Interstellar: “A Tale of Two Gospels” – Gospel Two!

  Lessons From the Outer Limits:  Man Will Never Save Himself  – Part #8

 By Richard Allen – May 4, 2026

In several previous blogs in this series, I’ve stated that man just can’t help but revert to the ‘Gospel Story’ in some fashion – especially when it comes to both Sci-Fi Literature and Movies. C.S. Lewis made many of these same points in his book, “Mere Christianity,” stating that even in our fallen state – our consciences tell us that we are sinners, in desperate need of Salvation. Furthermore, most ‘storytellers’ are well aware that we ‘need someone to stand between us and a Holy God,’ so we invent ‘superheroes’ and other ‘saviors’ – all human cultures have done this for seven millenia. The fact that all men die at some point confirms that we are ‘temporal beings,’ not having ‘life within us.’ Like the people on earth in Interstellar, we know that our days are numbered – all because of the ‘blighted (cursed) ground,’ no longer yielding its fruit. We also know that we desperately need to escape condemnation from planet earth, and move to a habitable “New World” where there is no blight, death or destruction (sin) any longer. We  also long to continue living – fighting to stay alive on a dying planet – until we can be saved. These are all themes from Interstellar – making it more about ‘God’ and our need for ‘redemption’ than a Sci-Fi movie. In the movie, even the mission to find a suitable planet where we could dwell, was named the ‘Lazarus Project’ – after the Biblical character whom Jesus raised from the dead!  When Christopher Nolan made Interstellar in 2014, I was pleased that he never fully explained the cause of the ‘blight’ that was ravaging the earth. As Christians, we know exactly what caused this blight:  It was Adam’s sin – which also ruined the created world. Here’s how Paul explains it to the Romans:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

“For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children. For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay ^– the things that overcame the world against its will at God’s command – will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God’s children enjoy” (Romans 8:19-20).

The real ‘Blight” that has overcome our planet is from Man’s sin. And according to Paul, on the day that man is fully redeemed, the created world will also be liberated from sin and its devastation!  In the previous Blog we pointed out there was a mysterious ‘they,’ orchestrating all of the events that would lead Joe Cooper and the other remaining Astronaut, Dr. Amelia Brand, to finish the mission. They needed to find “A New Earth” – not damaged by the ‘corrupting blight – settle it with thousands of human embryos – and eventually transport other survivors to it. As Cooper boost launches Dr. Amelia Brand toward Edmunds’ planet in a ‘slingshot maneuver,’ at the last minute, Amelia realizes that Cooper is going to detach his shuttlecraft, stay behind and suffer certain death. Then Cooper quotes Newton’s Third Law: “If you want to get anywhere, you have to leave something behind.” Cooper and his robot,TARS, fall back into the ‘wormhole,’ with Joe fully expecting to sacrificially die. But the mysterious ‘they’ have other plans for him. As his shuttlecraft begins to fall apart, Joe Cooper is forced to ‘eject’ into space.

But instead of dying, he floats in the weightless atmosphere of the ‘wormhole’ into a Tesseract, a Five-Dimensional box-like hypercube that ‘they’ have created. The Tesseract appears to be ‘row upon row of Books’ – as seen from the back side!  As Joe descends through this strange reality, he realizes that it’s Murphy’s bedroom on the other side of the book shelves covering her wall. Still in radio communication with his robot, TARS, who is also in the “wormhole,” Joe asks TARS to analyze the quantum data of the Black Hole.  Joe is hoping the robot can learn and communicate the quantum physics that controls gravity – which TARS does. Joe drifts to several levels in the Tesseract, each level a stage in Murphy’s life. Seeing her, he interacts with her ‘through her book shelves!’  He realizes that he’s also viewing ‘all of the instances of weird phenomena’ Murphy experienced. But even more, it was Joe himself who was trying to communicate with her all those years ago! Loving and missing her with all his heart, Cooper now realizes that ‘He was her ghost,’ causing books to fall from her shelves.  And with the help of his robot, TARS sends Murphy ‘coordinates’ to the NASA facility in the dust on her floor. Joe realizes that ‘they’ used  the Tesseract to communicate. It served as a 5-dimensional library, cataloging all of Murphy’s life, because Joe was connected to her by a bond that could transcend Space and Time, Love! By sending adult Murphy the quantum data, she’s able to solve the problem of gravity, changing history for the people on planet earth – by sending this data to the second hand in Murphy’s watch as Morse Code.

Ironic as it may sound, the scenes of Joe Cooper in the Tesseract shows him up against this 5-Dimensional hypercube, creating numerous geometric images of ‘the cross.’ The picture above shows Joe Cooper in the middle of that cross – insinuating an ‘eerie’ picture of Christ on the cross at Calvary. After his final encounter as ‘Murphy’s ghost,’ Joe free-falls as the Tesseract hypercube  begins to disolve, having served its purpose.  As his oxygen is getting low in his space suit, he drifts into an exausted sleep – only to awake in a hospital bed. As he wakes, he’s amazed to find out he’s in a ‘Biosphere’ Space Station hospital. The young medical attendant lets him know that he is doing surprisingly well for someone 124 years of age. Cooper is also amazed to learn that he is at the “Cooper Space Station,” initially thinking it was named after him.

The young attendant corrects him, letting Joe know that it was named after his daughter, Murphy Cooper. Apparently there are many, many more ‘Biospheres’ throughout our Solar System with millions of inhabitants who were saved from our dying planet, earth. Cooper is also informed that his 103-year old daughter, who had been old and feeble was placed into cryo-sleep several years before, hoping to stem off death until Joe returned. Later, at their meeting, Joe asks her: “How did you know I would come back?”  Her answer was simple, yet Biblical: ‘Because my daddy promised me he would.’ It was Faith in the Father’s promise upon which she build her entire life!

It’s here that the movie Interstellar, steeped in the ‘rules of science and quantum physics’ takes a turn toward spiritual and metaphysical realities. It’s because of Joe’s Love for his daughter, Murphy, that he’s able to reach across the dimensions for both ‘Space and Time!’  Joe, like the mysterious ‘they’ appears to stand above time – like God. Since he is the “Christ” figure in the movie, this makes sense. Jesus, knowing that the Jewish people were skeptical of His claim to be the ‘eternal God’ tells them “Before Abraham was, I Am" (John 8:58). As the movie closes, Joe Cooper steals a ‘Spaceship,’ to return through the ‘worm hole’ and travel to Dr. Edmunds’ planet – to join Dr. Amelia Brand where Joe Cooper will “prepare a place for mankind on a New Earth” (John 14:3). Joe once again exhibits great Love for the world, even after giving up his life with a ‘Christ-like-self-sacrifical Love.’ Joe is still ready to risk all to bring mankind to a “New Earth” where the Blight (sin’s curse) no longer brings death. It’s Joe’s great Love that made Salvation from the curse a reality.  Even the music score, written by Hans Zimmer, is predominantly ‘church music,' which he had recorded at ‘Temple Church’ in London on a pipe organ. In a conversation earlier in the movie with Dr. Amelia Brand – Amelia observes that even with the barriers working against their mission – ‘space and time,’ there was something even more powerful, Love:

"Love is the one thing we're capable of that transcends the dimensions of time and space." – Dr. Amelia Brand (Interstellar)

This is the end of Gospel Number One, which mirrors the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all the ways I’ve observed. After watching multiple videos from principals and others involed with the ‘making of Interstellar,’ let me state that telling a ‘Gospel Story was not deliberate.' Neither Christopher Nolan nor any of the team of ‘atheists and unbelievers’ who collaborated to make Interstellar, would have agreed to such a message. Kip Thorn, a close friend of atheist physicist Carl Sagan, was the ‘science advisor’ on the set for Interstellar, ‘actually helped write the script.’ There was ‘never any intent’ to mirror the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  All of them honestly believed they were making a movie about 'science, black holes, time travel and the physics of outerspace travel.’  The only divergence from ‘science,’ was the cinnematic tribute to ‘Love.’  But the movie does have another ‘competing Gospel narrative’ that it’s also pushing: ‘Ultimately, Man will save himself!’  It's this Gospel Number Two that we need to examine closely. Joe’s understanding – especially after his experience in the Tesseract, broadened. His realization was that 'it's future mankind who was reaching back through time to save the human race!' An advanced version of mankind turns out to be the mysterious ‘they’ who opened up the 'wormhole' near the Planet Saturn, a trip well within man’s current capabilities of travel. This ‘they’ who  helped us survive, had advanced to the point whereby they had cutting-edge science and technology. The underlying message in this Gospel Number Two is: ‘Human effort will win out in the end, and we will save ourselves! While ascribing immense power to man’s capacity to ‘Love’ is a noble idea – it still doesn’t explain the metaphysical dimensions of this film. 

This film is about: Faith, Hope and Love.  But the questions are: “Faith in Whom?  Hope for What? And Whose Love will actually save us?  Those in ‘unbelief’ try in vain to ascribe all three to fallen man. But for believers in Jesus Christ – these three powerful elements can only come from a Holy, Loving God!  How ironic this is: “In trying to ascribe Salvation to man” through their story, they still end up mirroring the Gospel of the only one who can save us, Jesus!

Soli Deo Gloria!