Notice the Cross above their heads in the poster for the campaign? Also the sun directly behind Bill's head, which results in a halo? These features are no accident and were common elements of Christian art from ancient times to the present. This is foreshadowing in art. Jesus even when depicted as a baby or a child was shown with elements of his surroundings indicating the Cross and His Glory.

The Sacrifice campaign ends with the team of survivors on an elevated bridge being attacked by an endless horde of zombies and tanks. The bridge is rising leading to their escape but the generator conks out and someone must go to it to manually restart it or the zombies will surely overwhelm and kill all the survivors. However, the one who goes to restart the generator will be totally surrounded and certainly killed. It is a situation we find repeated in many places in literature, music, film, and games, such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and the country song Big Bad John by Jimmy Dean to give two classic examples. Take a look and by the end of this chapter in the guide you will understand how they are all copied from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.


These stories are fictional but all their power to move comes from the fact they are copied from the true and real-life original which is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross for the sins of the whole world. The Bible even says that He was foreordained to offer this sacrifice from the foundation of the world but manifest in these last times for us (1 Peter 1:19-21, Rev 13:8-9)...so He is literally The Original. And whereas Bill offered himself willingly to save his friends, and probably especially Zoey for whom he had fatherly care and concern, the Lord Jesus offered Himself for those who were yet His enemies, so that those who see His great Love and receive Him by believing on His Name might receive power to become the sons of God.

Interestingly, Zoey is the Greek word for life, and the New Testament of the Bible promises everlasting life, Zoen aionion:

"For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

I do not mean to suggest that God has favourites, as Bill favourited Zoey: the Bible plainly and repeatedly says that God is no respecter of persons. That means He does not play favourites but judges each man according to what he does. But the parallel is this: Jesus died not only for the sins of Christians but for the sins of the whole world. That includes people of other religions or no religion at all. People who believe that God exists and people who have no faith. Jesus died for us all (1 John 2:2). So He is the Saviour of all people but specially them that believe. In this way, Zoey is a picture of the believer, of whom God is specially Saviour (1 Tim 4:10).

And while Bill died to save his friends from physical death at the hands of zombies, Jesus died to save us from everlasting punishment after death as a consequence of our sins against God. This is an infinitely greater sacrifice addressing our deepest need as fallen (sinful) creatures.

And of course, though Bill (or Spock, or Big Bad John for that matter) died to save his friends, the other survivors will still one day die. He did not save them from the power of death but only from a single circumstance which would have caused their deaths. And now Bill, being dead, can do no more. And Jesus was dead and laid in a tomb but on the third day He rose from the dead and afterwards for 40 days appeared to His disciples and taught them, eating and drinking with them; on one occasion appearing to more than 500 men at one time, after which He ascended to Heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father, from whence He will come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead.

So because Jesus lives, those who believe in Him will live also, even if they die physically. Because He rose from the dead, we shall also rise from the dead. Not as zombies (as some have ignorantly said) but having our bodies changed into glorified spiritual bodies full of spiritual life fed by the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of Almighty God.

But if you imagine a survivor on the bridge refusing to benefit from Bill's sacrifice, what would happen to him? He would have to jump off the bridge, which was rising out of the reach of the zombies. And jumping down he would be swarmed by the enemies and killed. This is why it is so absolutely important for each of us to call upon the Name of the Lord in faith and receive the benefit of His sacrifice. Otherwise we are like that ex-survivor who jumps off the bridge into the endless horde--only the destruction we will suffer if we are without Christ is forever and irreversible.

One of the achievements that can be won on this campaign is called, "The Supreme Sacrifice", which of course refers to a character (canonically Bill) sacrificing himself for the team. It is Jesus who declared this act of self-sacrifice to be the supreme act of love a man can have:

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Every time I read this in the Bible, that no man has greater love than that he lay down his life for his friends, I am reminded that Christ laid down His life for those who were sinners and thus still His enemies because He is holy and righteous and without sin. So the love HE showed on the cross towards us is greater than the greatest love of any man. So WHO must this Jesus of Nazareth truly be?

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." 1 Tim 3:16

One thing I discovered while researching this guide is a comment on a youtube video playthrough of The Sacrifice:

The Name of God is invoked in connection with Bill's sacrifice which, though fictional, is a depiction of the greatest love a man can have. And the name of the commenter is Emmanuel, which means, God with us.

It is the very name describing the Christ as spoken by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before the Lord came from heaven (Isaiah 7:14).

"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." Matt 1:23

Nick is a very interesting character. It is my belief that he was raised in an evangelical home and environment but rebelled at some point and went in an opposite direction of selfishness and worldliness. Nick became a con-man in a dog-eat-dog world, but there are still traces of his evangelical upbringing such as when he gives pills to a companion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NB0B2VTVzA
He says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

He says it in a matter-of-fact way like he truly believes it. Of course, a con man's life is the very opposite of that saying. I don't know for sure that Nick was raised to be Christian, the saying could simply be an affectation, something he 'put on' in his former life to help him deceive people, but I find something about the way he says it to be heartwarming nonetheless--perhaps because when he says it he is actually practising it.

In any case, Nick is recalling the words of Jesus as recorded by the Apostle Paul in the following scripture:

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Acts 20:35

What is an Easter Egg? It is something hidden that is a wonderful surprise when found.

What is Easter? It is the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even His disciples were depressed and disheartened by His death, because they did not yet understand the saying He had said to them, that He should suffer and die and then rise again on the third day.

Jesus appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus, on the day He rose from the dead, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He walked with them and asked them why they were so downcast and sad-looking and they explained they were followers of Jesus and that he had been put to death, and they were discouraged because they had thought He would be the one to redeem Israel. And also, they said, today is the third day since He was crucified, and some of the women who were among their group had gone to the tomb and found it empty and seen a vision of angels who said that Jesus was alive. The disciples didn't know what to think. But Jesus said to them (though they still didn't recognize Him):

"Oh fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?" Luke 24:26

And the Lord began to open the scriptures starting with Moses and to show them how all these things were written about Him ahead of time. And the hearts of the disciples burned within them.

When they arrived at their destination, Jesus made as if to go on further but the disciples asked the man to stay with them and eat something because it was already getting late. So Jesus sat down and took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them, and when He did their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight.

Thus they discovered the Great Easter Egg, the wonderful surprise which they had not known but which now was revealed to them:

That Jesus is alive and has defeated death, hell, and the devil, and gives power to all who believe on His Name to become the sons of God.