is a scary, perhaps thrilling, faith-stretching proposition.