#LION #OF #JUDAH #MOVIE #REVIEW

Animated Christian Movie- Lion of Judah- reveals cross to kids

Christian Movie, Christian Film, Kids Movie, Kids Film, Christian Animated Movie, Lion of Judah

The Lion of Judah, not your average Kids Film- Sierra White

Visit the official Lion of Judah Movie website at http://lionofjudahthemovie.com/

“The Lion of Judah”- movie review- This Christian movie is centered around a group of animals that live in the stable where Jesus was born.  These animals were present when Jesus was born and meet Him (the King) and the movie is set 33 years later around the time when Jesus will die on the Cross.

I went into this movie not expecting much, not even expecting to enjoy it. I’ve seen other “Christian” kids movies and they normally bore me but the Lion of Judah is my exception. This movie is PACKED with lessons on respect, trust, honor and truth.  However, the main point is to teach children about Christ’s love for them and His death on the cross. Children and parents alike will walk away from this movie having learned something.

In the movie there is a little lamb named Judah. Judah is a young, rambunctious lamb who has been taken from his mother in order to be sold in the market as a sacrificial lamb to pay the price for mans sins. As Judah is being taken away his mother his mother tells him that he has a specific purpose and he was born to set people free! She tells him he was born a perfect lamb. They don’t know it but Judah was born to be a sacrificial lamb, to pay the price for sin. However, just before he is to be sacrificed he is set free by Jesus’ death on the cross.

There is a donkey named Jack who has been treated as a work animal for years. He has scars on his neck from being yanked around by ropes, he has been abused and he even says that he doesn’t have a heart any longer that his ropes have become his life. The other animals begin to tell him about Jesus, the true King, and that Jesus has the power to free Jack from his ropes and his slave life. They tell Jack that all it takes is one look in Jesus’ eyes to fall in love with Him. Jack scoffs at them and the next day he is taken from Jerusalem, dragged by ropes and is given to a man outside the city who is dressed in white. This man is Jesus and Jesus begins to show Jack love. He releases Jack from his ropes and as Jesus loves Jack, Jack accepts His love and ends up being the donkey that Jesus rides into Jerusalem as the people wave palm branches and shout, “Hosanna!”. Jack is freed by Jesus’ love and He is able to love others because He knows how much Jesus loves Him.

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The last 40 minutes of this movie were especially profound. The animals are being held in cages in the temple, they are being sold. As they are in their cages and tied up all of them firmly believe that the King (Jesus) will be coming for them any minute to save them and set them free. I watched as Jesus came into the temple where all the animals are being held, sold and bartered. Jesus comes in and becomes visibly angry.  He yells, “My house will be called a house of prayer, you have turned it into a den of thieves”. (Matthew 21:13) Jesus begins to overturn the tables and release all the animals proving to them that He cares about them and has freed them. However, Judah has been bought and taken away to be sacrificed.

As the animals are working to save Judah from being killed, we see glimpses of Jesus carrying His cross through the streets of Jerusalem. We watch as the animals are all shocked to see the King being taken to die, and they don’t understand how the people could do this to someone so kind and so innocent.

As I watched Jesus walking through the streets I was thinking about how God loved us so much He was willing to send His son, the person He loved the most, to earth to die and free us from the ropes/cages of sin and death. I was watching this movie with my 4 year old sister Katie who was constantly asking me to explain things, which was great! I had opportunity after opportunity to talk with her about Jesus and why He died on the Cross for us.

As we watched Jesus dragging His cross through the streets Katie asked me, “Why does he have spikes on His head and why does He have to pull a cross with Him?” I explained to her why Jesus had to die, and why He let the people treat Him so badly. I explained to Katie about how God loves us so much that Jesus came to show His love by giving His life up so that we could be in Heaven forever.  This movie opens lots of doors for conversations with your kids.

At the end of the movie Jesus has been taken to be buried and Judah the lamb will not accept that He is dead for good, even though all the “grown up” animals insist Jesus is not coming back, that He is dead. Judah’s childlike faith in the King helps Him believe that Jesus will walk out of the grave and when Jesus does come out Judah leaps into His arms knowing that Jesus loves Him.

There were parts of this movie that made me look at the Christ sacrifice in new, powerful ways. At one point Judah is in the temple, tied up, on the alter as a Priest stands over him about to sacrifice him when the earth quakes and the veil in the temple splits down the middle and Judah is sent flying off the alter and is freed from his ropes.

Towards the end of the movie, while the animals are waiting with Judah for Jesus to rise from the dead, Judah tells the animals that He knows that it was Jesus’ love that set Him free from being sacrificed, it was Jesus’ love that tore the veil in the temple. It was Jesus’ love that has freed them all. It was Jesus’ love that freed Jack from his slave life and His ropes. As I heard this little speech I began to tear up. I began to realize that God’s love is just so big and so wide that He can even use a kid’s movie to move a “grown up” heart.

“The Lion of Judah” is such a powerful tool for parents to teach their children about Gods love, Jesus’ death on the Cross and the power of childlike faith. This movie is not only a great tool for parents to use but also for Sunday School teachers, VBS leaders and anyone involved in Children’s Ministry. This movie is so powerful even my 4 year old sister sat in awe of God’s love for a moment after the movie was over. She was in amazement that God loved her so much. As a parent you can use Lion of Judah to your advantage. Take your kids to see it in theaters and then talk about it with them after. Ask them what they liked, what they learned and explain to them the message of the Cross.

“The Lion of Judah” will be sure to engage your child while teaching their brain and pouring the love of God into their hearts. Most animated movies these days are just mindless fluff, nothing to really teach your child and most of those movies usually have questionable content. “The Lion of  Judah” has nothing in it that is questionable or negative. It has no rude/crude language like a lot of kids movies these days and has a lesson at the heart of  it. This movie is definitely one you want to take your kids to see and one you will want to add to your families DVD collection.