Yesterday Bryan Singer shared a picture from the set of X-Men: Apocalypse. The photo showed a giant statue of the Egyptian god, Anubis, on a practical set from the movie. In a world where Revenge of the Sith was filmed entirely on green screen, it’s nice to see some practical sets and practical effects.
In light of the giant statue of Anubis, here are some biblical sets I’d like to see in real life.
The Temple
The Bible has a lot to say about the Temple. Exodus is filled with descriptions of how to build everything that went in the Temple. The beginning of 2 Chronicles is filled with how Solomon built the Temple. And Ezekiel spilled a lot of ink on how big the Temple needed to be. In spite of all these descriptions, though, I still don’t really know what the Temple was like. I’ve seen pictures on the Bible and I even stood on the Temple mount in Jerusalem. However, I still don’t really know what it would have been like to stand in the Temple. I’d love some Hollywood set designers to get their hands on the Bible and create the Temple. It might not be real gold and real cedar from Lebanon, but I’d still love to stand in it.
Mount Carmel
Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel is one of my favorite Bible stories of all time. I love how God shows up and fire falls from heaven, but mostly I love how Elijah mocks Baal’s prophets. I can be pretty sarcastic so I like seeing that Israel’s greatest prophet had a sarcastic streak. I would love to see this story as a practical set. How awesome would it be to see two giant altars and two dead bulls on top of an actual mountain? I don’t know how they could do actual fire, but I’d settle for some CGI fire from heaven as long as it was seamlessly combined with actual fire.
The Throne In Heaven
Revelation 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Its description of God sitting on the throne is awe-inspiring and completely jaw dropping. John’s description of God in Revelation 4:3 is amazing:
And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.
God is so indescribable that John can only say he looks like precious stones surrounded by a rainbow of precious stones. I’ve never seen anything that amazing. The most amazing place I’ve ever been is Petra, but I can describe that by saying it’s a bunch of buildings, facades and stadia carved out of rock. God is so amazing, that John is pretty much at a loss for words. I can’t imagine a practical or CGI representation of God would even come close, so I guess I really don’t want to see the throne of heaven in a movie. I’ll just wait to see the real thing.
I like a lot of what I’ve seen from X-Men Apocalypse, but maybe that’s because I never saw the Power Rangers movie. Bryan Singer has always made great X-Men movies so I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. And if he keeps making awesome practical sets, I’ll keep trusting his stewardship of the X-Men franchise.
What biblical sets would you like to see?
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