In the year 1900 the Christians in China were terribly persecuted. Many lost their lives, being faithful unto death. In a small far away village lived a Christian couple by the name of Wang. The persecution spread to their village and so they asked the Lord what they should do. They were led to seek refuge in a cave, high up in the mountain. After some days, when their provisions had come to an end, they again asked the Lord for guidance. In the front of the cave was a tree and the woman was sitting under it praying, when suddenly a bird flew into the tree. It was a bird which sings a song in autumn which sounds like this: “Kwai, kwai thong ku.” That means: “Quick, bring the harvest in.” But the woman heard the bird distinctly sing: “Kwai, hwei chic chu,” which means “Quick, go home.” The woman called her husband and the bird also told him, “Quick, go home.” They took it as a message from the Lord, and decided to go home right away, and they asked the Lord which way to take, the northern or the southern route. They felt led to return by the northern way, and the bird called after them: “Quick, go home.” They found their house in very bad condition. The persecutors had turned everything upside down, seeking for the Christians, and had searched the whole village for them. Then someone had told them that they were in the cave, and a man led them to it by the southern way. When he arrived there the cave was empty, and a bird was singing in the tree: “Quick, bring the harvest in.”
Soon after this the persecution ceased, and some of the villagers, after hearing the wonderful story which the Wangs had to tell, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved.
This was a wonderful deliverance indeed from a terrible death, but we want to tell you, like Mr. and Mrs. Wang told the villagers, the far more wonderful story of God’s way of saving us from eternal judgment. He sent His only begotten Son to die in our place upon Calvary’s cross, that we might be saved from the awful punishment our sins deserved. In those hours of darkness God dealt with His Son in our room and stead, so that we might never come into judgment. Now He calls to sinners from heaven, telling them to take their true place in repentance, as lost sinners, and accept His great salvation.
If your life were in great danger, as Mr. and Mrs. Wang’s lives were, you would be glad to find a way of escape, would you not? But, dear reader, what about coming judgment? Have you accepted Christ as your own personal Saviour? Are you one who can say, “I know I am saved — because I have received the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart?”
ML 08/16/1953