Avatar's God-Man

In the movie Avatar one of the central themes is that of the Avatar. An Avatar is the following by definition in the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary:
Main Entry: av·a·tar
Pronunciation: \ˈa-və-ˌtär\
Function: noun
Etymology: Sanskrit avatāraḥ descent, from avatarati he descends, from ava- away + tarati he crosses over — more at ukase, through
Date: 1784
1 : the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu)
2 a : an incarnation in human form b : an embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person
3 : a variant phase or version of a continuing basic entity
4 : an electronic image that represents and is manipulated by a user (as in a computer game)

For the movie the hero – Jake Sulley – a former marine with two damaged legs, is given the opportunity to go to the Planet Pandora and take over the task of “driving” his twin brothers Avatar – a body combining the DNA of a Na’vi and a human, in this case Jake’s dead brother. Since the DNA is the same, identical twins share identical DNA, then the corporation who spent the money creating the Avatar could still use it if Jake would be willing to come to Pandora and utilize the body for the corporation and the mining on the planet Pandora.

The problem that the Avatar was to solve was that the atmosphere of Pandora was toxic to human beings. However, a program had been established whereby a the body created in a vat could be psionically driven by the person from whom the DNA had been taken and could place their mind and personality into the blank Avatar and “drive” it. This would allow the Avatar to function on the planet as though the body and the mind of the DNA provider were one and he same. The body could function in the poisonous atmosphere and to utilize all the powers and skills of the ten foot tall body. The Avatar would also allow who ever was driving the body to communicate with all beings around it including using the Queue. A secondary function of Jake’s Avatar would be to allow him to communicate with the Na’vi with the goal of encouraging the Na’vi the allow the corporation to mine Unobtanium without any bloodshed.

When Jake enters the Avatar’s body he is thrilled for he can walk on his own again. He is able to run, leap, experience movement, and all the wonders of his new body. After he stabilizes a bit then he goes out into the woods to explore. Through contact with the Thanator, a large and deadly carnivore, he gets separated from the rest of the people and he gets exposed to the Na’vi personally, especially through the princess Neytiri. He is going toward the Na’vi hometree when he is blessed/anointed by the Tree of Souls. Neytiri recognizes the anointing and that Eywa has chosen Jake. Neytiri brings Jake to her clan and after being assessed by the spiritual leaders Jake is accepted as a candidate for clan membership.

Moat, the matriarch of the clan assigns Neytiri to train Jake to be able to pass the various rites of passage into clan membership. After acceptance into the tribe Jake is accused by the Earth group of abandoning them to join the Na’vi. During an intercession with the clan leadership, Jake’s’ psionic connection is broken and Jake appears to have fallen dead in front of the people. After reconnection Jake is “resurrected” and seeks to reestablish his connection to the Na’vi. So Jake is fulfilling all of the rudimentary principles of the Messiah to the Na’vi. Jake eventually leads clan people to victory over the perceived forces of evil. The final issue is that Jake, with the help of Eywa, is able to leaves his human body and join the Princess as a Na’vi forever.

All of these factors lead us to the conclusion that Jake is a Messianic character. Jake participates in the Avatar program and is technically an Avatar. When He joins the Na’vi he is moving in the direction of fully spiritually joining the people. Through a variety of experiences He joins the people by defending them and understanding their ways. Then Jake does a variety of heroic deeds testifying that he will join the Na’vi officially and Eywa helps Jake leave his earthly body and forever join his Avatar body and to be literally joined to the Na’vi forever. He is the God man for Pandora.

All of the above is similar to what Jesus did for us. Jesus was God, and He took on himself a human form to get as close to His children, the human beings, as He possibly could, without harming them. Jesus was the Creator of the entire universe and yet He chose to become a human being in a human body. Jesus was the Real Avatar.

Jesus went through a growth process and learned the human experience first hand. Jesus was not like Jake in that He had no defects, diseases, nor physical or mental problems. Jesus was perfect body, form, mind, and spirit. The Bible says that Jesus was not unusually handsome, tall, or physically imposing. Isaiah 53:2. Jesus was not unusually physically attractive but he was healthy, spiritually awake, and spiritually aware. He learned the human experience and learned it through suffering. Hebrews 5:8-9 Jesus took the human experience to a level of love, and sacrifice, that no One could have done on their own.

After a life full of wonderful things Jesus recognized that He had come to the point that prophecy required that He die for mankind. Jesus took the entire history of mankind’s sins upon Him in Gethsemane. He chose to take all of these sins upon His pure and spotless character. He was then taken before the Jewish leadership and declared to be a sinner and must die. He was then taken before the Roman leadership and although Rome pronounced Him innocent of any wrong thing, yet Jesus was chosen to die to settle a political debt between Pilate and Israel. On the road to Calvary and on the cross itself Jesus suffered and bled and died to fulfill the substitutionary death for all of mankind. Then after 3 days in the tomb, Jesus was resurrected to return to heaven to continue to intercede for mankind. When all of the rest of the prophecies of God are fulfilled He will return to earth and resurrect all of his children who have believed on Him by faith. Then He will take them to heaven where they will dwell in special mansions for a thousand years. After that Millennium, He will return to earth again and this time to resurrect the wicked that they may stand before the judgment seat. After pronouncing the final verdict of death, all of the wicked will be burned up in the lake of fire. When the fire has finished consuming the wicked, and then the earth itself, Jesus will recreate the Earth as He had done in the beginning. Then He will give Earth to the redeemed and they will live in Eden restored, that which Pandora dimly portrays, and they will explore the universe in service to God forever.

Pandora, and Avatar have many of the symbols regarding the things of God. But the reality will be more glorious than anything James Cameron could symbolize. All of these wonderful things God holds out to us to entice us to choose His service and to receive the rewards of intimate fellowship with God, and man forever. The suffering of salvation by God has been completed. The door to God has been opened. Jake Sulley, in the fictional story of Avatar, took the step and joined Himself to Eywa and Eywa’s people, we now have that same opportunity to join ourselves to God. I for one will take the step and hope that you will also.