Around a flickering native lamp whose shaky fingers of uncertain light painted on the four walls great swaying, shadowy caricatures of the heads and shoulders encircling the table, several Chinese men were seated, engaged in evening Bible study. They were reading and discussing the sacred record which told of the Apostle Peter's imprisonment and miraculous deliverance.
Unnoticed by them, a bright-eyed, mischievous little lad had entered the room through the door which opened on the street. He stood there for a few moments examining the scene and wondering what these men were doing. He heard them mention someone called JESUS, and he gathered from their remarks that this JESUS had done a very surprising thing. Evidently someone had been chained in jail and guarded by soldiers, and this JESUS had broken the chains and helped the man get out. Soon losing interest, however, the boy ran into the street, once more to join the other youngsters in their noisy play.
Many years later, during that troublous period in China which followed the overthrow of the old Imperial order and the setting up of the Republic, when numerous ambitious war lords each raised his own army and each fought against the rest, calling the others "outlaws" because they too aspired to supreme authority—during those stormy times this same young lad, now grown to manhood, was serving as a soldier in one of these armies. Following the urge of a wild, uncurbed nature, and having imbibed the lawless atmosphere of the bandit-ridden mountains in which he had been born, he grew up to be a hard and fearless young ruffian, addicted to opium, brutal to his wife, and so fierce of temper that even his friends had to take care lest they incur his displeasure.
The old men in his town shook their heads and dismally prophesied a bad ending to such a vicious career as his. They felt there was little likelihood of his ever mending his ways. No one dared rebuke him.
And their forebodings were very nearly realized! The army in which he was enlisted was garrisoning his home district when an invading army, also Chinese, arrived. A fierce encounter followed in which the invaders came off victorious. Immediately they occupied all the walled towns and cities in that section of country, and began to "mop up" the fleeing remnants of the defeated force. Some escaped, others were killed, and not a few were taken captive. Our young friend was among the last class and, together with a number of others, was cast into an improvised military prison to await trial as an outlaw, and finally, upon a day fixed by military tribunal, to be executed.
Chained in that grim room, all his former bluster and self-confidence forsook the young fellow as he found himself helplessly at the mercy of men who did not fear him in the least. Well he knew that no friend or relative would risk life or reputation in an attempt to get release for such as he. His past record was against him, and death, terrifying death, was creeping remorselessly towards him. He wanted to flee it but he was chained fast, and there was no escape.
Then that story heard in childhood came back to his mind. A man had been chained in jail, he remembered, and though guards were watching him, there came to him one called JESUS, who put the guards to sleep, broke the chains, opened the iron doors, and took the man out. "If JESUS did this for that man, cannot He do it for me also?" he reasoned.
Quietly, lest the others notice such unusual behavior, he began to address words to an unseen, unknown person called JESUS. "JESUS, please save me out of this jail as you saved that man I heard about when I was a boy!”
Thus he prayed, over and over, for several days. Then it occurred to him that the other prisoners were no worse or any less deserving of release than he, so he altered his prayer: "JESUS, perhaps it would not be fair to save me only. We all need saving, we all are afraid to die. Save all these men, as well as me.”
Soon other difficulties suggested themselves to his mind. "Supposing we are released? Soldiers in other towns through which we must pass to reach our homes will not know we are pardoned prisoners. They will kill us, or imprison us again.
"Oh, JESUS, please move the heart of the judge to grant us passes when he sets us free, so we can all reach our homes safely!" he prayed.
Later he remembered that they were penniless and home was far away, for by this time he had practically taken it for granted that pardon was certain—"by faith," of course. They would starve before they could reach their own families again, he reasoned within himself, and so he pled, "Oh, JESUS! When You cause the judge to get us free, please move his heart to give each of us some money for traveling, so we need not go hungry.”
At last the dread day dawned—the day for their execution. An armed guard barked out a sharp order for the prisoners to line up and, chain hobbles still clanking on their legs, they stumbled to their feet to obey. Our praying friend suddenly was overcome with choking fear, and all assurance of release disappeared like a puff of smoke or a happy dream. Death sneered at him and his childish praying fancies. He dared not stand first in the line, lest he be first to feel the beheading sword strike his neck, with its stinging shock and the accompanying awful blackness that would gobble up his dear life. Nor dared he stand last in line, lest he have to witness all the others dying before him. He took his place in the middle.
Out they stumbled into the bright sunlight, longhaired, ragged, faces a pasty gray, and eyes glazed with hopeless fear. A crisp, kindly voice penetrated their consciousness: "Men, today I am happy to announce that your cases have been examined and, in view of the circumstances surrounding your capture, leniency is to be shown each of you. You are pardoned. Go home!" It was the judge himself speaking!
The prisoners stood still—stunned, stupid, unbelieving. "You with the hammer and chisel, get busy! Cut their shackles, and be quick about it!" snapped the judge.
Freed, the prisoners still hesitated, fearing it was a trick, fearing they would be shot in the back if they attempted to start for home.
"Oh, by the way, I had forgotten," cried the judge. "Come here, all of you, into my office! The secretary has prepared a pass for each of you. You'll need it!”
Dumbly they shuffled after him. To each man was handed a sheet of soft, gray paper, on which were written a few terse lines—their passports to liberty!
"How many of you are over thirty miles from home?”
Upon finding that all were, the judge issued still another order, "Treasurer, give each of these men enough money to get them home!”
When the fresh little notes were distributed, as in a dream, our friend departed with the rest. As he plodded homeward it gradually dawned upon him what had happened. "JESUS has heard me!" he whispered in deep awe. "JESUS has taken me out of jail. JESUS has done everything I asked of Him!" And he became more and more exultant, "Why, it's wonderful! JESUS is real, living, alive! He hears me! He's with me!”
At length he reached his home and, bursting in upon his amazed family, cried out, "See here, all of you, and you, my wife, we are going to give up all these useless false gods. JESUS has saved me out of jail. He's real! We all are going to worship Him, do you understand? I was doomed; I prayed to JESUS night and day; and He did everything I asked Him to do. He's—He's God!”
Through later association with mature Christians and missionaries, this man learned to know the LORD and His ways more and more perfectly. As years went by he developed into a strong, fervent preacher of the Word, being as bold and fearless for GOD as formerly he had served sin. The last heard of him was that he was living in his home town as a voluntary pastor-evangelist, depending on the LORD for the supply of all his needs and those of his wife and their well-trained children. He had been severely tested, but this only increased his devotion to God and fruitfulness in Christ's service.