The power of a kingdom comes down to the strength of its army, and the strength of an army depends on both the authority and the power of the king at the top. It follows from this that a kingdom will fall when the army of that kingdom is defeated and destroyed, and when the king at the top is no more. This principle applies to kingdoms ruled by a king as well as republics governed by a constitution. It applies to nations as well as empires. It applies to the natural as well as the supernatural.
History shows that kingdoms normally rise and fall. But the kingdom of God, once it begins, will go on forever, a “world without end” (ref. Isaiah 45:17, Ephesians 3:21).
The kingdom of God will be like no other kingdom. God’s kingdom will only “increase” (ref. Isaiah 9:7) and never fall, because, first of all, to state the obvious, the king will be God himself. At first, Jesus Christ will reign as king (ref. Psalms 2:6). He is the Son of God (ref. Hebrews 1:5), and also the creator of heaven and earth (ref. Colossians 1:13-18), and also the Almighty (ref. Revelation 1:8) and first among all creatures (ref. Colossians 1:15), and also the head of the body of Christ (ref. Ephesians 4:12-16), and also the Messiah of Zion (ref. Isaiah 9:6-7). Then, after one thousand years, it will be God the Father who will reign (ref. 1 Corinthians 15:24, Ezekiel 38:23). The Father is even more powerful, or greater, than the Son (ref. John 10:29-30). So, the king of the kingdom of God will be like no one else in the history of everything.
In addition to that, there will be the armies of the kingdom of God. I say, armies, plural, because the Bible speaks of two.
And the armies [plural] which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations…
Revelation 19:14-15
One of the two armies will be the part of the host of heaven that remains loyal to God. Remember, Revelation explains, two thirds (ref. Revelation 12:4) of the angels in heaven led by the archangel Michael fought against Satan and his angels (ref. Revelation 12:7-9), otherwise known as demons. So, the majority of the host of heaven remain loyal to God.
The other of the two armies will be the army of “the saints” of Jesus Christ, numbering in the ten thousands (ref. Jude 1:14-15). The saints are certain men, chosen and called by God, who on the day of Christ will be “born again” (ref. John 3:7), made immortal (ref. Luke 20:36), and given “wings as eagles” (ref. Isaiah 40:31). The saints will also wield the very power of God, the morning star.
… they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles [fly like angels]; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
So, the power of the kingdom of God will be like nothing anyone has ever seen.
Now, concerning the army of the saints of Jesus Christ, in effect, a saint will be a lord of a fiefdom, as the parable of the talents (ref. Matthew 25:14-30) implies, a point that explains one of the titles of Jesus Christ, “the Lord of lords” (ref. Revelation 17:14), which is beside his other more obvious title, “the King of kings”.
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Matthew 25:20-21
More to it, a saint will be a lord not unlike a medieval knight, someone who rules a territory for the king, and fights in the army of the king.
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Revelation 5:10
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more the things that pertain to this life?
1 Corinthians 6:2-3
So, a saint will be a knight with wings, a hunter of the darkness in this world.
Now, to the story of The Dark Knight.
Hollywood has made several Batman films. For me, two trilogies stand out, because these two contain elements of the apocalypse: the war between good and evil; the unfolding contest between God and Satan.
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, comprising Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is one of these two. And Zack Snyder’s Justice League trilogy, comprising Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Justice League (The Snyder Cut) (2021) is the other.
First, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
The idea of Batman (ref. 1) comes about because Bruce Wayne sought a means to fight injustice.
He spent time and went to great lengths exploring the underworld to better understand evil, in his case the criminal and the corrupt. The expression “Know your enemy” comes to mind. It is from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.
After he becomes the Batman, he kills his opponent, Ra’s al Ghul, through gravity, making the point that he has wings whereas Ghul does not.
The story also features a hallucinogen that spreads madness. The Bible explains, pharmakeia is sorcery (ref. Revelation 9:21). The one who employs this weapon is a psychiatrist called the Scarecrow. Metaphorically, a scarecrow would oppose a “ravenous bird” (ref. Isaiah 46:11) and others like that. Furthermore, psychiatry is a pseudoscience and an elaborate deception conceived by Sigmund Freud, a drug addict and someone who was into seances.
In one scene of the movie, there is even a horse that breathes fire, an allusion to the east and Armageddon.
Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
Job 39:19-20
And thus I saw the horses in the vision… and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Revelation 9:17
So, Batman Begins (2005) is apocalyptic, and it imagines a saint, a soldier of Christ.
In part two of the trilogy The Dark Knight (ref. 2), we see the Devil personified in the Joker, an agent of chaos and confusion. The Joker wants to kill the Batman.
The Joker tells lies to poison the mind of Harvey Dent, ultimately turning him into the villanous character Two-Face.
Ye are of your father the devil… He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth… for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John 8:44
The Joker also tries out the game theory of Prisoner’s Dilemma, an economics experiment that should in principle bring out the worst of humanity.
Emphasing his wings, Batman once again uses gravity to defeat his adversaries. Both the Joker and Two-Face literally fall to the ground, and are undone by it. But when Batman jumps from a skyscrapper to catch Rachel as she is pushed off the building, he is able to sort of glide down to safety. The whole skyhook thing also points to his wings.
Many of the soundbites of The Dark Knight (2008) are apocalyptic. For instance, “I’ve seen now what I have to become to stop men like him.” There is also this: “The night is darkest just before the dawn but I promise you the dawn is coming”. Not to mention: “Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Never forget, Satan is the adversary of God. Satan’s goal is to destroy one way or another as much of God’s creation as possible. To save the world, evil must be stopped. This is why good and evil are at war.
In the third part of the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises (ref. 3), there is more of the apocalypse.
In this episode, there is terrorism, there is a pit in what was once a Mughal (Islamic) area, and there is the prospect of nuclear annihilation. There is also an allusion to the French Revolution, “the people’s court”, the conspiracy and chaos of the Bavarian Illuminati that together with the Freemason Napoleon brought an end to Christendom across Europe.
Plus, we see once more that evil is for anarchy, whereas good is for the police, and for law and order (ref. Romans 13:1-7).
The part of The Dark Knight Rises (2012) that is most striking and memorable is the scene where Batman climbs from his prison and into the light. He does so without the use of rope, because he does not fear death. The key moment is when he takes, as it were, a leap of faith, amid chants of “rise”.
And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will rise him up at the last day.
John 6:39-40
You see, on the day of Christ, each and every saint will be given wings as eagles.
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faintest not, neither is weary? there is no searching for his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles…
Isaiah 40:28-31
And then, as a literal soldier of Christ, the saints will go on to fight what remains of evil, for the glory of the kingdom of God.
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2 Timothy 2:3-4
This is the message of the story. Wings as eagles, and the light, for the sake of righteousness (ref. Revelation 19:11), another word for justice.
So, the saints will be an army like no other, which again means that the king of the kingdom of God will be like no other.
To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host [the saints] by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
Isaiah 40:25-26
Now, moving on to Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Some of you may already know that the comic book character Superman is meant to represent Satan, otherwise known as the Devil.
Superman is antichrist, an example of calling evil good. He is an alien from Krypton, rather than an actual god. Yet his name is Kal-El, meaning in Hebrew “voice of God”, as in the Word of God which is a name of Jesus Christ. Kal-El, being the only son of his father, is sent by his father to earth. In the original comic book, the name of his human mother in Kansas USA is “Mary” rather than Martha. Last but not least, in the trailer of Man of Steel (2013), it is brazenly said that in time the world is to join him “in the sun”, as in the lake of fire (ref. 4). The point being, those that follow the Devil will be damned to the lake of fire.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:15
Today, under the current world order, Satan is also the prince of the power of the air (ref. Ephesians 2:2).
There is also the fact that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche coined the term “Superman”, Übermensch. Nietzsche, a product of the era of the Enlightenment, further declared “God is dead”.
In part two of the trilogy, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), the allusions to Christ and the confusion between good and evil continue. Martha tells Clark, “Be their hero; be their angel; be their monument”. Think idol, or the abomination of desolation. Lex Luthor – “lex” is Latin for law as in the commandments of God – says “Devils don’t come from hell beneath us; they come from the sky” (ref. 5). Think the war in heaven and fallen angels.
There is also the contest between Batman and Superman, fascinating when expressed in terms of man versus god, day versus night.
Likewise, Batman’s remark “They were hunters” is interesting. This is an allusion to the saints, the theme of Christopher Nolan’s Batman.
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them…
Jeremiah 16:16
Still, the proper way to watch Zack Snyder’s trilogy is to regard part one as the war in heaven (ref. Revelation 12:7-9) and the casting out of heaven of Satan (ref. 6).
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Revelation 12:9
Accordingly, part two covers the time of the tribulation leading up to the day of the LORD.
To this point, in Batman v Superman (2016), the villain at the end of the story is a creature known as “Doomsday”, whose eyes are fiery (ref. Revelation 19:12-13), as in Jesus Christ on the day of the LORD, again a deliberate confusing of good and evil (ref. Isaiah 5:10). Never forget, it is a demon that is inspiring all this.
In this context, the fight between Batman and Superman is actually the coming war between Babylon and the Antichrist, which is to happen before doomsday.
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Revelation 17:16-18
Considering things this way, Batman represents Mystery Babylon. This explains the remark, “The red capes are coming”.
However, the beast of the earth is as much a kingdom of Satan as the beast of the sea (ref. Revelation 17:10-11), and so eventually both beasts will align.
This brings me to the third instalment of Snyder’s trilogy.
In Justice League (2021), Doomsday is over, Superman as in the Antichrist the Assyrian is dead, and there is a different costumed Superman, perhaps a preview of Gog of Magog. So, now is supposed to be at least the time of the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ, a time when the ravenous bird from the east, the man from a far country that serves the LORD, will do his thing. Enter Steppenwolf. He takes on the Amazons, the Atlanteans, and certain humans (ref. 7).
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Isaiah 46:10-11
But Steppenwolf cannot touch the new Superman because Gog is to be defeated only by God the Father at the time of Ezekiel 38, which comes after the one thousand years. In fact, there is not supposed to be another Antichrist until the thousand years are over.
Anyway, on the day of Christ and during his one thousand years, the contest between good and evil will come down to a hunt. That is to say, the angels loyal to God and the soldiers of Christ will finish off what remains of the enemy.
The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.
Zephaniah 2:11
No human can challenge an angel, let alone a saint. It is like clay trying to break iron. In 2 Kings 19:34-36, one single angel of the LORD killed “an hundred fourscore and five thousand” of the camp of Sennacherib of Assyria during one night.
Now, recall what I said at the start: the power of a kingdom comes down to the king and his army. This principle applies to every sort of kingdom, including Satan’s.
So, to bring evil to an end, it is not enough to arrest Satan and bind him in hell (ref. Revelation 20:1-3). To stop the spread of evil and consequently save the world, it is also necessary to destroy Satan’s army – all who fight for him and all who serve him.
As General Zod said to Superman in Man of Steel (2013), “These humans you’ve adopted, I will take them all from you one by one.”
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalms 149:5-9
References:
1. “Batman Begins (2005) trailer”, youtube.com/watch?v=neY2xVmOfUM
2. “The Dark Knight (2008) trailer”, youtube.com/watch?v=EXeTwQWrcwY
3. “The Dark Knight Rises (2012) trailer”, youtube.com/watch?v=g8evyE9TuYk
4. “Man of Steel (2013) teaser”, youtube.com/watch?v=wArmHSPIvlQ
5. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) trailer”, youtube.com/watch?v=0WWzgGyAH6Y
6. “Man of Steel (2013) Fate of your planet trailer”, youtube.com/watch?v=NlOF03DUoWc
7. “Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) trailer”, youtube.com/watch?v=Ga2z7GPSVCo