Fearless Eagle

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1209

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER IX. (PART 4/4)

OF THE VESSELS WHICH SOLOMON PUT IN THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

'Wherefore, seeing the words of the Lord be so plain, how, or by what authority, will this wise counselor then approve this his counsel which he doth give? God forbid that I should relinquish the commandments of God and follow the counsels of men. For it is written, Blessed is the man that hath not gone in the way of sinners, and hath not stood in the counsels of the ungodly, and hath not sat in the chair of pestilence (Psa 1). God forbid that I should deny Christ where I ought to confess him; I will not set more by my life than by my soul, neither will I exchange the life to come for this world here present. O how foolishly speaketh he which argueth me of foolishness!'

And a little farther he saith, 'And now let this carnal politic counselor, and disputer of this world, tell wherein they have to blame me. If in mine examinations I have not answered so after their mind and affection as they required of me, seeing it is not ourselves that speak, but the Lord that speaketh in us, as he himself doth fore-witness, saying, When you shall be brought before rulers and magistrates, it is not you yourselves that speak, but the Spirit of my Father that shall be in you (Matt 10). Wherefore, if the Lord be true and faithful of his word, as it is most certain, then there is no blame in me; for he gave the words that I did speak, and who was I that could resist his will?

'If any man shall reprehend the things that I said, let him then quarrel with the Lord, whom it pleased to work so in me; and if the Lord be not to be blamed, neither am I herein to be accused, which did that I purposed not, and that I fore-thought not of. The things that I did utter and express [he means when he was before the magistrates], if they were otherwise than well, let them show it; then will I say that they were my words, and not the Lord's. But if they were good and approved, and such as cannot justly be accused, then must it needs be granted, spite of their teeth, that they proceeded of the Lord; and then who be they that shall accuse me—people of prudence? Or who shall condemn me—just judges?

And though they so do, yet, nevertheless, the word shall not be frustrated, neither shall the gospel be foolish or therefore decay, but rather the kingdom of God shall the more prosper and flourish unto the Israelites, and shall pass the sooner unto the elect of Christ Jesus, and they which shall so do shall prove the grievous judgment of God. Neither shall they escape without punishment that be persecutors and murderers of the just.

'My well-beloved,' saith he, 'lift up your eyes and consider the counsels of God. He showed unto us a late an image of his plague, which was to our correction; and if we shall not receive him he will draw out his sword and strike with sword, pestilence, and famine, the nation that shall rise against Christ.'

This, as I said, is part of a letter writ by Pomponius Alerius, an Italian martyr, who, when he wrote it, was in prison, in, as he calls it, his delectable orchard, the prison of Leonine, 12 calend. August, anno 1555. As is to be seen in the second volume of the book of martyrs.

This man was, when he wrote this letter, in the house of the forest of Lebanon, in the church in the wilderness, in the place and way of contending for the truth of God, and he drank of both these bitter cups of which I spake before, to wit, of that which was exceeding bitter, and of that which was exceeding sweet, and the reason why he complained not of the bitter was that the sweet had overcome it—as his afflictions abounded for Christ, so did his consolations by him. So, did I say? They abounded much more.

But was not this man, think you, a giant, a pillar in this house? Had he not also now hold of the shield of faith? Yea, was he not now in the combat? And did he not behave himself valiantly? Was not his mind elevated a thousand degrees beyond sense, carnal reasons, fleshly love, self-concerns, and the desires of embracing temporal things? This man had got that by the end that pleased him; neither could all the flatteries, promises, threats, or reproaches make him listen to, or desire to inquire after, what the world or the glory of it could afford. His mind was captivated with delights invisible; he coveted to show his love to his Lord by laying down his life for his sake; he longed to be there where there shall be no more pain, nor sorrow, nor sighing, nor tears, nor troubles; he was a man of a thousand (Eccl 7:28).

But let us return to our text. You know we are now upon the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon, which, as I have told you, could not be vessels for worship, for the worship ordained to be performed at the temple was also confined to that, and to the vessels that were there. Therefore they must be, in all probability, the vessels that I have mentioned, which you see how we have expounded and applied. If I am out, I know it not; if others can give me better light here about it, I will be thankful.

There was also added to this house of the forest of Lebanon, store-cities, chariot-cities, and cities of horsemen, unto which king Jotham added castles and towers (2 Chron 8:4-6, 27:3,4).

These might signify the ways and means by which God would at times avenge the quarrel of his church, even in this world, upon them that, without cause, should, for their faith and worship, set themselves against them. For here is a face of threatening revenge; they were store-houses, chariot-cities, cities of horsemen, with castles and towers. And they stood on the same ground on which this house was built, even in the forest of Lebanon. We know that in Israel God stirred up kings who at times suppressed idolatry there, and plagued the persecutors too, as Jehu, Hezekiah, Josiah, &c. And he has promised that, even in gospel times, kings 'shall hate the whore,—make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire' (Rev 17:12,16).

Here now are the store-houses, chariot-cities, cities of horsemen, with towers and castles, for the help to the house of the forest of Lebanon, for the help of the church in the wilderness, or, as you have it in another place, as the serpent cast floods of water out of his mouth after the woman, 'that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth' (Rev 12:15,16). Thus the Medes and Persians helped to deliver the church from the clutches and strong hand of the king of Babylon.

This Lebanon, therefore, was a place of great renown and a figure of great things; the countenance of the Lord Jesus is compared to it, and so is the face of his spouse, and also the smell of her garment (Cant 4:11, 5:15, 7:4).

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1208

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER IX. (PART 3/4)

OF THE VESSELS WHICH SOLOMON PUT IN THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

'The place is sharp and tedious to them that be guilty; but to the innocent and guiltless it is mellifluous. Here droppeth the delectable dew; here floweth the pleasant nectar; here runneth the sweet milk; here is plenty of all good things. And although the place itself be desert and barren, yet to me it seemeth a large walk and a valley of pleasure; to me, here is the better and more noble part of the world. Let the miserable worldling say, and confess, if there be any plot, pasture, or meadow, so delightful to the mind of man, as here. Here I see kings, princes, cities, and people; here I see wars, where some be overthrown, some be victors, some thrust down, some lifted up. Here is Mount Sion; here I am already in heaven itself.

Here standeth first Christ Jesus in the front; about him stand the old fathers, prophets, and evangelists, apostles, and all the servants of God; of whom some do embrace and cherish me, some exhort me, some open the sacraments unto me, some comfort me, others are singing about me: and how then shall I be thought to be alone, among so many, and such as these be, the beholding of whom to me is both solace and example. For here I see some crucified, some slain, some stoned, some cut asunder, and some quartered, some roasted, some broiled, some put in hot caldrons, some having their eyes bored through, some their tongues cut out, some their skin plucked over their heads, some their hands and feet chopped off, some put in kilns and furnaces, some cast down headlong, and given to the beasts and fowls of the air to feed upon. It would,' said he, 'ask a long time, if I should recite all.

'To be short, divers I see with divers and sundry torments excruciate; yet notwithstanding, all living and all safe. One plaster, one salve cureth all their wounds, which also giveth to me strength and life; so that I sustain all these transitory anguishes and small afflictions with a quiet mind, having a greater hope laid up in heaven. Neither do I fear my adversaries who persecute and oppress me here, for he who dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn, and the Lord shall deride them. I fear not thousands of people which compass me about. The Lord my God shall deliver me, my hope, my supporter, my comforter, who exalteth up my head. He shall smite all who stand against me without cause; and shall dash the teeth and jaws of sinners asunder, for he alone is all blessedness and majesty.

'The rebukes for Christ's cause make us jocund; for so it is written: if ye be rebuked and scorned for the name of Christ, happy be you; for the glory and spirit of God resteth upon you (1 Peter 4). Be ye therefore certified (said he, by this his letter to his friends) that our rebukes, which are laid upon us, redound to the shame and harm of the rebukers. In this world there is no mansion firm to me; therefore I will travel up to the New Jerusalem in heaven, which offereth itself to me without paying any fine or income. Behold I have entered already in my journey, where my house standeth for me prepared, and where I shall have riches, kinsfolks, delights, honors, never-failing.

'As for these earthly things here present, they are transitory shadows, vanishing vapors, and ruinous walls. Briefly all is but very vanity of vanities, whereas hope, and the substance of eternity to come, are wanting; which the merciful goodness of the Lord hath given, as companions to accompany me, and to comfort me; and now do the same begin to work, and to bring forth fruits in me. I have traveled hitherto, labored and sweated early and late, watching day and night, and now my travails begin to come to effect. I have bestowed days and hours upon my studies. Behold, the true countenance of God is sealed upon me; the Lord hath given mirth in my heart: therefore, in the same, I will lay me down in peace and rest (Psa 4). And who then shall dare to blame this age we have consumed; or say that our years are cut off? What man can now cavil that these our labors are lost, which have followed, and found out the Lord and maker of the world, and which have changed death with life? My portion is the Lord, saith my soul, and therefore, I will seek and wait for him.

'Now then, if to die in the Lord be not to die but live most joyfully, where is this wretched worldly rebel, which blameth us of folly, for giving away our lives to death? O how delectable is this death to me! to taste the Lord's cup, which is an assured pledge of true salvation; for so hath the Lord himself forewarned us, saying, the same that they have done to me, they will also do unto you. Wherefore let the doltish world, with his blind worldlings (who, in the bright sunshine, yet stumble in darkness, as blind as beetles), cease thus unwisely to carp against us for our rash suffering, as they count it. To whom, thus, we answer again, with the holy apostle, that neither tribulation, nor anguish, nor hunger, nor nakedness, nor jeopardy, nor persecution, nor sword, shall be able ever to separate us from the love of Christ; we are slain all the day long; we are made like sheep ordained to the shambles (Rom 8).

'Thus,' saith he, 'do we resemble Christ our Head, which said that the disciple cannot be above his master, nor the servant about his Lord. The same Lord hath also commanded that every one shall take up his cross and follow him (Luke 9). Rejoice, rejoice, my dear brethren and fellow-servants, and be of good comfort, when ye fail into sundry temptations; let your patience be perfect in all parts. For so it is foreshowed us before, and is written, that they which shall kill you shall think to do God good service. Therefore, afflictions and death be as tokens and sacraments of our election and life to come. Let us then be glad and sing unto the Lord, when, being clear from all just accusations, we are persecuted and given to death; for it is better that we, in doing well, do suffer, if it so be the will of God, than doing evil (1 Peter 3). We have for our example Christ and the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, whom the children of iniquity quelled and murdered. Now we bless and magnify those who then suffered. Let us be glad and joyous in our innocence and uprightness; the Lord shall reward those who persecute us; let us refer all revenge to him.

'I am accused of foolishness, for that I do not shrink from the true doctrine and knowledge of God, and do not rid myself out of these troubles, when with one word I may. O the blindness of man, which seeth not the sun shining, neither remembereth the Lord's words. Consider therefore what he saith, you are the light of the world. A city built on the hill cannot be hid; neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine, and give light to them in the house. And in another place he saith, you shall be led before kings and rulers. Fear ye not them which kill the body, but him which killeth both body and soul. Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven; and he that denieth me before men, him will I also deny before my heavenly Father.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1207

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER IX. (PART 2/4)

OF THE VESSELS WHICH SOLOMON PUT IN THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

But what do I cite particular texts, since reason, histories, experience, anything that is intelligible, will confirm this for a truth; namely, that a people whose profession is directly in opposition to the devil and Antichrist, and to all debauchery, inhumanity, profaneness, superstition, and idolatry, when suffered to be invaded by the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and whore, must needs taste of these cups, and drink thereof, to their astonishment.

But all these are of pure gold. They are of God's ordaining, appointing, filling, and timing, and he also sanctifies them for good to those of his who drink them. Hence Moses chose rather to drink a brimmer of these, 'than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season' (Heb 11:25). The sourness, bitterness, and wormwood of them, therefore, are only to the flesh that loveth neither God, nor Christ, nor grace (Psa 75:8; Phil 1:28).

The afflictions, therefore, that the church in the wilderness hath met with, these cups of gold, are of more worth than are all the treasures of Egypt; they are needful and profitable, and praiseworthy also, and tend to the augmenting of our glory when the next world is come (1 Thess 3:3; Rev 2:10; 1 Peter 1:6). Besides they are signs, tokens, and golden marks of love, and jewels that set off the beauty of the church in the sight of God the more (Gal 6:17; Rev 3:19; Heb 12:6). They are also a means by which men are proved sound, honest, faithful, and true lovers of God, as also such whose graces are not counterfeit, feigned, or unsound, but true, and such as will be found to praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ (Isa 27:9; Heb 12:7-10; 1 Peter 2:19; 2 Cor 4:17,18; 2 Thess 1:5).

This is why the men of our church in the wilderness have gloried in tribulation, taking pleasure in reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake (Rom 5:3; 2 Cor 12:9,10). Yea, this is the reason why they have bidden one another rejoice when they fell into divers temptations, saying, Happy is the man that endureth temptations, and behold we count them happy that endure (James 1:2,12, 5:11). And again, 'if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye' (1 Peter 4:14).

These, therefore, are vessels of pure gold, though they contain such bitter draughts, and though we make so many wry faces before we can get their liquor down.

Do you think a Christian, with even this cup in his hand, would change it for a draught from the hand of the woman who sits on the back of the scarlet-colored beast? (Rev 17:3,4). No, verily, for he knows that her sweet is poison, and that his bitter is to purge his soul, body, life, and religion of death (2 Tim 2:11,12).

God sends his love tokens to his church in two ways: sometimes through her friends, sometimes through her enemies. When they come by the hand of a friend, a minister, a brother, or the Holy Ghost, they come smoothly and sweetly, are taken, and go down like honey. But when these love tokens come to them by the hand of an enemy, they are handed to them roughly; Pharaoh handed them love tokens roughly; the king of Babylon handed them love tokens roughly. They bring them of malice, God sends them of love; they bring them and give them to us, hoping they will be our death; they give us them therefore with many a foul curse, but God blesses them still. Did not Haman lead Mordecai in his state by the hand of anger?

Nor is this cup so bitter but that our Lord himself drank deep of it before it was handed to his church; he did as loving mothers do, drink thereof himself to show us it is not poison, also to encourage us to drink it for his sake and for our endless health (Matt 20:22, 26:39,42).

And, as I told you before, I think I do not vary from the sense of the text in calling them cups; because, though there they have no name, they are joined with king Solomon's drinking vessels, and because as so joined in the type, so they are also joined here; therefore the cup here is called Christ's cup. 'Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?' 'Ye shall drink indeed of my cup' (Matt 20:22,23). Here you see they are joined in a communion in this cup of affliction, as the cups in one and the same breath are joined with those king Solomon drank in, which he put in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

[Second. Such as are exceeding sweet.]

But these are not all the cups that belong to the house of the forest of Lebanon, or rather to the church in the wilderness; there is also a cup from which, at times, one drinks what is exceeding sweet. It is called the cup of consolation, the cup of salvation; a cup in which God himself is (Psa 116:13; Jer 16:7). As he said, the Lord is the portion of my cup. Or rather, 'The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and my cup' (Psa 16:5). This cup, they that are in the church in the wilderness have usually for an after-draught to that bitter one that went before. Thus, as tender mothers give their children plumbs or sugar to sweeten their palate after they have drunk a bitter potion, so God gives his the cups of salvation and consolation after they have suffered awhile. 'For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ' (2 Cor 1:5).

Hence the apostle assureth himself concerning the affliction of them at Corinth; yea, and also promiseth them, that as they were partakers of the sufferings, so should they be of the consolation (2 Cor 1:7). Some of these cups are filled until they run over, as David said his did, when the valley of the shadow of death was before him. 'Thou preparest a table before me,' he said, 'in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over' (Psa 23:5). This is what the apostle calls exceeding; that is, beyond measure. 'I am,' says he, 'filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation' (2 Cor 7:4).

Now he answers the other. Thou hast made summer and winter. Thou hast made the warm beams of thy sun answerable to the cold of the dark night. This may be also yet signified by the building of this house, this type of the church in the wilderness, in so pleasant a place as the forest of Lebanon was (Cant 4:8). Lebanon! Lebanon was one of the sweetest places in all Canaan. Therefore we read of the fruit of Lebanon, of the streams from Lebanon; the scent, the smell, the glory of Lebanon; and also of the wine and flowers of Lebanon (Psa 72:16; Hosea 14:6,7; Isa 35:2, 9:13; Nahum 1:4).

Lebanon! That was one thing that wrought with Moses to desire that he might go over Jordan; namely, that he might see that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. Christ also sets forth the glory and excellent beauty of the church by comparing her to Lebanon. 'Thy lips, O my spouse,' says he, 'drop as the honey-comb: honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garment is like the smell of Lebanon' (Cant 4:11,15). This house, therefore, being placed here, might show how blessed a state God could make his church by his blessed grace and presence, even while she is in a wilderness condition.

We will add to this, for further demonstration, that letter of that godly man, Pomponius Algerius, an Italian martyr; some of the words of which are these:—

'Let,' saith he, 'the miserable worldly man answer me; what remedy or safe refuge can there be unto him if he lack God, who is the life and medicine of all men: and how can he be said to fly from death, when he himself is already dead in sin. If Christ be the way, verity, and life, how can there be any life then without Christ?

'The sooly heat of the prison to me is coldness; the cold winter to me is a fresh spring-time in the Lord. He that feareth not to be burned in the fire, how will he fear the heat of weather? Or what careth he for the pinching frost, which burneth with the love of the Lord?

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1206

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Wed, 28 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER IX. (PART 1/4)

OF THE VESSELS WHICH SOLOMON PUT IN THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

Solomon did also put vessels into the house of the forest of Lebanon. 'And all king Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of gold, pure gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon' (1 Kings 10:21; 2 Chron 9:20).

Since it is not expressed what those vessels of pure gold were which Solomon put in the house of the forest of Lebanon, therefore, as to the affirmative, no man can be absolute; vessels of gold, vessels of pure gold, the Holy Ghost says they were, and so leaves it to the prudent to make their conjectures; and although I may not put myself among the number of those prudent ones, yet let me take leave to say what I think in the case.

First, negatively, they were not vessels ordained for Divine worship, for that was confined to the temple, so the vessels, materials, and circumstances for worship were there. I say, the Jews' uniform worship was now confined to the temple (1 Chron 2:4, 7:12,15,16). Wherefore the vessels here mentioned could not be such as were in order to set up worship here, for to Jerusalem they were to bring their sacrifices; true, they had synagogues where ordinary service was done, there the law was read, and there the priests taught the people how they should serve the Lord; but for that which stood in carnal ordinances, as sacrificings, washings, and using vessels for that purpose, that was performed at Jerusalem.

This house, therefore, to wit, the house of the forest of Lebanon, was not built to slay or to offer burnt-offerings or sacrifices in, but as that altar was which the two tribes and an half, built by Jordan, when they went each to their inheritance, namely, to be a witness of the people's resolutions to preserve true religion in the church, to themselves, and to their posterity (Josh 22:21-29). Since this house was therefore designed for defensive war, the formalities of worship were not requisite there.

The church in the wilderness also, so far as she is concerned in contention, is not taken up in the practical parts of religion (1 Thess 2:2); for religion is not to be practiced in the church in moments of contention. Let us practice then our religion in peace, and in all peaceable ways, and vindicate it by way of contention, that is, when asked or required by opposites to render a reason thereof (Phil 1:7,17; Acts 22:1). But my contention must be, not in pragmatic languages or in striving about words to no profit, but by words of truth and soberness, with all meekness and fear (Acts 26:24,25; Titus 3:1,2; 1 Peter 3:15).

To practise and defend a practice you know are two things; I practise religion in my closet, in my family, in the congregation, but I defend this practice before the magistrate, the king, and the judge. Now the temple was prepared for the practice of religion, and the house of the forest of Lebanon for defence of the same (Rev 11:1). So far then as the church in the wilderness worships, so far she is compared to the temple, and so far as she defends that worship, so far she is called an army (Rev 19:14). An army terrible with banners (Cant 6:4). For God has given a banner to them that fear him, that it may be displayed because of the truth (Psa 60:4). Hence she says to God, 'We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners' (Psa 20:5). But here is in all this no hurt to the world, the kingdom, the worship, the war is spiritual, even as the armour is.I have spoken this to distinguish worship from contending for worship, and to make way for what is yet to be said.

If the vessels of the forest of Lebanon, or those put in that house, were not such as related to worship, to worship simply as such, then it should seem—

These vessels therefore were for some other use than for formal worship in the house of the forest of Lebanon. The best way, then, that I know of, to find out what they were is first to consider what they are joined to in the mention of them. Now I find them joined in the mention of them with Solomon's drinking vessels, and since as they were made of fine or pure gold, I take them also to be vessels of the same kind, namely, vessels to drink in. Now if we join to this the state of the church in the wilderness, of which, as we have said, this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type, then we must understand that by these vessels were prefigured such draughts as the church has, when in a bewildered or persecuted state; and they are of two sorts, either, First, Such as are exceeding bitter; or, Second, Such as are exceeding sweet; for both these attend a state of war.

First. Such as are exceeding bitter. These are called cups of red wine, signifying blood; also, the cup of the Lord's fury, the cup of trembling, the cup of astonishment, &c. (Psa 75:8; Isa 51:17,22; Jer 25:15; Eze 23:33).

Nor is there anything more natural to the church, while in a wilderness condition, than such cups and draughts as these. Hence she, as there, is said to be clothed, as was said afore, in sackcloth, to mourn, to weep, to cry out, and to be in pain, as is a woman in travail. See the Lamentations, and you will find all this verified. See also Revelation 11:3, 12:2.

And whoso considers what has already been said about what the house of the forest of Lebanon met with will find that what is inferred here is not foreign but natural. For can it be imagined that when the king of Assyria laid down his army by the sides of Lebanon, and when the fire was to devour her cedars, and when Lebanon was to be cut down and languish, these vessels, these cups, were not then put into her hand? And I say again, since the church in the wilderness, Lebanon's antitype, has been so persecuted, so distressed, so oppressed, and made the seat of so much war, so much blood, of so many murders of her children within her, &c., can it be imagined that she drank of none of these cups? Yes, yes, she has drunk the red wine at the Lord's hand, even the cup of blood, of fury, of trembling, and of astonishment; witness her own cries, sighs, tears, and tremblings, with the cries of widows, children, and orphans within her (Lam 1, 2, 4, 5).

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1205

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER VIII.

OF THE SHIELDS AND TARGETS THAT WERE IN THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

As this house of the forest of Lebanon prefigured, in general, the state of the church in the wilderness, it was accoutered with military materials suited to that condition, that is, shields and targets, and other warlike things. 'And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold, six hundred shekels of gold went to one target, and he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; [three pound] or three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 10:16,17; 2 Chron 9:15,16).

This suggests that the enemy would attack the house of the forest of Lebanon. And there was good reason for this supposition, since it was built to defend the worship set up in the church. Hence it is said that, when the enemy came with his chariots and horsemen against them, they 'did look in that day to the armor of the house of the forest' (Isa 22:7,8). That was, to see how they were prepared at Lebanon to resist their foes, and to secure themselves and their religion from the destruction the enemy designed to bring upon both. And thus again, or in this thing, the house of the forest of Lebanon shows that it was a figure of the church of the wilderness; for she also is furnished with such weapons as were counted by the wisdom of God necessary for the security of the soul, and Christian religion, to wit, 'the weapons of our warfare,' 'the whole armor of God' (2 Cor 10:4).

Though this house of the forest of Lebanon was a place of defense, her armor is described and directed too, both in matter and measure. It was armor made of gold, such armor, and so much of it. And it was made by direction of Solomon, who was a type of Christ, by the power of whose grace and working our armor is also provided for us, as in the texts afore-mentioned may appear. By this description, therefore, of the armor of the house of the forest of Lebanon, we are confined, being a type of the armor of God, and an antitype thereto, for the defense of the Christian religion. We then may make use of none but the armor of God for defense of our souls, and the worship of God; this alone is the golden armor provided by our Solomon, and put in the house of the forest of Lebanon, or rather in the church in the wilderness, for her to resist the enemy withal.

Two hundred targets. There is but little mention made of targets in the Bible, nor at all expressly how they were used, but once; and that was when Goliah came to defy Israel, he came, as with other warlike furniture, so 'with a target of brass between his shoulders' (1 Sam 17:6). A target, that is, saith the margin, a gorget. A gorget is a thing worn about the neck, and it serveth in that place instead of a shield. Wherefore in some of your old Bibles, that which in one place is called a target, in another is called a shield. A shield for that part. This piece of armor, I suppose, was worn in old time by them that used spears, and it was to guard the upper part of the back and shoulders from the arrows of their enemies, that were shot into the air, to the intent they might fall upon the upper part of the body.

The shields were for those who drew bows, and they were to catch or beat off the arrows the enemy leveled at them. 'Asa had' at one time 'an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin that bare shields, and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand' (2 Chron 14:8).

I cannot tell what the target should signify here, unless it was to show that those in the type were weaker and fainter-hearted than those in the antitype: for this gorget was prepared for the back part of the body, and it supposed the wearers were subject to run away, to flee. But in the description of the Christian armor, we have no provision for the back; so our men in the church in the wilderness are supposed to be more stout. Their faces are made strong against the faces of their enemies, and their foreheads strong against their foreheads (Eze 3:8,9). The shield was a type of the Christian faith, and so the apostle applies it. The which he also counteth a principal piece of our Christian armor when he saith, 'Above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked' (Eph 6:16). These targets and shields were made of gold, to show the excellent worth of this armour of God; to wit, that it is not carnal but spiritual, not human but divine; nor common or mean, but of an infinite value. Wherefore James, alluding to this, saith, 'Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith,' (hath he not given them this golden shield) and made them 'heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?' (James 2:5).

Faith! Peter saith, faith, in the very trial of it, is much more precious than is gold that perisheth. If so, then what worth or value is in the grace itself? (1 Peter 1:7). This is also what Christ intends when he says, 'buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich' (Rev 3:18).

And methinks the apostles and the Lord Jesus Christ do in all these places allude to the shields, the shields of gold, that Solomon made, and put in the house of the forest of Lebanon; which house, as I have showed, was that which indeed prefigured the state of the church in the wilderness; and these shields a type of faith.

Obj. But here nothing is mentioned but shields and targets.

Answ. True, and perhaps to show us that the war the church makes with Antichrist is more defensive than offensive. Shields and targets are defensive weapons, provided for self-preservation, not to hurt others. A Christian also, if he can but defend his soul in the sincere profession of the true religion, doth what by duty, as to this, he is bound. Wherefore, though the New Testament admits him to put on the whole armor of God, the whole and every part thereof is spiritual and only defensive. True, there is mention of the sword, but that sword 'is the Word of God' (Eph 6:17). A weapon that hurteth none but the devil, sin, and those that love it. Indeed, it was made for Christians to defend themselves, and their religion, against hell and the angels of darkness. These two pieces of armor that Solomon the king put into the house of the forest of Lebanon were types of the spiritual armor the church in the wilderness should use. And as we read of no more that was put there, at least to be typical, so we read of, and must use no more than we are bid to put on by the apostle, for the defense of true religion.

Obj. But he that shall use none other than this, must look to come off a loser.

Answ. In the judgment of the world, this is true; but not in the judgment of those who have skill and a heart to use it. For this armor is not Saul's, which David refused, but God's, by which the lives of all who put it on and handled it well have been secured. You read of some of David's mighty men of valor, that their 'faces were like the faces of lions, and' that they 'were as swift' of foot 'as the roes upon the mountains' (1 Chron 12:8). Being expert in handling spear and shield.

Why, God's armor makes a man's face look thus; also, it makes him that useth it more lively and active than before. God's armor is no burden to the body, nor a clog to the mind, but rather a natural, not artificial, fortification.

But this armor comes not from any man, but from the king's hand; Solomon put these targets and shields into the house of the forest of Lebanon. So Christ distributeth his armour to his church. Hence it is said it is given to his to suffer for him. It is given to his by himself, and on his behalf (Phil 1:29).

That is, that they might with it fight those battles which he shall manage against Antichrist. Hence they are called the armies in heaven, and are said to follow their Lord 'upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.' But, as I said, still their war was but defensive. For a little further do but observe, and you shall find the beast fall upon him. 'And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together, to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army' (Rev 19:14,19). They fall on it; they pick the quarrel and give the onset. Besides, the armor, as I said, is only spiritual; wherefore the slaughter must needs be spiritual also. Hence, as it is said here that the Lamb did slay his enemies by the sword, spirit, or breath of his mouth, so his army also slays them by the fire that proceedeth out of his mouth (Rev 1:16, 19:21).

Therefore, no man's person is in danger by this war. And I say again, so far as any man's person is in danger, it is because of the wrong management of this war. True, the persons of the Christians are in danger, but that is because of the bloody disposition of an antichristian enemy. But we speak now of the Lamb and the army that follows him; and as to them, no man's person is in danger simply as such. Wherefore, it is not men but sin; not men, but the man of sin, that wicked one, that the Son of God makes war against, in and by his church (2 Thess 2:8; Heb 12:4).

Let us therefore state the matter right; no man needs be afraid to let Jesus Christ be chief in the world, he envies nobody, he designs the hurt of none: his kingdom is not of this world, nor doth he covet temporal matters; let but his wife, his church alone, enjoy her purchased privileges, and all shall be well. These privileges of hers, since they are soul concerns, infringe on no man's liberties. Let but faith and holiness walk the streets without control, and you may be as happy as the world can make you. I now speak to those who contend with him.

But if seasonable counsel will not go down, if hardness of heart and blindness of mind, and so perishing from the way, shall overtake you, it is but what you of old have been cautioned of. 'Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him (Psa 2:10-12).

Now let this also, which has been said upon this head, be another argument to prove that the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1204

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE REPETITION OF LIGHT AGAINST LIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

To be sure, it was not superfluously done of the Holy Ghost to repeat these words, 'And light was against light in three ranks'; therefore, something is intended in adding them again that was not intended by their first mention (1 Kings 7:4,5).

I have told you what I thought was intended by the first rehearsal of them, namely, to show how Antichrist got in with his sensuality, and opposed it to the true light of the Word of God, exalting himself above God, and also above all Divine revelation; this was his light against light. But, I say, why is it repeated? For he saith, 'Light was against light in three ranks' again. Truly, I think it is repeated to show the evil effects the first antichristian opposition would have in the church of God, towards the end of her wilderness state. For 'light against light' now, repeated here, is to show us something new, or, as far as wood and windows can speak, to let us understand the consequence of those antichristian figments that he brought into the church at first.

Can it be imagined, then, that since so much confusion was brought into the church, some of the truly godly themselves would be much damnified thereby? The apostle says, 'Evil communication corrupts good manners' (1 Cor 15:33). And that 'their word will eat as doth a canker' (1 Tim 2:17). Mischief therefore must needs follow this ugly deed of the man of sin. If a house be on fire, though it is not burnt down, the smell of the flame may long remain there; also we count it no wonder to see some of the effects upon the rafters, beams, and some of the principal posts thereof. The calf that was set up at Dan defiled that people until the captivity of the land (Judg 18:30).

And I say again, since light against light was so early in the church in the wilderness, and has also been there so long, and again, since many in this church were both born and bred there under these oppositions of light, it is easy to conclude that something of the enemy's darkness might be also called light by the sincere that followed after. For by antichristian darkness, though they might call it light, the true light was darkened, and the eye was dimmed, even the eye of the truly godly. Also, the Holy Ghost withdrew much from the church, so the doctrines, traditions, and rudiments of the world took hold there, and spread more formidably over the face of that whole church. For after the first angel had sounded, and the star was fallen from heaven to the earth, and had received the key of the bottomless pit, and had opened the mouth thereof, the smoke came out amain. This angel was one of the first dads of antichristianism, and this smoke was that which they call light, but it was 'light against light.' 'And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened, by reason of the smoke of the pit' (Rev 9:1,2).

I take the sun to be the gospel of God, and the air a type of the breathings of the Holy Ghost. I take the smoke to be the doctrines and traditions of Antichrist; that which, as I said before, was put for light against the true light of the Word. Now, since the sun and the air were darkened by this smoke, yea, and so darkened as that the sun, nor moon, nor stars, nor day, nor night, could shine for a third part of them; no marvel though the true worshippers here were benighted, or, at least, had but little light to walk by; yea, I have known some that have been born and bred up in smokey holes, that have been made, both in smell and sight, to carry the tokens of their so being bred about them.

And I say again, as to what is now under our consideration, no marvel if they that breathed in this church in the wilderness, after the smoke came out of this pit, sucked in the smoke with the air until it became natural to them. A house annoyed with smoke is a great offense to the eyes, whose light being thereby impaired, the judgment also, since that, as to visibles, is guided by the eye, must needs be in danger of being in part misled. And this being the effect of light against light at first, is the cause of what we still see in the church among the true brotherhood. For as a cause produceth an effect, so oftentimes an effect sets on foot another cause.

Now, therefore, we have light against light among the godly, as afore there was antichristian against the Christian light. Not that light against light is now godly in the all of it. It is antichristian that opposes the Christian light still. But, as before, the darkness that opposed the light was in the antichristians; now that darkness has entered the Christians and set them against one another. Light therefore against light now is in the Christians, truly prefigured by that which was in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Witness the jars, the oppositions, the contentions, emulations, strifes, debates, whisperings, tumults, and condemnations that, like cannon-shot, have so frequently been let fly against one another on all sides.

Shall I need to mention, particularly, contests many years past and presented to us in print? Words and papers now in print, as also the many petty divisions and names amongst us, sufficiently make this manifest. Wherefore light against light in this last place, or where it is thus repeated, cannot, I think, be more fitly applied than to that now under our consideration; that is to say, than to the opposite persuasions, different apprehensions, and thwart conclusions, that are constantly drawn from the same texts to maintain a diverse practice. We should acknowledge with thankfulness that this opposition lies not so much in fundamentals as in things of lesser import.

The godly all hold the head, for the Antichrist could never divide them; their divisions, therefore, are, as I said, only about smaller things. I do not say that the antichristian darkness has done nothing in the church as to the hurting it in the great things of God. But I say it has not been able to do what could sever their Head from them; otherwise, there appears even too much effect of his doings there. For even, as to the offices of our Lord, some will have his authority more large, some more strait. Some confine his rules to themselves and to their more outward qualification, and some believe they are extended further. Some will have his power in his church purely spiritual; others will have it mixed. Some count his Word perfect and sufficient to guide in all religious matters; others hold that adding something human is necessary. Some are for confining his benefits, in their saving effects, only to the elect; others are for stretching them further. I might multiply things here, but that light against light is now among the godly, as light against light was in the house of the forest of Lebanon, is not at all to be questioned.

This therefore may serve as another argument that the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness. As to the number here, that is, in three ranks, it also shows, as I think, that, though, as was said afore, this darkness could not sever the true church from her Head, it has eclipsed the glory of things. By two lights a man cannot see this or that thing as clearly as by one single light; no, they both make all confused, though they make nothing invisible (Matt 6:22,23).

For instance, sun-light and moon-light together, fire-light and sun-light together, candle-light and moon-light together, make things more obscure than looking at them by a single light. The Word, reflecting upon understanding without the interposing of man's traditions, makes the mind of God to a man clearer than when attended with the other. How much more then when light shall be against light in three ranks? Christ, in his offices, blessed be God, is to this day known in his church, notwithstanding there is still light against light in three ranks. But in these things he is not known as distinctly, fully, and completely as he was before the church went into the wilderness. No, that knowledge is lost to a 'third part' of it, as was also shown before (Rev 8:12).

Things therefore will never be well in the church of God so long as there is thus light against light therein. When there is but one Lord among us and his name One, and when divisions, by the consent of the whole, are banished, I mean, not persecuted, but abandoned in all by a joint consent, and when every man shall submit his own single opinion to those truths, that by their being retained are for the health of all, then look for good days, and not until then. For this house of the forest of Lebanon, in which, as you see, there is 'light against light in three ranks,' was not built to prefigure the church in her primitive state, but to show us how we should be while standing before the face of the dragon, and while shifting for ourselves in the wilderness.

And although by her pillars, and beauty, and tower, aye, and by her facing the very metropolitan of her enemies, she showeth that the true grace of God is in her, and a strength and courage that is invincible, yet for that she has also affixed to her station 'Light against light in three ranks.' It is evident her eye is not so single, and consequently her body not so full of light, as it will be when she puts off her sackcloth and puts on her beautiful garments. For then it is that her moon is to shine as the sun, and that the light of her sun is to be sevenfold, even as the light of seven days; then, I say, 'When the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound' (Isa 30:26).

You know that a kingdom flourishes not so long as it is the seat of war, but when that is over, peace and prosperity flourish. This house, as has been hinted, was a type of the church in a wood, a forest, a wilderness.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1203

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE DOORS AND POSTS, AND THEIR SQUARE, WITH THE WINDOWS OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

'And all the doors and posts were square, with the windows.' The doors were for entrance, the posts supported the doors, and the windows, as hinted before, were for light. Now here they are said to be all square; square is a note of perfection; but this word square may be taken two ways. 1. Either as to the fashion of the things themselves; or, 2. With reference to the uniform order of the whole.

In the first sense was the altar of burnt-offering, the altar of incense, and the breastplate of judgment, square (Exo 27:1, 28:16; 30:2). And so also it is said of our New Testament New Jerusalem (Rev 21:16). But the square in the text is not thus to be understood, but if I mistake not, as is signified under the second head, that is for an uniform order. The whole fabric, as the doors, posts, and windows, presented itself to beholders in an exact, uniform order, and was so delectable to behold. Hence we may gather that this house of the forest of Lebanon was so exactly built, and consequently so complete to view, that it was alluring to the beholders; and that the more, for that so pretty a fabric should be found in a forest or wood. A lily among thorns, a pearl on a dunghill, and beauty under a veil, will make one turn aside to look on it.

Answerable to this, the church, even in the wilderness, or under persecution, is compared not only to a woman, but to a comely and delicate woman. And who, that shall meet such a creature in a wood, unless he feared God, but would seek to ravish and defile her.

Therefore I say, that which is here said to be square, must be understood to be so, as to prospect and view, or right taking to the eye.

Thus therefore they are allured, and think to defile her in the bed of love; but coming to her, and finding her chaste, and filled with nothing but armor, and men at arms, to maintain her chastity, nolens volens—their fleshly love is turned into cruel rage, and so they go to variance.

'I have likened,' says God, 'The daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman' (Jer 6:2). But where is she? O! she is in the field, in the forest among the shepherds. But what will they do with her? Why, because she complies not with their desires, they 'prepare war against her,' saying, 'Arise, let us go up at noon. Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces' (Jer 6:4,5). Wherefore the beauty of the house of the forest of Lebanon, as well as its fortitude, tempted the enemy to take it into their possession; especially since it stood, as it were, on the borders of Israel and faced the enemy's country.

Thus the church, though in her weeds of widowhood, is become the desire of the eyes of the nations; for indeed her features are such, considering who is her head, where mostly to the eye beauty lies, that whoso sees but the utmost glimpse of her, is easily ravished with her beauties. See how the prophet puts it: 'Many nations are gathered together against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion' (Micah 4:11).

The church, the very name of the church of God, is beautiful in the world; and, as among women, she that has beauty has her head desired, if it might be, to stand upon another woman's shoulders; so this, and that, and every nation that beholds the beauty of the church, would fain be called by that name. The church, one would think, was but in a homely dress when she came out of captivity; yet the people of the countries then desired to be one with her. 'Let us [said they to Zerubbabel, and to the fathers of the church] build with you, for we seek your God as ye do' (Ezra 4:2).

The very name of the church, as I said, is striven for of the world, but that is the church which Christ has made so; her features also remain with herself, as this comely prospect of the house of the forest of Lebanon abode with it, whoever beheld or wished for it. The beauty of this house, though it stood in the forest, was admirable; even as the beauty of the church in the wilderness was admirable, though in a bewildered state.

Hear the relation that the Holy Ghost gives of the intrinsic beauty of the church, when she was to go to be in a persecuted state; she was 'clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars' (Rev 12:1). And yet now the dragon stood by her (Rev 12:4). But I say, Here is a woman! Let whoever attempts it show such another in the world, if he can.

They therefore who have any regard to morality, civility, or ceremonial comeliness covet to be of the church of God, or to appropriate that glorious title to themselves. And here, indeed, Antichrist came in; she took this name to herself; and though she could not come at the sun, nor moon, nor stars, to adorn herself with them, yet she has found something that makes her comely in her followers' eyes. See how the Holy Ghost sets her forth. She 'was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand,' &c. (Rev 17:4). Hence she is called, 'The well-favored harlot,' 'the lady of kingdoms,' &c. (Nahum 3:4; Isa 47:5,7).

But because the chaste matron, the spouse of Christ, would not allow this slut to run away with this name, therefore she gets upon the back of her beast, and by him pushes this woman into the dirt; but because her faith and love to her husband remains, she turns again, and pleads by her titles, her features, and ornaments, that she, and she only, is she whose square answereth to the square of her figure, and to the character which her Lord hath given of his own, and so the game began. For so soon as this mistress became a dame in the world, and found that she had her stout abettors, she attempts to turn all things topsy-turvy, and to set them and to make of them what she lists. Now she will have an altar like Tiglath-pileser's. Now must the Lord's brazen altar be removed from its place, the borders of the basis must be cut off, and the laver removed from off them; the molten sea must also now be taken off the backs of the brazen oxen, where Solomon set it, and be set on a pavement of stone (2 Kings 16:10-17).

Solomon! alas, Solomon's nobody now; this woman is wiser in her own conceit than seven men that can render a reason. Now also the covert for the Sabbath must be turned to the use of the king of Assyria, &c. (2 Kings 16:18). Thus has the beauty of God's church betrayed her into the hands of her lovers, who loved her for themselves, for the devil, and for the making of her a seat, a throne for the man of sin. And poor woman, all her struggling and striving, and crying out under the hands of these ravishers, has not, as yet, delivered her, though it has saved her life (Deut 22:25-27).

But though thus it has been with Christ's true church, and will be as long as his enemy Antichrist reigns, yet the days will come when her God will give her her ornaments, and her bracelets, and her liberty, and her joy, that she had in the day of her espousals.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1202

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER V.

OF THE WINDOWS IN THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

The house of the forest of Lebanon had many windows in it; 'And there were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks' (1 Kings 7:4). Windows are to let the light in, and the eye out at objects at a distance from the house, and from those that are therein.

The windows here are figures of the Word of God, through which the light of life enters the heart; through that glass, the beams of the Sun of righteousness shine into the church. Hence the word is compared to glass, through which the glorious face of Christ is seen (2 Cor 3:18). This, therefore, this house of the forest of Lebanon had; it had windows, a figure of that Word of God, through which, and by which, the church in the wilderness sees the mind of God, and so what while there she ought to believe, do, and leave undone in the world.

This house had plenty of windows—three rows on both sides. In three rows; by these windows in three rows perhaps was prefigured how into the church in the wilderness was to shine the doctrine of the Trinity: yea, to signify that she was to be possessed with that in her most low state, and when under her greatest clouds. The doctrine of the Trinity! that is the substance, the ground, and the foundation of all (1 John 2:22,23, 4:2-4; 2 John 9,10). For by this doctrine, and by this only, the man is made a Christian; and he that has not this doctrine, his profession is not worth a button. You must know that sometimes the church in the wilderness has but little light, but the diminution of her light is then not so much in or as to substantials as to circumstantial things; she has then the substantials with her, even in her darkest day, windows in three rows.

The doctrine of the Trinity! You may ask me what that is? I answer. It is that doctrine that showeth us the love of God the Father, in giving of his Son: the love of God the Son, in giving of himself; and the love of the Lord the Spirit, in his work of regenerating of us, that we may be made able to lay hold of the love of the Father by his Son, and so enjoy eternal life by grace. This doctrine was always let in at these windows into the church in the wilderness, for to make her sound in faith, and hearty in obedience; as also meek and patient in temptation and tribulation. As to the substance of Christianity, this doctrine is sufficient for any people, because it teaches faith and produces a good moral life. If these doctrines shine upon us through these windows of heaven, so that we see them and receive them, they make us fit to glorify God here and to meet to be glorified with him hereafter. These lights, therefore, cause that the inhabitants of this church in the wilderness see their way through the dark pitch night of this world. For, as the house of the forest of Lebanon, this church of God in the wilderness has always had her lights, or windows, in these three rows to guide, solace, and comfort her.

This house therefore is thus discriminated and distinguished from all other houses in the world; no house, that we read of in the Bible, was thus adorned with light, or had windows in three rows, but this; and answerable hereunto, no congregation or church, but the true church of God, has the true antitype thereof. Light! windows! A sufficiency of windows was greatly useful to a people that dwelt in a forest, or wood, as the inhabitants of the house of the forest of Lebanon did. But how solitary had this house been, had it had no light at all! To be in a wood, especially without windows, is one of the worst conditions. This was also the relief the church in the wilderness had; true, she was in a wood, but she had light, called in another place God's rod, or his Word, which giveth instruction. 'Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitary in the wood,' &c. (Micah 7:14).

To be, as was said, in a wood, and without light too, is a very desolate condition: the Egyptians found it so, for all they were in their houses (Exo 10:21,23). But how much more then is the case of people under persecution, who have no light in three rows to guide them. But this is not the state of the church in the wilderness; she has her windows in three rows, to wit, the light of the face of the Father, the light of the face of the Son, and the light of the face of the Holy Ghost; all shining through the windows or glass of the Word, to her comfort and consolation, though now in the forest of Lebanon.

'And light was against light in three ranks.' This is an additional account of the windows that were in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Before he said she had windows in three rows, but now he adds that light was against light, light opposite light, and that, too, in three ranks. In that he saith they were in ranks, he either means in order, or insinuates a military posture, for in both these ways is this word taken (Num 2:16,24; 1 Chron 12:33,38; Mark 6:40). Nor need any smile because I say the lights were set in a military posture; we read of potsherds striving with potsherds; and why may it not as well be said, 'light was against light' (Isa 45:9).

But we will pursue our design. Here is opposition insinuated; in the margin it is 'sight against sight'; wherefore the lights thus placed in the house of the forest of Lebanon give me another encouragement, to think that this house was a type of the church in the wilderness, and that she is the seat of spiritual war also (Rev 12:7). For as this house of the forest of Lebanon was that which was the object of the rage of the king of Assyria, because it stood in his way to hinder his ruining Jerusalem; so the spirit and faithfulness of the church of God in the wilderness stands in the way, and hinders Antichrist's bringing of the truth to the ground.

And as the enemy brake into Lebanon, and did set fire to her cedars, so the boar, the Antichrist, the dragon, and his angels, got into the church in the wilderness (Psa 80:13; 2 Thess 2:4; Rev 12:7). This being so, here must needs be war; and since the war is not carnal but spiritual, it must be made by way of controversy, contention, disputation, argument, reasonings, &c. which were the effect of opposite apprehensions, fitly set out in this house of the forest of Lebanon, for that there was 'light against light,' 'sight against sight,' in three ranks. Wherefore in that he saith 'light was against light in three ranks,' he suggesteth, to the life, how it would be in the church in the wilderness. And suppose the truly godly made the first assault, can they be blamed? For who can endure a boar in a vineyard; a man of sin in a holy temple; or a dragon in heaven? What then if the church made the first assault? Who bid the boar come there? What had he to do in God's house? The church, as the house of the forest of Lebanon, would have been content with its own station; bread and water will serve a man, that he may enjoy his delights in other things in peace. But when privilege, property, life, delight, heaven, and salvation, comes to be intruded, no marvel if the woman, though but a woman, cries out, and set her light against them; had she seen the thief, and said nothing, she had been far worse.

I told you before that the windows are meant by the Word, which is compared to glass (1 Cor 13:12; 2 Cor 3:18; James 1:23-25). What, then, is the Word against the Word? No, verily, it is therefore not the Word, but opposite apprehensions thereabout, that the Holy Ghost now intends; for he saith not that window was against window, respecting the true sense of the Word, but light was against light, respecting the divers notions and apprehensions that men of opposite spirits would have about the Word. Nor are we to take this word light, especially in the antitype, in a proper but in a metaphorical sense, that is, with respect to the judgment of both parties. Here is the true church, and she has the true light; here also is the boar, the man of sin, and the dragon; and they see by their way, and yet, as I said, all by the self-same windows. They that are the church do, in God's light, see light; but they that are not, do in their own way see. And let a man, and a beast, look out at the same window, the same door, the same casement, yet the one will see like a man, and the other but like a beast. No marvel then, though they have the same windows, that 'light is against light,' and sight against sight in this house. For some know nothing but what they know naturally as brutes (Psa 92:6; Jer 10:8,14,21; Jude 10).

No marvel then if there is here a disagreement; the beast can but see as a beast, but the church is resolved not to be guided by the eye of a beast, though he pretends to have his light by that very window by which the church has hers. The beast is moon-eyed, and puts darkness for light, yea, and hates the light that is so indeed; but the saints will not hear him, for they know the voice of their Lord (Isa 5:20; John 3:20). How then can it be but that light should be against light in this house, and that in a military posture? And how can it be but that here 'every battle of the warrior' should be 'with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood' (Isa 9:5).

And in that he saith, 'light was against light in three ranks,' it shows their preparations against one another; also that both sides are resolved to stand by their way. The church is confident, the man of sin is confident; they both have the same windows to see by, and so they manage their matters; yet not so simply by the windows, as by their divers judgments they make of that which shineth in at them. Each one therefore hath the true and false profession, will be confident of his own way; he that was right, knew he was right; and he that was wrong, thought he was right, and so the battle began. 'There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death' (Prov 14:12).

Nor is it in man to help it; there has been reasoning, there has been disputing, there has blood also been spilt on both sides, through the confidence that each had of the goodness of his own way; but no reconciliation is made, the enmity is set here of God; iron and clay cannot mix (Gen 3:15; Dan 2:42,43). God will have things go on thus in the world, till his words shall be fulfilled: 'The deceived, and the deceiver, are his' (Job 12:16). Things therefore must have their course in the church in the wilderness, till the mystery of God shall be fulfilled (Rev 17:17).

Hence it is said God will bring Gog against his people of Israel, 'as a cloud to cover the land' (Eze 38:16). But for what cause? Why, that he may contend a while with them, and then fall by their light to the ground. Therefore he also says that he 'will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, and it shall be called the valley of Hamon-gog' (Eze 39:11).

God will get himself great glory by permitting the boar, the man of sin, and the dragon to revel it in the church of God; for they, by setting up and contending for their darkness and calling of it the light, and by setting it against that light, which is light in very deed, do not only prove the power of truth where it is, but illustrate it so much the more. For as black sets off white, and darkness light, so error sets off truth. He that calls a man a horse, doth in conclusion but fix the belief of his humanity[9] so much the more in the apprehension of all rational creatures.

'Light against light in three ranks.' The three ranks on the church's side signify her light in the Trinity, as was said, and in the three offices of Christ; and the ranks against these three ranks signify the enemy's opposite apprehensions. They also differ about the authority of the Word and ordinances, the offices, officers, and execution of office in the church, &c. Opposition exists everywhere, even round about the house; there was 'light against light in three ranks.' This house of the forest of Lebanon was therefore a significant thing, wisely built and fit for the purpose for which it was designed: to show what the church in the wilderness would later be. Nor could anything in the temple express itself more aptly, in a typical way, than this house of the forest of Lebanon, as to the things designed to be signified thereby. It speaks, can we but hear: it points to things, as it were with a finger, have we but eyes to see.

It is not therefore to be wondered at that we hear both parties plead so much for their authority, crying out against each other, as those that destroy religion. So doth the church, so doth the man of sin. The living child is mine, saith one; nay, but the dead child is thine, and the living child is mine, says the other. And thus they spake before the king (1 Kings 3:16-22). Now this could not be, were there not different apprehensions here; light against light then is the cause of all this; and here is 'light against light in three ranks'; and so will be until the beast is dead.

The church will not give place, for she knows she has the truth; the dragon and his angels will not give place, but will be beaten back by the power of the truth; for thus it is said of the dragon and his angels: they fought and prevailed not. Therefore, there must be spiritual warfare here, and it will continue until one of the two is destroyed and their body is given to the burning flame (Dan 7:11; Rev 19:20).

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1201

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER IV. (PART 2)

OF THE MATERIALS OF WHICH THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON WAS MADE.

...And this may show that the apostles, in their doctrine, are not only a foundation for the forty-five pillars, but also a protection and defense; I say, a protection and defense for all the pillars that ever were besides in the church in the wilderness. And it is to be considered that the four rows are mentioned as placed first, and so were those upon which the thick beams that first were for coupling of the house were laid; which most fitly teacheth that the office and graces of the apostles were first in the church in the wilderness, according to 1 Corinthians 12:18.

These forty-five pillars standing in the midst, by the others, may also show that, in the time of the church's trouble in her wilderness state, some will stand by and maintain her apostolical doctrine, though, for so doing, they bear the burden of the whole. But I read of no chambers for ease or rest in this house; here is no room for chambering. Those who were members of the church in the wilderness must not look for rest until their Lord shall come (Rom 13:13,14; 2 Thess 1:5-9).

Here therefore was but hard lodging; the house of the forest of Lebanon was not made for tender skins and for those that cannot lie out of down beds, but for those that were war-like men, and that were willing to endure hardness for that religion that God had set up in his temple, and is fitly answered by that of the apostle: 'Thou, therefore, my son, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier' (2 Tim 2:3,4). Forty-five pillars! It was forty-five years that the church was of old in a bewildered and warlike condition before she enjoyed her rest in Canaan (Josh 14:10). Now, as there were forty-five years of trouble, so here are forty-five pillars for support, perhaps to intimate that God will have in his church in the wilderness a sufficient succession of faithful men that, like pillars, shall bear up the truth above water all the time of Antichrist's reign and rage.

The thick beams that lay over-thwart to couple this house of the forest of Lebanon together did bear upon these forty-five pillars, showing that, by the burden-bearers that have been and shall be in the church of God in the wilderness, the unity of that house is maintained through the Spirit. And indeed, had it not been for these pillars, the sufferers, these burden-bearers in the church, our house in the forest of Lebanon, or, more properly, our church in the wilderness, had before this been but in a poor condition. Thus, this church, which in her time is the pillar and ground of truth in the world, has been made to stand and abide. 'When the blast of the terrible ones has been as a storm against the wall' (Isa 25:4; 1 Tim 3:15). 'Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me' (Psa 129:1,2).

Thus you see how the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness; and you see also by this the reason why the house of the forest of Lebanon had its inward glory lying more in great pillars and thick beams than in other ornaments. And indeed, here had need be pillars and pillars and beams and beams too, since it was designed to withstand assaults, since it was set as a butt for the marksman, and to be an object for furious heathens to spend their rage against its walls.

The glory therefore of the temple lay in one thing, and the glory of this house lay in another: the glory of the temple lay in that she contained the true form and modes of worship, and the glory of the house of the forest of Lebanon lay in her many pillars and thick beams, by which she was made capable, through good management, to give check to those of Damascus when they should attempt to throw down that worship.

As I said before, these pillars were sweet-scented, for they were made of cedar; but what cared the enemy for that? They were offensive to him, for they were placed as a fortification against him. Nor is it any allurement to Satan to favor the mighty ones in the church in the wilderness for the fragrant smell of their sweet graces; nay, he and his angels are even more bent on opposing them because they are so sweet-scented. The cedars therefore got nothing because they were cedars at the hands of the barbarous Gentiles—for they would burn the cedars—as the angels or pillars get nothing of favor at the hands of Antichrist because they are pillars of and angels for the truth, yea, they so much the more by her are abhorred. Well, but they are pillars for all that, yea, pillars to the church in the wilderness, as the others were in the house of the forest of Lebanon, and pillars they will abide there, dead and alive, when the enemy has done what he can.

The pillars were set in three rows, for forty-five are set fifteen in a row. And they were set in three rows to bear. This manner of their standing was doubtless significant. But again, they, these pillars, may be set, or placed thus in three rows in the house of the forest of Lebanon, to show that the three offices of Christ are the great things that the church in the wilderness must bear up before the world.

The three offices of Christ are his priestly, his prophetical, and his kingly offices. These are the offices in which God's glory and the church's salvation are most immediately concerned, and which the devil and his angels have most opposed. All heresies, errors, and delusions that have assaulted Christ's church in all ages have bent themselves against one or all of these (Rev 16:13,16). Christ is a priest to save, a prophet to teach, and a king to rule his church (Isa 33:22). But this Antichrist cannot bear; therefore, he attempts to get up into the throne himself, and to act as if he were one above all that is called God, or that is worshipped (2 Thess 2:3,4; Rev 19:19-21). But behold! Here are pillars in three rows, mighty pillars to bear up Christ in these his offices before the world and against all falsehood and deceit.

Fifteen in a row, I can say no further than I can see; what the number of fifteen should signify I know not, God is wiser than man; but yet methinks their standing thus should signify a reserve; as suppose the first three that the enemy comes at should be destroyed by their hands, there are three times fourteen behind; suppose again that they should serve the next three so, yet there is a reserve behind. When that fine one, Jezebel, had done what she could against the afflicted church in her time, a reserve remained: seven thousand who were true worshippers of God (1 Kings 19:18; Rom 11:4).

Always when Antichrist made his inroads upon the church in the wilderness, to slay, to cut off, and to kill, yet some of the pillars stood; they were not all burnt in the fire, nor cut down. They said indeed, 'Come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance' (Psa 83:4). But what then? There is a difference betwixt saying and doing; the bush was not therefore consumed because it was set on fire; the church shall not be consumed although she be afflicted (Exo 3:3). And this reason is, that God has still his fifteens; therefore if Abel falls by the hand of Cain, Seth is put in his place (Gen 4:25). If Moses is taken away, Joshua shall succeed him (Josh 1:2,3). And if the devil breaks Judas' neck, Matthias is at hand to take his office (Acts 1:16-26). God has, I say, a succession of pillars in his house; he has a reserve for himself.

Yet again, methinks there should be forty-five pillars, and besides them four rows of pillars, all to bear up an invisible burden, for we read nothing upon the pillars but the heavens and roof. It should show that a carnal heart cannot conceive of the weight that truth lays upon the conscience of a believer. They see nothing, alas, nothing at all, but a beam, a truth, and, say they, are you such fools to stand groaning to bear up that, or what is contained therein? They, I say, see not the weight, the glory, the weight of glory that is in a truth of God; therefore they laugh at those who will count it worth the while to endure so much to keep it from falling to the ground. Great pillars and beams, great saints and great truths, are in the church of God in the wilderness; and the beams lie upon the pillars, or the truth upon the saints.

The tabernacle and ark formerly were to be borne upon men's shoulders, even as these great beams are borne up by these pillars. And as this tabernacle and ark were to be carried hither and thither, according to the appointment of God, so were these beams to be by these pillars borne up, that therewith the house might be girt together, kept uniform, and made to stand fast, notwithstanding the wind and storm.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1200

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER IV. (PART 1)

OF THE MATERIALS OF WHICH THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON WAS MADE.

The foundation of the house of the forest of Lebanon was laid on the same great stones used for the foundation of the temple of the Lord (1 Kings 7:2-11). And this shows that the church in the wilderness has the same foundation and support as had the temple that was at Jerusalem, though in a state of sackcloth, tears, and affliction, the lot of the church in the wild

erness; for she, while there, is to howl (Zech 11:2). Now since the foundation is the same, what is it but to show also that she, though in an afflicted condition, shall certainly stand; 'The gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Matt 16:18). Her confronting idolatrous nations is therefore a sign of her troubles, not any prediction of a fall. Her rock is steadfast, not like the rock of her adversaries, the enemy being judges (Deut 32:31).

But that which in special I take notice of is, that I find, in a manner, in this house of the forest of Lebanon, nothing but pillars, and beams, great timber, and thick beams, and of those was the house builded; pillars to hold up, and thick beams to couple together, and thus was the house finished. I read not here of any garnishing, either of the pillars, beams, doors, posts, walls, or any part of the house; all was plain, without garnish, fitly representing the state of the church in the wilderness, which was clothed with sackcloth, covered with ashes, wearing her mourning weeds, with her tears upon her cheeks, and a yoke or band about her neck (Isa 52:1,2, 61:3).

By this kind of description we may also note with what kind of members this house, this church is furnished. Here, as I said, that is, in the house of the forest of Lebanon, you find pillars, pillars, so in the church in the wilderness. O the mighty ones of which this church was compacted! they were all pillars, strong, bearing up the house against wind and weather; nothing but fire and sword could dissolve them. As therefore this house was made up of great timber, so this church in the wilderness was made up of giants in grace. These men had the faces of lions; no prince, no king, no threat, no terror, no torment, could make them yield; they loved not their lives unto the death. They have laughed their enemies in the face, they have triumphed in the flames.

They were pillars, they were pillars of cedar: the cedar is the highest tree in the world;[6] wherefore in that this house was made of cedar, it may be to denote that in the church in the wilderness, however contemned by men, was the highest perfection of goodness, as of faith, love, prayer, holy conversation, and affection for God and his truth. For indeed none ever showed the like; none ever showed higher cedars than those in Lebanon. None ever showed higher saints than were they in the church in the wilderness. Others talked, these have suffered; others have said, these have done; these have voluntarily taken their lives in their hands, for they loved them not to the death; and have fairly, and in cool blood, laid them down before the world, God, angels, and men, for the confirming of the truth which they have professed (Acts 15:26; Rev 12:11). These are pillars, these are strong ones indeed. It is meet, therefore, that the church in the wilderness, since she was to resemble the house of the forest of Lebanon, should be furnished with these mighty ones.

Cedars! the same that the holiest of all in the temple was covered within, and that house was a figure of heaven, to show that the church of God in the wilderness, how base and low soever in the judgment of the world, is yet the only heaven that God hath among the children of men. Here are many nations, many kingdoms, many countries, and many cities, but the church in the wilderness was but one, and she was the heaven that God has here; hence she is called, 'Thou heaven. Rejoice over her, thou heaven' (Rev 18:20). And again, when the combustion for religion is in the church in the wilderness, it is said to be in heaven—'And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his angels' (Rev 12:7).

The church therefore loseth not all her titles of honor, no, not when at the lowest, she is God's heaven still; though she may not be called now a crown of glory, yet she is still God's lily amongst thorns; though she may not be called the church of Jerusalem, yet she may the church in the wilderness; and though she may not be called Solomon's temple, yet she may the house of the forest of Lebanon. Cedars! Cedars are tall and sweet, and so are the members of the church in the wilderness. O their smell, their scent, it hath been 'as the wine of Lebanon' (Hosea 14:5-7). Those who have gone before have left this smell in the nostrils of their survivors, both fragrant and precious.

This house of the forest of Lebanon was built 'upon four rows of cedar pillars' (1 Kings 7:2). These four rows were the bottom pillars, those upon which the whole weight of the house did bear. The Holy Ghost saith here four rows, but says not how many were in a row. But we will suppose them to allude to the twelve apostles, or to the apostles and prophets, upon whose foundation the church in the wilderness is said to be built (Eph 2:20). And if so, then it shows that as the house of the forest of Lebanon stood upon these four rows of pillars, as the names of the twelve tribes stood in four rows of precious stones upon Aaron's breastplate when he went into the holiest, so this house, or church in the wilderness, stands upon the doctrine of the apostles and prophets (Exo 28:17, 29:10). But because it only saith it stood upon four rows, not specifying any number, therefore as to this we may say nothing certain, yet I think such a conjecture hath some show of truth in it, however, I will leave it to wiser judgments.

'And it was covered with cedar above, upon the beams that lay on forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row' (1 Kings 7:3). These pillars, as the others, are such upon which the house did also bear; this is clear, because the beams that lay upon the four rows of pillars afore-mentioned lay also upon these forty-five.

It seems, therefore, that these four rows of pillars were they that were the more outside ones; that is, two rows on this side of the house and two rows also on that; and that those forty-five pillars, fifteen in a row, stood in three rows more inward, and so did bear up with the other the beams that were laid upon them, much like to those inner pillars that usually stand in our parish churches. If so, then the first four rows seemed to guard these, for, as they stood farther from the house, they faced the weather and were nearer the enemy's first approach.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1199

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER III.

OF THE LARGENESS OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON.

The house of the forest of Lebanon was forty cubits longer than was the temple at Jerusalem, to show that the church in the wilderness would increase more, and be far larger than she that had peace and prosperity. And as it was forty cubits longer, so it was thirty cubits wider, still showing that she would abound in every way. Hence they that came out of great tribulation, when compared with others, are said to be a numberless number, or a multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. 'These,' saith one, 'are they which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of God' (Rev 7:14,15).

The church, as it respected temple-worship, was confined to the land of Canaan; but our New Testament persecuted one is scattered among the nations, as a flock of sheep is scattered in a wood or wilderness. Hence they are said to be in 'the wilderness of the people,' fitly answering to this house of the forest of Lebanon (Eze 20:35-37).

But though the house exceeded in length and breadth the temple of Jerusalem, yet as to their height they were the same, to show that what acts that in the wilderness doth, above what they have been capable to do, that have not been in that condition; yet the nature of their grace is the same (Rom 15:27; 1 Peter 1:1).

But, I say, as for length and breadth, the church in the wilderness exceeds more than the house of the forest of Lebanon did that of the temple at Jerusalem, as it is written; 'More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.' And again: 'Thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited' (Isa 54:1-3). This is spoken of the church in the wilderness, that was made up chiefly of the Gentiles, of which the house of the forest of Lebanon was a figure; and how she at last shall recover herself from the yoke and tyranny of antichrist. And then she shall shoulder it with her adversary, saying, 'Give place to me, that I may dwell' (Isa 49:20).

And I will add, it was not only magnificent in length and breadth, but also terrifying; it was compacted like a castle or stronghold, as was said before. It was a tower built for an armory, for Solomon put there his two hundred targets and three hundred shields of gold (2 Chron 9:15,16). This place therefore was a terror to the heathen, especially on that side of the church, because she stood with her nose so formidable against Damascus: no marvel therefore if the implacable cried out against them, Help, 'men of Israel, help!' And, 'Will ye rebel against the king?' (Acts 21:28; Neh 2:19).

For it is the terror, or majesty and fortitude, which God has put upon the church in the wilderness, that makes the Gentiles so bestir them to have her under foot. Besides, they misapprehend concerning her, as if she was for destroying kings, for subverting kingdoms, and for bringing all to desolation, and so they set themselves against her, 'crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus' (Acts 17:5-7). Indeed, the very name of Jesus is the very tower of the Christian church, and that by which she frights the world, but not designedly, but through their misunderstanding; for neither she, nor her Jesus, is for doing them any hurt; however, this is that which renders her yet in their eye 'terrible as an army with banners' (Cant 6:10).

How then could she escape persecution for a time, since Jeroboam's policy was this (1 Kings 12:26-28)? And it is yet the policy of the nations to secure themselves against this their imagined danger, and therefore to use all means, as Pharaoh did, to keep this people low enough, saying, 'Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when there falleth out any war, they join also to our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land' (Exo 1:10).

But could the house of Lebanon, though fortified, assault Damascus? Could it remove from the place on which God had set it? It was only a place of defense for Judah, or for temple worship. Had the adversary left the temple-worship and worshippers alone, the shields and targets in the house of the forest of Lebanon would not have been uncovered, nor made bare against them. The same may now be said of the church in the wilderness, she moveth no sedition, she abideth in her place; let her temple-worshippers but alone, and she will be as if she were not in the world; but if you afflict her, 'Fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed' (Rev 11:5).

And so die by the sword of the Spirit. But because the weapons of the church, though none of them are carnal, be so talked of in the world, the blind are yet more afraid of her than they in this manner are like to be hurt by her, and therefore they of old have peeled, and polled, and endeavored to spoil her all along, sending their servants, and saying to their bailiffs and sheriffs, 'Go—to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning,—a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!' (Isa 18:2). But this people shall prevail, though not by worldly force; her God will deliver her. And then, or at 'that time, shall the present be brought to the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the Mount Zion' (Isa 18:7).

Now thus did the house of the forest of Lebanon provoke: it was built defensively; it had a tower and armor; its tower confronted the enemy's land. No marvel then, if the king of Assyria so threatened to lay his army on the sides of Lebanon and to cut down the tall cedars thereof (Isa 37:24).

The largeness, therefore, and prowess of the church, by reason of her inherent fortitude and the valorous acts that she hath done by suffering, by prayer, by faith, and a constant enduring of hardship for the truth, doth force into the world a belief, through their own guilt and clamors of conscience against them for their debaucheries, that this house of the forest of Lebanon will destroy them all when she shall be delivered from her servitude. 'Come now, therefore,' saith Balak to Balaam, and 'curse me this people,' if peradventure I may overcome them: when he might have let them pass peaceably by, and they would not have lifted up a finger against him. Wherefore, from all these things it appears that the house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1198

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

CHAPTER II.

OF WHAT THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON WAS A TYPE.

That the house of the forest of Lebanon was a house significant, I think, is clear; also, if it had not, we should not have had so particular an account thereof in the holy Word of God: I read, but of four buildings wherein, in a particular manner, the houses or fabrics are, as to their manner of building, distinctly handled. The tabernacle is one, the temple another; the porch which he built for his throne, his throne for judgment; and this house of the forest of Lebanon is the fourth. Now the first three, to wit, the tabernacle, the temple, the porch, and the throne, wise men will say, are typical; and therefore so is this.

[First.] I will therefore take it for granted that the house of the forest of Lebanon is a significative thing, yea, a figure of the church, as the temple at Jerusalem was, though not under the same consideration. The temple was a figure of the church under the gospel, as she relateth to worship; but the house of the forest of Lebanon was a figure of that church as she is assaulted for her worship, as she is persecuted for the same. Or take it more expressly thus: I take this house of the forest of Lebanon to be a type of the church in the wilderness, or as she is in her sackcloth state.

We read, before this house was built, that there was a church in the wilderness; and also, after this house was demolished, that there would be a church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38; Rev 12:14). But we now respect that wilderness state that the church of the New Testament is in, and conclude that this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type and figure of that; that is, of her wilderness state. And, methinks, the very place where this house was built does intimate such a thing; for this house was not built in a town, a city, &c., as was that called the temple of the Lord, but was built in a kind of a wood, a wilderness; it was built in the forest of Lebanon, unto which that saying seems directly to answer. 'And to the woman,' the church, 'were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place' (Rev 12:14). A wilderness state is a desolate, a tempted, an afflicted, a persecuted state (Jer 2:6). All of which is more than intimated by the witnesses wearing of, and prophesying in sackcloth, and also expressed of by that Revelation 12.

Answerable to this is that of the prophet concerning this house of the forest of Lebanon, where he says, 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon! that the fire may devour thy cedars.' And again, 'Howl, fir-tree; for the cedar is fallen' (Zech 11:1,2). What can be more express? The prophet here knocks at the very door of the house of the forest of Lebanon, and tells her that her cedars are designed for fire; unto which also most plainly answer the flames to which so many of the cedars of Lebanon, God's saints, I mean, for many hundred years, have been delivered for their profession; and by which, as another prophet has it, for many days they have fallen (Dan 11:33). Also when the king of Assyria came up with his army against Jerusalem, this was his vaunting, 'I am come—to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof' (Isa 37:24).

What was this king of Assyria but a type of the beast mentioned in the New Testament? Now he says, I will cut down the cedars of Lebanon; who, in our gospel times, are the tall ones of the church of God. And I say again, because he particularly mentions Lebanon, he intends that house Solomon built there, a fortification to defend the temple's religion, as the saints now in the wilderness of the people are set for the defense of the gospel. But more of this anon.

This house therefore was built to make assaults, and to be assaulted, as the church in the wilderness is; and hence the state of this house is compared to the condition of a woman in travail, struggling with her pains, as also we find the state of the church in the wilderness is—'O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!' (Jer 22:23). And again, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament,' and have sorrow, as a woman in travail (John 16:20-22). Much answering her case who, in her travails, and while 'pained to be delivered,' was said even in this case to stand before the dragon, who with open mouth sought to destroy her fruit, so 'soon as it was born' (Rev 12:1-6).

Hence, again, when Christ calls his spouse out to suffer, he calls or draws her out of his house in Lebanon, to look 'from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards,' to the things that are invisible; even as Paul said when he was in affliction, 'We look not at the things which are seen' (Cant 4:8; 2 Cor 4:18). He draws them out thence, I say, as sheep appointed for the slaughter; yea, he goeth before them, and they follow him thither.

Also, when the prophet foretells the church's affliction, he expresses it by the fall of the cedars of Lebanon, saying, The Lord shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron; a little afore called the axe and saw. And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one (Isa 10:15,34). And again, 'The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down' (Isa 33:9).

Do we think that the prophet prophesieth here against trees, against the natural cedars of Lebanon? No, no, it is a prophecy touching the afflicted state of the church in the wilderness, of which Lebanon, I mean this house of the forest of Lebanon, was a figure.

When God also threateneth the enemies of his church in the wilderness with his judgments, for their cruel dealing with her in the day of her desertion, he calls those judgments the violence of Lebanon. That is, by way of comparison, such as the violence done to Lebanon was. 'The violence of Lebanon shall cover thee; and the spoil of beasts which made them [Lebanon] afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein' (Habb 2:17). This is like that, 'Reward her, even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works' (Rev 18:6). This the church doth by her prayers. 'The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say' (Jer 51:35). And then shall be fulfilled that which is written, Look what they did unto Lebanon shall be done unto them (Oba 15; Eze 35:14,15).

God has his time to return the evil his enemies do to his church, and he will do it when his time comes upon their own head; and this return is called covering them with the violence of Lebanon, or the violence shown to her in the day of her distress. It is yet further evident that this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in the wilderness:—

1. For that she is called a tower, or place of fortification and defense; the same term that is given to the church in a captivated state (Can 7:4; Micah 4:8-10). For as the church in the wilderness is compared to a woman in travail, to show her fruitfulness to God-ward in her most afflicted condition; so she is called a tower, to show her fortitude and courage, for God and his truth, against antichrist. I say therefore, unto both these is she compared in that scripture last cited, which you may peruse if you please. A tower is a place of refuge for the afflicted, and so is the church under the rage of antichrist; yea, though it is the only place the enemy designed for ruin and destruction, it is also the only place of safety in the world.

2. This tower, this house of the forest of Lebanon, it seems to be so built as to confront Damascus, the chief city of the king of Assyria; and in so doing it was a most excellent type of the spirit and design of the church in the wilderness, which is raised up, and built to confront antichrist. Hence Christ calls some features of his church and compares them to this. 'Thy neck,' says he, 'is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fish-pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim; thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus' (Cant 7:4).

Thy nose, that great ornament of thy lovely countenance, is as a tower looking that way; so set, as Christ says of his, as a flint. And this is a comely feature in the church, that her nose stands like a tower, or as he says in another place, like a fenced brazen wall against Damascus, the metropolitan of her enemy: 'for the head of Syria is Damascus' (Isa 7:8).

And as Christ thus compares his church, so she again returns, or compares the face of her Lord to the same, saying, 'His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars' (Can 5:15). Thus in Lebanon, in this brave house, is found the excellency of the church, and the beauty of Christ, for that they are both as a rock, with glory and majesty, bended against the enemies of the truth. 'The face of the Lord is against them that do evil.' Pillars his legs are compared to, and pillars were they that upheld this house, this tower, which was thus bravely built with its face confronting the enemy's country.

Second. This house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in affliction, yet it further appears, for at the fall of Babylon her cedars are said to rejoice in special. 'The fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us' (Isa 14:8). This is at the destruction of Babylon, the type of that called antichrist.

But why should Lebanon, the cedars in Lebanon, in an especial manner here, be said to rejoice at his downfall: doubtless to show that as the enemy made his inroad upon Jerusalem; so in a particular manner Lebanon, and the house there, were made to smoke for it (Isa 37:24; Jer 22:23; Zech 11:1). This answereth to that, 'Rejoice over her thou heaven; and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you of her.' Hence again, when he speaks of giving glory to his afflicted church, for all the sorrow which she hath sustained in her bearing witness for the truth against antichrist, he calls it the glory of Lebanon.

That is, as I take it, the glory that belongs to her, for the afflictions which she underwent for his name. 'The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it' (Isa 35:2). And again, 'The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee' (Isa 60:13). These are promises to the church for her suffering of affliction, and they are made unto her as she bears the name of Lebanon, who or which was her type in those havocs made in it, when the enemy, as I said, assaulted the church of old.

Thus, by these few lines, I have shown you that there was a similitude betwixt this house in the forest of Lebanon and our gospel church in the wilderness. Nor need we stumble because this word house is not subjoined in every particular place, where this sorrow or joy of Lebanon is made mention of; for it is an usual thing with the Holy Ghost, when he directs his speech to a man, to speak as if he spake to a tree; and when he directs his voice to a king, to speak as if he intended the kingdom; so when he speaks of the house, to speak as to the forest of Lebanon. Instances many might be given.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1197

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CHAPTER I.

As Solomon built a house for Pharaoh's daughter, and that was called the temple of the Lord; so he built a house in Lebanon, called 'the house of the forest of Lebanon' (1 Kings 7:2).

Some, I perceive, have thought that this house, called 'the house of the forest of Lebanon,' was none other than the temple at Jerusalem, and that it was called 'The house of the forest of Lebanon' because it was built of the wood that grew there. But that Solomon built another than that, even one in Lebanon, called 'the house of the forest of Lebanon,' is evident, and that from these reasons:—

First, the forest of Lebanon is mentioned as another, besides that called the temple of the Lord; and that too when the temple and its finishing is spoken of; yea, it is mentioned with an 'also,' as an additional house besides the temple of the Lord.

'In the fourth year,' saith the text, 'was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid in the month Zif; and in the eleventh year in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it; so he was seven years in building it.' 'But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon,' &c. (1 Kings 6:37,38; 7:1,2).

Can anything be more plain? Is not here the house of the forest of Lebanon mentioned as another besides the temple? He built the temple, he built his own house, and he also built the house of the forest of Lebanon.

Second. It is evident by the difference of their measures and dimensions. The length of the temple was threescore cubits; but the length of the house of the forest of Lebanon was an hundred cubits; so that the house of the forest of Lebanon was forty cubits more than was that called Solomon's temple: The breadth of Solomon's temple was twenty cubits, but the breadth of the house of the forest of Lebanon was fifty cubits: And as there is odds between threescore and fivescore, so there is also between twenty and fifty.

As to their height, they were alike; but equality in height can no more make them the same than a twenty years' age in two can make them one and the same person.

Their porches also differed greatly: the porch of the temple was twenty cubits long, but the porch of the house of the forest of Lebanon was fifty cubits. So that here also is thirty odds. The porch of the temple was but ten cubits broad; but the porch of the house of the forest of Lebanon thirty cubits. Now, I say, whoever considers these disproportions can conclude that the house of the forest of Lebanon was none other than the temple of Jerusalem. For all this compare 1 Kings 6:2, 3 with 7:2, 6.

Third. If you add to these the different makes of the houses, it will sufficiently appear that they were not one. The house of the forest of Lebanon was built upon four rows of cedar pillars; but we read of no such pillars upon which the temple stood. The windows of the house of the forest of Lebanon stood in three rows, light against light; but we read of no such thing in the temple. The temple had two pillars before the door of its porch, but we read not of them before the door of the porch of the house of the forest of Lebanon. In the sixth and seventh chapters of the first book of Kings, these two houses, as to their make, are exactly set forth; so that he that listeth may search and see, if as to this I have not said the truth.

Works of John Bunyan: A Discourse Of The House Of The Forest Of Lebanon. 1196

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

BY THE EDITOR.

The part of Palestine where the celebrated mountains of Lebanon are situated is a border country adjoining Syria, with Sidon as its seaport, and land nearly adjoining the city of Damascus to the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; during the border conflicts, it served as cover for the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with good reason, supposes that, to keep them in check, Solomon built a tower house and palace, well furnished with war munitions, called the house in the forest of Lebanon.

As the magnificent temple at Jerusalem was the seat of public worship appointed by God, it was considered typical of the gospel dispensation, which was intended to supersede it. All its parts and utensils, sacrifices and services, have been described, in their typical meaning, in Solomon's Temple Spiritualized; but as the lovely system of the gospel had, with slow and irresistible steps, to conquer the prejudices, passions, and wickedness of mankind, those who bore the brunt of this battle were considered as the church militant in the wilderness: and Bunyan has, in this treatise, endeavoured to show that this palace and fortress was typical of the churches of Christ while in a state of holy warfare, defending their Divine dispensation, and extending the line of defence by progressive spiritual conquests.

Though enemies surround the churches, they have inexhaustible internal comfort, strength, and consolation. Like the house in the forest of Lebanon, they are also pleasantly, nay, beautifully situated. If Mount Zion was the joy of the whole earth, the mountains of Damascus were a picture of the earthly paradise. The scenery is so beautiful, and the air so balmy, that one part is called Eden, or the garden of the Lord. Arabian poets describe it as always bearing winter far above its head, spring on its shoulders, and autumn in its bosom, while perpetual summer lies sleeping at its feet. Upon this beautiful spot, called by Isaiah 'the glory of Lebanon,' Solomon built his house in the forest.

This is the plain matter of fact which Bunyan establishes from the sacred Scriptures, but he was, as to lettered lore, an unlearned man; at all events, no man could say of him that 'much learning has made thee mad.' Bunyan's is a plain, common-sense scriptural account of this building; but he differs greatly from almost all our learned commentators—who imagine this house was near the temple of Jerusalem. The Assembly of Divines, in their valuable annotations, suggest that it was so called 'because great store of trees, as in Lebanon, were planted about it; and gardens, orchards, and all manner of delightful things were added thereto': to aid this conjecture, they quote Ecclesiastes 2:4, 6.

Poole says that it was 'a house so called, either, first, because it was built in the mountain and forest of Lebanon, for recreation in summer time; but generally held to have been near Jerusalem; or rather, secondly, from some resemblance it had with Lebanon for its pleasant shades and groves.' Diodati considers it the same as Solomon's palace, but calls it the house of Lebanon because of the groves planted about it, or because of the great number of cedar columns brought from Lebanon and used in its construction.

Even Bunyan's favorite translation, made at Geneva by the Puritans, while it gives two wood-cuts of 'The King's house IN the wood of Lebanon,' a marginal note is added—' For the beauty of the place, and great abundance of cedar trees that went to the building thereof, it was compared to Mount Lebanon.' Calmet, in his very valuable translation, accompanied by the Vulgate Latin, gives the same idea: 'Il bâtit encore le palais appelé la maison du Liban, à cause de la quantité prodigieuse de cèdres qui entraient dans la structure de cet édifice.' [Translation: 'Another thing he did was build the palace which was called the house of Lebanon because of the prodigious quantity of cedars used in its construction.']

Bishop Patrick places this house in or near to Jerusalem, 'In a cool, shady mountain, which made it resemble Mount Lebanon.' Dr. Gill believed this house was near Jerusalem because it was a magazine of arms and a court of judicature, and it took its name from being built of the cedars of Lebanon and set among groves of trees. Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, book 8, chapter 6, section 5, states that when the Queen of Sheba came to Judea, she was amazed at the wisdom of Solomon, and surprised at the fineness and largeness of his royal palace; 'but she was beyond measure astonished at the house which was called the forest of Lebanon.' Matthew Henry follows the opinion of Bunyan; 'I rather incline to think it was a house built in the forest of Lebanon itself, whither, though far distant from Jerusalem, Solomon having so many chariots and horses, and those dispersed into chariot cities, which probably were his stages, he might frequently retire with ease.' Express notice is taken of Lebanon as a place of warlike building in 2 Kings 19 and in Canticles 7:4.

The tower of Lebanon is described as looking towards Damascus. The ruins of this house and tower, in the forest of Lebanon, are probably those seen by Benjamin of Tudela, who describes the stones of which it was built as twenty palms long, and twelve wide. Gabriel Sionits describes the tower as a hundred cubits high, and fifty broad. Maundrel saw the ruins in the mountains of Lebanon at a distance. The objections made by our commentators to the plain testimony of the Scriptures are that Solomon would not have built this beautiful house at so great a distance from the capital—that he would not have risked so much treasure nor the munitions of war in a forest—and that he would not, on the extreme border of the kingdom of Judea, have set up a throne, or seat of judgment. The answer to these objections seems to me conclusive.

Lebanon had the most commanding sites for a border fortress, and therefore an admirable depot for arms, enabling Jewish warriors to keep out their most vigilant and dangerous enemies, the Assyrians. The wealth deposited in this house was meant to heighten vigilance to protect such an important pass, while diverting an enemy's attention from the still wealthier temple and fortress at Jerusalem. A throne of justice was well placed there, to save a long journey to the capital, for the trial of offenders, and the settlement of disputes on the borders of the empire. It appears to me that common sense and the soundest evidence support the view Bunyan took, which was far ahead of its time.

The way this building, with the purposes for which it was intended, is spiritualized is ingenious and admirably carried through in the following treatise. Whether the Holy Ghost intended it to be typical must be left to the judgment of the impartial reader. That the inspired writers use Lebanon figuratively is beyond doubt. 'Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down,' must be intended as a type of the church, when under the malice of her enemies.

So also when Babylon, a type of Antichrist, fell, 'the cedars of Lebanon rejoiced'; doubtless referring to the joy of God's saints when relieved from the oppressor. Whether the fine old trees, or the splendid house built as a defense to prevent the approach of enemies to the temple, is intended as a type of Christian warfare is left to the reader's impartial consideration. There is little reason to doubt that we shall adopt Bunyan's view; if we consider the temple typical, we shall also consider the house in the forest of Lebanon typical.

An author of very great repute (Addison) has said that, had Bunyan lived in the times of the Christian fathers, he would have been as great a father as the best of them. He stands unrivaled for most extraordinary mental powers for allegory and for spiritualizing, but to compare him with the best of the fathers is faint praise indeed. He was as much their superior, as the blaze of the noon-day sun excels the glimmer of a rushlight.

In this treatise we find many very admirable illustrations of two important subjects. One is that temporal governors have nothing to fear from the spread of vital godliness; the other concerns the nature of the strife and antipathy the world feels against Christ and his spiritual seed. They are sweet-scented; the fragrant smell of their graces excites the enmity of Satan and his followers, who would burn these cedars, because they are pillars of, and angels for, the truth. 'Reason, history, and experience all confirm this truth: that a people, whose profession is directly in opposition to the devil, and antichrist, and to all debauchery, inhumanity, profaneness, superstition, and idolatry,' will be hated, persecuted, and, if possible, destroyed by Satan and his adherents.

The secret is that the world cannot bear such 'living epistles, known and read of all men,' which so severely reflect, by their conduct, upon the vice and profligacy of the worldling. This was a stinging censure upon the profligate court of Charles II, and therefore the Nonconformists were hated and persecuted; while conformity to soul-benumbing rites and ceremonies was cherished and rewarded. To make persecution perfectly unjustifiable, Bunyan scripturally and plainly shows the harmlessness of the Christian character, bearing with meekness the injuries heaped upon it; his followers, when reviled, reviled not again, but suffered patiently. It is a grievous mistake to suppose that vital godliness caused the great rebellion, and consequent beheading of King Charles I.

It was frightful and most insupportable tyranny that drove a nation, headed by their parliament, to arms. The King levied severe taxes without the consent of the people's representatives; he perverted justice through the abominable decisions of the King's judges in the court of Star Chamber; and he attempted to introduce Popery through the Queen and her licentious court, composed principally of the worst class of foreign Papists. When Leighton, Prynne, Bastwick, and some of the most virtuous and enlightened citizens justly but firmly remonstrated, they seized and tortured them in a way that sickens the heart to read.

It was an attempt to reduce the whole nation to the most abject slavery of both body and soul, that roused the spirit of the people to resistance. The solemn league and covenant was taken, Cromwell appeared, and, by Divine aid, the country was saved from utter desolation. It was not a war of religious sects; the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, and others could never have coalesced; it was a war for liberty or despotism, and the warriors on both sides were attached to the religion by law established. It is true that many Episcopalians, in the reign of Charles II, charged the Puritans with being the mainspring, and with possessing overwhelming force, in that awful struggle, forgetting that the Nonconformists were then but a handful of men, neither wealthy nor influential.

To attribute victory to so small a band must be to attribute it to the immediate interposition of the Most High, as in Gideon's victory over the Assyrians. But it was no sectarian fight, except those two great sects of freemen against despots. Bunyan fully proves that no state has anything to fear from religion: 'She moveth no sedition, she abideth in her place; let her temple-worshippers but alone, and she will be as if she were not in the world'; 'neither she nor her Jesus are for doing them any hurt.' 'God's armor is no burthen to the body, nor clog to the mind, and it being only spiritual, the slaughter must needs be spiritual also.' 'All her privileges are soul concerns; they make no infringement upon any man's liberties.

Let but faith and holiness walk the streets without control, and you may be as happy as the world can make you.' 'Let not kings, and princes, and potentates be afraid; the saints that are such indeed, know their places, and are of a peaceable deportment; the earth God hath given to the children of men, and his kingdom to the sons of God.' The Christian is a pilgrim bound to a far more glorious inheritance: with so bright and glorious a prospect, he may well apply the encouraging language of Bunyan to his own soul; 'I have a bad master, but I have only a year to serve under him, and that makes me serve him with patience. I have but a mile to go in this dirty way, and then I shall have my path pleasant and green, and this makes me tread the dirty way with patience.'

This treatise is one of the ten 'excellent manuscripts' Bunyan prepared for the press, but his unexpected decease prevented him from publishing them. It first appeared in the folio volume of his works, printed in 1692 under the care of Charles Doe. It has since been republished in every edition of Bunyan's work, but with the Scripture references omitted and many errors. The first edition now corrects it.

GEO. OFFOR.

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1195

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Jerusalem Temple, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths

LXX. Of the figures on the walls of the inner Temple.

The wall of the inner temple, a type of heaven, was, as I have already told you, ceiled with cedar from bottom to top. Now, in Ezekiel's vision, this wall was carved with cherubim and palm trees. 'So that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub, and every cherub had two faces; so that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other. They were made throughout the house; from the ground up to above the door were cherubims and palm trees (Eze 41:18-20).

1. As to these cherubims and palm trees, I have already told you what I think them to be figures of. The cherubims are figures of the holy angels, and the palm trees of upright ones; we therefore here are to discourse only of the placing of them in the heavens.

2. Now you see the palm trees in the holiest are placed between a cherub and a cherub, round about the house, which methinks should be to signify that the saints shall not there live by faith and hope, as here, but in the immediate enjoyment of God; for to be placed between the cherubims, is to be placed where God dwells; for Holy Writ says plainly, He dwells between the cherubims, even where here it is said these palm trees, or upright ones are placed (1 Sam 4:4; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chron 13:6; Psa 80:1; Isa 37:16). The church on earth is called God's house, and he will dwell in it for ever; and heaven itself is called God's house, and we shall dwell in it for ever, and that between the cherubims. This is more than grace; this is grace and glory, glory indeed.

3. To dwell between the cherubims may be also to show that there we shall be equal to the angels. Mark, here is a palm tree and a cherub, a palm tree and a cherub. Here we are a little lower, but there we shall not be a whit behind the very chief of them. A palm tree and a cherub, an upright one between the cherubs, will then be round about the house; we shall be placed in the same rank; 'neither can they die any more, for they are equal unto the angels' (Luke 20:36).

4. The palm trees thus placed, may be also to show us that the elect of God shall there take up the vacancies of the fallen angels; they for sin were cast down from the holy heavens, and we by grace shall be caught up thither, and be placed between a cherub and a cherub. When I say their places, I do not mean the fickleness of that state, that they for want of electing love did stand in while in glory; for the heavens, by the blood of Christ, is now to us become a purchased possession; wherefore, as we shall have their place in the heavenly kingdom, so, by virtue of redeeming blood, we shall there abide, and go no more out; for by that means that kingdom will stand to us unshaken (Heb 9:12, 12:22-24,28; Rev 3:12).

5. These palm trees, I say, seem to take their places, who for sin were cast from thence. The elect therefore take that place in possession, but a better crown for ever. Thus 'Israel possessed that of the Canaanites'; and David, Saul's kingdom; and Matthias, the place, the apostleship of Judas (Acts 1:20-26).

6. Nor were the habitations which the fallen angels lost, excepting that which was excepted before, at all inferior to theirs that stood; for their captain and prince is called son of the morning, for he was the antitype there (Isa 14:12).

7. Thus, you see, they were placed from the ground up to above the door; that is, from the lowest to the highest angel there. For as there are great saints and small ones in the church on earth, so there are angels of divers degrees in heaven, some greater than some; but the smallest saint, when he gets to heaven, shall have an angel's dignity, an angel's place. From the ground, you find a palm tree between two cherubs.

8. And every cherub had two faces—so here; but I read in Ezekiel 10:14 that they had four faces apiece. The first was the face of a cherubim; the second, the face of a man; the third, the face of a lion; and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

9. They had two faces apiece; not to show that they were of a double heart, for 'their appearances and themselves' were the same, and 'they went every one straight forward' (Eze 10:22). These two faces, then, were to show here the quickness of their apprehension, and their terribleness to execute the mind of God. The face of a man signifies them masters of reason; the face of a lion, the terribleness of their presence (1 Cor 13:12; Judg 13:6).

In another place I read of their wheels; yea, that themselves, 'their whole bodies, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes round about' (Eze 1:18, 10:12). And this is to show us how knowing and quick-sighted they are in all providences and dark dispensations, and how nimble in apprehending the mischievous designs of the enemies of God's church, and so how able they are to undermine them. And forasmuch also as they have the face of a lion, we by that are showed how full of power they are to kill and to destroy, when God says, Go forth and do so. Now, with these we must dwell and cohabit, a palm tree and a cherub; a palm tree and a cherub must be from the ground to above the door, round about the house—the heavens.

'So that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side.' By these two faces, we may also see that we in the heavens shall have glory sufficient to familiarize us with the angels. Their lion-like looks, with which they used to fright the biggest saint on earth, as you have it, Genesis 32:30; Judges 13:15,22, shall then be accompanied with the familiar looks of a man. Then angels and men shall be fellows, and have to do with each as such.

Thus you see something of that little that I have found in the temple of God.

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1194

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Jerusalem Temple, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths

LXIX. Of the cherubims, and of their being placed over the mercy-seat in the inner Temple.

Cherubims also stood in the most holy place, set high above the mercy-seat. See 1 Kings 6:23-28.

1. These are called by the apostles, 'the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy-seat' (Heb 9:5).

2. These cherubims were figures of the angels of God, as in other places we have proved.

3. It is said these cherubims were made of image work, and that in such manner, as that they could, as some think, move their wings by art; wherefore it is said, 'they stretched forth their wings'; the wings of the 'cherubims spread themselves'; and that the 'cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark,—and the staves thereof above' (1 Kings 6:27; 2 Chron 3:13, 5:8).

4. I read also of these cherubims, that they had chariots and wheels; by which is taught us how ready and willing the angels are to fetch us when commanded, unto the paradise of God; for these chariots were types of the bosoms of the angels; and these wheels, of the quickness of their motion to come for us when sent. 'The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place' (1 Chron 28:18; Eze 10:9,15,16,18-20; 2 Kings 6:17; Psa 68:17; 2 Kings 2:11; Dan 9:2).

5. What difference, if any, there is between cherubims and seraphims, into that I shall not now inquire; though I believe that there are diverse orders and degrees of angels in the heavens, as there are degrees and diverse orders among men in the world. But that these cherubims were figures of the holy angels, their placement in the holy oracle declares; for their dwelling-place is heaven, though they, for our sakes, are conversant in the world (Heb 1).

6. It is said that these cherubims, in this holy place, did stand upon their feet, to show, (1.) That the angels of heaven are not fallen from their station, as the other angels are. (2.) To show also that they are always ready, at God's bidding, to run with swiftness to do his pleasure. (3.) To show also that they shall continue in their station, being therein confirmed by Jesus Christ, 'by whom all things consist' (Col 1:17).

7. It is said 'their faces were inward,' looking one to another, yet withal somewhat ascending, to show that the angels both behold and wonder at the mysteries of grace, as it is displayed to usward from off the mercy-seat. The faces of the cherubims 'shall look one to another; towards the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be' (Exo 25:20; 2 Chron 3:13; 1 Peter 1:12; Eph 3:10).

(1.) 'Towards the mercy-seat.' They are desirous to see it, and how from hence, I say, mercy doth look towards us.

(2.) 'They look one towards another,' to show that they agree to rejoice in the salvation of our souls (Luke 15:10).

(3.) They are said to stand above the mercy-seat, perhaps to show that the angels have not need of those acts of mercy and forgiveness as we have, who stand below, and are sinners. They stand above it; they are holy. I do not say they have no need that the goodness of God should be extended to them, for it is by that they have been and are preserved; but they need not be forgiven, for they have committed no iniquity.

(4.) They also stand there with wings stretched out, showing how ready, if need be, the angels are to come from heaven to preach this gospel to the world (Luke 2:9-14).

(5.) It is said in this, that thus standing, their wings did reach from wall to wall; from one side of this holy house to the other; to show that all the angels within the boundaries of the heavens, with one consent and one mind, are ready to come down to help and serve, and do for God's elect at his command.

It is said, also, that their wings are stretched on high, to show that they are only delighted in those duties which are enjoined upon them by the high and lofty One, and not inclined, no, not to serve the saints in their sensual or fleshly designs. It may also show that they are willing to take flight from one end of heaven to the other to serve God and his church for good (Matt 13:41,49, 24:31, 25:31; 2 Thess 1:7,8).

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1193

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Jerusalem Temple, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths

LXVII. Of the high-priest's going into the Holiest alone.

As it was the privilege of the high-priest to go into the holiest alone, so there was something of mystery also, to which I shall speak a little: 'There shall,' says God, 'be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation, when he [Aaron] goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel' (Lev 167:17). The reason is, for that Christ is mediator alone; he trod the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with him to help him there (Isa 63:3; 1 Tim 2:5).

Of the people there was none to help him to bear his cross, or in the management of the first part of his priestly office. Why then should anyone share with him in executing the second part? Besides, he who helps an intercessor must himself be innocent, or in favor, on grounds not depending on the worth of the intercession. But as to the intercession of Christ, who can come in to help upon the account of such innocency or worth? Not the highest angel; for there is none such but one, wherefore he must do that alone. Hence it is said, He went in alone, is there alone, and there intercedes alone. And this is manifest not only in the type Aaron, but in the antitype Christ Jesus (Heb 6:19,20, 9:7-11,21,23,24).

I do not say no one in heaven is but Jesus Christ; I say he is there to intercede for us alone. Yea, the holy text says more. 'I go,' saith Christ, 'to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also' (John 14:1-3).

This text seems to insinuate that Christ is in the holiest, or highest, heavens alone, and that he must remain there until he has finished his work of intercession, for only then does he come again to take us to himself. Let us grant Christ the pre-eminency in this, as also in all other things; for he is intercessor for his church, and makes it for them in the holiest alone. It is said he is the light no man can approach.

LXVIII. Of the high-priest's going in thither but once a year.

As the high priest went into the holiest alone, so he did that work but once a year. Thou shalt not come 'at all times,' said God to him, 'into the holy place, within the veil, before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark, that thou die not' (Lev 16:2).

And as he was to go in thither but 'once a year,' so not then either, unless clothed and adorned, with his Aaronical holy robes (Lev 16:32-34). Then he was to be clothed, as I hinted before, with the holy robes, the frontlet of gold upon his forehead, the names of the twelve tribes upon his breast, and the jingling bells upon the skirts of his garment. Nor would all this do, unless he went in thither with blood (Exo 28; Lev 16).

Now, this once a year the apostle taketh special notice of, and makes great use of it. 'Once a year,' saith he, this high priest went in thither: once a year, that is, to show that Christ should, once at the end of the world, go into heaven itself to make intercession there for us. For by this word 'year,' he shows the term and time of the world is meant; and by 'once' in that year, he means once in the end of the world.

'Not,' saith he, 'that he should offer himself often: as the high-priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world; but now, at the end of the world, he hath appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Heb 9:25,26).

And having thus once offered his sacrifice without the veil, he is now gone into the holiest, to perfect his work of mediation for us. Not into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Now if our Lord Jesus is gone indeed, now to appear in the presence of God for us; and if this now be the once a year that the type speaks of; the once in the end of the world, as our apostle says; then it follows, that the people of God should all stand waiting for his benediction that to them he shall bring with him when he shall return from thence. Wherefore he adds, 'Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation' (v 28).

This, therefore, shows the greatness of the work Christ must do at the right hand of God, for he stays there so long. He accomplished all the first part of his priesthood in less than forty years, if you take in the making of his holy garments and all; but about this second part thereof, he has been above in heaven above sixteen hundred years, and yet has not done.

This therefore calls for faith and patience in saints, and by this he also tries the world; so that they, in a mocking manner, say already, 'Where is the promise of his coming?' (2 Peter 3:4). But I say again, we must look and wait. If the people waited for Zacharias, and wondered that he staid so long, because he staid in the holy place somewhat longer than they expected, no marvel if the faith of the world about Christ's coming is fled and gone long ago, yea, and that the children also are put to it to wait, since a scripture 'little while' doth prove so long. For that which the apostle saith, 'yet a little while,' doth prove to some to be a very long little (John 16:16; Heb 10:37).

True, Zacharias had then to do with angels, and that made him stay so long. O but Jesus is with God, before him, in his presence, talking with him, swallowed up in him, and with his glory, and that is one cause he stays so long. He is also there, pleading his blood for his tempted ones, interceding for all his elect, and waiting there till all his are fitted for and ready to enter into glory. I say, he is there, and there must be till then; and this is another reason why he doth stay the time we count so long.

And, indeed, it is a wonder to me that Jesus Christ our Lord should think now he is there of returning higher again, considering the ill treatment he met here before. But what will not love do? Surely he would never touch the ground again, had he not a people here that only his coming can make perfect. He is also made judge of quick and dead, and will give him glory in the ruin of those who hate him.

His people are to him as himself. Can a loving husband abide always away from a beloved spouse? Besides, as I said, he will pay the wicked off for all their wickedness, and in the very place where they have committed it. Wherefore the day appointed for this is set, and he will, and shall come quickly to do it. For however the time may seem long to us, yet, according to the reckoning of God, it is but a little while since he went into the holiest to intercede. 'A thousand years with the Lord is as one day'; and after this manner of counting, he has not been gone yet full two days into the holiest. 'The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness'; 'he will come quickly, and will not tarry' (2 Peter 3; Heb 10:37).

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1192

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Jerusalem Temple, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths.

LXVI. Of the high-priest, and of his office in the inner Temple.

When things were thus ordained in the house 'most holy,' then went the high-priest in thither, according as he was appointed, to do his office, which was to burn incense in his golden censer, and to sprinkle with his finger the blood of his sacrifice, for the people, upon and above the mercy-seat (Exo 30:7-10; Lev 16:11-14).

Now for this special work of his, he had peculiar preparations. 1. He was to be washed in water. 2. Then he was to put on his holy garments. 3. After that he was to be anointed with holy oil. 4. Then an offering was to be offered for him, for the further fitting of him for his office. 5. The blood of this sacrifice must be put, some of it upon his right ear, some on the thumb of his right hand, and some on the great toe of his right foot. Then, with the anointing oil, sprinkle more blood on him and his garment; in this way he must be consecrated to his work as high priest (Exo 29).

His washing in water showed the purity of Christ's humanity. His curious robes were a type of all the perfections of Christ's righteousness. The holy oil poured on his head showed how Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost for his work as priest. The sacrifice of his consecration was a type of that offering Christ offered in the garden when he mixed his sweat with his own blood, and tears, and cries, when he prayed to him that was able to save him; 'and was heard in that he feared'; for with his blood, as was Aaron with the blood of the bullock that was slain for him, was this blessed one besmeared from head to foot, when his sweat, as great drops or clodders of blood, fell down from head and face, and whole body, to the ground (Luke 22:44; Heb 10:20).

When Aaron was thus prepared, he offered his offering for the people and carried the blood into the veil (Lev 16). Christ Jesus also answered, when he offered his own body without the gate, and then carried his blood into the heavens, and sprinkled it before the mercy-seat (Heb 13:11,12, 9:11,12,24). For Aaron was a type of Christ; his offering, a type of Christ's offering his body; the blood of the sacrifice, a type of the blood of Christ; his garments, a type of Christ's righteousness; the mercy-seat, a type of the throne of grace; the incense, a type of Christ's praise; and the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice upon the mercy-seat, a type of Christ's pleading the virtue of his sufferings for us in the presence of God in heaven (Heb 9:10-28).

'Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus' (Heb 3:1). 'Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity' (Hosea 4:14-16, 5:1,2).

This then is our high priest; and this was made so 'not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.' For Aaron and his sons were made priests without an oath, 'but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.'

'And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. Now, of the things we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such a high priest, set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, this man also must offer something. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount' (Heb 7:16-8:5).

'But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

'For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation' (Heb 9:11-14,24-28).

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1191

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Jerusalem Temple, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths.

LXIV. Of the living waters of the inner Temple.

Although in the holy relation of the building of the temple no mention is made of these waters, but only of the mount on which, and the materials with which the king did build it, yet it seems to me that in that mount, and there too where the temple was built, there was a spring of living water. This seems more than probable, by Ezekiel 47:1, where he saith, 'He brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the fore-front of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.' So again, 'And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim' (Joel 3:18). Nor was the spring, wherever was the first appearance of these holy waters, but in the sanctuary, which is the holiest of all (Ezek 47:12), where the mercy-seat stood, which in Revelation is called 'The throne of God, and of the Lamb' (Rev 22:1,2).

This is also what the prophet Zechariah means when he says, 'Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea,' &c. (Zech 14:8). They are said to go forth from Jerusalem because they came down from the sanctuary that stood in Jerusalem. This is what is called a river of water of life elsewhere, because it comes forth from the throne and, as I suppose, was at its head used in and about temple-worship. It was with this, I think, that the molten sea and the ten lavers were filled, and in which the priests washed their hands and feet when they went into the temple to do service; and that also in which they washed the sacrifices before they offered them to God; yea, I presume, all the washings and rinsings about their worship were with this water.

Ezekiel and Revelation say this water has the tree of life growing on its banks, and it was a type of the word and Spirit of God, by which Christ himself sanctified himself for his worship as high priest (Eze 47; Rev 22). This water also heals all who shall be saved; and by it, being sanctified, they do all their works of worship and service acceptably, through Jesus Christ our Lord. This water therefore is said to go forth into the sea, the world, and to heal its fish, the sinners therein; yea, this is that water of which Christ Jesus our Lord saith, Whosoever shall drink thereof shall live for ever (Eze 47:8-10; Zech 14:8; John 4:14).

LXV. Of the chains which were in the oracle or inner Temple.

As chains stood on the pillars before the porch of the temple, and in the first house; so, like unto them, chains stood in the holiest, here called the oracle. These chains were not chains in show, or as carved on wood, &c., but chains indeed, and that of gold; and they were prepared to make a partition 'before the oracle' within (1 Kings 6:21; 2 Chron 3:16).

I told you before that the holiest was called the oracle, not because in a strict sense the whole of it was so, but because such answer of God was there, as was not in the outward temple, but I think that the ark and mercy-seat were indeed more especially that called the oracle; 'for there I will meet with thee,' saith God, and from above that 'I will commune with thee' (Exo 25:22). When David said, 'I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle,' he meant not so much towards the holiest house, as toward the mercy-seat that was therein. Or, as he saith in the margin, 'Toward the oracle of thy sanctuary' (Psa 28:2).

When he therefore saith, 'before the oracle,' he means these chains were placed in the most holy place, before the ark and mercy-seat, to show Aaron and his sons that an additional glory was there. For the ark and mercy-seat were preferred before that holy house itself, even as Christ and the grace of God is preferred before the highest heavens. 'The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens' (Psa 113:4).

So then, the partition made in this house by these golden chains was not so much to divide the holy from the place most holy as to show that the holiest house contains something even more worthy than it.

The holiest was a type of heaven, but the ark and mercy-seat were a type of Christ, and of the mercy of God to us by him; and I trow any man will conclude, if he knows what he says, that the God and Christ of heaven are more excellent than the house they dwell in. Hence David said again, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee?' For thou art more excellent than they (Psa 73:25). For though that which is called heaven would serve some; yea, though God himself was out of it, yet none but the God of heaven will satisfy a truly gracious man: it is God that the soul of this man thirsteth for; it is God that is his exceeding joy (Psa 52:2, 63:1, 143:6, 17:15, 43:4).

These chains, then, as they made this partition in the most holy place, may teach us that when we are glorified in heaven, we shall yet, even then and there, know that an infinite disproportion will continue between God and us. The golden chains that are there will then distinguish [or separate] the Creator from the creature. For we, even we which shall be saved, shall yet retain our own nature, and shall still continue finite beings; yea, and shall there also see a disproportion between our Lord, our head, and us; for though now we are, and also then shall be like him as to his manhood; yea, and shall be like him also, as being glorified with his glory; yet he shall transcend and go beyond us, as to degree and splendor, as far as ever the highest king on earth did shine above the meanest subject that dwelt in his kingdom.

Chains have long been used as notes of distinction, to show us who are bondmen, and who are free. Yea, they shall at the day of judgment be a note of distinction between good and bad; even as here they distinguish the heavens from God, and the creature from the Creator (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Matt 22:13).

True, they are chains of sin and wrath, but these chains of gold; yet these chains, even these also, will keep creatures in their place, that the Creator may have his glory, and receive those acknowledgments there from them, which is due unto his Majesty (Rev 4, 5:11-14).

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1190

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Jerusalem Temple, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths.

LXII. On placing the ark in the holiest, or inner, Temple.

1. The ark, as we have said, and as the text declares, when carried to its rest, was placed in the inner temple, or in the most holy place, 'even under the wings of the cherubims.' 'And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims' (Exo 26:33, 39:35; 1 Kings 8:3; 2 Chron 5:7).

2. Before this, as was said afore, the ark was carried from place to place, and caused to dwell in a tent under curtains, as all our fathers did; to show that Christ, as we, was made for a time to wander in the world, in order to his being possessed of glory (2 Sam 7:1,3,6; Heb 11:9; John 1:10, 16:28, 3:13).

3. But now, when the ark was brought into the holiest, it is said to be brought into its place. This world was not Christ's place; he was not from beneath; he came from his Father's house; therefore, while here, he was not in his place, nor could he be until he ascended to where he was before (John 8:23, 16:28, 6:62, 3:13).

4. Christ's proper place, therefore, is the holiest. His proper place, as God, as Priest, as Prophet, as King, and as the Advocate of his people. Here, with us, he has no more to do as mediator in person. If he were on earth, he should not be a priest, &c. His place and work is now above with his Father, and before the angels (Acts 5:31; 1 Peter 3:22; Heb 4:14, 8:4; 9:24; 1 John 2:1,2; Rev 1:4,5).

5. It is said the ark was brought 'to the oracle of the house '; Solomon was not content to say it was brought into the holiest; but he saith, his place was the oracle, the holy oracle, that is, the place of hearing. For he, when he ascended, had something to say to God on behalf of his people. To the oracle, that is, to the place of revealing. For he also was there to receive, and from thence to reveal to his church on earth something that could not be made manifest except through this holy oracle. There therefore he is with the two tables of testimony in his heart, as perfectly kept; he also is there with the whole fulfulling of the ceremonial law in his side, showing and pleading the perfection of his righteousness, and the merit of his blood with his Father, and to receive and to do us good, who believe in him, how well pleased the Father is with what he has done in our behalf.

6. 'Into the most holy place.' These words show whither also the ark went when it went to take up its rest. And in that this ark was a type of Christ, it is to show or further manifest that what Christ doth now in heaven, he doth before his Father's face. Yea, it intimates, that Christ even there makes his appeals to God, concerning the worth of what he did on earth; to God the Judge of all, I say, whether he ought not for his suffering's sake to have granted to him his whole desire, as Priest and Advocate for his people?

'Wilt thou,' said Festus to Paul, 'go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?' (Acts 25:9). Why, this our blessed Jesus was willing, when here, to go up to Jerusalem to be judged; and being misjudged of there, he made his appeal to God, and is now gone thither, even into the holy place, even to him that is Judge of all, for his verdict upon his doing; and whether the souls for whom he became undertaker, to bring them to glory, have not by him a right to the kingdom of heaven.

7. 'Under the wings of the cherubims.' This further confirms our words; for having appealed from earth to heaven, as the ark was set under the wings of the cherubims, so he, in interceding with God and pleading his merits for us, does so in the presence and hearing of all the angels in heaven.

And thus much of the ark of the covenant, and of its antitype. We come next to speak of the mercy-seat.

LXIII. Of the mercy-seat, and how it was placed in the holy Temple.

The mercy-seat was made in the wilderness, but Solomon brought it up after the temple was built, with the rest of the holy things (2 Chron 5:2-10).

The mercy-seat, as I have shown of the ark, was but low. 'Two cubits and a half was the length, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof'; but the height thereof 'was without measure.'

1. The length and breadth of the mercy-seat is the same with that of the ark: perhaps to show us that the length and breadth of the mercy of God to his elect is the same with the length and breadth of the merits of Christ (Exo 25:10,17). Therefore, we are said to be justified in him, blessed in him, even according to the purpose which God purposed in him.

2. But in that the mercy-seat is without measure, as to height, it is to show that, would God extend it, it is able to reach even them that fall from heaven, and to save all that ever lived on earth, even all that are now in hell. For there is not only breadth enough for them that shall be saved, but 'bread enough and to spare' (Luke 15:17). 'And thou shalt,' says God, 'put the mercy-seat above upon the ark.' Thus he said to Moses, and this was the place David assigned for it (Exo 25:21; 1 Chron 28:11). Now, placed thus by God's ordinance, it teaches us many things.

(1.) That mercy's foundation to us is Christ. The mercy-seat was set upon the ark of the testimony, and there it rested to usward. Justice would not, and could not, have suffered us to have any benefit from mercy, had it not found an ark, a Christ, to rest upon. 'Deliver him,' saith God, 'from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom' (Job 33:24).

(2.) Because it was placed above, it also shows that Christ was, of mercies, ordaining a fruit of mercy. Mercy is above; it is the ordainer. God is love, and sent his Son of love to be the Savior and propitiation for our sins (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10).

(3.) Because the mercy-seat and ark were thus joined, it also shows that without Christ mercy does not act. Hence, when the priest came of old to God for mercy, he used to come into the holy place with blood; yea, he used to sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat and before it seven times. Take away the ark, and the mercy-seat will fall, or at least come down greatly. So take away Christ, and the flood-gate of mercy is let down, and the current of mercy stopped. This is true, for as soon as Christ shall leave off to mediate, eternal judgment will come.

(4.) Again, because the mercy-seat was set above upon the ark, it teacheth us that mercy can look down from heaven, though the law stands by and looks on; but then it must be in Christ, kept there and fulfilled by him for us. The law out of Christ is terrible as a lion; the law in him is meek as a lamb. The reason is that it finds in him enough to answer for all their faults that come to God for mercy by him. 'Christ is the end of the law for righteousness'; and if that be true, the law for that can look no further upon whoever comes to God by him. The law did use to sentence terribly, until it was put into the ark to be kept.

(5.) Let those who come to God for mercy be sure to come to him by the ark, Christ. For grace, as it descends to us from above the mercy-seat, so that mercy-seat doth rest upon the ark. Wherefore, sinner, come thou for mercy that way: for there if thou meetest with the law, it can do thee no harm; nor can mercy, shouldst thou elsewhere meet it, do thee good. Come, therefore, and come boldly to the throne of grace, this mercy-seat, thus borne up by the ark, and 'obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need' (Heb 4:16).

Wherefore, this placement of things in the holiest is admirable to behold in the word of God. For that indeed is the glass by and through which we must behold this glory of the Lord. Here we see the reason of things; here we see how a just God can, in a way of mercy, have to do with one who has sinned against him. The Lord Jesus Christ has kept the law; as you see, the mercy-seat stands upon the ark of the covenant, and there God acts in grace toward us (Exo 25:17-23).

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1189

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Jerusalem Temple, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths.

LXI. Of the ark of the covenant which was placed in the inner
Temple.

In the Word I read of three arks: Noah's ark, in which Moses was hid, and the ark of the covenant of God (Gen 6:14; Exo 2:3,5). But I now speak of the ark of the covenant. The ark was made 'of shittim-wood, two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.' It was overlaid 'with pure gold within and without,' and 'a crown of gold' was made 'round about' it (Exo 25:10,11).

1. This ark was called 'the ark of the covenant,' as the first that you read of was called 'Noah's,' because as he in that was kept from being drowned, so the tables of the covenant were kept in this from breaking.

2. This ark, in this, was a type of Christ; for that in him only, and not in the hand of Moses, these tables were kept whole. Moses broke them; the ark keeps them.

3. Not only that which was written on two tables of stone, but that also called 'the ceremonial' was put into the ark to be kept. The two tables were put in the midst of the ark to answer this: "Thy law is within my heart to do it." But the ceremonial was put into the side of the ark, to show that out of the side of Christ must come that which must answer that, for out thence came blood and water; blood, to answer the blood of the ceremonies; and water, to answer the purifyings and rinsings of that law. The ceremonies, therefore, were lodged in the side of the ark to show that they should be answered from the side of Jesus Christ (Exo 25:16,17; Deut 10:5; Psa 40:8; John 19:34; Heb 10:7).

4. The ark had the name of God put upon it; yea, it was called the strength of God, and his glory, though made of wood. And Christ is God both in name and nature, though made flesh; yea, more, made to be sin for us (2 Sam 6:2; 1 Chron 13:6; 2 Chron 6:1; John 1:14; Rom 9:5; 2 Cor 5:21).

5. The ark was carried upon men's shoulders this way and that, to show how Christ should be carried and preached by his apostles and ministers into all parts of the world (Exo 25:14; 1 Chron 15:15; Matt 28:19,20; Luke 24:46,47).

6. The ark had those testimonies of God's presence accompanying it, as had no other ceremony of the law; and Christ had those signs and tokens of his presence with him, as never had man either in law or gospel. This is so apparent it needs no proof. And now, for a few more comparisons.

(1.) At that time God answered the people when they came to inquire of him; and in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son (1 Chron 13:3; 1 Sam 14:18; Heb 1:2; John 16:23,24).

(2.) At the presence of the ark the waters of Jordan stood still till Israel, the ransomed of the Lord, passed over from the wilderness to Canaan; and it is by the power and presence of Christ that we pass over death, Jordan's antitype, from the wilderness of this world to heaven (Josh 3:15-17; John 11:25; Rom 8:37-39; 1 Cor 15:54-57).

(3.) Before the ark the walls of Jericho fell down; and in the presence of Christ all high towers, strongholds, and hiding places for sinners shall be razed and dissolved at his coming (Josh 6:20; Isa 30:25, 2:10,16; 2 Peter 3:10; Rev 20:11-13).

(4.) Before the ark Dagon fell, that idol of the Philistines; and before Christ Jesus devils fell, those gods of all those idols. He must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet and makes them his footstool (1 Sam 5:1-4; Mark 5:12; 1 Cor 15:25; Heb 10:13).

(5.) The Philistines were also plagued for meddling with the ark, while they abode uncircumcised; and the wicked will one day be most severely plagued for their meddling with Christ, with their uncircumcised hearts (1 Sam 5:6-13; Psa 50:6; Matt 24:51, 25:11,12; Luke 13:25-29).

(6.) God's blessing was upon those that entertained the ark as they should; and much more is, and will his blessing be upon those that so embrace and entertain his Christ, and profess his name sincerely (2 Sam 6:11; Acts 3:26; Gal 3:13,14; Matt 19:27-29; Luke 22:28,29).

(7.) When Uzzah put forth his hand to stay the ark, when the oxen shook it, as despairing of God's protecting of it without a human help, he died before the Lord; even so will all those do, without repentance, who use unlawful means to promote Christ's religion, and to support it in the world (1 Chron 13:9,10; Matt 26:52; Rev 13:10).

(8.) The ark, though thus dignified, was of itself but low—but a cubit and a half high; also Christ—though he was the glory of heaven and of God—yet made himself of no reputation, and was found in the likeness of a man (Exo 25:10-12; Phil 2:6-11).

(9.) The ark had a crown of gold round about upon it, to show how Christ is crowned by his saints by faith, and shall be crowned by them in glory, for all the good he hath done for them; as also how all crowns shall one day stoop to him, and be set upon his head. This is shown in the type (Zech 6:11,14). And in the antitype (Rev 4:10, 19:12).

(10.) The ark was overlaid with gold within and without, to show that Christ was perfect in inward grace and outward life, in spirit and in righteousness (John 1:14; 1 Peter 2:22).

(11.) The ark was placed under the mercy-seat, to show that Jesus Christ, as Redeemer, brings and bears, as it were, upon his shoulders, the mercy of God to us, even in the body of his flesh, through death (Exo 25:21; Eph 4:22; 5:1,2).

(12.) When the ark was removed far from the people, the godly mourned after it; and when Christ is hid, or taken from us, we mourn in those days (2 Sam 7:2; Mark 2:19,20; Luke 5:34,35; John 16:20-22).

(13.) All Israel had the ark again, after their mourning-time was over; and Christ, after his people have sorrowed for him a while, will see them again, 'and their hearts shall rejoice' (John 16:1-3,20-22).

By all these things, and many more that might be mentioned, it is most evident that the ark of the testimony was a type of Jesus Christ; and take note of what follows, namely, that the ark at last arrived at the most holy place (Heb 9:3,4). That is, after its wanderings; for the ark was first made to wander, like a non-inhabitant, from place to place; now hither, and then thither; now in the hands of enemies, and then abused by friends; yea, it was caused to rove from place to place, as that of which the world was weary. I need instance to you for proof hereof none other place than the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of the first Book of Samuel; and, answerable to this, our dear Lord Jesus was posted backward and forwards, hither and thither, by the force of his enemies' rage. He was hunted into Egypt so soon as he was born (Matt 2). Then they drove him to live in Galilee for many years. Also, when he showed himself to Israel, they drove him into the wilderness, the desert, the sea, and the mountains; still, in every one of these places, new enemies haunted or hunted him.

And last of all, the Pharisees plot for his life; Judas sells him, the priests buy him, Peter denies him, his enemies mock, scourge, buffet, and much abuse him. In fine, they get him condemned, and crucified, and buried; but at last God commanded, and took him to his place, even within the veil, and set him to bear up the mercy-seat, where he is to this very day, being our ark to save us, as Noah's did him, as Moses' did him; yea, better, as none but Christ doth save his own.

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1188

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Jerusalem Temple, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths.

LX. Of the floor and walls of the inner Temple.

1. The floor of the oracle was overlaid with cedar, and so also were the walls of this house. 'He built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar. He even built for it within, for the oracle, for the most holy place' (1 Kings 6:16).

2. In that he doth tell us with what it was ceiled, and doth also thus repeat, saying, 'for the oracle, for it within, even for the most holy place,' it is because he would have it noted, that this only is the place that thus was done.

3. Twenty cubits, that was the length, and breadth, and height of the house; so that by his thus saying he teacheth that thus it was built round about.

4. The cedar is, if I mistake not, the highest of the trees (Eze 31:3-8). Now in that it is said the house, the oracle, was ceiled round about therewith, it may be to show, that in heaven, and nowhere else, is the height of all perfections. Perfection is in the church on earth, but not such as is in heaven.

(1.) There is a natural perfection, and so a penny is as natural silver as is a shilling. (2.) There is a comparative perfection, and so one thing may be perfect and imperfect at the same time; as a half-crown is more than a shilling, yet less than a crown. (3.) There is also that which we call the utmost perfection, and that is it which cannot be added to, or taken from him; and so God only is perfect. Now, heavenly glory is that which goes beyond all perfection on the earth, as the cedar goes beyond all trees for height. Hence God, when he speaks of his own excellency, sets it forth by its height. The high God, the most High, and the high and lofty One; and the Highest (Psa 92:9, 138:6; Gen 14:19-21; Dan 3:26, 5:18; Psa 18:13, 87:5; Luke 1:32, 6:35; Isa 57:15; Psa 9:2, 56:2, 92:1; Isa 14:14). These terms also are ascribed to this house, for that it was the place where utmost perfection dwelt.

I take, therefore, the cedar in this place to be a note of perfection, even the cedar with which this house was ceiled. For since it is the wisdom of God to speak to us oftentimes by trees, gold, silver, stones, beasts, fowls, fishes, spiders, ants, frogs, flies, lice, dust, &c., and here by wood; how should we by them understand his voice, if we count there is no meaning in them? 'And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers; all was cedar; there was no stone seen' (1 Kings 6:18).

Knops and flowers adorned the golden candlestick, as you read in Exodus 25:33, 35, 37:10, 21. The candlestick was a type of the church, and the knops and flowers a type of her ornaments. But what! must heaven be hanged round about with the ornaments of saints! with the fruits of their graces! Well, it is certain that something more than ordinary must be done with them, since they are admitted to follow them into the holy place (Rev 14:13); and since, it is said, they shall have a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory bestowed on them, for them in the heavens (2 Cor 4:16,17).

'All was cedar; there was no stone seen.' Take stone in the type for what was really so, and in the antitype for what is so mystically, and then it may import to us that, in heaven, the antitype of this holiest, there shall never be any hardness of heart in those who possess it for ever. All imperfection ariseth from the badness of the heart, but in glory there will be no bad hearts. No shortness in knowledge, no crossness of disposition, no workings of lusts, or corruptions will be there; no, not throughout the whole heavens. Here, alas! they are seen, and that in the best of saints, because here our light is mixed with darkness; but there will be no night there, nor any stone seen.

'And the floor of the house was overlaid with gold' (1 Kings 6:30). This is like that of which we read of the New Jerusalem that is to come from God out of heaven; says the text, 'The street of the city was pure gold'; and like that of which you read in Exodus, 'They saw the God of Israel, and under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness' (Rev 21:21; Exo 24:10). All the visions were rich, but this the richest, that the floor of the house should be covered or overlaid with gold. The floor and street are walking-places, and how rich will our steps be then! Alas! Here we sometimes fall into the mire, and then again stumble upon blocks and stones. Here we sometimes fall into holes, and have our heel oft caught in a snare; but there will be none of these. Gold! gold! All will be gold, and golden perfections, when we come into the holy place! Job at best took his steps in butter, but we shall then take all our steps in the gold of the sanctuary.

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1187

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths.

LVIII. Of the doors of the inner Temple.

1. Besides the veil, there was a door to the inner temple, and that door was made of olive tree; and for the entering of the oracle, he made doors of olive tree. The two doors also of olive tree, and he carved upon them—cherubims, and palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees' (1 Kings 6:31).

2. These doors were a type of the gate of heaven, even of that which lets into the eternal mansion-house that is beyond that veil. I told you before that the veil was a type of the visible heavens, which God has spread out as a curtain, and through which Christ went when he ascended to the right hand of the Father.

3. Now, beyond this veil, as I said, I find a door, a gate opening with two leaves, as afore we found at the door of the outward temple. These are they which the Psalmist calls to, when he saith, 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in' (Psa 24:7,9).

4. The doors of the temple were made of fire, but these, as you see, were made of olive; to show us by that fat tree, that rich type, with what glory we shall be met, who shall be counted worthy to enter at these gates. The olive tree has its name from the oil and fatness of its nature, and the doors that let into the holiest were made of this olive tree (Rom 11:16-18).

5. Cherubims were also carved upon these doors to show that as the angels met us at the temple door, and as they wait upon us in the temple, and stand also ready at the veil, so even at the gate of the mansion-house, they will be also ready to give us a welcome thither, and to attend us into the presence chamber.

6. Palm trees also, as they were carved upon the temple doors, so we also find them here before the oracle, upon the doors that let in thither; to show, that as Christ gave us the victory at our first entering into faith, so he will finish that victory, by giving of us eternal salvation. Thus is he the author and finisher of our faith. For as surely as we first received the palm branch by faith, so surely shall we wear it in our hands as a token of his faithfulness in the heaven of heavens, for ever (Rev 7:9).

7. Open flowers are also carved here, to show that Christ, who is the door to glory, as well as the door to grace, will be precious to us at our entering in thither, as well as at the first step we took thitherward in a sinful and miserable world. Christ will never lose his sweet scent in his church's nostrils. He is most sweet now, will be so at death, and sweetest of all when we enter that mansion-house prepared for us in heaven by him.

8. The palm trees and open flowers may also be a type of the precious ones of God, who shall be counted worthy of his kingdom; the one, of the uprightness of their hearts; the other, of the good favor of their lives. 'The upright shall dwell in thy presence; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, I will show the salvation of God' (Psa 140:13).

9. Thus sweet on earth, sweet in heaven; and he that yields the fruit of the gospel here, shall find it for himself, and his eternal comfort, at the gates of glory.

10. All these were overlaid with gold, as you may say, and so they were at the door of the first house. True, but observe here we have an addition. Here is gold upon gold. Gold laid on them, and then gold spread upon that. He overlaid them with gold, and then spread gold upon them. The Lord gives grace and glory (Psa 84:11). Gold and gold. Gold spread upon gold. Grace is gold in the leaf, and glory is gold in plates. Grace is thin gold; glory is thick gold. Here is gold laid on, and gold spread upon that: and that both upon the palm trees and the cherubims. Gold upon the palm trees, that is, on the saints; gold upon the cherubims, that is, upon the angels. For I doubt not that the angels themselves shall receive additional glory for the service they have rendered to Christ and his church on earth.

11. The angels are God's harvest men, and doubtless he will give them good wages, even glory upon their glory then (Matt 13:38,39, 24:31; John 4:36).

12. You know harvest men used to be paid well for gathering in the corn, and I doubt not but so shall these, when the great ingathering is over. But what an entrance into life is here! Here is gold upon gold at the door, at our first step into the kingdom.

LIX. Of the golden nails of the inner Temple.

I shall not concern myself with all the nails of the temple, as of those made of iron, &c. (1 Chron 22:3). But only with the golden ones, of which you read, where he saith, 'And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold' (2 Chron 3:9). These nails, as I conceive, were all fastened to the place most holy, and of form most apt to that of which they were a figure.

1. Some of them represented Christ Jesus our Lord as fixed in his mediatory office in the heavens; wherefore in one place, when the Holy Ghost speaks of Christ, as he sprang from Judah to be a mediator, saith, 'Out of him came the corner,' the corner stone, 'out of him the nail' (Zech 10:4). Now, since he is compared to a nail, a golden nail, it is to show, that as a nail, by driving, is fixed in his place; so Christ, by God's oath, is made an everlasting priest (Heb 7:25). Therefore, as he saith again, the nail, the Aaronical priesthood, that was fastened in a sure place, should be removed, be cut down, and fall; so he who has the key of David, which is Christ (Rev 3:7), shall by God, as a nail, be fastened in a sure place, and abide; therefore he says again, 'And he shall be for a glorious throne,' or mercy-seat, 'to his Father's house.' And moreover, that 'they shall hang upon him,' as on a nail, 'all the glory of his Father's house, the offspring, and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons' (Isa 22:20-25). According to that which is written, 'And they sang a new song' to the Lamb that was slain, 'saying, Thou art worthy,' &c. (Rev 5:9-12).

And therefore it is again that Christ, under the similitude of a nail, is accounted by saints indeed their great pledge or hope, as he is in heaven, of their certain coming thither. Hence they said of old, God has given us 'a nail in his holy place'; a nail, says the line, 'a pin, a constant and sure abode,' says the margin (Ezra 9:8). Now, this nail in his holy place, as was shown before, is Christ; Christ, as possessed of heaven, and as abiding, and ever living therein for us. Hence he is called, as there, our head, our life, and our salvation; and also we are said there to be set down together in him (Eph 1; Col 3:3; Eph 2:5,6).

2. Some of these nails were types of the holy words of God, which for ever are settled in heaven. Types, I say, of their 'yea and amen.' Hence Solomon, in another place, compares the words of the wise God, 'to goads and nails, fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd' (Eccl 12:11).

They are called goads, because, as such prick the oxen on in their drawing, so God's words prick Christians on in their holy duties. They are called nails, to show that, as nails, when fastened well in a sure place, are not easily removed; so God's words, by his will, stand firm for ever. The masters of the assemblies are first, the apostles. The one shepherd is Jesus Christ. Hence the gospel of Christ is said to be everlasting, to abide for ever, and to be more stedfast than heaven and earth (Isa 40:6-8; 1 Peter 1:24,25; Heb 13:20; Rev 14:6; Matt 24:35). The Lord Jesus then, and his holy words, are the golden nails of the temple, and the fixing of thess nails in the temple, was to show that Christ is the same today, yesterday, and for ever; and that his words abide, and remain the same for ever and ever. He who has Christ has a nail in the holiest; he who has a promise of salvation has also a nail in heaven, a golden nail in heaven!

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1186

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths.

LVI. Of the holiest or inner Temple.

The most holy place was, as I said, a figure of heaven itself, consequently a type of that where the most special presence of God is, and where his face is most clearly seen, and the gladness of his countenance most enjoyed (Heb 9:23,24; Exo 25:22; Num 7:89).

The most holy place was dark; it had no windows in it, though there were such round the chambers; the more special presence of God, too, on Mount Sinai, was in the thick darkness there (1 Kings 8:12; 2 Chron 7:1; Exo 19:9, 20:21).

1. This holiest, therefore, being thus made, was to show that God, as in heaven, to us on earth is altogether invisible, and not to be reached otherwise than by faith. For, I say, in that this house had no windows, nothing therein could be seen by the highest light of this world. Things there were only seen by the light of the fire of the altar, which was a type of the shinings of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor 2). And hence it is said, notwithstanding this darkness, 'He dwelleth in the light, which no man can approach unto'; none but the high-priest, Christ (1 Tim 6:16; 1 Peter 3:21,22).

2. The holiest, therefore, was thus built, to show how different our state in heaven will be from this our state on earth. We walk here by one light, by the light of a written word; for that is now a light to our feet, and a lantern to our path. But that place, where there will be no written word, nor ordinances as here, will yet shine more light and clear to us than if all the lights in the world were put together to light one man. 'For God is light, and in him is no darkness at all' (1 John 1:5). And in his light, and in the light of the Lamb immediately, we shall live, and walk, and rejoice all the days of eternity.

3. This also was ordained thus, to show that we, while in the first temple, should live by faith, as to what there was, or as to what was done in the second. Hence it is said, as to that, 'we walk by faith, not by sight' (2 Cor 5:9). The things that are there we are told of, even of the ark of the testimony, and mercy-seat, and the cherubims of glory, and the presence of Christ, and of God: we are, I say, told of them by the word, and believe, and are taken therewith, and hope to go to them hereafter; but otherwise we see them not. Therefore we are said to 'look, not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal' (2 Cor 4:18).

4. The people of old were not to look into the holiest, lest they died, save only their high-priest, he might go into it (Num 17:13). To show that we, while here, must have a care of vain speculations, for there is nothing to be seen by us while here, in heaven, otherwise than by faith in God's eternal testament. True, we may now come to the holiest, even as nigh as the first temple will admit us to come; but it must be by blood and faith, not by vain imagination, sense, or carnal reason (Heb 10:19).

5. This holiest of all was four square every way, both as to height, length, and breadth. To be thus is a note of perfection, as I have showed elsewhere; wherefore it was on purpose thus built, to show us that all fulness of blessedness is there, both as to the nature, degree, and duration. So 'when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away' (1 Cor 13:8-10; Heb 10:19-22).

LVII. Of the veil of the Temple.

The veil of the temple was a hanging made of 'blue and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen,' and there were cherubims wrought thereon (Exo 26:31).

1. This veil was one partition, betwixt the holy and most holy place; and I take it, it was to keep from the sight of the worshippers the things most holy, when the high-priest went in thither, to accomplish the service of God (Exo 26:33; 2 Chron 3:14; Heb 9:8).

2. The veil was a type of two things.

(1.) Of these visible heavens through which Christ passed when he went to make intercession for us. And as by the veil the priest went out of the sight of the people when he went into the holiest of all, so Jesus Christ, when he ascended, was by the heavens, that great and stretched-out curtain, received out of the sight of his people here. Also by the same curtain, since it is become as a tent for him to dwell in, he is still received, and still kept out of our sight; for now we see him not, nor shall, until these heavens be rolled together as a scroll, and pass away like a thing rolled together (Isa 40:22; Acts 1:9-11, 3:19-21; 1 Peter 1:8).

(2.) This is that veil through which the apostle saith, Jesus is, as a forerunner for us, entered into the presence of God. For by veil here also must be meant the heavens, or outspread firmament thereof; as both Mark and Peter say, He 'is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God' (Mark 16:19; 1 Peter 3:22).

3. The veil of the temple was made of blue, the very color of the heaven. Of purple and crimson, and scarlet also, which are the colors of many of the clouds, because of the sun's reflections. But again,

4. The veil was also a type of the body of Christ. For as the veil of the temple, when whole, kept the view of the things of the holiest from us, but when rent, gave place to man to look in unto them; even so the body of Christ, while whole, kept the things of the holiest from that view, we, since he was pierced, have of them. Hence we are said to enter into the holiest, by faith, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh (Heb 10:19-22). But yet, I say, all is by faith; and, indeed, the rending of the veil that day that Christ was crucified loudly preached this to us. For no sooner was the body of Christ pierced than the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and so a way was made for a clearer sight of what was there beyond it, both in the type and antitype (Matt 27:50-53; Heb 10:19,20).

Thus you see that the veil of the temple was a type of these visible heavens, and also of the body of Christ; of the first, because he passed through it unto the Father; of the second, because we by it have boldness to come to the Father.

I read also of two other veils, as of that spread over the face of Moses, to the end that the children of Israel should not stedfastly behold; and of the first veil of the tabernacle. But of these I shall not speak in this place.

Upon the veil of the temple there were also the figures of cherubims wrought, that is, of angels; to show, that as the angels are with us here, and wait upon us all the days of our pilgrimage in this world; so when we die, they stand ready, even at the veil, at the door of these heavens, to come when bid, to fetch us, and carry us away into Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22).

The veil, then, thus understood, teaches us first where Jesus is, namely, not here, but gone into heaven, from whence we should wait for him. It also teaches us that if we would even now discern the glories that are in the holiest of all, we must look through Jesus to them, even through the veil, 'that is to say, his flesh.' Yea, it teaches us that we may, by faith through him, attain to a kind of presence, at least of the beauty and sweetness of them.

Works of John Bunyan: Solomon's Temple Spiritualized:1185

noreply@blogger.com (Apprehended by God) — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Or, Gospel Light Fetched Out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to Let Us More Easily Into the Glory of New Testament Truths.

1. They are said to be the redeemed who sinned. 2. The songs that they sing are said to be the 'songs of their redemption' (Rev 5:9,10). 3. They were and are songs that no man can learn but they.

But let us run a little in the parallel.

1. They were of old appointed to sin, that were cunning and skillful in songs. And answerable to that it is said, that no man could learn our New Testament songs, but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth (1 Chron 15:22; Rev 14:3).

2. These songs were sung with harps, psalteries, cymbals, and trumpets; a type of our singing with spiritual joy, from grace in our hearts (1 Chron 25:6; 2 Chron 29:26-28; Col 3:16).

3. The singers of old were to be clothed in fine linen, which fine linen was a type of innocence and an upright conversation. Hence the singers under the New Testament are said to be virgins, such in whose mouth was no guile, and that were without 'fault before the throne of God' (1 Chron 15:27; Rev 14:1-5. See also 7:9-16; Psa 33:1).

4. The songs sung in the temple were new, or such as were compiled after the manner of repeated mercies that the church of God had received, or were to receive. And answerable to this, is the church to sing now new songs, with new hearts, for new mercies (Psa 33:3, 40:3, 96, 144:9; Rev 14:3). New songs, I say, are grounded on new matter, new occasions, new mercies, new deliverances, new discoveries of God to the soul, or for new frames of heart; and are such as are most taking, most pleasing, and most refreshing to the soul.

5. These songs of old, to distinguish them from heathenish ones, were called God's songs, the Lord's songs: because taught by him, and learned of him, and enjoined to them, to be sung to his praise. Hence David said, God had put a new song in his mouth, 'even praise unto our God' (1 Chron 25:7; Psa 47:6,7, 137:4, 40:3).

6. These songs also were called 'the songs of Zion,' and 'the songs of the temple' (Psa 137:3; Amos 8:3). And they are so called as they were theirs to sing there; I say, of them of Zion, and the worshippers in the temple. I say, to sing in the church, by the church, to him who is the God of the church, for the mercies, benefits, and blessings which she has received from him. Sion-songs, temple-songs, must be sung by Sion's sons, and temple-worshippers.

The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness; and sorrow and sighing shall fly away. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height, or upon the mountain of Zion; and shall flow together thither, to the goodness of the Lord. 'Break forth into singing, ye mountains,' and let the inhabitants of the rock sing (Isa 44:23, 42:11, 51:11).

To sing to God is the highest worship we are capable of performing in heaven; and it is much if sinners on earth, without grace, should be capable of performing it, according to his institution, acceptably. I pray God it be done by all those that now-a-days get into churches, in spirit and with understanding.

LV. Of the union of the holy and most holy Temple.

That commonly called the temple of God at Jerusalem, considered as standing of two parts, was called the outward and inward temple, or, the holy and most holy place. They were built upon one and the same foundation; neither could one go into the holiest, but as through the holy place (1 Kings 3:1, 6:1; 2 Chron 5:1,13, 7:2).

The first house, namely, that which we have been speaking of, was a type of the church-militant, and the place most holy a type of the church-triumphant; I say, of the church-triumphant, as it now is.

So, then, the house standing of these two parts was a shadow of the church both in heaven and earth. And for that they are joined together by one and the same foundation, it was to show, that they above, and we below, are yet one and the self-same house of God. Hence they, and we together, are called, 'The whole family in heaven and earth' (Eph 3:14,15).

And hence it is said again, that we who believe on earth 'are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel' (Heb 12:22-24).

The difference, then, betwixt us and them is, not that we are really two, but one body in Christ, in divers places. True, we are below stairs, and they above; they in their holiday, and we in our working-day clothes; they in harbor, but we in the storm; they at rest, and we in the wilderness; they singing, as crowned with joy; we crying, as crowned with thorns. But, I say, we are all of one house, one family, and are all the children of one Father. This, therefore, we must not forget, lest we debar ourselves of much of that which otherwise, while here, we have a right unto. Let us, therefore, I say, remember, that the temple of God is but one, though divided, as one may say into kitchen and hall, above stairs and below; or holy and most holy place. For it stands upon the same foundation, and is called but one, the temple of God; which is built upon the Lord our Savior.

I told you before, that none of old could go into the most holy, but by the holy place, even by the veil that made the partition between (Exo 26:33; Lev 16:2,12,15; Heb 9:7,8, 10:19). Wherefore, they are deceived that think to go into the holiest, which is heaven, when they die, who yet abandon and hate the holy place, while they live. Nay, Sirs, the way into the holiest is through the holy place; the way into heaven is through the church on earth; for Christ is there by his word to be received by faith, before he can be received by us in person in the beatical vision. The church on earth is as the house of the women, spoken of in the book of Esther, where we must be dieted, perfumed, and made fit to go into the bridegroom's chamber, or as Paul says, 'made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light' (Esth 2; Col 1:12).