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A By J O H N.B U N Y A N. Published by Charles Doe, 1692. Published four years after John Bunyan's death. |
CHAPTER II.
OF WHAT THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON WAS A TYPE.
hat the house of the forest of Lebanon was a house significant,
I think is clear; also, if it had not, we should not have had so particular an account
thereof in the holy Word of God: I read but of four buildings wherein, in a particular
manner, the houses or fabrics are, as to their manner of building, distinctly handled.
The tabernacle is one, the temple another; the porch which he built for his throne,
his throne for judgment; and this house of the forest of Lebanon is the fourth. Now
the three first, to wit, the tabernacle, the temple, the porch and throne, wise men
will say are typical; and therefore so is this.
[First.] I will therefore take it for granted that the house of the forest of Lebanon
is a significative thing, yea, a figure of the church, as the temple at Jerusalem
was, though not under the same consideration. The temple was a figure of the church
under the gospel, as she relateth to worship; but the house of the forest of Lebanon
was a figure of that church as she is assaulted for her worship, as she is persecuted
for the same. Or take it more expressly thus: I take this house of the forest of
Lebanon to be a type of the church in the wilderness, or as she is in her sackcloth
state.
We read, before this house was built, that there was a church in the wilderness;
and also, after this house was demolished, that there would be a church in the wilderness
(Acts 7:38; Rev 12:14). But we now respect that wilderness state that the church
of the New Testament is in, and conclude that this house of the forest of Lebanon
was a type and figure of that; that is, of her wilderness state. And, methinks, the
very place where this house was built does intimate such a thing; for this house
was not built in a town, a city, &c., as was that called the temple of the Lord,
but was built in a kind of a wood, a wilderness; it was built in the forest of Lebanon,
unto which that saying seems directly to answer. "And to the woman," the
church, "were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the
wilderness into her place" (Rev 12:14). A wilderness state is a desolate, a
tempted, an afflicted, a persecuted state (Jer 2:6). All which is more than intimated
by the witnesses wearing of, and prophesying in sackcloth, and also expressed of
by that Revelation 12.
Answerable to this is that of the prophet concerning this house of the forest of
Lebanon, where he says, "Open thy doors, O Lebanon! that the fire may devour
thy cedars." And again, "Howl, fir-tree; for the cedar is fallen"
(Zech 11:1,2). What can be more express? The prophet here knocks at the very door
of the house of the forest of Lebanon, and tells her that her cedars are designed
for fire; unto which also most plainly answer the flames to which so many of the
cedars of Lebanon,[3] God's saints, I mean, for many hundred years, have been delivered for their
profession; and by which, as another prophet has it, for many days they have fallen
(Dan 11:33). Also when the king of Assyria came up with his army against Jerusalem,
this was his vaunting, "I am come - to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut
down the tall cedars thereof" (Isa 37:24).
What was this king of Assyria but a type of the beast made mention of in the New
Testament? Now, saith he, I will cut down the cedars of Lebanon; who are, in our
gospel times, the tall ones of the church of God. And I say again, in that he particularly
mentions Lebanon, he intends that house which Solomon built there, the which was
built as a fortification to defend the religion of the temple, as the saints now
in the wilderness of the people are set for the defence of the gospel. But more of
this anon.
This house therefore was built to make assaults, and to be assaulted, as the church
in the wilderness is; and hence the state of this house is compared to the condition
of a woman in travail, struggling with her pains, as also we find the state of the
church in the wilderness is—"O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in
the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of
a woman in travail!" (Jer 22:23). And again, "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, That ye shall weep and lament," and have sorrow, as a woman in travail
(John 16:20-22). Much answering her case who, in her travails, and while "pained
to be delivered," was said even in this case to stand before the dragon, who
with open mouth sought to destroy her fruit, so "soon as it was born" (Rev
12:1-6).
Hence, again, when Christ calls his spouse out to suffer, he calls or draws her out
of his house in Lebanon, to look "from the lions' dens, from the mountains of
the leopards," to the things that are invisible; even as Paul said when he was
in affliction, "We look not at the things which are seen" (Cant 4:8; 2
Cor 4:18). He draws them out thence, I say, as sheep appointed for the slaughter;
yea, he goeth before them, and they follow him thither.
Also, when the prophet foretells the affliction of the church, he expresses it by
the fall of the cedars of Lebanon, saying, The Lord shall cut down the thickets of
the forest with iron; a little afore called the axe and saw. And Lebanon shall fall
by a mighty one (Isa 10:15,34). And again, "The earth mourneth and languisheth:
Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down" (Isa 33:9).
Do we think that the prophet prophesieth here against trees, against the natural
cedars of Lebanon? No, no, it is a prophecy touching the afflicted state of the church
in the wilderness, of which Lebanon, I mean this house of the forest of Lebanon,
was a figure.
When God also threateneth the enemies of his church in the wilderness with his judgments,
for their cruel dealing with her in the day of her desertion, he calls those judgments
the violence of Lebanon. That is, by way of comparison, such as the violence done
to Lebanon was. "The violence of Lebanon shall cover thee; and the spoil of
beasts which made them [Lebanon] afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence
of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein" (Habb 2:17). This is
like that, "Reward her, even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double
according to her works" (Rev 18:6). This the church doth by her prayers. "The
violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion
say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say" (Jer
51:35). And then shall be fulfilled that which is written, Look what they did unto
Lebanon shall be done unto them (Oba 15; Eze 35:14,15).
God has his time to return the evil that the enemies do to his church, and he will
do it when his time is come upon their own head; and this return is called the covering
of them with the violence of Lebanon, or that violence showed to her in the day of
her distress. It is yet further evident that this house of the forest of Lebanon
was a type of the church in the wilderness:—
1. For that she is called a tower, or place of fortification and defence; the same
term that is given to the church in a captivated state (Can 7:4; Micah 4:8-10). For
as the church in the wilderness is compared to a woman in travail, to show her fruitfulness
to God-ward in her most afflicted condition; so she is called a tower, to show her
fortitude and courage, for God and his truth, against antichrist. I say therefore,
unto both these is she compared in that scripture last cited, the which you may peruse
if you please. A tower is a place of receipt for the afflicted, and so is the church
under the rage of antichrist; yea, and though it is the only place designed by the
enemy for ruin and destruction, yet it is the only place of safety in the world.[4]
2. This tower, this house of the forest of Lebanon, it seems to be so built as to
confront Damascus, the chief city of the king of Assyria; and in so doing it was
a most excellent type of the spirit and design of the church in the wilderness, who
is raised up, and built to confront antichrist. Hence Christ calls some of the features
of his church, and compares them to this. "Thy neck," says he "is
as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fish-pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim;
thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus" (Cant 7:4).
Thy nose, that great ornament of thy lovely countenance, is as a tower looking that
way; so set, as Christ says of his, as a flint. And this is a comely feature in the
church, that her nose stands like a tower, or as he says in another place, like a
fenced brazen wall against Damascus, the metropolitan of her enemy: "for the
head of Syria is Damascus" (Isa 7:8).
And as Christ thus compares his church, so she again returns, or compares the face
of her Lord to the same, saying, "His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon
sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars"
(Can 5:15). Thus in Lebanon, in this brave house, is found the excellency of the
church, and the beauty of Christ, for that they are both as a rock, with glory and
majesty, bended against the enemies of the truth. "The face of the Lord is against
them that do evil." Pillars his legs are here compared to, and pillars were
they that upheld this house, this tower, which thus bravely was built with its face
confronting the enemy's country.
Second. That this house of the forest of Lebanon was a type of the church in affliction,
yet further appears, for that at the fall of Babylon her cedars are said to rejoice
in special. "The fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us" (Isa 14:8). This
is at the destruction of Babylon, the type of that called antichrist.
But why should Lebanon, the cedars in Lebanon, in an especial manner here, be said
to rejoice at his downfall: doubtless to show that as the enemy made his inroad upon
Jerusalem; so in a particular manner Lebanon, and the house there, were made to smoke
for it (Isa 37:24; Jer 22:23; Zech 11:1). This answereth to that, "Rejoice over
her thou heaven; and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you of her."
Hence again, when he speaks of giving glory to his afflicted church, for all the
sorrow which she hath sustained in her bearing witness for the truth against antichrist,
he calls it the glory of Lebanon. That is, as I take it, the glory that belongs to
her, for the afflictions which she underwent for his name. "The glory of Lebanon
shall be given unto it" (Isa 35:2). And again, "The glory of Lebanon shall
come unto thee" (Isa 60:13). These are promises to the church for her suffering
of affliction, and they are made unto her as she bears the name of Lebanon, who or
which was her type in those havocs made in it, when the enemy, as I said, assaulted
the church of old.
Thus by these few lines I have showed you that there was a similitude betwixt this
house in the forest of Lebanon, and our gospel church in the wilderness. Nor need
we stumble because this word house is not subjoined in every particular place, where
this sorrow or joy of Lebanon is made mention of; for it is an usual thing with the
Holy Ghost, when he directs his speech to a man, to speak as if he spake to a tree;
and when he directs his voice to a king, to speak as if he intended the kingdom;
so when he speaks of the house, to speak as to the forest of Lebanon. Instances many
might be given.
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