TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
204
THE GREATEST POWER IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH By John Bechtel
T HINE, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is as head above all” (1 Chron. 29:11). The word POWER is used approximately three hun dred times in the Bible. Generally speaking, the various references may be pigeonholed under four categories: (1) The Power of Nature; (2) The Power of Man; (3) The Power of Evil; and (4) The Power of God. It is our purpose to demonstrate the operation and respective scope of these four “powers” as witnessed in the Far East. The Power of Nature Perhaps the greatest manifestation of the power of nature in the Orient is a typhoon. Sweeping through the affected area of land or sea, leaving in its wake a significant trail of wreckage and loss of life, a typhoon is feared by navigators, farmers, and city-dwellers alike. More than a hundred years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the United States, an English mariner, William Dampier, made an entry in the log-book of his ship. This was just ordinary routine in the life of one of His Majesty’s ship captains, but when the skipper made this entry, he was recording history. Under the date of July 4, 1687, lie described an extremely violent circular storm in which his ship had been in volved during the previous twenty-four hours. Captain Dampier was a world traveler. He had en countered hurricanes in the West Indies, tornadoes off the coast of Africa, and cyclones in the Southern hemi sphere. Whirlwinds, waterspouts and other severe storms had been his lot during the years he had followed the seven seas. However, the storm on this occasion was so violent that he termed it “a tuffoon,” and thus he gave us the earliest known -European description of the type of storm now defined in our dictionaries as: “A typhoon —a tropical cyclone occurring in the region of the Phil ippine Islands and the China Sea between the Philippines and the islands of Japan.”
Where Dampier got the term “tuffoon,” is difficult to decide. Evidently it has an Oriental origin. The Can tonese in southern China call this type of storm a “Tai- fjing” ; to the Pekinese it is a “Ta-fang,” -and in both -, cases the meaning is “a great wind.” “Taifu, Tuphan, Tufan, or Toofan,” are words the Japanese use to describe it, and in-Arabic and Hindustani, “Tufan” is the term. To pass through a typhoon is an experience not to be envied. Whether on land or sea, the danger is great. . A tidal wave frequently accompanies a typhoon with the result that the lowlands of countries in the typhoon belt are flooded and the loss of life and property is tremen- ■ dous. In cities like Hongkong, Manila, or Shanghai, where — typhoons frequently pay unwelcome visits, the harbor authorities have inaugurated a series of signals; which act as a warning to the boat population and masters of ships. Some idea of the intensity of these storms may be obtained from the fact that in 1937, the large Japa nese steamer, the Asaina Maru, of 18,000 tons displace ment, was picked up by the wind and water and placed on the bund in the city of Hongkong. In addition a Dutch steamer, the Cremar, was broken in half on the rocks as a' child would wreck a toy ship. However, as great as the power of nature may be as demonstrated by a . typhoon, there is a power even greater. In three of the Gospels, the inspired writers re cord a scene that was enacted upon the Sea of Galilee. The literary skill of the ages has failed to improve upon the simple, concise, yet all-inclusive handling of the narrative. “They took him even as he was in the ship . . . And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mk. 4:36-39). ]
thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted
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