#6 THE TERMINATOR

Memorable Lines from Movies, Big Story in Bible 

#6 THE TERMINATOR 
Coming Back

Storylines in movies thrust us along till we reach a dramatic moment when everything goes wrong and nothing more can be done — except that we know it cannot be the end. 

So it is with The Terminator (1984), a cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger), sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the mother of the future leader of the  human resistance. To protect her, the resistance sent a soldier, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to eliminate the assassin. The stage is set for a momentous duel. 

We watch the Terminator defeated, failing in his mission, and being crushed by a hydraulic press. Then we hear his gravelly deadpan voice, saying, “It can’t be….” Indeed, it could not be. Earlier on, he had immortalised the line, “I’ll be back.” So we know it’s not the end. Those three iconic words capture the hope in every heart that the end is not the end. There will be a return, like the return of the King in The Lord of the Rings, and of the Jedi in Star Wars. 

Big Story in Bible

However final death appears to be, we refuse to believe it’s all over. From the pyramids that entomb the Egyptian Pharaohs to  the Terracotta warriors who protect the Chinese Emperor, humankind across the ages has cherished the hope of an afterlife. 

However, there is only one person, Jesus, who died and came back to life, never to die again. He told his disciples as he prepared them for his imminent death, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”John 14:3 ESV

Not only did he come back from the dead, he will return one day to our broken world to set everything right. At his ascension after his resurrection, the promise is given: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11 ESV

“I’ll be back” spoken by The Terminator across decades is only a glimpse of the bigger cosmic story. “I will return” promised by Jesus spans millennia, and assures us it’s not the end — yet. 

“He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”Revelation 22:20 ESV