God Loves You More Than 3000

In my latest post This is the Endgame I had wrote about God’s final plan, and how Jesus defeats death. The question is why? We see in the bible that God has had a few times to wipe us out and start over. We have caused many issues for God, yet He never gives up on us. Why? Why set plans in motion to redeem us, when all we do is destroy this world, hurt people and even deny God?

Endgame Spoilers ahead.

In Avengers Endgame we see Iron Man make one last snap to destroy Thanos. Despite his rocky relationship with his fellow teammates, he gives it all he has to subdue his enemy. He knows that the snap severely injured Thanos and the Hulk and that he will not survive. Why did he do that?

After the events of Infinity War, all the remaining Avengers are at a loss as to how to bring back everyone who died in the snap. As a result, Tony Stark (Iron Man) has settled into home life with Pepper and together they have a daughter, Morgan. They have made this little family and been dealing with the loss of friends and family for 5 years now. They are moving on and making the best out of a terrible situation.

Ant-Man is released from the Phantom realm and goes straight to the Avengers with some thoughts of traveling back in time to fix the snap. Ant-Man, Black Widow, and Captain America rush to Tony’s cabin in the wood, asking for his technical support on this. At first, Tony says no, and explains that if they go back, then he loses his daughter.

Now at this point in the movie, I was already dealing with a lot of emotions. I like Iron Man to an extent, but I think he is a jerk, and I’ve had a very hard time relating to him in past movies, however, I’m a sucker for a jerk gone dad, and the first time in the whole span of the Marvel movies I relate to Tony on a heart level. I’m not sure that I could make an easy choice myself to sacrifice my 5-year-old daughter (my oldest, Savannah is 5 years old) for the greater good.

During one scene, Tony is up late dwelling over how he could save everyone and pull off the time heist without giving up the thing that he loves the most. Out of surprise, his daughter Morgan is awake scavenging for food or whatnot. They share a popsicle, and Tony puts Morgan to bed and says “I love you tons”. She replies “I love you 3000”.

This entire scene is adorable and sweet. As a father myself, I love my children more than than they can count. To a 5-year-old, 3000 is pretty much infinity. It makes my day when my children say this kinda stuff to me. My daughter has her rebellious moments and sometimes is a terror, and sometimes it breaks my heart when she says that she doesn’t like me,  but I love her just the same.

You see God has that same fatherly love, plus some! Sometimes, we are full of love, and joy, and praising God, and telling Him that we love Him 3000….and then there are the times we doubt Him, mock Him, and do everything in our power to try and break His heart, but God loves us anyway.

Forward to the end of the movie, to when Tony sacrifices himself to kill Thanos, and save the universe. All of the heroes and Tony’s loved ones, and yes, even the little boy, Harley (Ty Simpkins) that partnered up with him in Iron Man 3 are sad. They morn, they cry, and they try to process. After Tony’s funeral, Tony’s wife Pepper plays a video message that Tony filmed before he and the Avengers used the time travel machine. The video was to be played in case of Tony’s death, and Tony says

Everybody wants a happy ending. Right? But it doesn’t always roll that way. Maybe this time. I’m hoping if you play this back, it’s in celebration. I hope families are reunited, I hope we get it back and something like a normal version of the planet has been restored if there ever was such a thing. God, what a world. The universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren’t alone, let alone, you know, to this extent, I mean, I wouldn’t have been surprised, but come on, the epic forces of dark and light that have come in to play. And for better or worse, that’s the reality Morgan’s gonna have to find a way to grow up in. So I thought I better record a little greeting, in the case of an untimely death, on my part. I mean, not that death at any time isn’t untimely. This time travel thing we’re gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it’s got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. Then again that’s the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end. What am I even tripping for? Everything’s gonna work out exactly the way it’s supposed to.

(He then turns to Morgan and says)

I love you 3000

Morgan then holds back her tears and it is literally the saddest scene in the history of the MCU.

God loves to use more than 3000 that He became flesh, through Jesus to pay the price for us, so that we can be forgiven and saved from punishment. Jesus died in our place. Because He is a loving God, He provided the only way of escape.

No matter how many mistakes you’ve made, no matter how unworthy you think you are, He still loves you more than 3000 and wants you to come to know Him. If you do not yet know Him, won’t you accept God’s gift of love today? It’s been paid in full for you.