Solyent Green is a 1973 science fiction movie about a nightmarish future world starring Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson. In this dystopian future, the oceans are dying, there is no more fresh food, no more animals, no more beauty. Edward G. Robinson’s character “Sol” is old enough to remember the world as it was but Heston’s character “Thorn” has no knowledge or experience of the world as it was.

In the most dramatic scene, Thorn experiences for the first time the world as it was and is overcome with emotion at the breathtaking beauty. On his deathbed, Sol reminds Thorn that he tried to tell him about the world that was now lost . . . and Heston, with tears in his eyes, says, “How could I know? How could I ever imagine?”

There are two theological points to this powerful scene:

1st) It reminds us of the indescribable beauty of this world, even though fallen.

2nd) It evokes the impossibility of imagining the world to come which makes this present world pale in comparison. In contrast to the world to come, this fallen world (as spectacular as it is) is a fallen dystopian world. We cannot possibly imagine the world to come.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9 reveals that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him” emphasizing that the future and the world to come are beyond our imagination. One day, like Thorn, we will be awestruck and speechless at the umimagineable beauty.