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I have made it to 20 consecutive days in my Journey to 300 challenge that I committed myself to! While this is not a celebratory post, I just wanted to make mention of where I was at in the Journey. Only 280 more to go!
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Because I am watching the Olympics right now from China, I thought I would share a story that I read about their first Emperor.
China’s First Emperor
The body of Ying Cheng, China’s first emperor, was found resting in a copper coffin in a chamber sealed by a jade door, guarded by an army of 6,000 colorful, life-size terra-cotta soldiers.
He had become a warlord at age thirteen, and for twenty-five years had battled other warlords, amassing an army of a million men and achieving dominance with brutality. He once slaughtered 40,000 soldiers in a single campaign—after they had surrendered. He devoured his enemies, it was said, “as a silkworm devours the mulberry leaf.”
At the height of his power, he adopted a new title: Ch’in Shih Huang Ti—First Divine Emperor of China. It was because of this title that we call his land China today. He boasted that he was the head of a dynasty that would last ten thousand years.
Emperor Ch’in established a strong, central monarchy, developed a uniform code of law, launched massive public works—roads and canals—and built a shining new capital. His palace alone measured a mile and a half long and a half-mile wide, with thousands of rooms and an audience hall that could seat ten thousand people. It was connected via covered passageways with 270 other smaller palaces so that the Emperor could avoid assassination by sleeping in a different place every night.
The Great Wall of China
But the Emperor’s most enduring monument was his Great Wall built by tens of thousands of forced laborers. According to tradition tens of thousands of slaves died during its building, their bones being ground up and added to the mortar, making the Wall the “longest cemetery on earth.” If it were in the United States, it would reach from Los Angeles to New York and back again to Chicago. At its top was a roadway wide enough for eight men marching abreast, and it was connected by twenty-five thousand towers. Signal messages could be sent across ancient China in twenty-four hours.
But Emperor Ch’in worried about dying, and he commanded his wise men, on pain of death, to find the Fountain of Youth.
They didn’t.
His Prime Minister plotted against him, and the Divine Emperor was assassinated at age forty-one. The conspirators also forged a letter in the Emperor’s name to his son and heir, bidding the son to commit suicide. He did.
Instead of enduring for ten thousand years, the Emperor’s dynasty was the shortest in Chinese history,
The Emperor’s murderers tried to conceal his royal body, but it rotted and began to smell, forcing them to pull a cart of salted fish nearby in an effort to obscure the odor.
Those who appear as gods before men soon appear as men before God.
Stephen Bertman, Doorways Through Time (Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1986), ch. 20.
Application
This story is a reminder that regardless of our station of life, we all will stand before God one day. He alone looks into the heart of man and determines the condition. Keeping our hearts right by daily communication with him, the study of the Bible, and living it out in obedience is key.
God alone is and always will be the ruler of all of the known world. He alone deserves our honor, commitment, and service. When we chose to serve him, we allow Him to be Lord of all that we are.
Blessings,
Chad
I am on a journey to post 300 blog posts in 365 days. Join me on the journey by subscribing to my blog, connecting with my socials, liking and commenting on my posts. If you want to go to the beginning of the Journey here is the link! Journey to 300~Day 1: New Beginnings
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