Pilgrim's Progress

IF YOU’VE READ ANY VERSION OF THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS STORY, YOU MAY WONDER IF THERE’S A HIDDEN MEANING. WELL, THERE IS. MAYBE THIS WILL HELP EXPLAIN IT.

John Bunyan’s story is really a picture of the journey through the Christian life. It starts by going to God’s Son, Jesus, asking for forgiveness and acceptance by him. Yes, it really does start there. Once safely through the Wicket Gate, there will be all sorts of difficulties to go through, as well as good things happening, ending when we go to live with God the Father in Heaven (the Celestial City).

The journey the pilgrims make is not a timeline in the Christian life, ending in Beulah just before crossing the Dark River to the Celestial City. Some Christians get to that peaceful state early in life, and spend many years in and out of Beulah, serving the King as Help and Christiana’s brothers do.

Some get to the Cross and see no need to travel any further. Others remain stuck on Hill Difficulty and never find the Land of Beulah. For some, the Way is easy, for others there seem to be nothing but lions and giants at every step. You don’t have to get to Beulah in order to reach the Celestial City but, as we see in the story, it is a place worth seeking. The main thing is not to give up and go to sleep along the way – or you may end up in Doubting Castle!

So, if you’ve started the Christian life at the Wicket Gate, you can be sure of being welcomed by the King when you die, because your place in his City is guaranteed – not by how well you do, or how far you get on your journey, but because Jesus died to take your punishment and give you free pardon. And that’s fantastically good news, because you’re never going to make it by taking any other path. Remember how Christian started to climb Law Mountain rather than go through the Wicket Gate? Plenty of people are still climbing that mountain by trying to be perfect - and not getting very far. In fact, it’s impossible to reach the top, no matter how hard you try. But if you knock on the Wicket Gate, Jesus will open it to you, and you can begin a completely new life.

Do you remember the Key of Promise? Discretion said there were all sorts of promises on it. The promise that Christian and Hopeful read were these words from the King’s Son: “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness.” But there were other promises on that key as well. Here’s one. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Understanding the truth of those words helped me through the Wicket Gate. Before that, I had been knocking on it and not going through, because I was like Mercy and thought I wasn’t good enough. I was right – I wasn’t good enough! No one is. Not being good enough has nothing to do with it. That’s the whole point of the Cross, where all the wrong things we have done are washed away for ever.

I still get a thrill when I remember losing my burden at the Cross when I was in my teens. For every one of Christian’s bad experiences here, I can say, “Been there, done that.” Yet in spite of all my failures I am still on my journey, often hanging my head in shame as well as lifting my hands in praise. I’ve never regretted starting, and often wish I’d found the Way sooner.

Where are you at this moment? Reading the King’s invitation for the first time? Trying to find your way across the Slough of Despond? Trying to be perfect by climbing Law Mountain? Knocking timidly on the Wicket Gate, but unwilling to go through when the Son of God opens it for you? Already on the Way, but taking it too easy in the Meadows or in Vanity Fair? Trapped in Giant Despair’s prison in Doubting Castle, and forgetting to use your Key of Promise? Or are you living the Christian life to the full, in spite of making mistakes almost every step of the Way?

Talk to a friend who is a Christian, or one of your church leaders if you need to know more. They will be able to help you on your way, just as Greatheart helped the pilgrims in this story. And maybe one day you also will be able to help others. Meet with other Christians, because the journey will be much safer and easier if you’re not traveling alone.

I hope that you see beyond the pages in the book, and find for yourself the Way to the King, so that one day we will meet in the Celestial City.

Chris Wright

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