Bunyan isn’t ready to have Christian leave the Beautiful Palace yet. He has much more to teach us about the place of Church and Fellowship in the experience of a Pilgrim. There are at least 5 other dynamics of Church life for a Pilgrim to enjoy.
The first is at a table. It is unclear exactly what Bunyan has in mind. Does he intend to portray a Church family sharing life and enjoying a meal together, feasting while ‘all their talk at the table was about the Lord’? This is the very least that is conveyed, and blessed is the Church family that has such moments built into its life together (Acts 2:46). Others have wondered if Bunyan has something more specific in mind: the Church gathering at the Lord’s table for Communion? One scholar suggests: The meal at Palace Beautiful represents the fellowship that believers share together in Christ, especially in the regular observance of the Lord's Supper. Certainly the focus of the conversation is on Christ’s humbling Himself, and being obedient, even to death on a cross… If this was Bunyan’s intention, it would answer one of the most commonly voiced concerns about the Pilgrim’s Progress: it’s almost total lack of reference to the Sacraments (Baptism and Communion) which are so necessary for us in our pilgrimage.
The second is Peace & Refreshment. Our communion with the saints should leave us feeling re-assured, and confident in our discipleship, and at rest with God and His people. Many of Paul’s letters to the Churches begin with reference to peace, and our association with the people of God should leave us feeling refreshed. Our attempts to find rest without reference to the Church would have struck Bunyan as odd. And our loss of the Lord’s Day as a Day of Rest, in which we make the time for sustained fellowship with Church family would have grieved him. He would have seen that as something that weakened us in our pilgrimage.
Third is the teaching and preaching ministry of the Church. Unsurprisingly, this is rooted in the Scriptures, the ‘records of greatest antiquity’ that hold forth Jesus as Lord. Being taught from Scripture, by the Spirit, has already been a feature of Christian’s pilgrimage (at the House of the Interpreter), and here again Christian is told he must not depart till he has been taught from the recorded acts of Christ. But Bunyan also thinks that the history of the Church since the Apostles is worthy of our ‘study’. This is disputed, and some readers of Pilgrim’s Progress think Bunyan history Christian studies here is reference to the Acts of the Apostles. I’m not so sure. Bunyan has Christian exposed to ‘things ancient and modern’ which suggests something more contemporary. Bunyan believed that the persecution of the Church through the ages (which he was experiencing in a very direct way as he wrote in his prison cell) was prophetically anticipated in the Scriptures; and as Christians we are encouraged and instructed through the lives of those who have walked the narrow path before us.
The next day, Christian is lead to the armoury. It might surprise us that this Palace of rest, and peace, fellowship and teaching is also a house of war. But the militant aspect of pilgrimage, our fight against sin, the world and devil, is one Bunyan is about to give some attention to. Christian isn’t yet armed, but he is shown ‘the weapons of our warfare’ (II Cor.10:4), begins to be instructed in their use, and is re-assured of the victories His Lord has wrought through them.
And still he is not allowed to leave. Christian’s impatience to go forth is noteworthy, but dangerous. This is a common mistake made by us pilgrims. We think we know more than we do, that we have made more progress than we have, that we are more ready to face the dangers of discipeship than we are. ‘They desired him to stay till the next day also…’, and mercifully he consented. As a result, he is granted a vision of the ‘Delectable Mountains’. ‘They said it was Immanuel’s Land; and it is as common, said they, as this hill is, to and for all the pilgrims’. Christian is encouraged by a vision of a more mature discipleship, the promise of deepening intimacy with God, joy and growing delight in our King.
Whilst Christian is almost ready to press on, Bunyan isn’t suggesting that we can leave any of this behind. We never outgrow our need of, or our delight in, the Church’s ministry to us. These are consistent features in the life of any ‘Christian’ and to the extent we leave them behind, we fall behind on our pilgrimage.
Questions to ponder:
To what extent do you prioritise worship and fellowship with the Chruch on the Lord’s Day? How could you re-arrange your diary to give these things the precedence they should have?
How are you shaping your vision of what a more mature experience of being a Christian might look like? How are you making sure you grown into that vision?
