"Now, said Christian, let me go away from this place. No, stay, said the Interpreter, till I have showed you a little more, and after that you shall go on your way. So he took him by the hand again, and led him into a very dark room, where there sat a man in an Iron Cage. Now the Man, when you looked at him, seemed extremely downcast; he sat with his eyes looking down to the ground, his hands folded together; and he sighed as if his heart was broken in two. Then said Christian, What means this? At which the Interpreter encouraged him to talk with the man. Then said Christian to the Man, What are you? The Man answered, I am now what I wasn't.
Chr. What were you?
Man. The Man said, I was once a fair and flourishing Professor, both in mine own eyes, and also in the eyes of others; I once was, as I thought, headed for the Celestial City, and had then even joy at the thoughts that I might get there.
Chr. Well, but what are you now?
Man. I am now a man of Despair, and am shut up in it, as in this Iron Cage. I cannot get out; O how I cannot!
Chr. But how did you come to be in this condition?
Man. I stopped watching and being sober; I laid the reins upon the horse called Lusts; I sinned against the light of the Word and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and He is gone; I tempted the Devil, and he has come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and He has left me; I have so hardened my heart, that I cannot turn back.
Then said Christian to the Interpreter, But are there no hopes for such a man as this? Ask him, said the Interpreter.
Chr. Then said Christian, Is there no hope, must you be kept in the Iron Cage of Despair?
Man. No, none at all.
Chr. Why? The Son of the Blessed is very pitiful.
Man. I have crucified Him to myself afresh, I have despised His Person, I have despised His Righteousness, I have counted His Blood an unholy thing; I have despised the Spirit of Grace. Therefore I have shut myself out of all the Promises, and there now remains to me nothing but threatnings, dreadful threatnings, fearful threatenings of certain Judgment and fiery Indignation, which shall devour me as an Adversary.
Chr. For why did you bring yourself into this condition?
Man. For the Lusts, Pleasures, and Profits of this World; in the enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight; but now everyone of those things also bite me, and gnaw at me like a burning worm.
Chr. But can't you not now repent and turn?
Man. God has denied me repentance: his Word gives me no encouragement to believe; yea, it was Himself that shut me up in this Iron Cage; nor can all the men in the world let me out. O Eternity! Eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet with in Eternity!
Inter. Then said the Interpreter to Christian, Let this man’s misery be remembred by you, and be an everlasting caution to you.
Chr. Well, said Christian, this is fearful; God help me to be continuing watchful and be sober, and to pray that I may shun the cause of this man’s misery. Sir, is it not time for me to go on my way now?" John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
The Man in the Iron Cage had his shut eyes opened. He had his clogged deaf ears relieved. He was shown the other side. Truth was made visible to him. He had a taste of all that was good. Despite all this grace, he turned his back and fell away.
I do not think he or anyone like him had fully entered into the gate of salvation, but it may have. I believe they were like Christian before the Wicket-Gate. They had seen their wicked ways. They were sent on the path to the gate, but somewhere along the way the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life encouraged them to take another path.
Below are the saddest verses I believe in the Bible. They show that out of such hope can come horrible devastation. I know personally at least one person who ended up on this horrible path. I shared his joys and then also pleaded for him not to take the path he was on. He struggled with it, but gave in. I saw the darkness envelope him. These are warnings, do not dance with the devil.
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." Hebrews 3:12-14
"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." Hebrews 6:4-6
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:26-31
"If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them." II Peter 3:17
Chr. What were you?
Man. The Man said, I was once a fair and flourishing Professor, both in mine own eyes, and also in the eyes of others; I once was, as I thought, headed for the Celestial City, and had then even joy at the thoughts that I might get there.
Chr. Well, but what are you now?
Man. I am now a man of Despair, and am shut up in it, as in this Iron Cage. I cannot get out; O how I cannot!
Chr. But how did you come to be in this condition?
Man. I stopped watching and being sober; I laid the reins upon the horse called Lusts; I sinned against the light of the Word and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and He is gone; I tempted the Devil, and he has come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and He has left me; I have so hardened my heart, that I cannot turn back.
Then said Christian to the Interpreter, But are there no hopes for such a man as this? Ask him, said the Interpreter.
Chr. Then said Christian, Is there no hope, must you be kept in the Iron Cage of Despair?
Man. No, none at all.
Chr. Why? The Son of the Blessed is very pitiful.
Man. I have crucified Him to myself afresh, I have despised His Person, I have despised His Righteousness, I have counted His Blood an unholy thing; I have despised the Spirit of Grace. Therefore I have shut myself out of all the Promises, and there now remains to me nothing but threatnings, dreadful threatnings, fearful threatenings of certain Judgment and fiery Indignation, which shall devour me as an Adversary.
Chr. For why did you bring yourself into this condition?
Man. For the Lusts, Pleasures, and Profits of this World; in the enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight; but now everyone of those things also bite me, and gnaw at me like a burning worm.
Chr. But can't you not now repent and turn?
Man. God has denied me repentance: his Word gives me no encouragement to believe; yea, it was Himself that shut me up in this Iron Cage; nor can all the men in the world let me out. O Eternity! Eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet with in Eternity!
Inter. Then said the Interpreter to Christian, Let this man’s misery be remembred by you, and be an everlasting caution to you.
Chr. Well, said Christian, this is fearful; God help me to be continuing watchful and be sober, and to pray that I may shun the cause of this man’s misery. Sir, is it not time for me to go on my way now?" John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress
The Man in the Iron Cage had his shut eyes opened. He had his clogged deaf ears relieved. He was shown the other side. Truth was made visible to him. He had a taste of all that was good. Despite all this grace, he turned his back and fell away.
I do not think he or anyone like him had fully entered into the gate of salvation, but it may have. I believe they were like Christian before the Wicket-Gate. They had seen their wicked ways. They were sent on the path to the gate, but somewhere along the way the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life encouraged them to take another path.
Below are the saddest verses I believe in the Bible. They show that out of such hope can come horrible devastation. I know personally at least one person who ended up on this horrible path. I shared his joys and then also pleaded for him not to take the path he was on. He struggled with it, but gave in. I saw the darkness envelope him. These are warnings, do not dance with the devil.
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." Hebrews 3:12-14
"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." Hebrews 6:4-6
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:26-31
"If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them." II Peter 3:17
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