Taking a slightly different way, Ignorance missed Beulah Land and came to the river, wide and deep.  There was no bridge over the river and Ignorance paused for a moment wondering how he would cross.  He recognized the river as death and knew without a doubt that he must pass over it.

He could see in the distance the shining beauty of the Celestial City.  Oh, for an easy way to pass over!  Just then he spied a ferry man on the river whose name was Mr. Vain-hope!

“Oh, Mr. Vain-hope!” he called, “will you take across the river in your boat?”

 

“Yes, indeed,” replied Mr. Vain-hope.  “That is what I came for.”  So Ignorance crossed the river in Vain-hope’s boat.  As they crossed Mr. Vain-hope talked incessantly.

“Do you remember,” he said, “what a good moral life you have always lived?  Do you remember all the prayers you have said, and all the worthy causes you have supported, and all the money you have given to charity?”

As Vain-hope talked, ignorance grew more and more comfortable.  So he crossed the dark river with no difficulty.  Arriving on the opposite shore, he found a high hill before him which he ascended to the very gate of the Celestial City.  Alone he climbed the hill and was puzzled because no one came forth from the beautiful city to encourage him as he went.  Finally he stood before the gate and read the inscription written in letters of gold over the gate:

“Blessed are they
that do His commandments,
that they may have right
to the tree of life
and may enter in
through the gates
into the city.”

He thought, I have done most of His commandments.  Of course, I have failed sometimes, but my intentions were always good, and surely I will be welcomed into the city.  So with boldness he knocked for admittance

But the gates were not swung open to receive him.  Instead, he was asked by a voice coming over the wall, “From where do you come, and what would you have?”

“I have eaten and drunk in the presence of the King,” he replied, “and He has taught in our streets.  I have come now to His holy habitation and seek admittance.”

“What have you to give proof of your salvation?” he was asked.

He fumbled about for a reply but found none, for trusting his own righteousness instead of the righteousness of Christ, he had no evidence of being saved.  He could not find even one verse of Scripture that would give assurance of salvation to those who try to live right and fail only occasionally.  He could not find one word of God to promise eternal life to those who give money to charity or support worthy causes to purchase their salvation.  God does not offer salvation for sale, either for good works or for prayers or for money.  He offers it as a free gift to anyone who will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Ignorance had never accepted that gift from God, and so now he sought in vain for a certificate of salvation.

Then, at the command of the King, two angels came forth from the city, but instead of taking Ignorance into that place of eternal joy, they bound him hand and foot and carried him away to the door Christian and Hopeful had seen in the side of the hill upon the Delectable Mountains.  It was the door which was called “The Gate of Hell.”  Thus poor Ignorance went into a lost eternity.

He was not lost because God did not love him, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  He was not lost because he had never heard the Gospel, for throughout eternity he would remember the words of Christian and Hopeful when they told him of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  But he was lost because he had chosen to rest his hope for eternity on things he had done—on his moral life, his keeping of rules and giving tithes.  When he came to heaven’s gate he had nothing to certify his salvation.  He had no portion of God’s Word to justify his claims,  so he went into a lost eternity.  What a sad, sad end for one who had gone through life and into death resting upon a false hope!

It is a dark and unhappy picture.  It was not for a day or even for a year that Ignorance was sent into the darkness away from God’s presence, away from the brightness and glory of heaven, away from all that is pleasant and happy.  It was for a hopeless lost eternity that will never end.  It was because he was not willing to hear and believe God’s Word and accept His salvation.  John Bunyan, who wrote the story, said, “Then I saw that there was a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven, as well as from the City of Destruction. 

How different is the end of those who are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ!  They have God’s own Word to certify their salvation, for He has said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”  Again He says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”

“Come join the happy pilgrim band,
To heaven they are going;
Redeemed by Christ’s most precious blood,
They are His service doing;
And as they onward march they sing,
Their hearts with joy overflowing,
They love and trust and serve the Lord,
And look for His appearing.

--A. P. Gibbs