A Quiet Place: The One Thing That is Missing

This article is a companion piece to Episode 14: A Quiet Place, of the Pop Culture Coram Deo Podcast. Stream below, or you can find the show on your favorite podcast platform: iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, acast, Player.FM, etc.

I loved John Krasinski’s movie A Quiet Place. I think it’s the best movie so far this year, and a top 10 scary movie of all time. I realize those are two big statements, but they’re true nonetheless :).

Yet, I have one thing against the movie; there is one thing missing, one unbelievable reality…

The one thing missing from this movie is an evil human. In most apocalyptic stories, humans set up armies, seek to survive at all costs, even taking the lives of other humans. But that’s not this movie. There’s not a single “evil human” in this movie. Granted, there are only seven living human characters from beginning to end in this movie. But, there is communication among the various families in the neighborhood, because it appears every night, the various families light a fire at specific times to let one another know they are okay.

Because A Quiet Place has no evil humans, it necessarily locates evil outside of humans. The assumption of the movie is that paradise, a type of Heaven, can be achieved if the monsters are destroyed. The movie gives the illusion that if the monsters are defeated, we can live happily ever after in this world. What this movies says is paradise is the world you and I live in today. Look around you friend, as good as this world is, it’s not paradise, not even close. There are no creatures trying to eat us, but man is killing man everyday. Image-bearers know what to do and refuse to do it, and have refused to do what is right continually throughout human history. Well, all except for one Man…

And that is the God-Man, Jesus Christ the righteous.

The gospel of Christ provides an eternal paradise similar to what is portrayed in this movie. This movie longs for familial safety; that’s glorified existence in this movie. But God provides something even greater! The church is an eternal family that will rule and reign for all eternity in a New Heavens and New Earth where a self-sacrificing King loves us forevermore. Christ offers an eternity of familial-closeness; He is the husband, we are the bride. God is the Father, and we are all brothers and sisters for all eternity, by the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father!

There are no monsters in Heaven because there is no sin there. There is no evil there because evil has been judged, and sinners have been redeemed and made new creatures in Christ.

What this movie misses is that monsters are real, but the monsters are you and I, not some other-worldly creatures. And Jesus Christ is the only One who can transform sinners into saints. He is the only one who can transform those in rebellion against God into glorious voluntary slaves of God. And praise be the God, Christ provides what A Quiet Place and this world cannot!  He is the only one who can provide eternal familial safety.

Will you repent and believe in Him? Come join God’s family!