I came across a report the other day from the United Nations about how more and more people are moving from rural areas and subdivisions into urban areas and big cities. That’s surprising to me because there are so many jokes about the drawbacks of living in a city.
Comedian Anita Weiss says, “I moved to New York City for my health. I’m paranoid, and it was the only place where my fears were justified.”
In a standup routine about traffic in Boston, Massachusetts comedian Lewis Black said, “The last person to get across that town in under three hours was yelling, ‘The British are coming! The British are coming!’”
A lot of us would agree with comedian Jason Love’s opinion of Las Vegas: “All the amenities of modern society in a habitat unfit to grow a tomato.”
And my favorite putdown about cities is from comedian Richard Jeni: “This is how Chicago got started. A bunch of people in New York said, ‘Gee, I’m enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn’t cold enough.’” (1)
“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 season of light, it was the season of darkness . . .” Many of you recognize the opening lines to Charles Dickens’ famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities. The two cities that were the focal point of Dickens’ novel were Paris and London during the days of the French Revolution. Today we will center our attention on two cities. These two cities are the city of man and the city of God.
The Hebrew Bible reveals a certain prejudice against cities. You will remember in Genesis 4 after he slays his brother Abel, Cain is driven forth out of the presence of the Lord, and the first thing he does is build a city. Then again after the days of the great flood, the people gather to build a city, and in the middle of that city they build a great tower--the tower of Babel. You remember the result. God destroys the tower and scatters the people out of the city.
Think of the negative connotations around such Old Testament cities as Sodom, Gomorrah, Nineveh and Babylon. There is a certain sinfulness, a certain grimness, a detachment from God, that is associated with cities. “Hell,” wrote the poet Shelley, “is a city much like London / a populous and smoky city.”
Such prejudice exists even today. There is that old story about the lady in New York City who died willing all of her money to God. A probate judge broke the will with the declaration that “after due search it has been determined that God cannot be located in New York City.”
People in rural areas have always regarded city slickers with suspicion. That is interesting when you realize that the word “pagan” originally meant “country folk.” No environment today has a monopoly on problems. Some of the highest suicide rates, highest divorce rates, highest alcoholism and opioid addiction rates in the United States per capita are found in remote rural areas. You can run but you can’t hide.
Actually we all live in one big city now--no matter how far it is to a neighbor’s house. Television and social media are tremendous cultural homogenizers. The secular values formerly associated primarily with our great cities are brought into nearly every home in America every day.
For better or worse modern technology has made us one big city--the city of man. Suppose now we contrast that city--the city of man with the city of God.
John in his Revelation describes a city coming down from heaven from God that is altogether glorious. It is an enormous city, 1500 hundred miles on every side. It has perfect symmetry and it is large enough for all who would to enter. It has a wall 216 feet high and 12 gates. The city rests on 12 foundations and on those 12 foundations are carved the names of the 12 apostles. This is the New Jerusalem. Within its walls is the new Israel. Its walls are of jasper and the city itself is pure gold. Its foundations are adorned with every known jewel. There is no temple in the center because God himself and the Lamb are the temple, and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb.
The city of God--the city of man. What are the essential differences between those two cities besides the obvious difference in physical appearance, which is probably symbolic anyway? And how can we make the city of man more like the city of God?
The first difference is this: the city of man drives people apart--the city of God brings people together. It is an interesting phenomenon that the closer we live in physical proximity, the more detached we become socially. Consider that ultimate symbol of the city of man--the apartment. The very word says it all--apart-ment. Chances are we do not know the neighbor on the other side of the wall much less on the other side of town.
Journalist Gregory Favre claims that one of the most important, but least reported, stories of our time concerns our indifference and lack of empathy toward one another. He quotes Pope Francis, who said, “We have fallen into globalized indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect me; it doesn’t concern me; it’s none of my business.” (2)
Globalized indifference---that is the sickness at the heart of the city of man. How much more appealing is the city of God! As the beautiful piece of music “The Holy City” puts it, “The doors are open wide and all who would might enter and no one was denied.” In the city of God, there is an unparalleled unity among people, all peoples. There are no racial distinctions, no class distinctions, no ethnic distinctions, no economic distinctions, even no religious distinctions.
It is important to note that the City of God is called the New Jerusalem and that it houses the New Israel. It is no accident that the city has 12 gates--one for each of the tribes of Israel. John in his great vision sees that Christianity is the continuation and the culmination of a work God began with Abraham and Moses and David. The most idiotic evil that has befallen the Christian church has been prejudice against persons of the Jewish faith. We are all one family.
The city of man drives people apart. The city of God brings people together. This is because of a second truth--the city of man is governed by law, the city of God is governed by love. We have laws. Why? Is it not to keep a person from taking unfair advantage of his neighbor?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation used to publish a Crime Clock, a set of statistics on how many serious crimes occurred per second in the United States. The last crime clock they published in 2016 contained the following facts:
A violent crime occurred every 25.3 seconds. There was one murder every 30.6 seconds . . . one robbery every 1.6 seconds . . . one motor vehicle theft every 41.3 seconds . . . one aggravated assault every 39.4 seconds. (3)
And, of course, the most tragic of all, school shootings. Certainly these would have been unthinkable just a generation ago.
It is not a pretty picture. I feel sort of like Vance Havner. He says that he and his wife were taking a bus trip through the mountains, and the bus broke down right in front of a hillbilly grocery store. The woman there apparently had never been anywhere else much. Havner’s wife commented, “I don’t believe she knows what’s going on in the world outside.”
Havner said, “Well, don’t tell her. I wouldn’t want the poor soul to know. Let her die in peace.”
Now I am not one of those who believe that our society is disintegrating. If you are a student of history, you know that our time is no better or no worse than others. The point is this: Anyone who expects humanity to save itself--whether through technology or education or the social sciences or whatever, is blind to reality. We cannot save ourselves, for we live by the law of self-preservation, and by our nature we will manipulate and take advantage of, and abuse one another. That is why we live by law--to restrain the worst that is in us; but the law cannot save us, as St. Paul so eloquently pointed out. Only one thing can save us.
Do you remember the old, old story of the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice”? Remember the boy who hired himself out to a Sorcerer to be his servant and to carry his water for him? Like all boys, tiring of the work, he looked around to find some easier way of getting the job done.
One day when the master was away he prowled around among the Sorcerer’s magical paraphernalia and found certain books with magic incantations in them. He learned a few of these and tried them out on the broom. To his amazement he found that he could command the broom to carry buckets of water. But after a bit, he detected a little moisture on the floor. To his consternation he realized that the tubs and basins were all full, and the broom was still carrying in the water.
He decided he had better do something about it. He arose and uttered the magic incantation, but the broom kept on carrying in the water and dumping it on the floor. As it began to rise around his ankles, the boy panicked. He didn’t know what to do. He cried out every magic word he knew, but nothing worked, and the broom kept on carrying in the buckets and dumping them on the floor. Soon the water rose around his neck, and he began to cry out in anguish, realizing that he hadn’t learned enough. He was saved at the last moment by the return of the master who, in a few words, cleared up the whole situation. (4)
Like the sorcerer’s apprentice, our only hope is the return of the Master into our hearts and lives. As we realize the presence and power of the Kingdom of God--as we experience and share with one another His love--that is our only hope.
This brings us to the final thing to be said. The city of man drives people apart--the city of God draws people together. The city of man is based on law--the city of God is a kingdom of love. But here is the conclusion of the matter: the city of man is based on personal striving--the city of God is a gift from on high.
There beats within the heart of every man and woman the desire for recognition and appreciation, for power and position, for material wealth and worldly acclaim. Years ago Wallace Hamilton called it the drum major instinct. All of us long to march out in front of the parade. So we strive for success. We build up our businesses. We work our way through the ranks. We plan and project. Some of us dream and scheme. We build monuments to ourselves. That is often why tall skyscrapers line city streets. Someone has termed it the edifice complex.
Sometimes even the most conscientious of us may step on someone else in order to climb higher on the totem pole of personal achievement. We may neglect our children--lay aside a devoted husband or wife--ignore the needs of a neighbor--not because we are bad people but because we are oriented to our own success. That is how the city of man is built. But finally we reach whatever it is that we are striving for, and when we do, we find that it does not satisfy.
There is only one thing that permanently satisfies and it comes only as a free gift. You can’t earn it or buy it or even deserve it. You can only accept it as the free and generous gift of a loving and benevolent God. John saw the Holy City coming down from heaven from God. It did not rise from the earth. The kingdom of God never will come from our striving upward. It comes downward as a free gift from God.
But when we recognize that it is a free gift, when we realize that we no longer have to strive to prove our own self-worth, when we are able to relax and receive the love of God as poured out in Jesus Christ, then we will be able to accept and love other people as neighbors, as friends, as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Virginia Prodan grew up under the Communist government in Romania. Under the government of Nicolae Ceausescu, citizens were encouraged to spy on one another and report on any “anti-government” activity they witnessed. Anyone arrested for anti-government behavior could be imprisoned, tortured or killed. All around her, Prodan witnessed isolation, sadness, confusion, lack of hope. She hungered for truth and for freedom from her oppressive society.
Prodan earned her law degree and went to work for a government agency. Through a Christian client, she became a Christian and discovered the peace, joy, truth and freedom she’d been searching for her entire life. But she immediately faced opposition from others. Her tires were slashed. Her life was threatened. She was beaten by the secret police. Christians in Romania were often arrested, beaten, imprisoned.
One day a man showed up at her law offices and requested a meeting. It was a trap. As soon as she shut the office door, the man pulled out a gun. He had been sent to kill her. In spite of her fear, Virginia Prodan decided to share her faith with the man sent to kill her. She said, “Have you ever asked yourself: ‘Why do I exist?’ or ‘Why am I here?’ or ‘What is the meaning of my life?’ I once asked myself those questions. You are here because God put you here, and He has put you to a test. Will you abide in God or in the will of a man--your boss, President Ceausescu, who requires you to worship him? God has given you free will to choose.”
Virginia shared the message of Jesus with this man. He put away his gun and agreed to attend church with her. Today, Virginia Prodan’s would-be assassin is a Christian, and has even enrolled in seminary. (5)
Such things can happen in the city of man where there are persons who also hold dual citizenship in the city of God.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” A Tale of Two Cities. In which of those cities do you live? Which city claims your primary allegiance? Where are you investing your time, your talent, your treasure--the city of man or the city of God?
1. https://www.rd.com/funny/state-jokes/.
2. Gregory Favre: “Indifference, the story of our time.” The Sacramento Bee, July 13, 2014. https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article2603466.html.
3. “2016 Crime Clock Statistics” from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Data.
4. As told in Ray C. Stedman’s, Expository Studies in Genesis 4-11 (Waco: Word Books).
5. “I Found the Gospel in Communist Romania” by Virginia Prodan, Christianity Today, September 23, 2016.