'The Stronghold of the Chosen' Challenged Author Amanda Jenkins to Find Safety in Her Faith

Author Amanda Jenkins. Photo Credit: Crossmap
So many times, throughout the first four seasons of The Chosen, we have seen Jesus portrayed as a warm, comforting presence, someone to look to for encouragement and stability. But in Season 5, we see a change. Still a steadying inspirational presence, the man who will ultimately go to the Cross for humanity, becomes a place of safety to mankind, providing security, rest, and restoration to all those who believe in Him.

It is those precepts that provide the foundation of The Stronghold of the Chosen, the Season 5 companion Bible study where readers will learn that Jesus is our safe place. Authored by Amanda Jenkins and Dr. Douglas Huffman, this edifying yet practical 144-page tome provides clear evidence that Jesus is our refuge in hard times and that we should turn inward toward Him, allowing the safety and security He provides.

I recently sat down with Jenkins, who is the wife of The Chosen director Dallas Jenkins, to discuss the intrinsic value of having a stronghold, something new she learned about Jesus while writing this book, and where The Chosen lands theologically along denominational lines.

For the sake of our conversation, how would you explain what a stronghold is?

We went back and looked at real strongholds. We looked at physical, mountainous strongholds and how they used to be used by retreating armies or entire cities where they would go if they were being attacked. They would go and hide in the cleft of this mountain. And some of these places actually had built-in rooms and essentially cities inside of mountains where they would be able to retreat to for strength, for protection, and for rest. That is a picture of when we actually apply that to Jesus as our stronghold. Is He a place we can retreat to? Is He a place who gives us rest? Is He a place where we can go when we're afraid? How does that cause Him to be our hope? When things practically go wrong in my life, do I actually retreat to the Lord? Do I actually feel like He's my safe place? Or do I feel like I have to fix it myself? These are things that we had to struggle through on our own as we were writing. I did a lot of learning on this one.

I’m glad you mentioned that. For me anyway, this is a book/Bible study about where we run when life gets hard. That’s a tough concept for many. Who wants to constantly be running through life to find a safe zone, or safe place? How do you address this topic in the book?

We really do go verse by verse. As we watch Jesus enter into the city and we watch how the people are, the people are calling Him Hosanna and what that means. We almost take it apart, the names or the qualities of Jesus, we go through one by one and determine why those things are trustworthy and how they're relevant. I think that when you are at a time in your life, or when the world is at a time when it just feels like things are chaotic, I'm not sure we're ever not in a place where we need a safe place to run to. I think more often than not, we're struggling with something. And so the notion of His character, His qualities, and why those things offer hope instead of our own resources, is a pretty common experience and a common need that we all have.

What is one thing about Jesus that you never knew before but learned while working specifically on this Bible study project, The Stronghold of The Chosen?

I think the concept of hope is hard, because what are we hoping for? Not all of us always want to hope in heaven. Of course, we all hope in heaven. We hope that things are going to be better someday. But for now, what does that actually mean? And as I was struggling through something in the last year, I really felt God impressed on me alongside this concept of stronghold and hoping, what does that look like now? Where Jesus said, “If you knew the whole plan, you would agree with it.” And I thought, that's true. If I knew the whole plan, I would agree with it. My faith is big enough to know that's true. Right? And I started to hope because it just put into perspective that I don't need to know the whole plan. We see in Season 5, as Jesus enters the city, everybody's praising and everybody's yelling, “Hosanna.” And very quickly within the week, He's been arrested, tried, crucified, and the disciples surely were confused. And in that moment, they had no hope.

But if they had known the whole plan, they would have agreed with it. And there's something so mercifully restful in that. That is what a stronghold is. It's where you go for rest. Why? Because He knows the whole plan. He's a safe place because He sees the beginning from the end. He can be trusted with the plan, that He works all things together for good. All those things are true. And so, all of a sudden, I'm starting to understand why there's hope in this moment in His plan, whether there's hope in His character in this moment, not just for heaven, not just for someday, but for right now. It's really been life-changing for me, as we continue to struggle our way through the things our family struggles through, whether it's chronic illness or whatever it is at the time. It’s been hope filled and I'm finding new ways of just resting in His knowledge and character.

Changing gears, people ask me a lot about what denominational doctrine does The Chosen ascribe too. My thought is that it is evangelical yet non-denominational. What are your thoughts?

That's where we are. Dallas and I were raised as evangelical protestants. We both went to Bible college. I would say in making the show, some of those titles have become less and less important to us. We're trying to not fall into denominational lines. A lot of people want us to. People really are comfortable with those columns. But Jesus gathered people to himself. Jesus welcomed everyone. We're trying to gather people to Jesus, and we're trying to let Him sort it out. Some of the infighting that Christians are really bent on, I am too, but are really bent on, is that we want our theology to be good. We want to be trustworthy in how we're stewarding people and teaching the Bible in our Bible studies. We're less interested in the labels.

After people have had a chance to read and take part in The Stronghold of the Chosen what would you like readers to take away from that experience? What is your greatest hope for the book?

I would love to see greater peace in the midst of storms. In the end, I want to meet people in their suffering, their struggle, and in their questions. The way that God has met me.

TO PURCHASE THE STRONGHOLD OF THE CHOSEN: AN INTERACTIVE BIBLE STUDY, SEASON 5: