Season 6 Podcast 27 John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Episode 57 Chapter XI, “The Celestial City.”In last week’s podcast we met the Two Shining Men. Their purpose is to lead faithful pilgrims to the Celestial Gate. In this week’s episode we continue with the Two Shining Men. Christian and Hopeful ask, "What must we do in the holy place?"To whom it was answered.“You must there receive the comfort of all your toil, and have joy for all your sorrow; you must reap what you have sown, even the fruit of all your prayers, and tears, and sufferings for the King by the way. In that place you must wear crowns of gold, and enjoy the perpetual sight and visions of the Holy One; for there you shall see Him as He is.”The answer is taken partially from the book of 1 John.1 John 3:2-3“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”That is an extraordinary promise, one that perhaps we take too lightly. What does it mean to see the Savior of the World as he is? First of all, let’s grasp what the resurrected Lord looks like. John the Revelator, who saw him as a resurrected being, tells us.Revelation 1:13-16“And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”Paul also saw the resurrected Jesus. He describes him to King Agrippa.Acts 26:13-15“At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."The ones who will see Christ as he is are those saints who inherit the Celestial City, which has been the goal from the beginning for Christian and Hopeful. Paul also describes the Celestial City. 1 Corinthians 15:40-42"There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption."To grasp how dramatic it was, for example, for John, a mortal, to be in the presence of the resurrected Lord, notice his reaction.Revelation 1:17-18“And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

Season 6 Podcast 27 John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Episode 57 Chapter XI, “The Celestial City.” In last week’s podcast we met the Two Shining Men. Their purpose is to lead faithful pilgrims to the Celestial Gate. In this week’s episode we continue with the Two Shining Men. Christian and Hopeful ask,  "What must we do in the holy place?" To whom it was answered. “You must there receive the comfort of all your toil, and have joy for all your sorrow; you must reap what you have sown, eve...