A Tale of Two Cities

“Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.” (Galatians 4:24–26, ESV)

When I served in the United States Army in Germany, my mother and sister came to visit my wife and me. While there they wanted to take a trip to visit some friends in Holland. So, I packed them up in the VW Beetle and headed out for a weekend trip.

I plotted out our trip by setting up cities as waypoints and gave the atlas to my sister. One of the waypoints was a city in Germany called Munster. From there we would head into Holland. It seemed simple enough. However, after a while it seemed that we were just driving too long. Something was wrong. So, I stopped and looked at the map.

To my dismay, there were two Munsters in Germany one was the correct one, a large city, and the other was in the opposite direction, a small city towards the border of East Germany. It was not my sister’s fault as I pointed out Munster on the map. Who would have thought that there were two cities with the same name in such a relatively small country. Well, this error added about two or three hours to our trip.

In the previous post, we looked at Paul using an allegory to present his point regarding the blessings and freedom of the promise in contrast to the law. Now normally an allegory is a story using fictional characters to present truths and concepts. However, here Paul used actual historical figures, Abrahams’ wife Sarah and his servant Hagar, in an allegorical way.

Here he indicated that these two women represented two covenants. He indicated that Hagar, the slave woman, was “from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery.” He went on to indicate that she was “Mount Sinai in Arabia.” This represented the Mosaic Covenant, under the law. Sara represented the Abrahamic Covenant. Remember that the Mosaic was a conditional covenant requiring the ratification of two parties, God and Israel. In contrast, the Abrahamic Covenant was ratified unilaterally, that is by only one party, The Lord God.

In connection with this Paul continued by presenting another point in this allegory. He wrote the following.

“Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”

Here Paul presents two cities with the same name. One is the city of the earthly Jerusalem of his day. In that time Jerusalem was under Roman occupation. While Rome permitted Jewish self-governance, they still needed to submit to the rules established by Rome and enforced by an appointed Roman governor. Jerusalem was in subjection to Roman authority and this was irksome to the Jews.

Yet Paul also referred to another Jerusalem represented by Sarah the free woman. It was the Jerusalem above. It is a Jerusalem that was free. We see this Jerusalem referenced in the book of Hebrews and in Revelation. (Heb 12:22; Rev 3:12; 21:2, 10)

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,” (Hebrews 12:22, ESV)

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2, ESV)

The Point Paul made was to have the Galatians see the tremendous contrasts between the freedom that is theirs under grace as compared to the lack thereof under the law. We who have been saved have a freedom, a blessing.

In Charles Dickens’ classic, “The Tale of Two Cities,” the famous opening lines characterize great contrasts. I believe these contrasts can be used to compare those today that are free under grace and those remaining in bondage.

“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”

People throughout the ages fit in one of two conditions. They are either partakers of spiritual blessedness, that is freedom, or under the curse, which is bondage.