The Valley of the Shadow of Death

Apollyon flees, but Christian is not yet out of trouble. As he struggles out of the Valley of Humiliation, he falls into another, the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Again, Bunyan is at pains to point out that this experience is part of the Pilgrimage, ‘Christian must needs go through it, because the way to the Celestial City lay through the midst of it’. He meets others who refuse to go through this howling wilderness. The Narrow Path through the Valley is boundaried by a deep dtich on one side, and a dangerous quagmire on the other… But most troubling of all, it passes dangerously close to the ‘mouth of hell’. He is confused and uncertain, wonders about turning back. He is surrounded by the cries of the lost, and all manner of fell and demonic creatures. It is a disturbing and ambiguous set of images, and one that many feel should be left in the 1660s. Indeed, if you have a more modern (abridged) edition of Pilgrim’s Progress, this section may well be left out.

But what are we to make of it? Surely this can’t be part of a Christian’s experience? Bunyan thinks otherwise, though I have to be honest and say that there is some uncertainty about exactly what spiritual dynamic he is seeking to capture in this disturbing imagery. My own opinion is that Christian is having to confront the twin realities of Judgement, and of his own mortality. Both are disturbing, and both are necessary. A Christian who will not face these, will not make progress.

In terms of our own mortality, the Bible is replete with examples of our being called to number our days, and to come to terms with the fact that one day we will die. This is the road to wisdom (Ps.90:12). ‘Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is’ (Ps.39:4). To truly confront the inevitabilty of our own demise is a profund spiritual experience, and one that is difficult to cultivate in our cultural climate.

And with it, we must come to terms with the reality of Judgement. In the Bible this is linked closely with death. It isn’t so much the reality of our own judgement that Bunyan has in mind (though Christians will experience certain aspects of that Day, I Cor.3:11-15, I Pet.1:17 etc.). We have no fear of hell and condemnation if we are in Christ. It is more the reality of Judgement per se. Our propensity to either functionally ignore, or to openly call into question Jesus’ and the Apostles’ teaching about Judgement is both spiritually immature, and further ensnares us in spiritual immaturity. Until we have reconciled ourselves to God’s justice, goodness and wisdom in condemning the wicked, we are impoverished in our capacity for worship, and significant aspects of our own discipleship will be hopelessly hindered.

Facing these cosmic realities can be profoundly destablising, and can only be done in an atmosphere of prayer and devotion (he … betake to himself another weapon, All-Prayer'). It is worth noting in passing that Faithful passes through this Valley with much greater ease. But once he has made it through, Christian, discerns the wisdom of God in leading him through ‘this disconsolate condition some considerable time’.

He was able to recognise that others were in this Valley as well as himself, and that God was with them. Bunyan is suggesting that in our prayerfully wrestling to come to terms with these colossal truths, we are in an arena in which we can meet with the Lord in deep and compelling ways, and grow in fellowhsip with others who have confronted these same issues before us.

For part of the journey it may feel that God is absent, and that we are isolated from other Christians. And in the midst of our trials, we are tempted to think erroneously (thus being blind, we are lead by the blind into the ditch), or despairingly of God (and thus be lead into the quagmire). Indeed we are tempted to think in outright ‘blasphemous’ ways about Him. Yet our persevering brings us safely at last to ‘the light of day’.

We realise that God ‘reveals deep things in the darkness’ and indeed ‘brings light out of the shadow of death’.

Questions to ponder:

How can you come to terms with the reality of your own death? Have you done this yet? How has it shaped your pilgrimage?

Are you reconciled with the goodness and justice of God in His judging the world? Can you articulate your conerns, anxieties or disagreements?

What ‘blasphemous’ thoughts about God might we be tempted to entertain as we consider these things? How can we guard ourselves against them?

…and here’s an idea if you are struggling:

Read through Matthew’s Gospel. What does Jesus teach about these matters?

Fight the Good Fight

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’

Into the Valley we must go...

Following seasons of spiritual blessing or triumph, we can often find ourselves in times of particular vulnerability. Such seasons are part of our pilgrimage, and come to us in the providence of our God. Testing and trial are the path to spiritual maturity. As Bunyan writes elsewhere, ‘I hear there are lands where the harvest is poor because they have no winters’. One of the most important things to realise is that it is the Narrow Path that Christian has been instructed to follow that leads him through the Valley of Humiliation. Sometimes we meet problems and opposition on the way as a result of our sin… other times as a result of the Lord’s will, and it takes great wisdom to discern which is which.

Bunyan gives us some clues: Christian is told of other another pilgrim who has passed through the same Valley, who is tellingly named Faithful; he is accompanied by others (Discretion, Piety, Charity and Prudence) who encourage Christian and whose counsel is designed to strengthen him for the trials ahead; he is given sustenance by them; he is pre-emptively warned of the dangers of this part of the journey; he has been taught how to fight and to secure victory. Through the testing that lies ahead, Christian will grow, and make progress in his pilgrimage. There is also the question of timing. It is important to remember that early on in his pilgrimage, when Christian is spiritually immature, he is protected from his enemy. Goodwill had pulled him in through the Gate, so that he wouldn’t be exposed to the arrows shot from Beelzebub’s Castle. Christian is not exposed to such testing until the Lord knows he is ready.

‘So he went on, and Apollyon met him’. It is, initially, a war of words - indeed it is one of the longest dialogue sections in the whole book, which is telling in itself. Apollyon is aptly named; Destroyer (Rev.9:11). There is no real subtlety about his purpose. He seeks to ruin Christian’s faith, and to bring ruin to his pilgrimage. He seeks to do so by first calling into question the validity of Christian’s conversion at all, reminding Christian of where he came from and claiming he still has jurisdiction. He seeks to bribe, promising all this world can give if he will simply desist his pilgrimage; he makes sure Christian is aware of others who have started out on the Narrow Way before turning aside, hoping to undermine Christian’s faith by the hypocrisy of others. He threatens Christian with the hardships that lie ahead should he press on, the prospect of rejection, suffering, loss and possibly even martyrdom; he assaults Christian’s confidence by questioning his motives and by reminding him of how often has already failed in his discipleship, calling into question whether Christ would still own him.

And when all these schemes and strategies failed, Apollyon ‘broke out into a grievous rage’. When such diabolical reasoning proves insufficient to his purpose, the Destroyer turns to less sophisticated methods: Brute force, bullying and intimidation. Temptation to sin (the flaming darts), and threat of physical harm (‘…prepare thyself to die’). Christian is wounded in his head, hand and foot. He gives back a little. The combat is relentless and protracted. Toward the end, ‘Christian was almost quite spent … and by reason of his wounds must needs grow weaker and weaker’.

But the moment when Christian is in most danger is when during ‘a dreadful fall … Christian’s sword flew out of hand. Then Apollyon said, I am sure of thee now. And with that he had almost pressed him to death; so that Christian began to despair of life…’.

Remember that the sword represents the Word of God. As soon as the Destroyer of our souls can cause us to lose our grip on Scripture - to remain ignorant of it, to forget it, to doubt and disbelieve it, to be critical or dismissive of it, to stand in judgement on it - he is on the verge of achieving his ends.

How can Christian stand?

A Prayer for time of battle:

O Lord my God, you are my fortress, my refuge, my shield and my strength. Fight for me and my foes must flee; uphold me and I cannot fall; strengthen me and I stand unmoved and unmoveable; equip me and I shall receive no wound; stand by me and I shall stand while Satan must flee; anoint my lips with a song of salvation and I shall shout your victory.

Give me an abhorrence of all evil. Teach me to look to Jesus on His cross, and so to know sin’s loathsomeness in your sight.

There is no pardon but through your Son’s death; no cleansing but by His precious blood; no atonement but his to expiate evil. Show me the shame, the agony of the incarnate God; that I may read boundless guilt in the boundless price.

May I discern the deadly viper in its true guise; tear it with holy indignation from my heart; resolutely turn from every snare.

Blessed Lord Jesus, at your cross, may I be taught the awful miseries from which I am saved … Then may I cling more closely to your broken Self, hold to you with firmer faith, be devoted to you with total being; detest sin as strongly as your love to me is strong; And may holiness be the atmosphere in which I live.

…taken from The Valley of Vision, Conflict.

No article on Thursdays, but...

Here is a great John Bunyan quote to get you through the day:

Suit up

We are on the threshold of one of the most famous and dramatic junctures of the Pilgrim’s Progress: Christian’s clash with Apollyon in the Valley of Humiliation. Knowing what lies ahead, Watchful will not walk him to the gate until he is dressed for battle. They take him again to the Armoury, and ‘harness him from head to foot with what was of proof’. Bunyan draws on the powerful imagery found in Eph.6, which is worth re-reading in full:

…put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

Indeed, this is such a powerful passage, and Bunyan’s portrayal of it is so vivid, that the ‘armour of God’ has taken on an almost mystical quality in popular Christianity. This is in part due to our lack of experience in actual spiritual warfare. Our lack of understanding has created a vacuum, that has allowed sometimes quite bizarre ideas to take root.

Paul (and later, Bunyan) have something much less picturesque in mind. In big picture terms, Paul is making two key points in Eph.6. The first is that the disciple of Christ is to be ‘dressed’ in Christ. Paul is NOT drawing his imagery from the Roman soldiers he is chained to. He is drawing on the ancient writings of Isaiah, and showing how we must put on Christ (something he exhorted us to in Eph.4:24). What does it look like to ‘put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’? God’s holiness is portrayed in battle imagery throughout Isaiah: belt (Is.11:5); breastplate (Is.59:17); feet ready to proclaim the Gospel (Is.52:7); helmet (Is.59:17); shield (Is.31:5); Sword (Is.49:2). Paul is at times quoting Isaiah word for word! This also helps us with Christian’s [Bunyan’s] concern that ‘he had no armour for his back’. Is.58:8, the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. There are, after all times when it is entirely appropriate to flee temptations and evil desires (e.g. I Cor.6:18 & 10:14; I Tim.6:11; II Tim.2:22)

The second point is that Paul is teaching us about what must characterise us if we are to stand against the devil’s schemes. Over the years I’ve stumbled across various ideas about ‘putting on the armour’. But I think Paul is teaching something much less esoteric. If we want to stay faithful to Christ in the midst of the struggles of life, we need to be people who are well versed in and committed to the truth of Scripture (so that we can recognise false teaching, and the lies of Satan. It is the knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness, Titus 1:2); be those who have cultivated righteous character and who know how to resist the temptations that come from Satan and the world, and our own evil desires; we need to be those actively engaged in sharing our faith; those whose faith is settled and consistent, and who are secure in their salvation. We need to be those characterised by prayer in all circumstances.

A pilgrim shaped by such holy habits is less likely to fall into sin, to be lead astray, to be plagued by doubt and insecurity. They will know and trust the Lord even in the face of suffering and in the midst of struggle. They will not be distracted by the temptations around and within. They will not be deceived by competing visions of God, or understandings of what it means to be human. They will not be debased by patterns of addictive or uncontrollable sin. They will not be defeated by the spiritual schemes and aggression arrayed against them.

They will, in short, ‘stand’. Others won’t. Indeed, if we aren’t adorned in such characteristics, we have already fallen.

Questions to ponder:

How much is the militancy of Christian discipleship a feature of your spirituality? How does that find expression?

Where do you find support as you seek to ‘put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’? How do you support others in this quest? How could you do so today?