In the first paragraph of his work, "A Tale of Two Cities," author Charles Dickens sets the tone for what will be a famous tale of the plights of Paris and London, both before and after the French Revolution. This first paragraph, famous for its quotable contrasts, reads as follows:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
Anna, who teaches a series of lectures on this book to her students ( and who, for obvious reasons, serves as my primary source for literary criticism), observes of this paragraph that its relevance to all periods of time and all circumstances sets it apart from other classic works. Indeed, Dickens isn't the only example we see in history of a man who wishes to draw attention to the cultural duplicity in which we live. St. Augustine's famous work, "The City of God," paints a vivid picture of the two realities in which man perpetually exists and is forced to grapple with: the City of God and the City of Man. These two realities should not surprise the thoughtful Christian. When God renews His covenant with the children of Israel at Moab, He presents them with the consequences of their obedience/disobedience:
"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live..." (Deuteronomy 30:15-19)
When Christ says that He is (and believers are) not of the world, it did not mean that He (and we) are not in the world. Obviously, to assert such a thing would be illogical. Christ draws attention to the reality that the world is full of wheat and tares, that God's people live perpetually with the reprobate.
It is into this two-city world that my son is soon to be born. Indeed, the circumstances around my family could only be described as both the best and worst of times. As long as it pleases the Lord for His people to dwell with the enemies of God on earth, Christians will be forced to grapple with the imperfections we wrought in the Garden of Eden. My and Anna's prayer is that our son will know much of the City of God, and with that knowledge be able to discern the City of Man. If he is able to do this, though he will live in an age of foolishness, we are confident that the Lord will guide his mind into an age of wisdom.
