Light of the World is a 2D animated film released by Salvation Poem Project, which is a non-profit studio that produces high-quality resources for ministries, missionaries, and fellow believers. Their projects are distributed in twenty-five countries and are translated into nearly one hundred different languages. Better yet, many of their products are distributed freely to share the gospel and to tell His story.
Their latest project Light of the World was several years in the making with a budget of 20 million dollars. While that sounds like a lot, that's a fraction of the cost of animated films made by AAA studios. The end result is amazing. The animation, storytelling, and voice acting are all top notch.
Light of the World takes place in 30AD just as Jesus is about to start his ministry. A young John is trying to help his parents who are struggling to pay their taxes. When being sent to do a simple errand, he comes back short on the funds needed to settle their account. As a result, his father and brother need to do more fishing to make up the difference. Sadly, the fish don't seem to be biting.
John's mother used to tell him about the coming Messiah, but his father didn't think he would be coming during their lifetime. When John heard rumors that the Messiah was here, he began looking for Jesus in hopes that He could help his parents with their debt.
The only problem is that John doesn't know what Jesus looks like. Throughout his search, he meets a friendly carpenter and chatted with him a couple of times. It wasn't until the wedding where Jesus turned water into wine that John figured out that He was the Messiah. After that miracle, John became a follower of Jesus. John got to witness many more wonders and Jesus' baptism. He also was there for Jesus' crucifixion and saw His resurrected form.
I was concerned with how the crucifixion would be handled, but it was very well done. The amount of blood shown was enough to get the point across without going into excess. Multiple times in this film I was moved to tears with how powerful and awe-inspiring Jesus's acts of obedience (baptism, crucifixion) were depicted. I love how Hebrew text is woven into the artwork as well.
Light of the World is an excellent ministry tool that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. I look forward to more projects from Salvation Poem Project.