Red Sky at Morning
Superstar
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2017
- Messages
- 13,933
This was really interesting...
I remember reading articles about ShangDi The Heavenly Ruler and the following information baffles me :This was really interesting...
Thus we find the emperor worshipping ShangDi. Can we possible trace the original intention of this magnificent ceremony of antiquity? As the emperor took part in this annual service dedicated to ShangDi, the following words were recited, clearly showing that he considered ShangDi the Creator of the world:‘To Thee, O mysteriously-working Maker, I look up in thought. . . . With the great ceremonies I reverently honor Thee. Thy servant, I am but a reed or willow; my heart is but that of an ant; yet have I received Thy favouring decree, appointing me to the government of the empire. I deeply cherish a sense of my ignorance and blindness, and am afraid, lest I prove unworthy of Thy great favours. Therefore will I observe all the rules and statutes, striving, insignificant as I am, to discharge my loyal duty. Far distant here, I look up to Thy heavenly palace. Come in Thy precious chariot to the altar. Thy servant, I bow my head to the earth reverently, expecting Thine abundant grace. . . . O that Thou wouldest vouchsafe to accept our offerings, and regard us, while thus we worship Thee, whose goodness is inexhaustible!’2
For the Christian, the above recitation sounds strangely familiar. How closely it reads to the opening chapter of the biblical Genesis! Note the similarity with excerpts from the more detailed story as recorded in the Hebrew writings:‘Of old in the beginning, there was the great chaos, without form and dark. The five elements [planets] had not begun to revolve, nor the sun and moon to shine. You, O Spiritual Sovereign, first divided the grosser parts from the purer. You made heaven. You made earth. You made man. All things with their reproducing power got their being.’3
‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. . . .
‘And God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry landappear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas. . . .
‘And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He madethe stars also. . . .
‘So God created man in His own image; . . .’ (Genesis 1:1-2, 9–10, 16, 27–28(KJV))
How did ShangDi create all things? Here is one further recitation from the ancient Border Sacrifice rite:‘I know Heaven loves men dearly not without reason. Heaven ordered the sun, the moon, and the stars to enlighten and guide them. Heaven ordained the four seasons, Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Summer, to regulate them. Heaven sent down snow, frost, rain, and dew to grow the five grains and flax and silk so that the people could use and enjoy them. Heaven established the hills and river, ravines and valleys, and arranged many things to minister to man’s good or bring him evil.’6
Note that ShangDi ‘called into existence,’ or commanded heaven and earth to appear.‘When Te [ShangDi], the Lord, had so decreed, He called into existence [originated] heaven, earth, and man. Between heaven and earth He separately placed in order men and things, all overspread by the heavens.’7
We have not yet explained the reason for the emperors’ bull sacrifice to ShangDi. Let us compare this Chinese sacrifice with the instruction given by God to the Hebrews:‘. . . by the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. . . . For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast’ (Psalm 33:6, 9 (KJV)).
The origin of the Border Sacrifice would appear to be explained in the book, God’s Promise to the Chinese.8 The authors, Nelson, Broadberry, and Chock have analyzed the most ancient forms of the pictographic Chinese writing and found the foundational truths of Christianity. In these ideograms, which date from before the time of Moses—we have the entire story of creation, the temptation, and fall of man into sin, and God’s remedy for sin in the animal sacrifices, which pointed to the coming Savior, Jesus Christ. All the elements of the Genesis narrative are found recorded, and still in use, in the Chinese character-writing.‘Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before the LORD’ (Leviticus 9:2 (KJV))—a practice which began in earliest times (Genesis 4:3, 4 (KJV)).
The associated box shows some startling realities about the written Chinese language, indicating that we are all related—and not so long ago. All people in the world, not just the Chinese, are descended from the inhabitants of Babel, the first civilization after the Flood. God first gave His promise of a coming saviour, the ‘Seed of the Woman,’ in (Genesis 3:15 (KJV)). The foreshadowed sacrifice of the coming Lamb of God, Creator and Saviour, is as old as mankind.All people in the world, not just the Chinese, are descended from the inhabitants of Babel.