It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” So begins the famous Charles Dickens novel “A Tale of Two Cities.” The two cities in the novel were London and Paris. If you lived in London, you were separated from the French Revolution by the English Channel.
Londoners enjoyed “the best of times” compared to Parisians, for whom “the worst of times” included the possibility of losing their heads on the guillotine. The streets of London were filthy with rubbish, but the streets of Paris were stained with human blood.
The apostle Paul wrote of two equally dissimilar cities: “the present Jerusalem, which is in slavery with her children”, and “the Jerusalem above, which is free, and which is the mother of us all.” (Galatians 4:25, 26)
The first Jerusalem was in legalistic bondage, and the second was free spiritually. The first produced ‘slave children’ and the second nurtured those born free. Paul wrote his ‘tale of two cities’ to contrast the bondage of those under Law to with those under Grace.
In the 21st century it is still possible for a Christian to live in the old ‘Jerusalem’ of bondage instead of the new one of freedom. I refer not to the historic Holy City but to one ruled by religious regulations. Our freedom comes from living in the love of Christ — “against which there is no law” because the love of God in our nature causes us not to break it. And when we do, the Jesus who died to save us lives to intercede for us.
The hero of “A Tale of Two Cities” dies a noble death in sacrificing his self-confessed worthless life for one that is noble. Remember his last words? “Tis a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done…”
Bondage and Freedom remain big issues, but we have no need to exchange our lives for the freedom of another because two thousand years ago our Lord died to save the entire world. In so doing Jesus did a far, far better thing than anyone has ever done or ever could do. Yet the question of Freedom versus Bondage is still a big issue because it involves us in choosing which life to live.
In which ‘Jerusalem’ are you living? Is it the religious one of Do’s and Don’ts, or the Christian one of Freedom in God’s love? Is it the one of “Must Do!” in which you slave to keep the Law, or is it “Will Do” in which you keep the Law because it is in you to do so?
Don’t allow your life to become one of constant conflict between freedom and bondage, one that push-pulls you between the old life in sin and the new life in Jesus Christ. Make just one city your permanent home: your “mother-city”, the “Jerusalem which is above”: the heavenly city which offers “the best of times”!
This holy city, “the New Jerusalem”, is coming down from God out of heaven, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). The figure of speech here switches from a city to a bride, but the message is the same: “Behold, I make all things new.” (Verse 5). Have you chosen to live a life that is readying you for the return of Jesus Christ?