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The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan - Proceeds to the Cross · Reformed Thinking

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  Reformed thinking. Welcome along to the Deep Dive.
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  This is where we take the source material you send us and well,
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  we really dig into it. We try to pull out the core
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  ideas, the interesting bits, and today our focus is on a specific
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  point in Christian's account from the Pilgrims Progress.
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  It's about what happens when he gets to this really significant
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  place and then who he meets right after.
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  That's right, we're looking closely at the details Bunyan
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  gives us around Christian's arrival at the cross.
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  It's such a well known scene, isn't it, it?
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  Really is. So let's hit the scene first.
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  Leading up to this moment, the source describes Christian well.
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  He's running on this highway. Yeah, but it's not easygoing,
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  the text says. He runs, but not without great
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  difficulty because of the load on his back.
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  He's really struggling under this weight.
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  Burdened, that's the keyword. And this highway he's on, it's
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  described too, isn't it? It.
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  Is it says the highway was fenced on either side with a
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  wall and that wall was called salvation.
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  So he's definitely on the designated path.
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  But finding it hard work because of the burden.
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  OK, so he keeps running like this.
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  Until he came to a place somewhat ascending, so the
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  ground starts to rise a bit. And what's at the top of this
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  rise? Upon that place stood across.
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  Simple as that. A cross, and there's something
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  else nearby. Yes, just a little below in the
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  bottom, the text mentions a sepulchre.
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  A tomb. So you've got this layout.
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  Rising ground, cross on top, tomb at the bottom.
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  It feels very intentional. It does.
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  It really sets the stage for what happens next, which is the
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  absolute core of this passage. And what is that?
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  What happens when he reaches the cross?
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  The account says just as Christian came up with the
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  cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell from
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  off his back. Just like that, just as he gets
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  there. Exactly.
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  The timing is immediate. He reaches the cross, the burden
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  falls. No struggle on his part at that
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  moment, it just. And where does it go?
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  Does it just land at his feet? No, the description is specific.
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  It began to tumble. Tumbling downwards towards the
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  sepulchre. Right.
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  It continued to do so till it came to the mouth of the
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  sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.
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  I saw. It no more that's striking.
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  It's not just off his back. It's gone, disappeared into the
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  tomb. Which connects later to a song
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  where, he wonders, must hear the strings that bound it to me
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  crack. It's a definite break, a
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  release. The burden is removed
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  permanently it seems. So this whole event is
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  instantaneous, tied to arriving at the cross and the sepulchre.
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  How does Christian react? He's been running with such
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  difficulty. Well, his whole demeanor changes
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  then. Was Christian glad and
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  lightsome? Glad and lightsome, that's a
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  world away from burdened and struggling and he.
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  Speaks, doesn't he with understanding.
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  Yes, with a merry heart He have given me rest by his sorrow and
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  life by His death. He immediately connects His
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  relief to Christ's work. He understands the source of his
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  new found rest in life. And the text points out his
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  reaction to how it happened. It does, it says.
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  It was very surprising to him that the sight of the Cross
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  should thus ease him of his burden.
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  Surprising. So it wasn't something he
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  achieved, but something that happened to him when he looked.
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  The site itself seems to be the trigger.
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  And because it was so surprising, he doesn't just move
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  on quickly. No.
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  He pauses. Then he stood still a while to
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  look and wonder. He.
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  Really takes it in. He looked therefore and looked
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  again, contemplating what just occurred.
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  And this contemplation brings out a strong emotion.
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  Yes, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters
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  down his checks, he wept. Tears not of sorrow, presumably,
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  but. Gratitude.
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  Maybe overwhelm a leaf. The text connects the looking
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  and the weeping. He's processing the immense
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  change. And it's right then, isn't it?
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  While he's standing there looking, weeping.
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  Behold, 3 shining Ones came to him.
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  Celestial beings appear. And they greet him.
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  They do. Peace be to thee.
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  A fitting greeting for someone who's just found rest.
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  And they don't just greet him, they each do something specific.
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  What does the first one do? The first one addresses the core
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  issue. Thy sins be forgiven thee a
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  clear declaration. Bunyan even links it to Mark
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  chapter 2. Forgiveness announced.
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  What about the second shining one?
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  The second one deals with his appearance, his state.
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  He stripped him of his rags and clothed him with change of
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  raiment. Bunyan points to Zechariah 3 for
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  this. So his old covering may be
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  representing his sin or self righteousness is gone, replaced
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  with something new. A new status, a new covering,
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  and then the third. The third one gives him two
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  things, right? He set a mark in his forehead
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  and gave him a roll with a seal upon it.
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  A mark and a sealed roll. What's the role?
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  For he's told to look on it as he ran, and crucially, that he
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  should give it in at the celestial gate.
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  This is his assurance, his sort of entry pass linked to
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  Ephesians 1. So forgiveness, new clothes
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  representing a new state, a mark of identity and a sealed
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  assurance for the way ahead. That's quite the package.
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  It really is. And after delivering these, the
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  text says simply. So they went their way.
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  Leaving Christian completely changed.
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  How does he respond now? Pure joy.
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  Then Christian gave 3 leaps for joy. 3 leaps you can almost see
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  it physical, uncontainable joy and.
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  He doesn't just leap, he bursts into song.
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  And when I'm singing. And his song reflects everything
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  that just happened. Absolutely, he sings about
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  coming laden with my sin, Nor could aught ease the grief that
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  I was in till I came hit her. He identifies this place as the
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  point of relief. He calls it the beginning of my
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  bliss, doesn't he? Like this is where the good part
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  starts. Yes, and he connects it all
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  back. Must hear the burden fall from
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  off my back. Must hear the strings that bound
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  it to me a crack. He's marveling at the release.
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  He just felt. And he blesses the place and the
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  person. Blessed Cross, blessed
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  sepulchre, blessed rather be the man that there was put to shame
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  for me. He ties the location and the
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  relief firmly to Christ's sacrifice for him.
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  So the contrast is stark. From burden runner to lightsome
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  pardon, newly closed, marked, assured, leaping, singing
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  Pilgrim. A pivotal moment.
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  Undeniably, but Bunyan doesn't let him linger solely in that
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  joy without showing the next reality of the walk.
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  Right. The account moves on fairly
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  quickly. Christian keeps going.
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  He went on thus even until he came at a bottom, A low point in
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  the terrain perhaps? And what does he see there?
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  Something very different from The Shining Ones.
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  He saw a little out of the way. Three men fast asleep with
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  fetters upon their heels. Asleep with chains on their feet
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  and a little out of the way, not even on the main path.
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  Precisely a complete contrast to Christian's current state.
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  He's awake, free, joyful, moving forward on the highway called
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  salvation. These men are inactive, bound
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  and off course. And Bunyan gives them names,
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  doesn't he? Allegorical names.
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  He does. The name of the one was simple,
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  Another sloth and the third presumption.
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  Simple sloth and presumption. What do they represent?
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  What's the danger Bunyan is highlighting here?
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  Well, looking at their state, asleep, bound off the path, they
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  seem to stand for spiritual hazards.
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  Simple might be ignorance or gullibility.
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  Maybe sloth is clearly spiritual.
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  Laziness. Unwillingness to press on.
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  And presumption. Perhaps overconfidence, a false
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  sense of security that leads to carelessness, maybe thinking
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  they're safe without needing to be vigilant or stay on the path
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  they represent conditions that stop progress towards the
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  Celestial City. So right after Christian's
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  amazing experience of release and assurance, he immediately
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  encounters these figures representing complacency,
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  idleness, false confidence. Yes, it's a caution, isn't it?
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  Even after such a high point, dangers and pitfalls exist,
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  often right nearby, slightly off the path.
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  So. Thinking about this whole
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  section for you, the listener, what can we draw from this?
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  Well, you could consider that picture of the burden falling
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  off at the cross and rolling into the sepulchre.
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  What does that specific imagery suggest about how release from
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  sin and guilt happens? And maybe think about the gifts
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  from the Shining Ones. Forgiveness spoken, new clothing
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  given, a mark applied, a sealed role for assurance.
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  What is getting these things after the burden is gone?
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  Tell you about the results of that event at the Cross.
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  It's not just subtraction, but addition to.
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  Definitely. And then there's the contrast
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  with simple sloth and presumption appearing
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  immediately after. What might their presence right
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  there suggest about the need to remain watchful, to keep moving,
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  to avoid drifting off the path even after a significant
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  spiritual experience? Yeah, that's a good point, these
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  two. Final thought, maybe, What does
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  it mean to keep looking back in a sense to the cross and the
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  simple curse you continue on. How might remembering that site,
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  that release, help someone stay awake, stay active, stay on that
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  highway we call salvation, and avoid ending up like simple
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  sloth or presumption? Something to Mull over.