Yesterday, we were given some insight into the ‘schemes’ of our enemy. How can a Christian stand in the face of such an onslaught? What terrible lessons has Bunyan for us as we stand with Christian in this colossal warfare?
The Valley of Humiliation is aptly named. And it serves well the purpose of the Lord. It forces Christian to examine himself, to confront his failures, recognise his sin, and to accept that yes, his motives are mixed. Language has changed, and we might get closer to Bunyan’s point if we think of ‘humbling’, rather than ‘humiliation’, which today has connotations of degrading, mockery and loss of dignity. That isn’t what Bunyan intends, nor is it true to the Lord’s dealing with us. His design is to humble us in the sense of weaning us off our own self-reliance, and self-confidence, shattering our pride and independence, and drawing us deeper into trusting His work and wisdom, goodness and power alone. This is His purpose in taking Christian through the Valley - to take Christian out of himself.
Apollyon has different motives, and as he reads through his litany of sin and failure, his purpose is to shame and crush Christian. This is a useful insight to help us recognise the difference between conviction by the Holy Spirit and condemnation by the devil. Where am I being taken through this experience? What effect is it having on me? Is it taking me more deeply into myself in introspective shame, self-pity, and self-justification, or is it taking me out of myself, and into Christ and His Cross? There is a world of difference between humility and humiliation.
As Apollyon reminds him of his history, Christian is forced to acknowledge: ‘All this is true, and much more thou hast left out!’ And yet in spite of being wounded, giving ground and losing his sword, Christian is, in the final analysis, deemed victorious. The enduring power of the Pilgrim’s Progress is not just in what is taught, but in how. But the book’s greatest strength is also it greatest danger. We can be so overwhelmed by the analogy that we forget Bunyan is teaching us deep spiritual truths to equip us for our own fight. What are the lessons this old pastor would have us learn, that we too might be deemed victorious?
We have already reflected a little on the first lesson. Such times of trial as these come to us, not because we have wandered from the path, but precisely because we are on it. They are ordained by God as our way to the New Creation. Through such testing our faith is refined, strengthened and purified. The old pastors used to speak of such times as a ‘dark night of the soul’, or as the ‘eclipse of God’. They are not caused by our sin, or our having distanced ourselves from God through negligence, weakness, or our own deliberate fault. That immediately changes how we think and respond to the Valley, and all that happens there.
The second is that Christian is resolved to persevere. His intention is always to make progress in his pilgrimage. He reminds himself (and Apollyon) that he is on the King’s Highway, the way of holiness. He has a simple confidence - strengthened and honed by his time at the Beautiful Palace - that as he perseveres, the Lord is at work to preserve. He knows Faithful has already passed through this way. He knows his armour is sufficient for the task. he has been instructed in the art of spiritual warfare. His clinching insight is from Micah 7:8, Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Christian is imbued with a settled confidence that he will finish his pilgrimage to Zion. The Church has historically spoken of this as ‘assurance’, and it is well worth cultivating!
Perhaps most significantly, Christian has a relentless focus on Christ, rather than on himself. This resonates well with Paul’s imagery of putting on Christ in Eph.6. In battle, it is Christ who fights for us, albeit in our fighting. When Apollyon challenges Christian to consider the hardships and dangers that lie ahead, and the sacrifices demanded of those who have gone before him, Christian’s response is to celebrate Christ’s forbearance, to discern Christ’s purpose and to anticipate Christ’s deliverance. When Apollyon confronts Christian with his failure and sin, Christian’s response is to declare that ‘the Prince I serve and honour is merciful and ready to forgive’. When Apollyon sets himself as an obstacle, Christian reminds him that this is the ‘King’s Highway’. Christian learns to trust not to himself and his own efforts, or to rely on his own integrity as a Pilgrim, but to rely on Christ alone. In the aftermath of the battle, Christian has only praise for Christ: ‘I will here give thanks to him that delivered me out of the mouth of the lion, to Him that did help me against Apollyon…’.
Finally, Bunyan would have us realise that the key to victory rests in our grasp of Scripture. Christian is in most danger when the Sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God) is knocked from his hand… and he regains his ground and his victory when he ‘nimbly stretched out his hand for his sword and caught it…’. It is when Christian remembers and trusts in the truths taught in Scripture, that Apollyon is driven back so that he ‘spread forth his dragon wings and sped him away’. ‘In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us…’ (Rom.8:37).
Bunyan walks a fine line as he brings this iconic episode to a close. He is at pains to celebrate Christian’s victory, but he does not want to undermine the ferocity and reality of the dangers Christian has faced: ‘In this combat no man can imagine, unless he had seen and heard it as I did, what yelling and hideous roaring Apollyon made all the time of the fight. He spake like a dragon … ‘. On the other hand, he didn’t see Christian ‘all the while give so much as a pleasant look, till he perceived he had wounded Apollyon with the two-edged sword’. The reality of spiritual warfare is deadly and blood-earnest.
A Prayer for the Valley of Humiliation:
Sovereign Lord,
When the clouds of darkness and unbelief cover me, I see Thy purpose and love:
in withdrawing the Spirit that I might prize Him more…
in chastening me for my confidence in past successes…
in that my wound of secret godlessness might be cured.
Help me humble myself before Thee … by seeing:
that my heart is nothing but evil, my mind and life void of Thee
that sin and Satan are allowed power in me that I might know my sin, be humbled and gain strength thereby
that unbelief shuts Thee from me so that I sense not Thy power, majesty, mercy or love.
Then posess me, for Thou only art good and worthy.
Thou dost not play in convincing me of my sin; and Satan does not play in tempting me to it.
Let me never forget that the horror of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person it is committed against.
When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that while in myself I am dying, yet in Christ, I am reconciled, made alive, and satisfied … that in Him I can do all things, and that what I have in Christ now in part, I shall shortly have perfectly in heaven
Amen
…taken from The Valley of Vision, ‘Humiliation’
