This few week, in our CCF service, Ps. Juan had started the topic of Chinese culture..
in his second series, he mentioned that most of the Chinese think that Christianity is a western religion...
However, he said it is not true, Bible has mention about China in four thousand years ago( i forget what are those verses).
if you really study bible, you find the fact that in the China history, people worship "God"...
and the Chinese character actually came from Christianity...
Ps. juan gave a lot of example and i forget to write it down..
it's a powerful message that Chinese is not abandoned by God, He actually appear in Chinese history..
and yesterday because CCF is fall in between of good friday and easter,
Uncle Sebastian shared a powerful fact about the existence of Christianity in our Chinese history
He found a poem which is composed by Emperor KangXi...
below is the true version of the poem in chinese character following by translation :
十架颂
功求十字血成溪,百丈恩流分自西,
身列四衙半夜路,徒方三背两番鸡,
五千鞭挞寸肤裂,六尺悬垂二盗齐,
惨劫八垓惊九品,七言一毕万灵啼
注:
一、此诗属「数字度量入诗」的诗作,押[八齐]韵,内容概述耶稣受难的经过。
二、「功求十字」在其它的版本中有的写成「功成十架」、「功成十字」
三、「溪」:古音「妻」([集韵][会韵]牵奚切),原音不与「西」同音。
四、「四衙」:指耶稣被捕后历经四府衙审讯
五、「徒方三背两番鸡」:伯多禄这大徒弟方才在鸡叫二次以前三次不认主。
六、「惨劫」:「劫」字是入声(属仄声),在其它版本用「动」、「恸」或
「痛」, 意思都可以解释得通。
七、「垓」:音「该」([集韵][会韵]柯开切)。地极,全世界。《易经?系词》天七地
八。
八、「九品」:众生。语出净土佛学用语,众生之感智机行等皆分成九种品类,即: 上
上、中上、下上、上中、中中、下中、上下、中下、下下也。
九、「七言」:即耶稣在十字架上共说了七句话*。
康熙皇帝是清朝历史上在位最长的皇帝。他又千古一帝的美誉。 康熙虽身为皇帝, 却也敬拜上帝,接受基督的救恩。
从文中,你会发现到多处都是取自圣经, 可见他熟读圣经, 而其中流露出的切身哀愁让我们看到, 基督甘上十架,舍身救世人的恩典, 深深名刻于康熙心中。
from the poem, u can find that Christianity appear in our Chinese history.
Translation :
Translated by (Lawrence C. Wei)
Mission fulfilled on the cross, His blood turned into a creek.
Stream of Grace flowed from the west, long and deep.
He walked the midnight road to present Himself to be tried.
The disciple denied Him thrice before the rooster crowed twice.
Every inch of His skin was torn with five thousand whips.
His six-foot body hanged down between two thieves.
To the end of the world, sadness astonished all people,
After His last seven words were said, millions of souls cried in
sorrow.
Note: This poem was written in Chinese Standard form (7x8 matrix) of Poetry by Emperor Kangxi. This type of poetry has strictly regulated tones and syllables, popular since Tang Dynasty. It shows that Kangxi had studied the four Gospels. He knew details of the Passion of Jesus: the betrayal, the trials and being nailed on the cross hanging between two thieves, and Jesus’ last seven sayings.
* are you touched by the poem? yes, i did. If you study the original version( chinese version), u will truly understand his feeling toward jesus. The chinese version is powerful coz is originated written in CHinese.
If you are reading this post and don't know about Jesus, i would like to invite you to open your heart and come to know Him as person. I m not calling you to become Christian, just a invitation card for you to know Jesus, know His love, His grace and what He has gone through for us.
God Bless you. =D