Dangerous Journey, Part 8

Today’s Theme: Finishing Well

From the clutches of Giant Despair, Christian and Hopeful escape into pleasant places of the Delectable Mountains.  We see them refreshing themselves in a stream, quite unlike the dark river they will encounter at the end of the chapter.  Soon they have their first glimpse of the Celestial City.  And after run-ins with Ignorace, The Flatterer, and Atheist, they finally come to their new home.  But “between them and the City Gate, flowed a deep, dark River.”  They would have to pass through the River of Death to reach the other side.  “A great darkness and horror fell upon him…But the troubles a man goes through in these waters are no sign that God has forsaken him.”  And so despite their fears and misgivings, they reached the other shore, and “the Gates of Heaven opened to them, and they entered in.”

Devotional Application

We are all separated from God by the River of Death.  But if we are His children, then death–however terrible or frightening–has lost its sting.   For though it separates us for a while from loved ones left behind, it is the end of our toils and troubles, as well as the consummation of our eternal joy.  And because Jesus has gone before us to open the gates and prepare a place, because He stands–the Lamb who was slain–at God’s right hand interceding for us, we can finish well and, like Christian, safely reach our new home.

Bible Verses

• Romans 8:38-39–“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Isaiah 43:2–“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;”

Activities

• Object Lesson: Finishing Well–For this project, you’ll need your favorite brownie or cookie mix and the ingredients to make them.  Oh, and some hungry kids!  Ideally you would use a recipe that the kids couldn’t eat raw–such as one with raw eggs.  (Of course, if you’re a “from scratch” kinda family, that works just as well!)  Let your kids pour the ingredients in the bowl.  But don’t mix it up and don’t turn on the oven.  Just tell them that’s good enough and stick the bowl in the cold oven.  You can tell them you’re tired and you’ve done enough.  My kids would have a fit about this time, so I would explain to them–they’re right, if we want brownies, we’ll have to finish the job, won’t we?  When Christian and Hopeful went across the River of Death, they really didn’t enjoy it.  It had been a long journey and they were tired.  But they knew that Jesus had taken the sting out of death, that Jesus Himself had crossed the river of death first so that it couldn’t harm them, and they trusted God to help them to the finish line.  Let the kids mix up the dough, slap it in the warm oven, and then eat some delicious cookies!  They are just one small taste of the delights that await His children in the real Celestial City.

• Craft/Activity:  Draw the Celestial City.  Here’s a link to a How To Draw a Castle Page, in case you need it.

• Coloring Page/Make-a-Book Project:  Today’s page is of Christian and Hopeful entering the Celestial City.

Reading Notes

Delectable Mountains–Dictionary.com says delectable means “delightful; highly pleasing; enjoyable.”  It’s been a long, treacherous journey since Christian first glimpsed these mountains from House Beautiful.  Here we see he and Hopeful catching another first glimpse: this time of the Celestial City itself, “They looked, and thought they saw what might have been a Golden Gate.”  Bunyan describes it thusly: “they saw something like the gate, and also some of the glory of the place.”  When have you felt or glimpse the glory of heaven?  When have you felt close to God?  Who may have been your shepherds?  Bible Reference: Interestingly enough, Bunyan’s full version spends most of this section warning the pilgrims rather than delighting them.  Proverbs 21:16.  Yet God does grant them one last encouragement.  I am put in mind of Christ’s last passover meal.

Ignorance–Apparently our culture isn’t the first to claim everybody has their own truth.  Bunyan puts words in Ignorance’s mouth that you could hear in any school yard or work place in our day: “be content to practice your religion and I will practice mine.  I’m sure all will be well.” To which Christian quotes Proverbs 21:16 to Hopeful, “There is more hope [for] a fool than of him.”  Ignorance didn’t care to know God’s Word, thus He would not find His pleasure.  Do you know folks who follow their own traditions or feelings over God’s Word?  When have you turned from God’s Word yourself?  Biblical References: I can think of two here–one is 1 Samuel 25:10, in which Nabal asks, “Who is David?”  His ignorance (which seems quite willful) causes David great hardship, and eventually costs him his own life.  Another classic example is Pilate, who in John 18:38 asks Jesus, “What is truth?”

Flatterer–Flattery, according to Dictionary.com, is “excessive, insincere praise.”  Not really sure why this guy is called Flattery, since he doesn’t praise them.  But Bunyan does provide a good Bible Verse for his plot twist here: Proverbs 29:5, “A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.”  While I think Christians ought to be charitable in our opinions of others, we ought to be careful in puffing up others in their views of themselves–or in receiving such flattery to ourselves.  I have found that the most helpful friends are those who will seek to tell me of my strengths and weaknesses, and who will pray for me in both.  Especially since our “righteousness is as filthy rags,” Isaiah 64:6, or else we would not need Jesus.

Atheist, p. 105–Supposedly there aren’t that many professional atheists among us.  But how many of us live our lives as if we must get all our happiness here?  As if we had better hurry to “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die”?  How would your life be different if you really lived as if your citizenship was in heaven?  As if God had already set aside your inheritance, and it was to be the whole world?  (Boy, this one hurts as I write it…)

The Enchanted Ground, p. 106–“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and your poverty will come on you like a thief….” Proverbs 24:33-34; I suppose this can mean literal sleep, like the disciples who slept during Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.  But more than that, I think it warns us against not being vigilant against in our walk with the Lord: “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.  But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  1 Thessalonians 5:6-8.

Celestial City–My kids and I often talk about what we think heaven will be like.  When they really enjoy something, I remind them that it is just a small picture of what God has in store for them in eternity.  Q. What do your kids think heaven will be like?  Bible Reference: Revelation 21:1-4, “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

And so with Christian, we come to the end of our read along!  We still have one more chapter left, but since it involves an overview of an entire other story, I couldn’t possibly do it justice.  For those of you who are using Dangerous Journey as a family devotional, though, I’ll post a few other games and Bible references that you can use to finish out the book. 

New to the site?  Find out what this is all about at Pilgrim’s Progress: Mission Adventure.  Here’s a link to the rest of the posts in the series: DJ Part 1, DJ Part 2, DJ Part 3, DJ Part 4, DJ Part 5, DJ Part 6, DJ Part 7.