Last Friday a dear friend took us to view the world-famous terracotta warriors in Xi’an. It is an amazing place! Wikipedia says this: “The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of a unified China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife, and to make sure that he had people to rule over.” Being a powerful emperor has its perks. “The Chinese historian Sima Qian, writing a century after the First Emperor's death, wrote that it took 700,000 men to construct the emperor's mausoleum.” (Wiki) Some modern scholars have cast doubt on that huge number but it certainly was a large undertaking spanning many, many years and likely many, many lives. Emperor Qin died at 49 reportedly after ingesting mercury pills that were ironically given him by his physicians to make him immortal. Not too many years after his death, a peasant revolt led to the destruction of much of the terracotta army and the plundering of the buried weapons. All of that sacrifice of men and labor were broken up in just a short period of time. The soldiers and horses have been painstakingly pieced back together by dedicated Chinese archaeologists.
The next day I read in Psalm 93:1-2 about another ruler: “The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and is armed with strength…Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity.”
There is only one King who will reign forever and who is eternal. All of us humans, no matter how great or powerful in life, have to deal with the issue of our mortality. Emperor Qin had his approach but I’m glad I have a different one which comes through the One who truly reigns forever. A good reminder on this sabbatical journey.
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