Chapter 20 The Pilgrims Enter the Celestial City

Chapter 20 The Pilgrims Enter Celestial City

Summary

We reach the end of the journey with Christian and Hopeful.  Upon entering into the Country of Beulah, “Christian with desire fell sick,” and “Hopeful also had a fit or two of the same disease.”  After being refreshed, the pilgrims sleep and then prepare to cross over the river of Death, their last enemy.  Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith (Hebrews 12:1), they arrive on the other side of the river.  At the Lord’s command the gate of glory is opened to them and they are admitted to the glorious city.  We take one last look at the awful delusion of Ignorance, whereby we may assess our own hope to find out whether it is a vain hope or a hope founded only upon our union with Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

1.       As the pilgrims continue on the Way, they enter the Country of Beulah.  Beulah means “married”; the name is taken from Isaiah 62:4.  What part of the Christian’s pilgrimage do you think the country of Beulah represents?

2.       Christian and Hopeful must cross a river before they can arrive at the gate to the Celestial City.  Describe how each man crosses this river.

3.       Why are the pilgrims able to go up the mighty hill on which the city stands with ease?

4.       What type of welcome are Christian and Hopeful given as they draw near the gate?

5.       Why is Ignorance able to cross the river “without half the difficulty which the other two men met with”?

6.       What happens to Ignorance at the gate of the city? 

Application:

Christian and Hopeful enter the country of Beulah.  This land is meant to represent the sweet peace and confidence that believers should experience towards the close of their lives.  After a delightful stay in the country of Beulah the pilgrims proceed towards the Celestial City.  Two men approach and tell them that they must still meet with two more difficulties.  We learn that these difficulties are death without and unbelief within.  The unbelief within is what makes death distressing to us.

So finally the pilgrims meet their last enemy, death.  When death stares them in the face, their fears arise, but through the river they must go.  They must look only to Jesus, who has conquered death for his redeemed children and can and will overcome the fear of death in them.  Faith in Jesus and in what he has done for them supplies the solid ground they need to walk on in order to pass through the river of death.

After lifting us up to the very heights of heaver, Bunyan then brings us to a very solemn and instructive portion of the story as he shows us what becomes of Ignorance.  Vain-Hope had been Ignorance’s companion all his life and he did not desert him at death.  Ignorance had set out on his journey relying on his own presumed righteousness, and God had given him over to this evil, satanic delusion and left him to perish in this lie.  And so Ignorance, who had been instructed by Christian and Hopeful that the righteousness of Christ is the only hope for sinful man, trusts in his own works and deeds and crosses the river of death on the boat belonging to Vain-Hope.  Finally our dreamer describes the end of Ignorance, how he is bound and carried to the door in the side of the hill leading to Hell.

We must take from this the need to take stock of our lives, to look inward at our faith and verify that it is resting on Christ alone and not on our own righteousness.

Chapter 19 The Pilgrims Deal With Ignorance

In this section Christian and Hopeful have another encounter and discourse with Ignorance.  Ignorance reveals his blindness to the corruption of his own heart and his vain confidence in himself instead of complete reliance on Christ’s active and passive obedience for pardon and justification.  After speaking to Ignorance about salvation and pressing him to trust Christ, Christian and Hopeful leave him to himself and continue their journey.  A profitable conversation ensues about the way in which God uses conviction of sin and the punishment due sin to direct sinners to the cross. Next the pilgrims discuss an acquaintance of theirs who became a backslider because he was a total stranger to his own heart, the truths of God’s laws, and the glorious gospel.

Ignorance’s hope is based ultimately on one authority, his heart.   What should it be based on?

Ignorance asks “What are good thoughts of God?”  How does Christian respond?

How do Ignorance’s “Good Thoughts” compare with a verse like Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

What is Ignorance’s definition of justification?

“I believe that Christ died for sinners,” answered Ignorance, “and that I’ll be justified before God from the Curse through His gracious acceptance of my obedience to his Law. Or this: I believe Christ makes my religious duties acceptable to His Father by virtue of His merits. In that way I will be justified.”

Christian gives a 4 point correction to Ignorance’s confession of faith:

1.       First—you believe with a bizarre faith, for this faith is not described anywhere in the Word.

2.       Second—you believe with a false faith because it takes justification away from the personal righteousness of Christ and applies it to your own.

3.       Third—this faith doesn’t make Christ a justifier of your person but of your actions, and of your person for your actions’ sake, which is false.

4.       Fourth—therefore, this faith is deceitful, even such as will leave you under wrath in the Day of God Almighty.¹⁴  [1]

Christian and Hopeful have a conversation about the role of Fear in leading a person to Christ.  Which one jumps out at you, or had a role in your conversion process?

1.       Proper fear is recognized by its rise, for its caused by saving convictions of sin

2.       It drives the soul to lay a firm hold of Christ for Salvation

3.       It produces and continues in the soul a great reverence for God, His Word, and His ways, keeping the soul tender and making it afraid to turn from them … toward anything that may dishonor God, break its peace, grieve the Spirit, or cause the enemy to speak reproachfully.

Christian lists nine steps to backsliding.  Were any of these warning signs to you?  Which ones particularly?

1.       First—they direct their thoughts—all that they can—away from the remembrance of God, death, and judgment to come.27

2.       Second—they gradually quit performing private duties, such as room-prayer,28 curbing their desires,29 watching,30 sorrow for sin,31 and the like.

3.       Third—they shun the company of lively and warm Christians.32

4.       Fourth—then they grow cold to public duty such as hearing,33 reading,34 and godly consultation.

5.       Fifth—in a devilish manner they begin to pick holes, as we say, in the coats of some of the godly for some weakness they’ve seen in them, so they may have a seemingly good reason to throw religion behind their backs.35

6.       Sixth—they begin to adhere to and associate themselves with worldly, careless, and unrestrained people.36

7.       Seventh—they give way to doing worldly and unrestrained things in secret and are glad if they can see such things in anyone who is recognized as an honest person, so they may more boldly do it through their example.37

8.       Eighth—after this, they begin to play with little sins openly.

9.       Ninth—then being hardened, they show themselves as they are.

Application:

We need to think “Good thoughts” that correspond to scripture of ourselves.  The pride of our nature is one of the last evils revealed to ourselves.  Though God’s truth is clear, Ignorance’s depraved mind dims and distorts this truth and makes a religious system in which he cooperates (by his works) with Christ for his right standing with God.  We must guard against even the smallest changes to the gospel of grace that lead in this direction.  It is good to look back as Hopeful did at our condition before conversion, for it causes us to be thankful to God because it is his mercy and grace only that have made us different from those who are living in the delusion of pride and self-righteousnes.  We must be open to true Christian fellowship that allows others the freedom to ask difficult questions.  This kind of honesty between believers is a strong preventive measure against backsliding.

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[1] Bunyan, John; Hazelbaker, L. Edward (1998-07-01). The Modern English Edition of Pilgrim's Progress (Kindle Locations 4639-4643). Bridge-Logos. Kindle Edition.