Spiritual Twist’s theatrical production of Sleeping Beauty is a wonderful fantasy picture of Christ and the battle for His bride. Our main character, Joli, represents us, the bride of Christ. While there are many turmoils, temptations, and manipulations throughout her journey, Christ (or in this show, Jesse) has already proven Himself the victor. Ultimately, if God wants us, who can stand against Him? We see a theme throughout this show that Sleeping Beauty must choose between her desires and love. As the show progresses, she realizes that love is indeed the greatest of all (1 Cor 13:13).
Indeed, this is an appropriate example of Christ’s passion for his corporate bride. From the beginning of scripture, enmity was created between the woman and the serpent (Gen 3). But, God made a covenant with us declaring that He will return, crush the serpent, and save his bride (which he fulfilled in his death, burial, and resurrection). In a sense, the amalgamation of all scripture is presented as Christ coming to slay the dragon and save the princess.
Tromperie (who represents Satan in this show) attempts to seduce Joli with his power, promises, and freedom. Notice, this is often Satan’s ploy, as he used the same tricks on Jesus during His 40 days of fasting (Matt 4). Satan tempted Jesus by offering Him the world and relieving Him from His immediate afflictions. Ultimately, Satan’s trick was to push Jesus to give in to His human desires. Jesus was hungry, so Satan tempted Him to make bread. Jesus was tired, so Satan tempted Him to jump off the mountain He was on, instructing His angels catch Him. Satan knows that the most prominent thing leading us further from God is simply ourselves. We are rotten to the core (Rom 3). Ultimately, Satan knows that he doesn’t need to pull us to himself, he just needs to keep us away from Christ (Romans 8:8).
It’s prominent to note that Satan does not have any power over those who are in Christ. He can’t touch us (1 John 5:18), possess us (2 Cor 6:16), hurt us (1 Pet 1:5), or work things against us for evil (Rom 8:28) without first being sifted through our Fathers hand (Job 1:12). This is why he often tempts us by offering to us the things which we already desire. The inward struggle we see Paul expressing in Romans 7:19 is the same one Satan utilizes to push us into sin. “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want (NASB 1995).” At its core, being a follower of Christ is fighting against our natural, sinful desires. In this show, Tromperie offers to give Joli whatever she wants as long as she’ll bow down and worship him. However, Jesse is prepared to fight, reclaim his bride, and implement the fairytale ending that neither Joli, nor us, deserve.
Sleeping Beauty will be performed on April 6-9. Come to Spiritual Twist Productions and see this beautiful story of redemption, depicting the passion and forgiveness of Christ.