Standing in Tiananmen Square the canopy of dark clouds and falling cold rain speaks of life in China, more of former years than of today. Even as the young tour guide speaks, a ray of sunshine tries to break through. She tells of standing in a doorway and watching her friends defy the oncoming army tanks. She saw a close friend giving his life that others might have access to a freer way of life, for the people to be able to talk openly and go where ordinary people could not tread, such a place borders Tiananmen Square.
A great wooden structure
Everything there focuses on one point, the gate of Heavenly Peace that accesses the Forbidden City (the Great Within). It is the largest complex of antique wooden buildings of such scale left in the world. Eight hundred palaces, halls, shrines, pavilions with no fewer than 9,000 rooms. Its arrangement consists of an outer court and inner court area where only the reigning emperor and family are allowed to enter.
In 1421 after 17 years of building, the Ming Emperor Yong-le moved into the seat of government. It was residence for 24 emperors from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, right up until the “last Emperor Puy.”
When the Emperor walked through the confines those in attendance were not allowed to look upon him; to do so was to be sentenced to death, along with their families. Now people from all over the world wander through the courtyards, entering the hallways, gazing on the world of yesterday with all its fears and oppression.
We too look for a great city
The prophet Joel reminds us that a far greater city wall soon will rise from the rubble of yesterday. God will dwell in Zion and for many it will be a forbidden city for Joel says, “and there no strangers shall pass through it anymore” (Joel 3:17).
This is a severe warning for God has it on the last page of the Bible: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city but…without are dogs, and sorcerers and whore mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
While we wait for the Gate of that city which will come down from Heaven to open we must stand on guard that the forces of evil should not squeeze us into a way of life that would make this a forbidden city for us. Through constant prayer and attention to the scriptures may the desire of the psalmist be ours: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One