Finding Christian Symbolism in the Matrix

Most would say that the movie "The Matrix" is one of the best movies of all time, or at least one of the best Sci-Fi movies. Here are some interesting paralells between characters in the Matrix and the Bible. Neo in "The Matrix" was meant to represent Jesus, as the Savior of all mankind. He was a Christ-figure. Cipher, who betrays Morpheus and Neo, is supposed to represent Judas Iscariot. Judas betrayed Jesus for money, silver, and Cipher also does it for money. Morpheus represents God the Father. The crew on the ship represent Jesus' disciples. Trinity possibly represents the Holy Spirit, in that she is always helping Neo, as the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus when he was on earth. Here are more interesting allusions to the Bible in "The Matrix."



Steps

1. Notice that Neo at the beginning of the movie represents a Christian before they become a Christian and they get "eyes to see," as the Bible puts it. Neo does not become "Jesus" per se until he believes in himself. At the beginning he is like an atheist, then he is like someone who is searching for the truth but is still filled with doubt and does not have faith yet. After he comes into the real world it is like he is a believer, but still a baby Christian, which is why he reacts to the truth in frustration at first. Finally, at the end of the movie, he gets it. He understands and finally sees the power within him, which in Christianity we would say is the Holy Spirit.

2. Understand that there is a theme of a rebirth in "The Matrix," just like the Bible talks about. It is often raining at the beginning of the movie. This could represent what our lives are like in sin, when we are slaves to sin before Christ regenerates us. Also, when he wakes up in his strange liquid soup he notices that he is bound by cords; this could represent how we are slaves to sin before Christ, as Paul talks about.
Neo then is released from all the cords, the bondage, and flushed down a tube naked, which looks a lot like a birth. I think this is to represent that he is being reborn, spiritually reborn, as Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be. This is when we die to ourselves and come alive in Christ.

Neo still has the plugs on his body the rest of the movie in the real world, which could represent that our past sin still affects us. Just because we are a new creature in Christ, we cannot forget old memories or old sins. We cannot forget the way things used to be when we were of the world.
3. See that the moment when Neo takes the red pill is to represent his "conversion" and baptism. Neo taking the pill is like a baptism, a physical way that we show our faith. It is the turning point in the movie and in our lives. It is when we decide that we will take things seriously from now on. We will take God seriously. It is when we decided that we really do want to see the truth, as Neo did in the movie.

4. Notice that Morpheus comments on Neo's ability to see, which is to represent his spiritual sight. When Neo is brought into the real world he is on the table getting acupuncture. He hears Morpheus and opens his eyes but asks, "Why do my eyes hurt?" Morpheus says, "Because you've never used them before." Aka. You have been blind, but now you see.
He was spiritually blind before. He was walking in darkness. But once he decided to take the red pill, to see the truth, his eyes were opened for the first time so that he could see the truth, he could see everything.
5. Understand that the agents in "The Matrix" are meant to represent demons and spiritual warfare. When Neo first woke up in his cage, his womb like capsule, he looks around and sees the fields of human beings in capsules, in cages. He sees for the first time reality as it really is, that things are not as they seem. All of them aren't really walking around in the world, hanging out with friends. In reality they are in bondage, just as the majority of our world is, since Satan is "the ruler of this world," as the Bible says.
Neo sees for the first time, that all humans are merely energy slaves for the computer, and the computer is playing games with their minds, hypnotizing them, so that they will not wake up and see reality for what it really is. This is like 2 Cor. 4:4, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ." The people in the matrix, like most of the people in our world, cannot see the hidden spiritual realm. They do not have eyes to see, because Satan has "blinded their minds." He sees that humans are being used as slaves, just like we are slaves to sin before God saves us through our faith in Jesus and regenerates our minds and spirits.

At one point Morpheus says to Neo, "They're watching you Neo." He was talking about the computer, the agents. The agents are supposed to represent the principalities of evil spirits that we have on this earth, which is Satan and his demons. Satan is watching us, trying to figure out when he can attack us. As the Bible says, "The devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour."

When Neo has his first meeting in the room with the agents, this could represent Jesus' temptations by Satan in the wilderness in the Bible. An agent tells Neo that his slate can be wiped clean if he will just turn in Morpheus. Likewise, Satan tempted Jesus with power etc. if he would just worship him, Satan, instead of God. Neo, like Jesus, refuses the temptations, the supposed easy way out. Jesus quotes scripture to counteract the temptations of Satan. Neo brings up his phone call, which is how he had been communicating with Morpheus. Both value their connection to the Father, as Morpheus is to represent God the Father, more than what the agents or Satan can offer them.
6. See that Morpheus is meant to represent God the Father in "The Matrix." The root word of his name would be morph, so the ability to morph into different things. God is three in one. He is at the same time one person, but he is also three, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
Neo is supposed to represent Jesus, the son of God, and Morpheus, his spiritual father, trains him. This could also be seen as Neo being a disciple of Morpheus.

Lastly, Trinity is supposed to represent the Holy Spirit. She believes in Neo, the one, the Christ figure. She supports him, just as the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus when he was on earth. And she and Neo are in subjection to Morpheus, as Jesus and the Holy Spirit are in subjection to God the Father.
7. Recognize that Neo in the movie is supposed to represent Jesus in his second coming. When Neo wakes up the first time in the real world, Morpheus told him of a man born inside the Matrix who was smarter and realized that he could break the rules of the Matrix. He saved the first of them and started the city of Zion. This describes what Jesus did in his first coming. He broke the rules of nature by performing miracles and raising from the dead. He saved many and founded the first "city of God," being the early church. He freed his disciples and they freed many more, from Satan, from the Matrix that blinds most of our own world.

8. Notice that Morpheus believes that Neo is the fulfillment of a prophecy, just as Jesus was. It was prophesied that a man would return and save mankind. Morpheus believes that person, the one, is Neo. Neo's name means "new, revived, modified." Neo is supposed to be Jesus at his second coming, where he will ride onto our earth as a conquering hero on a white horse. This is what Revelation prophesies, that Jesus will throw Satan in the dungeon and take his people home to be with him. According to Christianity however, this will not be the whole world that he will save, but only those who have put their faith in him, Jesus.

9. Notice when Morpheus fights Neo in Kung Fu, he is being trained, which is like when Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. Jesus was being trained in his time of fasting to deny himself. He was God, yes, but he was fully man as well. Therefore he had all the desires and temptations that we all face. He never sinned, but this time of fasting was a time where Jesus most likely began to gain control over his human body and to increase his faith, that it was God who sustains him as a human being, not food.
Fasting does that. It makes us die to ourselves and increases our faith. It challenges us, just like Morpheus did in the fight with Neo. It makes us become the best person we can become. It helps us to die to ourselves, to die to the flesh, and walk better in the Spirit. It increases our faith, as Morpheus tried to do in the jump training program with Neo.

Morpheus told him "free your mind" when they were on the roof about to jump. He meant that he needed to free his mind of any pre-conceptions about how the world works. Neo had to take away any thoughts that might hinder his faith, just as we need to do constantly, if he was going to fly.
10. Recognize that Neo could bend the laws of nature just like Jesus did when He was here. When Morpheus fights Neo he explains that some of the rules in the Matrix could be broken. This is like how Jesus broke the laws of nature when he did miracles. He rose the dead, made the blind see, healed the lame etc. He broke the physical law of entropy; that everything tends toward disorder, just as Morpheus broke the law of gravity when he flew across the roof tops. Neo went on to break natural laws when he was dodging bullets from the agents.
Jesus made things better, rather than allowing things to become worse, as they naturally do left to themselves. He inserted his power to change the natural order of things. The jump program is also like the verse, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains." If Neo had faith as small as a mustard seed, he could have jumped, or flew, across the roof tops, but he didn't, at least not yet.
11. Notice that the crew on the ship are like Jesus' disciples, with Cypher being like Judas Iscariot. The crew had been trained by Morpheus, as we are trained by God the Father. They were united as one, except for one mole on the inside, the betrayer, Cipher.
Cipher's name is interesting. A cypher is a code, a secret, a puzzle, or an enigma. Cipher acted one way but really was another. Just as Judas acted like he was one of Jesus' disciples but ended up betraying Jesus n the end. He was a puzzle. He appeared one way but really was another. He was wearing a mask, a façade.

In the movie, Cipher coughs when they are in the walls, which is how the agents could spot where they were. This is like when Judas kissed Jesus to reveal who he was to betray him.
12. Notice that Neo comes back to life at the end of the movie, just as Jesus rose from the dead. At the end, Neo is shot several times and seems to die, but then he raises from the dead just as Jesus did, and Neo becomes far more powerful than before. He defeats death and therefore is able to defeat the machines, just as the Bible says Jesus made a public spectacle of Satan and the evil forces when he rose from the dead. Amen. Jesus showed himself and proved to be more powerful than death and Satan, just as Neo proved himself to be most powerful, "the one," in the end.



Tips


You can find many more movies with Christian allegories if you really look for them.