“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Matthew 5:17

A plot twist that makes the audience audibly gasp is a writer’s goal. Whether it is for film, TV, or novels—this is the pinnacle of great storytelling. When all the evidence points to this one truth that was in front of the audience all along and everybody missed it. Missed it until the writer revealed it to you. 

Today, everyone knows that Vader means father in German. But George Lucas had the world eating out of the palm of his hand when his supervillain revealed his identity. “Luke, I am your father.” It was a formative moment in the movie, in pop culture, and in the art of storytelling. This moment remains the holy grail of plot twists for so many aspiring storytellers. 

It was nearly dethroned in M. Night Shyamalan’s “The 6th Sense.” Haley Joel Osment’s character told Bruce Willis’ “I see dead people…” and revealed that Willis’ character didn’t survive the gunshot that took place in the opening minutes of the movie. It turned the whole movie on its head and made you rethink everything that came before it. And it certainly created a buzz and caused a stir at the end of summer in 1999 when the movie was released.

In these, and so many more, the character develops over an arc towards the moment. Every scene and interaction is building towards this great reveal. Every time they are on the screen is further evidence pointing towards what you don’t yet know. It’s all in front of you until the moment. The moment? It’s the magician who appears in the audience after the terrible “accident” trying to escape the death chamber. It’s the way Agatha Christie reveals the true killer in “And Then There Were None” on the last pages and in the last paragraphs—something she does in so many of her books.

In the moment, everything becomes clear. Everything is revealed. You, the reader, may question what you read earlier, but the perfect fit of where the writer was leading you the whole time is unquestionable. This scene is what this work was building towards. It’s when Kevin Spacey walks away at the end of The Usual Suspects, revealing he was Keyser Sosa the whole time.

This is Jesus. Right? And that isn’t terribly hard for us to believe and trust. We know that the story of Scripture unfolds with Christ Jesus at the center of it all. Everything hinges on Him. It builds towards Him and looks back upon Him. Jesus is the axis upon which the whole world spins—all of history spins. It’s Jesus. It’s always been Jesus.

Jesus was never God’s plan B. He was the point, the goal, and the direction from the start.

I hope that these elements are good truths for you to chew on as you read today. But here is the real power of the story.

When Lucas, Shyamalan, and Christie were doing their writing—do you think they fell into these moments on accident? Candidly, there are times when I start writing and I don’t know where it’s going. But do you think these three wizards of the reveal fell into some of the greatest plot twists on accident? I don’t think so. At the very least, they followed the instructions of their elementary and middle school teachers. Make a plan before you start writing.

Lucas introduced Darth Vader in the first movie and didn’t reveal his identity until the second. That takes planning and foresight. Everything in the first and through the second movies was leading up to that moment.

The 6th sense works because every scene follows the rules for what the young boy sees. Willis’ character wears the same clothes throughout the movie that he wore on the day of his death—one of the rules of dead people in the movie. He only talks to the boy. Sometimes he talks to his wife, and she talks to him—but they never communicate together. The movie follows the rules. None of this happens without forethought, planning, and intentionality. 

This we can understand. We can see the masterful way that the musical Hamilton revisits so many lines, themes, and musical elements throughout the show. Even as Alexander progresses in the timeline of his life, these same themes reappear over and over again. None of this was an accident. It is masterful storytelling.

And, I think it is a good and faithful exercise to believe that this was God’s work with Jesus as well. 

In the timeline of history, we understand that there is a proper order to God’s moving and interceding in this world. Abraham came before Moses led the people through the Red Sea. The teaching and preaching of Isaiah looks ahead to the coming Messiah. It foretells of Jesus in remarkable ways. 

And, we know that the Bible is a timeline of God’s work and human events. In a general sense, the formation and ongoing redeeming work of God in the world follows this historical trajectory. It makes sense, therefore, to understand that the ways of Jewish law and religious practices came prior to the arrival of Jesus. Leviticus comes before Matthew—right?

But, here’s the catch. And, this is a faith exercise, not a factual, truth exercise. Even though we can only understand the timeline of history in a linear path. What if, in God’s orchestrating of the story of His saving grace, the Lord started with Jesus?

Just as the great authors form the climactic moments, at least outlined, from the start—what would it mean if God began His saving work in this world on Good Friday and Easter Sunday? And, the Lord built backwards from there. 

Said another way, I’ve spent much of my life caught up in the symbolic beauty of Jesus as the lamb of God. What the Passover did in the Old Testament rhymes with and is outdone by what Jesus, the Lamb of God, does in the New Testament. It’s the same work reprised in the second act. It is what good authors do—they introduce themes in the first act that will be brought to completion in the second and third acts. But the authors begin with the end in mind.

Maybe, in some cosmic way, the Lord began the divine drama, not with Adam and Eve, but with Jesus. And then the Lord worked backwards. And so the laws and the customs of the Old Testament, the sacrificial system of the temple, and the saving works throughout the Old Testament were built and put into place after God had written the scene of the cross on Calvary. 

Again, this is just a thought exercise. But it helps us to keep at the forefront of our minds the centrality of Jesus to the story of humanity and creation. Everything hinges on Him. He is the fulfillment of all the laws and the prophets because they were all written with Him in mind. It’s always been pointing towards Jesus. And it always will.

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What is one of your favorite plot twists in film or on the page?