1. The Portrait of the Man- Christian learns that the man represents a preacher or is somewhat like a teacher, a person that can help someone see right from wrong and show the sinners the dark evils in the world. The man in the portrait has a world that is cast behind and a crown on his head to show the things he hates in the present for the love he has for the Lord.

2. The distinction between the Law and the Gospel- Christian learns that the law will only further increase a person’s sin within themselves. While the gospel will cleanse the heart and soul of their sins. In the book, dust represents our sins and once in a while, our conscience needs to be cleaned.

3. The Virtue of Patience contrasted with Passion- Basically Christian learns that Passion is a man that wants everything right then and can’t wait while on the other hand, Patience is quiet and has the will to wait and therefore has greater wisdom then Passion.

4. The Grace of Christ conquers the assailed heart- In this case, the fire stands for the grace of Christ. The man on the other side of the wall pouring oil into the fire, keeps the grace going. While the Devil was pouring water on the fire, trying to extinguish the grace of God. In our lives the devil is the one that will keep trying to trick us but the ones who have God in their hearts will be able to withstand his evil.

5. The Persevering, Valiant Pilgrim- Christian learns that those who have the desire and determination to keep going and never give up are the ones that will truly succeed.

6. The Despairing Man in the Iron Cage- The man in the iron cage was filled with sadness and despair in his eyes. The man had sinned against the goodness of God and had no hope in himself. He had chosen the luxuries and pleasure of the world over God and therefore has no way out of the cage he is in.

7. The Warning of the Final Day of Judgment- Christian learned that to follow the goodness of God will help prepare for the day when it will really come instead of hiding and fearing it. Emily Lu

• Christian meets Interpreter after talking with Good Will, who advised Christian to visit the Interpreter’s house. Thus, after going through the wicket gate, Christian soon arrives at the Interpreter’s house, where he knocks several times after which the Interpreter answers the door. After entering his house, Christian is shown multiple things:

1. He is shown the portrait of a grave person. “It had eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of books in its hand; the law of truth was written upon its lips; the world was behind its back; it stood as if it pleaded with men, and a crown of gold did hang over its head.” Christian learns from this that the man fathers and nourishes children, and that he shows the truth to sinners, despises the world though serving his master, and is “authorized” to guide through difficulties.

2. Next, he is shown a room coated with dust, representing the man’s polluted heart, polluted with sin. A sweeper comes in, representing the law, which arouses corruption even more, spreading dust everywhere. Thus, it is saying the law doesn’t cleanse; instead, it strengthens sin even more. Next, however, a damsel comes in, representing the cleansing gospel messenger, and cleanses the sins.

3. Then, Christian goes into a little room, where he sees two children, Patience and Passion. Passion eagerly accepts a bag of treasure, while Patience waits in rags; this represents the self-loving men of the world, unwilling to wait. Patience, those who are prepared to wait for that to come, will soon be rewarded with glory that lasts forever in heaven, far after Passion’s treasure has run out and has been reduced to rags.

4. Next, Christian sees a raging fire and water trying to put it out. Instead of going out, however, the fire rises even higher. This represents, Christian learns, the devil, represented by the water, trying to put out the grace in the believer’s heart, represented by the fire, while the fire rages even higher. The fire growing bigger represents the work of Christ, who kindles the fire even higher.

5. Next, Christian is led into a pleasant place, where he sees a stately palace with people robed in gold. Christian asks to go in, and the Interpreter takes him and leads him up to the palace door. There, a group of men stood, wanting to go in, but not daring to; in the doorway, there stood armed men, determined to hurt those who entered. A persevering, valiant pilgrim, however, cuts his way through, and his work is rewarded with the palace he can now enter. Thus, a Christian must be persevering and committing, willing to sacrifice, to be rewarded.

6. Then, Christian enters a very dark room, where a man sat in an iron cage. He says he is without the “light of hope,” he has without hope in God, and that he is caged in iron and cannot escape. His hard heart finds no mercy, his caged heart is locked up in remorse, and his unbelieving heart is denied repentance. Thus, he serves as a warning to Christian, where Christian prays, “God help me to watch and be sober and to pray that I may shun the cause of this man’s misery.”

7. Finally, Christian goes to a next room, and sees a man waking from a dream, trembling. Upon being asked of the reason for his trembling, the man replies that he is very fearful from a dream which he then describes. The dream is a description of Judgment Day, and Christ calls, “Arise you who are dead, and come to your Judgment!” Some are happy, those who know they will be rewarded by going to heaven, while those going to hell are sad. It shows a warning of the final Judgment Day, where those who have been faithful and repenting will go to heaven, while the sinful and not repenting are sent to hell. Joshua Ma

• Christian meets Interpreter when he knocks on the door of his (Interpreter’s) house several times and Interpreter eventually answers. From each demonstration from Interpreter, Christian learns different things.

1. The Portrait of the Man – From this portrait, Christian learns that since he is a new pilgrim, he will need someone to guide him through his pilgrimage, such as the man in the portrait, who is portrayed as a preacher. In the portrait, the man is dignified and humble. He doesn’t boast about himself. Also, he holds the Bible in his hand and his eyes are looking towards heaven, which shows that he is a man of God. In addition, he is truthful, faithful, and isn’t worldly. The man in the portrait set an excellent example for Christian to follow.

2. The Distinction between the Law and the Gospel – In this demonstration, the room of dust represents a man’s corrupted heart, while the dust itself represents corruption. The sweeper (who by sweeping the room, made it even dirtier and cause Christian to choke) resembles the law, which doesn’t cleanse the heart but causes it to be more sinful. The damsel that sprinkled the room with water (which made the room easier to clean) symbolizes the gospel, which purifies your heart, if you believe in it, since it (the Gospel) proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ.

3. The Virtue of Patience contrasted with Passion – At this demonstration, Christian observes the two children, Passion and Patience. He sees that Passion is greedy and wants his treasure immediately, whereas Patience is willing to wait. Although Passion “received” his treasure first, it soon wasted away and he was left with rags. However, Patience received a treasure that would last forever because he waited patiently. This demonstration showed Christian that to go to heaven; he would need to be more like Patience and less like Passion.

4. The Grace of Christ conquers the Assailed Heart – This demonstration showed a man trying to quench the fire in a fireplace with water. But with each passing moment the man spent in trying to quench the fire, the fire just grew hotter and hotter, higher and higher. The fire in this display symbolizes the grace in a Christian heart. The man, who represents the devil, is trying to put out the fire, just as the devil tries to lead us away from God. Lastly, the man that was secretly pouring oil into the burning fire signifies Jesus, because if you trust in him, he will rescue you from all temptations.

5. The Persevering, Valiant Pilgrim – In this demonstration, Heaven is symbolized by the beautiful and stately palace. There are many people that want to go into heaven, just like the crowd that wanted to go into the palace. However, entering Heaven won’t be easy, which was symbolized by the guards that blocked everyone and frightened them from entering the palace. Nonetheless, if you are perseverant and valiant, like the man who opposed the guards and kept fighting them without giving up, you will eventually succeed and be able to go in Heaven.

6. The Despairing Man in the Iron Cage – Here, when Christian talks with the man imprisoned in the iron cage, he discovers that the man was once a fair and flourishing professor. However, as the man prospered, he began to sin against God. He put worldly, materialistic objects before godly things and he eventually began to despise God and everything else that was holy. As a result of his sinful actions, the man was imprisoned in an iron cage for all eternity. From this, Christian learns that he should watch, be sober, and to pray so that he would not end up with the same miserable fate as that man.

7. The Warning of the final Day of Judgment – At this demonstration, a man tells Christian about his dream where the final Day of Judgment came; however, he was unprepared for it. As a result, when God lifted everyone else into Heaven, only he was left behind and fell into hell shortly afterwards. The lesson from this demonstration is actually quite simple: Always be prepared for the final Day of Judgment because no one knows when it may come. Vicki Shen

• Christian meets Interpreter when he knocks on the door of his (Interpreter’s) house several times and Interpreter eventually answers. From each demonstration from Interpreter, Christian learns different things.

1. The portrait of the man— Christian learns that the man in the portrait is a man that is a guide to all difficult places, and that people will be needing him, especially Christian, when met people like Mr. Worldly Wiseman. People like Mr. Worldly Wiseman pretended to lead to the right places, but their ways actually led to death.

2. The distinction between the law and the gospel— Christian learns that the dust represented the law, and the water represented the gospel. When the man swept the dust, it "kind of" cleaned the room; it didn’t really clean the room. But when the damsel sprinkled the room with water, it actually cleaned the room. So Christian learned that the law wouldn’t really clean the heart, but the gospel would.

3. The virtue of patience contrasted with passion— Patience and Passion are children. Passion is impatient and Patient is patient. Passion represents the men of this world, and Patience represents the men of which to come. Patience would have the glory of his, but Passion would have nothing but rags. Chrisitan learns that it is much better to be like Patience than Passion.

4. The grace of Christ conquers the assailed heart— Christian learns that the fire represents the grace of God that is wrought in the heart. The water trying the extinguish it represents the Devil. The oil represents the continuing grace of God, and that the water can no longer extinguish it. It is hard for the tempted to maintian this grace in the soul.

5. The persevering, valiant pilgrim— The man who puts on the helmet and draws his sword represents Christian. The men at the door represent the difficulties Christian went through on his journey. As the man rushed towards the door, he gave many wounds to the people who tried to keep him out. Eventually, he got through the door, which represented Christian going to his destination. Also, the men who stood back in fear represented other pilgrims who turned back when they faced difficulties, like Pliable.

6. The despairing man in the iron cage— There is a man who was once a flourishing professor, but ended up in misery. He ended up in an iron cage. Christian learns that since the man was severely against God, and that the man thought Jesus’s blood as "very unholy." Because of this, God denied him, and that man ended up in the horrible cage, which represented hell.

7. The warning of the final day of judgment— On the day, the dead arise, and would be separated into two groups. One group would be going to heaven, and one group would be going to hell. The man on the cloud is Christ, and decideds who goes where. The trembling man represents sin or maybe doubt. Christian learns that he should believe in God.  Jennifer Lee

• Christian meets the interpreter because Good-Will told him to stop by. There he learns certain things about God and what not to do to get into Heaven. The interpreter shows the portrait of the man to show Christian what to be like. The distinction between the law and the gospel is to warn Christian of men like Worldly Wiseman who follow the law but not God’s. Interpreter shows Christian patience and passion to help him remember that good things come to those who wait. The flame is to show Christian that no matter what the devil tries to do to quench the flames that are the grace of Christ, he will not succeed. The persevering pilgrim is to show Christian that he must never give up or lower his guard. The despairing man in the iron cage is to warn Christian to love Jesus and to not fear him totally or sin against him. The warning of the final day of judgment is to make sure Christian will do right and not let down his guard and sin and not be accepted to heaven. Angela Zhou

• Good Will tells Christian that the Interpreter is a little way from the path of the wicket gate. He meets the Interpreter and tells him his “History”. Christian learns many things from the Interpreter, but I believe the main thing he learned is right from wrong and what to expect on the way. Janna Qiao

• As Christian is going down the path Good Will told him to go, he came to a house, which Good Will also told him to go to. Christian knocked on the door and he sent for Interpreter. While Christian was in the house, Interpreter showed him each thing in the house and told him each meaning of it. The man in the picture should Christian remember for the man is a guide for difficult places so Christian would not take counsel of evil men that would lead to death. The dust swept around and the water sprinkled around the large parlor represents that the dust is the law and the water is the gospel. The dust cannot clean the room as law cannot clean the heart but the water can clean the room as the gospel can clean the heart. Patience and passion are shown as children in whom they are to wait for the best things. But Passion wants his things first as Patience can wait. So Passion gets his things and laughs at Patience but realizes his things turn to rags. Passion is the men of this of this world and Patience is the men to come. The men of this world will get their things as it would just disappear. The fire and the water are the work of grace and the devil. The water or devil tries to put out the fire or grace but it just keeps growing and growing. This is because there is a man secretly putting oil into the fire. The man is Christ and the oil is his grace. This means God can overpower the devil. The man with the helmet and the sword represents Christian who battles the armed men, who represent difficulties in the journey. The beautiful palace is Christian’s destination. The men who want to go in but stood back in fear are other people want to go inside Christian’s destination but turn back in fear of the difficulties. This means that Christian reaches his destination. The man in the cage is a man who completely turned against God for he had many sins against God and has hardened his own heart he could not repent. Therefore, the cage is representing hell. This means that you should not turn against God. The man sitting on the bed had a dream that there was going to be a day of judgment. On that day, the dead rise and were going to be separated as one is going to heaven and one is going to hell. The man on the cloud is Christ separating the people and the man trembling is probably sin and of course is against God. But the main purpose is to believe in God. Elaine Lee

• Christian meets Interpreter by going to his house. 1st Demo: Portrait of the Man-Christian learns from this demonstration to watch out for men like the one in the portrait—whose job it is to know and "unfold" dark things to sinners—during his journey. 2nd Demo: The Distinction Between the Law and the Gospel-Christian learns from this demonstration that the Gospel is more important than the Law. 3rd Demo: The Virtue of Patience Contrasted With Passion-Christian learns from this demonstration that Passion—who represents the men of the world—gets what he wants in the present, but in the end, is left with rags. Patience—who represents the men of the world that is yet to come—is vice versa. Therefore, it is like a vision of the future. 4th Demo: The Grace of Christ Conquers the Assailed Heart-Christian learns from this demonstration that the grace of Christ—which represents "water"—will conquer the Devil—who represents "fire". 5th Demo: The Despairing Man in the Iron Cage-Christian learns from this demonstration to have everlasting caution. Christian also sees another demonstration, the warning day of judgment. Christian learns that he must remember all these demonstrations during his journey. Michelle Lee

• Good Will tells Christian that there is a house up ahead, a person named Interpreter lives there that has excellent things he can show you. So Christian knocks at the door of the Interpreters house and a man answers the door. Then he gets his master the Interpreter.

1. The Portrait of the Man- Christian learns that the man in the picture stands for guide or a preacher that helps sinners see the evil that is in the world.

2. The Distinction between the Law and the Gospel- Christian learns that people commit sins all the time and once in a while, their hearts need to be cleaned.

3. The Virtue of Patience contrasted with Passion- Passion just can’t wait and wants things right away. Patience can wait and will get the greater reward in the end.

4. The Grace of Christ conquers the assailed heart- Christian learns that the Devil is trying to get rid of God’s good grace by pouring water on the fire but on the other side, a man is pouring oil into the fire to keep the grace.

5. The Persevering, Valiant Pilgrim- keep going and don’t give up and you will never fail.

6. The man in the Iron Cage- The man had sinned against God and therefore is in this cage and cannot get out. He is in great despair.

7. The Warning of the Final Day of Judgment- Follow God’s way and you will not hide in fear of the Day of Judgment. Samuel Lu

• Christian knocks on Interpreter’s house’s door, and Interpreter answers.

1. The portrait of the man – Christian learns to be serious and unselfish like the man in the portrait. He learns not to boast about himself. Also, he learns to be God-centered and to respect God. Now, he knows to read and respect the Bible and to be truthful like the Bible. Additionally, he knows to be honest, faithful, and not worldly, and to guide people to God like the man in the portrait.

2. The distinction between the law and the gospel – When Interpreter shows Christian the room, he sees that the polluted room is like a man’s sinful heart and the dust is like the sin. The sweeper is like the law, because when the sweeper sweeps, he makes the room dirtier just like the law causes corruption. The lady is like the gospel because the lady helps to make the room clean and the gospel teaches about Jesus and Jesus makes our heart pure.

3. The virtue of patience contrasted with passion – Christian looks at the two children named Passion and Patience. He learns that patience is good and passion is bad. He learns that passion is bad because when you are passionate, you are impatient and you want something fast. So when you are patient, you can wait as long as it takes. Only the people that are patient get to go to heaven.

4. The grace of Christ conquers the assailed heart – From this, Christian sees that the man that tried to put out the fire was a demon. Christian learns that the fire is like a Christian heart. Also, he learns not to be tempted by the devil which is like the demon trying to quench the fire; and if he is tempted by the devil, he can trust that God will help him, like the angel that was secretly pouring oil into the fire.

5. The persevering, valiant pilgrim – The palace is like heaven. The guards are like the people that try to stop you from believing in God. The crowd of people represents the people that want to go into heaven. But when Christian sees the man that fights the guards and eventually gets into the palace, he learns to be valiant and perseverant. He learns not to give up and stay brave the whole way so he can succeed.

6. The despairing man in the iron cage – In here, the man in the cage was once a good and happy person. But he sinned against God and he put worldly things before godly things. That’s why God put him in the cage because it was his punishment. Christian learns from this that he has to watch and be sober and he has to pray because he doesn’t want to be miserable like the man in the cage.

7. The warning of the final Day of Judgment – Christian learned that you have to be ready at all times for the final Day of Judgment. David Shen

Verses For The Pilgrim’s Progress pgs 26-37 Michelle Lee --back to top--

• Revelation 3:8-I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
• John 6:37-All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
• Matthew 7:13-14-Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
• Galatians 4:19-My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.
• Luke 16:25-But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony."
• 2 Corinthians 4:18—So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
• Hebrews 10:29—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?
• Luke 3:17—His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
• Mark 2:5—When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
• Zechariah 3:3-5—Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.
• Proverbs 23:24—The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him.
• 1 Peter 5:8—Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Lesson 4 Vocabulary Angela Zhou --back to top--

1. Amity- friendship
2. Tares- an undesirable thing
3. Chaff- something worthless
4. Raiment- clothing
5. Garner- something that is collected
6. Goad- spur into action
7. Peradventure- perhaps