Historically, there’s been a lot of controversy about what’s been included in the Bible and what’s been omitted. But, whether by human design or divine providence, the end result of this sprawling story with a zillion minor characters and a hero—the Christ Jesus—who only arrives in the second half is a storytelling masterpiece.
The structure of the Bible bears a specific resemblance to a blockbuster Hollywood film.
In his classic account of Hollywood screenwriting, Adventures in the Screen Trade, William Goldman writes that “screenplays ARE structure.” By this measure, the Bible’s storytelling arc—its skeleton; its structure—is unerring.
Blockbuster film structure
Blockbusters start by presenting us with a problem to be solved. They introduce a hero or heroes, and at the end of the film we discover if or how the problem is solved.
In screenwriting, the problem introduced at the beginning of a film is called the ‘inciting incident’. It’s the shark devouring swimmers in Jaws. In the original Star Wars, it’s the need to get the plans for the Death Star to the Alliance so it can be destroyed.
Blockbusters twist and turn over the course of a typically three-act structure. Regardless of where the story arc veers off, at the climax it brings us back to the film’s core problem—the problem defined by the inciting incident.
In Story, screenwriting guru Robert McKee writes: “The Inciting Incident, the first major event of the telling, is the primary cause for all that follows, putting into motion the other four elements—Progressive Complications, Crisis, Climax, Resolution.”
A well-crafted film always ends by resolving its inciting incident. Jaws must end with the final clash between the sheriff and the shark. Star Wars must end with a do-or-die conflict between the Alliance and the Death Star.
Any other ending would be poor storytelling and unsatisfactory for the viewer. Great films get us invested in great inciting incidents and lead to great resolutions.
The Bible is no different. Millennia before Hollywood, the Bible used the same structure as a great blockbuster.
Film structure in the Bible
What’s the inciting incident of the Bible? It’s in chapter 2 of Genesis: the Fall.
But wait, I hear you say. The Fall isn’t mentioned in the final book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation. Actually, it is. It’s right there in chapter 22:
“God will bless all who have washed their robes. They will each have the right to eat fruit from the tree that gives life, and they can enter the gates of the city.” (Revelation 22:14)
Ah, the Tree of Life. We know about that. It’s in Genesis 2:
“Two other trees were in the middle of the garden. One of the trees gave life—the other gave the power to know the difference between right and wrong.” (Genesis 2:9)
The narrative arc of the Bible spans from humanity losing access to the fruit of the Tree of Life in Genesis 2 to regaining that access, in perpetuity, in Revelation 22.
Unpicking Revelation 22:14
This verse—the climactic verse of the Bible—contains three key phrases, each of which reveals a huge and critical aspect of the New Earth journey:
- “Washed their robes”—this refers to the process of vibrational (i.e., genetic) purification through releasing the traumas of the Fall and subsequent generations
- “Eat fruit from the tree that gives life”—this refers to closing the separation between us and God, making us fully connected components of the godhead
- “Enter the gates of the city”—this refers to the vibrational match necessary to achieve reunification with the oneness of God, to “be with the Father” (John 14:12)
This is the territory ROCI21 explores in detail. Not through theology, but by examining the evidence of history, geography, anthropology, climatology and psychology to see what the ancients were trying to communicate in a whole new light.
In the process of unpicking the past, we reveal the path to the future—the New Earth.
Photo by Venti Views on Unsplash
