Good Friday 2023 – Restored.

Happy Good Friday, friends, and welcome to a new fandoms-as-Gospel post! I’ve been thinking about this one for months now, and I’m super excited to share it with you. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about Avatar: The Last Airbender and how Aang and his epic final battle with Fire Lord Ozai is sort of a picture of the triumph that Jesus Christ gained over Satan and his power on this day, roughly 2,023 years ago. Hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender, Aang’s final battle with Fire Lord Ozai

Verses: Romans 5:6-8, Philippians 2:5-11, Galatians 4:4-6, Colossians 2:13-15, Isaiah 53:12, John 1:1-5, 8:44, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, 1 John 2:8, Ephesians 6:11-13, Romans 5:1-2, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Matthew 27:45-46, 1 Peter 3:18-20a, 1 John 3:7-8

Truth: Jesus is the suffering servant, sacrificial lamb, AND conquering King. He suffered and died for our sins, and in so doing, He crushed the power of Satan over the world and ended the war between us and God. He made it possible for us to return to the people we were meant to be, and He defeated (but didn’t eliminate) sin, Hell, and death. Someday, He will return to Earth, destroy the Enemy for good, and bring us into eternal and unhindered fellowship with Him forever. Amen!

the purpose of this post

I want to establish the purpose of drawing this comparison before we go any further with this. I want to tell the story of what happened on Good Friday – Easter Sunday in a way that all of us fan-people, who love to overanalyze all the things, will resonate with and respond to. This in no way means that comparing a fictional character to a real person makes that character equal to Him, and it doesn’t change anything about what Scripture says. But it is really cool to think about, and the point is to get us thinking about Good Friday and all of the powerful and awe-inspiring things that happened!

The other goal is to give believers who are part of my ethnos (people group) a different way of understanding the Gospel, both for our own benefit and to give us a tool to start conversations with others in our people group who may not believe or understand how salvation was accomplished for us and how it can happen for them, too.

You can click on all the links in this post to read the full verse! I’ll have a list of all the verses at the end : )

The characters

Aang ~ Jesus

There are a few things that are similar between who Aang the Avatar is as a character and who Jesus is as a person:

• Both can do what others can’t (bending all the elements is kinda like being able to keep all the laws of Judaism without failing once, and also the ability to perform miracles) Galatians 4:4-6
• The responsibility Aang has from birth to save the world and restore the balance of power is kinda like the responsibility or mission that Jesus had to restore relationship and peace between God and humans (Romans 5:6-8)
• Both Aang and Jesus rendered their primary enemy powerless in an unexpected way (for Aan it’s energy bending, for Jesus, it’s choosing to die a criminal’s death instead of conquering the powers of Rome and ending the political oppression of His people) Colossians 2:13-15, Isaiah 53:12

Comma, however…

There are some important differences between this fictional character and the person Jesus Christ:

• Aang is a human who fails and makes mistakes – Jesus never did
• Aang’s power is limited; he can’t do things like raise the dead, for example – Jesus has the unlimited power of God, but chose to limit Himself (Philippians 2)
• Aang is presented as the reincarnation of a previous Avatar; Jesus has always existed, even when He wasn’t visible on earth (and in fact many scholars believe that He made appearances before the New Testament gospels – it’s called Christophany and it’s a super cool thing to look into!!) John 1:1-5

Fire Lord Ozai <= Satan or the Devil

In the final battle scene that I’m thinking of, Fire Lord Ozai is sort of a picture of Satan or the Devil as he was fighting against Jesus’ mission on earth. Here are some observations:

• He has been constantly fighting against all the other nations, and is sadistic and power-hungry
• He raised his kids, Azula and Zuko, on lies (John 8:44) and spreads the false narrative of the glorious Fire nation that will somehow rule the rest of the world as a gift rather than evil oppression.
• He is prideful and declares victory over Aang and the rest before he’s actually won (typical two-dimensional villain character, but I can just imagine Satan doing this while Jesus was on the cross and in the grave, like, “I have ALL THE POWER NOW!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!)
• On the day when he thinks he’s unstoppable (the day of Sozin’s Comet), he actually loses all his power and is utterly defeated by Aang – just like Satan losing all of the power that he once had the day that Jesus rose from the grave (1 Corinthians 15:55-57, 1 John 2:8)
• His defeat ends the 100-year war and restores the overall balance to the world, but doesn’t completely do away with all evil or conflict – otherwise what would the Avatar be there for? In the same way, when Jesus took away Satan’s power over us, He didn’t completely remove all the conflict and evil and catastrophe in the world. There’s a sense that we’re still at war (Ephesians 6:11-13), but it’s the last bit before the enemy surrenders and it’s all over. And now we have Almighty God on our side! He (the enemy) doesn’t stand a chance.

How it happened – and why it’s so cool!!

I love the final fight scene from ATLA SO MUCH. There’s a ton of awesome bending moves, of course, but there’s also this deep like philosophical layer to it about Aang struggling with the pressure to kill Ozai and choosing to defeat him in his own way instead and it’s just AWESOME! Like the longer I think about it, the more layers there are to this part of the story. Here are some thoughts and observations, and also here’s the scene I’m talking about:

• So, as they’re getting ready to fight Fire Lord, all the others in the group, especially Zuko, are talking about how Aang has to kill Ozai in order to restore balance and end the war. Aang feels conflicted because he’s a pacifist who believe in defeating Ozai without actually killing him.
• They get to this big climactic scene and Ozai is talking about how he has ALL THE POWER IN THE WORLD MWAHAHAHA and he’s going to send Aang to join his slaughtered people (which is completely evil, c’mon) and he’s got him trapped in this ball of earth shooting fire at him, and you can tell that Aang is struggling. This part especially reminds me of Jesus’ final moments before His death, when breathing would’ve been a struggle and He was under the weight of God’s wrath towards humanity, carrying the weight of our sins… The Gospels record that He was abandoned by God the Father, which was the worst kind of punishment to go through (Matthew 27:45-46)
• But then Aang’s earth shield melts under Ozai’s fire and he gets shot backwards and just barely protects himself… and the tides suddenly turn. I love this part because it shows how I imagine the fight between Jesus and the Powers of Evil went in the spiritual sense on Good Friday. Like they thought they’d won, but we all knew that Aang was going to win, and Jesus knew that He’d be victorious… it’s just unexpected the way that it happens (1 Peter 3:18-20a)
• So anyway, Aang gets blasted against this sharp slab of rock, which hits in just the right spot for him to regain access to the Avatar State and just as Ozai is strutting over to gloat over his victory, Aang’s glowing hand and eyes jab out from this pile of rocks and grab hold of Ozai BY THE BEARD which is probably highly disrespectful and definitely threatening. From that moment on, you can SEE the fear in Ozai’s eyes as Aang pursues him with this sphere surrounding him, which kinda reminds me of Jesus having all the power of God the Father (who is sovereign over literally everything).
• And then Aang gets Ozai cornered and he’s going in for the kill, but then he STOPS and instead… he pins Ozai in this pillar of earth so he can’t move and he starts this super cool and mysterious process that we later learn is called Energy Bending, where the energy in Ozai’s body is red and Aang’s is blue and they have this epic invisible mysterious battle of wills where the red evil energy almost takes over Aang but then he pushes it back and Ozai loses his firebending. On the day he should’ve been strongest, he actually becomes utterly POWERLESS.
• And later on, it flashes back to what Mr. Giant Lion Turtle said, which is something like, “to bend another’s energy, your own energy must be pure and incorruptible. Otherwise, you’ll be overcome – and destroyed.” And there are several different passages in Scripture that speak to Jesus being sinless and the perfect answer to our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21 is one that comes to mind). If Jesus hadn’t been sinless, He couldn’t have accomplished salvation for us.
• And this is SUPER COOL to me because there are tons and tons of verses about how Jesus overcame death, Hell, and the grave, (see all of 1 Corinthians 15, for example) on the Cross and how He came to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:7-8) and make a way for us to be right with God (Romans 5:1-2).

Verses

As promised, here’s a list of all the verses that I referenced in this post (all in ESV):

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Galatians 4:4-6

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Colossians 2:13-15

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:12

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5

He (the devil) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

1 John 2:8

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Ephesians 6:11-13

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:1-2

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Matthew 27:45-46

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

1 Peter 3:18-20

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:7-8

Conclusion

As I finish this post, I’d like to invite you to think about your response to what Jesus did for you. Have you given your heart to Him and asked for His forgiveness of your sin? The truth is, we are all sinners, born on the wrong side of a war we could never win. But Jesus, the Son of God, allowed Himself to be made a human so that He could restore balance, bring us back to the light, and give us peace with God. We get to be on the winning side of the battle against evil, gaining the victory over sin, death, and evil! If you have not considered this, or made your decision, why wait? What do you have to lose? I’d love for you to take a look at this post to find out more about how and why you should invite Jesus to save you and begin a relationship with Him.

If you are a believer, who can you start a conversation with today? How can you show gratitude to the Lord who saved you and gave you victory?

Happy fangirling!