A River runs through it

Of all the deaths I have been present at, one of the most troubling and yet most triumphant was of a godly woman, who had served much of her life as a missionary in Pakistan. As she lay dying, she felt so very keenly the assault of the evil one. Given her life, I had little reason to doubt what she testified to in her death. It was a time of spiritual struggle, prayer, worship, reading of Scripture and exhortation. At the end she died in peace, confident of Christ, and His work. Her passing was marked by a great victory of faith, in confidence that the Saviour she had given her life to preach was able to deliver her from death.

As they face the River that symbolises death, both Christian and Hopeful are ‘much stunned’. Both hesitate, and wonder if there might not be any other way to the City beyond? It turns out that there are at least two other ways: the path trodden only by Enoch and Elijah; and a ferry service, offered by one Vain-hope. There is a confidence that comes not from what we know, but from what we don’t. And there are those who enter death with a misplaced security, and who are too far in before they realise they should have, like the Pilgrim’s, been ‘much stunned’ at its prospect. Christians alone, well versed in Scripture, understand the reality of death. Whilst this tends to terror, they also know the reality of Christ’s victory over death in the resurrection. This tends to confidence in the face of terror.

But this cosmic tension in Christian experience is what accounts for the Shining Ones’ counsel: ‘You will find it deeper or shallower, as you believe in the King of the place’. As we enter death, which will dominate: the reality of death, or the reality of Christ’s victory over it? Hopeful, true to his name to the last, feels the River’s bed and cries out in triumph. Christian has greater conflict. All through his Pilgrimage, Christian has struggled with Pride. And even here, in the midst of death, his thoughts turn from Christ and centre on himself. He remembers his sins and ponders his failings, rather than remembering Christ, and pondering the deliverances Christ has wrought. His view of the city is cluttered with fell and evil spirits as he is tempted even yet to lose sight of the King. Old doubts resurface, new fears engulf him, and foes old and new stand in his way. He is not in anguish at losing the world, but at his lack of holiness and faith. Death is a another trial to Christian. One he will vanquish, but a trial nevertheless. The River is deep when our faith in the King of the place is shallow. And it is shallow where our faith runs deep.

Hopeful has faith enough for both. His thoughts rest on the King, and his eye is on the Gate to the City. Death is nothing more than a necessity, a scorpion whose sting is drawn, a defeated foe, powerless to prevent his crossing. Bunyan stresses to the last the critical importance of fellowship. When our faith weakens we allow others to carry us. Or at least we should do! Sometimes we have no choice. As Christian struggles to keep his head above water… and barely manages even with Hopeful’s help! ‘Hopeful also would endeavour to comfort him, saying, Brother, I see the Gate and the men standing by to receive us’. Hopeful reminds Christian of the promises of Scripture, of the triumphs they have known along the way, the evidences of God’s having been with them. He is desperate to have Christian fix his eyes on Christ, who is both Pioneer and the Perfector of our faith, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End of faith as of everything.

…and who now proves faithful to His Pilgrims. ‘Christian [after being absorbed in his thoughts for a time] brake out with a loud voice, O I see Him again! And He tells me ‘When you pass through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not flow over thee’ (Is.43:2)’.

‘Then they both took courage, and the enemy was after that as still as stone, until they were gone over. Christian therefore presently found ground to stand upon, and so it followed that the rest of the River was but shallow. Thus they got over’.

Questions to ponder:

What Scriptures have you memorised that will give you hope and comfort when you step into the River? Who have you asked to be with you, to pray for you and to fellowship with you as you die?

When you are called to the bed side of a dying Christian, how do you plan to encourage them as they face the last great enemy of their Pilgrimage?

No post on Thursdays

But here’s a Bunyan quote to get you through the day…

Approaching death...

‘Now I saw in my dream that by this time the Pilgrims were got over the Enchanted Ground, and entering into the country of Beulah…’

With these words, Bunyan signals that we are entering the last chapter of their Pilgrimage. Within sight of death, they are beyond the reach, and even the remembrance, of many of the trials and temptations they have endured. They are ‘on the borders of heaven’. The country is well-named. Taken from Isaiah 62:4-5, it speaks of the loving Lordship of Christ, and of His great rejoicing over His bride. It’s an amazing image, and one that we should probably think on more often: ‘as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you’. For the Pilgrims to know this must be so encouraging as they draw near to the end. Their death is precious in the eyes of the Lord (Ps.116:15).

Christian and Hopeful are by this stage seasoned believers whose mortal days are drawing to an end. They no longer care about this world, but are homesick for the world to come. Wearied of this life, their focus is turned exclusively to the City, of which ‘they have yet a more perfect view’. Their anticipation of being welcomed by the King overwhelms them, as their longing to be with Him blinds them to all else. This is a season of rest and refreshment, preparing them for the last great battle that lies ahead.

The company the Pilgrims enjoy in this land takes on the dimensions of heaven. No more are they troubled by Turn-backs, Ignorances, Atheists or By-ends, or any others of that ilk. Here their companions are Shining Ones who ‘commonly walk’ in Beulah. Bunyan anticipates that as the veil between this world and the next becomes thin, we encounter such ministering spirits who prepare us for our final passage through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

And the Gardener who encourages them to eat and to be strengthened, to rest and be refreshed. What Bunyan intends to convey here is disputed. Some understand him to be teaching us that Christ Himself, the Gardener draws near the Pilgrims and ministers to the in some direct way (Gen.2:8-9; Dt.11:8-12). Others - and I would put myself among them - feel that like Watchful, and the Shepherds before him, the Gardener represents the pastoral ministry of the Church, caring for the aged in their midst. Christ ministers by His Spirit through the structures of the Church’s ministry. Teaching about our future hope, the joy we anticipate in seeing Christ, our expectation of our experience of righteousness in His presence, strengthening the soul through Communion, prayer and fellowship... All this and more refreshes the aged saints and prepares them for death.

They are joined by ‘two men in raiment that shone like gold; also their faces shone as the light’. These two in particular have been sent to escort the Pilgrims to the River. Walking by faith is giving way to walking by sight. The profound, hitherto unseen spiritual realities surrounding us are coming into focus. It’s not that such beings haven’t been with the Pilgrims before, but to this point, their support has gone unnoticed (Heb.1:14). But now, as the things of earth grow strangely dim, the things of heaven grow mysteriously brighter. Christian and Hopeful are increasingly impatient to cross the River. They have got to the point that many Christians get to in the autumn of life, where they simply want to be through death, and with Jesus. But in those very waters remain the last two difficulties they must face: the experience of dying, and the temptation to unbelief. All their trials to this point have been but preparation for this final battle with their last great enemy, death itself (I Cor.15:26).

Questions to ponder:

What are you doing now to prepare spiritually for your death, and for the temptations you will face as you approach it?

For those closest to death, how much of Bunyan’s vision for the dying saint resonates with your own experience?

Catharsis or Salvation?

With only a couple of miles of Pilgrimage to go, Christian and Hopeful find themselves reminiscing on the journey, and those they have met on the way, including one Temporary. His is a sorry tale, but one that sounds all too familiar. He lived in a town called Graceless, next door to Turnback. It already doesn’t sound good.

He had sought out Christian and Hopeful for counsel after being troubled by sin, or more likely by the consequences of sin, which isn’t quite the same thing. When those consequences faded, so did his faith. He is an example of the seed that landed in the shallow soil and the rocky ground (Matt.13:20-21). For the short time he joined them on Pilgrimage he had been vociferous, full of good intentions, resolutions and promises. But ‘all of a sudden he grew acquainted with one Save-self, and then he became a stranger…’. I’ve known so many like this over the years, that I find this part of Pilgrim’s Progress quite poignant.

Christian and Hopeful’s conversation helps us to understand what is going on in such troubled souls. Their first insight is that they don’t allow their conviction of sin to lead them to Christ. They look to Him for catharsis, but not salvation. And so ‘when the power of guilt weareth away, that which provoked them to be religious ceaseth, wherefore they naturally turn to their own course again’. Being sorry for sin will not keep us from returning to it. Only Christ, and a love for Him will do that!

Secondly, he was too concerned about what other people thought. Temporary was never willing to pay the price of Pilgrimage; he wasn’t prepared to run ‘the hazard of losing all, or at least, of bringing themselves into unavoidable and unnecessary trouble, and so they fall in with the world again’. If friendship with God means enmity with the world (Jas.4:4), then Temporary chooses the world, even though it means enmity with God. In the final analysis he sees religion as a crutch for the weak. When he needs something to lean on, he’ll pick it up, but when he is feeling strong and self-sufficient he lays it down again. Pride and self-reliance prevent a genuine Pilgrimage. That was the third reason for Temporary’s relapse.

Finally - and most complex - is Temporary’s relationship with guilt. It was a sense of guilt that caused him to turn to Christ in the first place. The ‘Gospel’ he heard and responded to was incomplete, containing little of the cost of following Jesus, and much of the benefits. That too has a contemporary ring. Such irresponsible ‘evangelism’ might win quick converts, but it does not forge disciples, and as such, it stores up problems for Churches for years to come, filled as they are with people who think they are Christians. It stores up problems for the people who believe it too. Having come to Jesus to have his guilt taken way, Temporary was confused to find that his sense of guilt actually deepened! The more he tried to follow Christ, the more he stumbled and more intense his sense of failure and guilt. Because he knows nothing of genuine grace, and even less of the transforming power of the Spirit, Temporary is left with only despair and hopelessness. Slowly he begins to drift, quietly dropping his commitments. He becomes less vocal, less frequent at Church (for a while it seemed like he was at everything, and complaining that there wasn’t more!), less zealous.

Then in order to justify his decision to step away from Christ, he begins to marshal his excuses. He covers his own sense of hypocrisy by complaining about the hypocrisy of others. He begins picking holes in the discipleship of others, using their struggles and inconsistencies as a foil for his own. He complains that he no longer feels welcomed by the Church, although all the while it is Temporary who doesn’t welcome them. But the rhetoric allows him to feel comfortable finding friendship and companionship elsewhere.

The final nail in the proverbial coffin is Temporary’s attitude to sin. To begin with, he fought it - albeit in confusion and self-reliance. But now there is less pretence. He slowly reconciles himself to that which he had previously hated. He grows complacent and accepting, justifying his behaviour to himself, rather than seeking to be justified from it. Sin once again takes root, Temporary’s heart is hardened, but at least he feels he is being honest with himself. He accepts who he is, and takes renewed pride in it.

Unlike others who have fallen by the wayside, the Pilgrims entertain some hope. But it will take a ‘miracle of grace’.

Doesn’t it always?

Questions to ponder:

To what extent have you come to Christ for catharsis, rather than salvation, and the holiness to which it leads?

Can you think of any Temporary’s you have known over the years? Does this section of Pilgrim’s Progress help you to understand them any better? Does Bunyan’s analysis ring true?

Don't follow what deceives you...

You may be forgiven for having forgotten about Ignorance, but as Christian and Hopeful begin their final approach to the Gate they catch sight of him ‘loitering’, and taking pleasure in his own company. They wait for him, hoping that even at this late stage in the Pilgrimage they can impart some wisdom, and lead him to a knowledgeable faith in Christ.

But their counsel is drowned out by ‘good motions that come into my mind and comfort me as I walk’. This is a telling turn of phrase, and one that we hear often today. In modern parlance it sounds like this: ‘I know that’s what the Bible says, but I think…’. Ignorance has never reconciled himself to the ‘narrowness’ of the Path. He dismisses their concerns as ‘just their opinion’, or their ‘interpretation’. The God he believes in would never be so mean-spirited and begrudging as to reject one such as himself, who has been so full of spiritual sensitivity and so sincere in seeking to live his life well. Christian shows that such hopes and dreams don’t come anywhere near the reality of saving faith. But Ignorance is just glad that the God he worships is so much more open-minded than the Christian who thinks he knows Him so well. He is of course a paragon of tolerance, compared to the narrow-mindedness of Christian: ‘That is your faith, but not mine; yet mine I doubt not is as good as yours, though I have not in my head so many whimsies as you’.

Ignorance personifies the ‘follow your heart’ idea that has plagued Christianity for centuries. Never mind that the heart is decietful above all things (Jer.17:9-10). He feels he will be accepted by God and he resents any suggestion to the contrary. His motto, and his answer to every questions is: My heart tells me so. How can it be wrong when it feels so right?

Bunyan’s point is not that Christian pilgrimage doesn’t affect the heart, but rather that the heart must be measured by Scripture, must be ‘such as agrees with the Word of God’. In other words: The Bible tells me so. We must pass the same judgement on ourselves as the Word passes. How do I know my life is good? …that my thoughts are good? Ask what the Scripture says about your life… your thoughts. Are you passing the same judgement as Scripture does? Ignorance flatly doesn’t. Even when confronted with the Bible’s teaching about the state of the human heart, he states: ‘I will never believe that my heart is thus bad’.

He vastly underestimates the reality of his sin, and in that moment, Ignorance’s fate is sealed. He cannot see the truth about Christ because he cannot see the truth about himself. Thus his thoughts about God (about which he is so confident) will prove to have been only his own imagination, his own desire. He has made ‘god’ in his own image, and such an idol cannot save him. Indeed, such an idol doesn’t need to - for Ignorance can save himself.

Ignorance’s problem is not that he isn’t willing to walk the Path. He does, after a fashion. It is that he believes what he wants to believe, irrespective of whether that tallies with Scripture or not. Where Scripture can be made to re-iterate what he wants to believe he heartily accepts it, but where it doesn’t he is even quicker to reject it…

And herein lies the seed of his own rejection.

Questions to ponder:

How can you know whether what you believe is what the Bible teaches… or what you want the Bible to teach?

How consistent are you in the way you interpret the Bible?