My Allegory of the Cave

I'm trying to discover a Christian allegory from Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". Currently, I have the slaves as representing mankind enslaved to self-worship. Satan would represent the slave owner on the second tier who is the substance behind the shadows being projected on the wall. The shadows represent the distored worldview and fruits of self-worship: Fear, Doubt, Shame, Guilt, Control, Self-exaltation, Immorality, Hatred of God and self, Impurity, Depravity, Pain, Evil, Lust. Ultimately, the slaves are controlled by what I would label as The Monster. The Bible calls it the "flesh". Satan feeds the monster what it wants. Satan produces the shadows.

The Fire represents the fountainhead of Truth, or the Father. Truth involves seeing reality for what it is, and it is represented by the Light the Fire produces. God has given mankind over to the control of the Monster's (Flesh's) desires according to Romans 1. God allows Satan to rule over the hearts of unbelievers according to the book of Ephesians Chapter 2:1-10:
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Satan is the ruler of the kingdom of the air. This is objective reality.

The objective Truth is produced by the Fire (The Father). There would be no shadows if the presence of a light did not exist. The shadows are a distortion of the Truth that Satan produces. He is the deceiver, and men are deceived into believing that the shadows are all there is; that the shadows are the Truth.

There is a whole new world outside the cave that objectively exists outside of the knowledge of the slaves. They can't know it exists unless they are set free from their bondage. The entire point of this mental painting is to portray the absolute desparate state that the slaves are in. They have no key to their shackles. They can know nothing of the objective truth of their condition unless the Fire of Truth itself initiates something. The Fire also lights the way to the cave's Exit. "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27).

The Exit represents Jesus Christ. He is the Door: "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture" (John 10:9).

I have twisted Plato's Allegory up in order to depict the absolute depravity of man. Man is absolutely helpless unless a miracle takes place that would seem inconceivable at the time. This Allegory depicts the state of Mankind after the fall and before the revelation of Truth in the face of Jesus Christ. This Allegory also depicts the state of the unregenerated man in the present day. A divine miracle must take place in order for that man to see himself, the shadows, Satan, the Fire, the Light, and the Exit for what they are.

A key to the shackles must be provided. And it has been provided. It is called FAITH. Only by faith can the slave unlock his shackles, rise forth, look around, see things for what they really are, and leave the darkness of the cave to embrace the whole new world awaiting him. This could not be possible apart from the presence of the Fire, or the Truth, or the Father. It is by faith that otherwise blind men see, and by faith they see the Fire in all its glory.

Faith is the key given to unlock the shackles. I could not come up with a logical way of introducing the "key" into the Allegory. Yet this is so appropriate! The gift of salvation by faith alone was logically ridiculus at the time it was introduced. Faith is not something that man produces on his own. It is something that is given by the presence of the Holy Spirit. "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). You can't box the work of the Spirit within any allegory like this. The key comes by pure grace. And it is a miracle. And miracles would cease being miracles if they were the norm.

The slave can do nothing but exist in the world of shadows. And the Slave Owner hates them in charming them. The depraved state of the unregenerate is one of utter desparation for the mercy and grace of God. Whether or not God will have mercy on them and show them grace is His prerogative, not the slave's:

"What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy" (Romans 9:14-16).

Satan does not love; he hates. His charms are his mere shadows. And they are a distortion of the the Truth. Man will be charmed, deservedly so, into its sentence of hell unless God chooses to exalt His mercy and grace in the salvation of the slave by granting him the faith to believe.

The Christian has room for comfort in that our Exit is also our Mediator, or bridge. Once the door is shut, nothing can snatch His sheep away (Romans 8:37-39). He pleads on our behalf. We are sealed in Him. And our faith will not fail:

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded that he might have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail...(Luke 22:31-32)."

"The prayer of a righteous man is affective..." The Son of God would qualify as being fairly righteous, don't you think?