Our people at church are in the third week of reading through John Bunyan’s great allegory The Holy War. In this classic work Bunyan portrays salvation through the recovery of the town of In this week’s reading a faithful messenger delivers the news to Shaddai and his court that Mansoul has fallen to Diabolus. He recounts all the details of the city’s rebellion against their rightful King and lists the ways in which Diabolus has fortified the city against godly influence. This news causes much grief in the king’s court. The King and His Son, Emmanuel, had foreseen this and had already provided for Mansoul’s redemption, yet they still grieved at Mansoul’s defection. It’s an amazing aspect of God’s character that, though He knows all from the beginning, He doesn’t react stoically to our sin; He grieves. If we can feel the sting of a friend’s treachery, how much more can God feel the rebellion of those He made in His image, made for His fellowship and pleasure?
How would you expect Shaddai to respond to the news of Mansoul’s defection and corruption? In anger? In judgment? In total annihilation of Mansoul? Retiring to their private chamber the King and His Son resolve that Emmanuel should go to the country of Universe at an appointed time to make restitution for the sins of Mansoul, thus laying a foundation for her perfect deliverance from Diabolus and his tyranny. He will also make war on Diabolus, drive him out, and retake the city so that it is happier than ever before. This reveals God’s attitude toward His fallen creation. He is grieved; He is angry with sinners and cannot merely let our sin go as if it were a simple slip-up. Sin must be dealt with and paid for to satisfy God’s justice and holiness. But it is God Himself who sends His own Son to pay the price for our sins. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Shaddai gives this order of salvation to the Lord Chief Secretary to make into a document to be published in all corners of the country of Universe. This represents the Holy Spirit inspiring the Holy Scriptures and directing its publication in all parts of the world. This, in a nutshell, is the message of the Bible: God gains for Himself greater glory through the perfect obedience of His Son Jesus Christ, and mankind receives salvation and greater joy than ever before through faith in our Righteous Substitute.
This grand proclamation wasn’t well received by Diabolus. It meant he was finished, and he knew it. But he isn’t giving up so easily. He immediately begins making preparations for war. His first order of business is to keep this good news from the ears of the people. Keep them in ignorance. He calls a meeting with Mr. Willbewill and tricks him with flattery into keeping strict watch over the gates of the city, especially Ear-gate. Diabolus also gives Willbewill authority over spies that will suppress and destroy anyone thought to be siding with Shaddai and Emmanuel. The usurper then makes the town swear to never forsake him as their king. This not being good enough for him, he further corrupts the town, thinking that Emmanuel will see the peoples’ rottenness and decide to condemn them rather than redeem them. After all, Diabolus had fallen and had been condemned; the town’s fate would be the same as his.
One more stratagem the enemy used on the people to prepare them to resist Shaddai. He tells them that Shaddai is raising an army to completely destroy them and that they must be prepared with armor supplied by Diabolus. While the enemy fortifies himself in the castle (the human heart) the deluded people take their new armor and prepare to fight.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ really is such good news that, to a redeemed soul, it’s a wonder anyone could reject it. But Satan has his war machine in place. He seduces people with the temporary pleasures of sin and inoculates them against thinking that God cares, or that God will judge, or that God is ready to receive and pardon the one who trusts in His Son. He does all he can to keep people from hearing the good news. His emissaries frequently pose as trusted religious leaders, but they teach the precepts of men and they hide or distort the Word of God. Those who hear the Word have been trained to think that God wants to destroy them, that is, that the Christian life is dull and boring and will rob them of all joy in life.
But Satan is a frightened usurper, not an invincible warrior. “We tremble not for him” (Martin Luther, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”). The devil is battening down the hatches in the hearts of mankind, but he can be resisted in the strength of the Lord, and only in His strength.
God’s design is not to harm us but to bless us by turning us away from our iniquities and toward His Son, whose death on the Cross paid the full price for our sins and satisfied His justice. He has withheld His judgment so long because He desires that no one should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Rather than being robbed of the joy that life has to offer, the believer in Christ discovers that “in [His] presence is fullness of joy; at [His] right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).
If you have heard His voice in the Gospel, harden not your heart. Open up to Him, and the Lifegiver, the King of glory, will come in.
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