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One of the most read books in the English Language is ‘The Pilgrims Progress’ by John Bunyan. Bunyan was a tinker by trade and after his marriage he became interested in the Bible. After first attending the parish church he joined the Bedford Meeting, a non conformist group in St John’s Church Bedford. He later became a preacher but with the restoration of the monarchy the freedom of the non conformists was curtailed with only the Anglican Church Bishops allowed to ordain preachers, a practice rejected by Bunyan and those of the Bedford Meeting. Bunyan was arrested and spent the next twelve years in prison because he refused to give up preaching.
John Bunyan’s writings are a testimony to the strong convictions he held as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. In ‘Election and Reprobation’ he wrote, “Sin where it reigns is a mortal enemy to the soul, It blinds the eyes, holds the hands, ties the legs, stops the ears and makes the heart implacable to resist the Saviour of souls.” A choice piece in,’Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ”, Bunyan makes reference to the return of the Prodigal Son to his father and uses it to go on to say, ‘He that is come to Christ, his groans and tears, his doubts and fears are turned into songs and praises. For he has now received the atonement (reconciliation) and the earnest (pledge) of His inheritance.’
The most famous of Bunyan’s writings is the classic ‘The Pilgrims Progress,’ with over 1300 editions being produced. It tells of the journey that Christian takes on his way to Heaven. Christian is carrying a burden on his back and is seen running till he came to a hill with a cross on it, together with a sepulchre at the bottom. “I saw that just as Christian came to the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, fell from off his back, and began to tumble till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre. It fell in, and I saw it no more”. A most heart warming way to illustrate that the burden of sin is lifted forever at Calvary’s cross by the expression, “and I saw it no more”. This is what salvation means, free from sins burden evermore.
To be saved and belong eternally to the Lord Jesus Christ is a privilege beyond all human value. Whatever the circumstances through which everyone, who has repented of their sin and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, is called upon to pass through; Heaven awaits at the end of life’s journey. This following piece from The Pilgrims Progress gives great encouragement concerning even the greatest of trials.
Faithfulness has been tried before Judge Hate-good at Vanity Fair and found guilty by an evil jury. He has been taken, scourged, buffeted, cut with knives, stoned, pierced with swords and finally burnt at the Stake to ashes. The writer continues with the words, “Now I saw there stood behind the multitude a chariot and a couple of horses waiting for Faithful, who (so soon as his adversaries had despatched him) was taken up into it, and straightway was carried up through the clouds, with sound of trumpet, the nearest way to the Celestial City”
Although Pilgrims Progress is only a story yet it fully illustrates the Gospel message and despite all the trials of life there is the wonderful prospect for all eternity, to be forever in Heaven with Christ. Why do you still hold back from putting your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour? Remember the Bible says: ‘He that believeth on the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on Him’. Do take the opportunity now to trust Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
DAILY MESSAGES WITH MEANING (18/07/24)
Written by RODERICK BARTON
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