In the classic Christian allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan tells the story of Christian (who represents the true Christian), as he travels from the City of Destruction (this present evil world) to the Celestial City (Heaven), and the challenges he and all Christians face on that journey. Christian and his friend Faithful come to an ancient town named Vanity Fair, where all year round there is great revelry. Anything and everything desired to satisfy the lusts and passions of the residents of the City of Destruction were bought and sold there.
Christian and Faithful’s strange clothing and speech; their lack of interest in the city’s merchandise causes a commotion, and they are arrested and arraigned before Lord Hate-good. They are mocked for their disinterest in the goods and experiences being offered and are asked, “What do you intend to buy?” Their response: “We buy the truth.” (Proverbs 23:23)
They are convicted as subversives and imprisoned, with Faithful being executed and immediately entering into the Celestial City. Christian escapes to continue his journey with a new companion, Hopeful.
This allegorical incident is meant to present truth, God’s truth, as the most precious commodity in this world; worth giving everything, including our time and treasure, as well as our brief life in this world to obtain it. Martin Luther’s closing stanza to his great Hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, ends with this line: “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.”
We live in a world that has, according to Romans 1:25, exchanged – sold – the truth of God for the lie. It is an exchange that far exceeds the folly of the Canarsee Indian’s exchange of Manhattan Island for $24 worth of trinkets or the Russians selling Alaska to William Seward for two cents an acre.
The truth of God that was exchanged was the truth of God as the most glorious, most desirable, most excellent, most essential, most awesome, most valuable, most necessary being in the universe; the eternal creator and sovereign ruler of that universe and all that is in it including man, whom God created in His image and likeness, with His righteous nature and character, so that we could share in His glorious existence, enjoy His infinite goodness, not as divine equals but as beloved children, trusting in His love and submitted to His truth.
Mankind, represented by Adam and Eve, will be tested by God, as to their willingness to trust and submit. Pass the test and they and their descendants (us) will be confirmed in righteousness, living forever in intimate relationship with God, knowing only fulness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). Fail the test and they forfeit for both themselves and their descendants, the glorious life with God for which they were created.
God will use a being who has already rejected God’s truth and subsequently God’s rule over his life, the one who the Bible refers to as Satan or the devil (Revelation 12:7-9)), a rebel angel. Spoiler alert, if you don’t know the results of the test, they failed.
Satan, comes and presents to them the lie; namely that their greatest joy, pleasure and satisfaction, their ultimate significance is to be found not in intimate relationship with God, their creator, but in the creation (Romans 1:25), represented by the fruit of the tree God had forbidden them to eat from. Satan presents to them that by eating of the forbidden fruit they would become like God – divine equals – accountable to no one – able to determine for themselves right and wrong, good and evil; free to pursue their joy, pleasure and satisfaction, their significance and security on their own terms, independent of and if necessary in opposition to the very God who created them. And they believe Him, and so do we, every time we sin.
Contrary to the beliefs of most in our God ignoring world; Satan, although a spiritual being, is real and active in this world. We dismiss him as a myth to our eternal peril. Jesus refers to Satan in John 8:44 as a liar and the father of all lies, and in John 14:30 as “the prince of this world”. In Revelation 12:9 we are told he is the one who deceives the whole world, primarily through the various media and false religions. He is the cosmic con man and we are his mark. In believing Satan’s lies over the truth of God, we have exchanged the exquisite joys, the infinite pleasures and eternal riches promised by God to those who trust in His love, for the counterfeit joys, deceitful riches, cheap thrills and muted pleasures offered by this world; an exchange that ultimately results in the loss of our soul’s communion with God in this world and eternal separation from the glorious life with God for which we were created.
However, there is great hope for those who will “buy the truth” as it is offered to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ who is the Truth (John 14:6), and who freely offers Himself in exchange for the lies that pervade our truth suppressing world, to all who entrust their lives to Him.
Grace and Truth ×