The Chinese character "福" (blessing) has been liked by Chinese people for a long time. Do you know that this character recorded how God created humankind?
On Feb. 24, Rev. Qi Zhijun shared the Connotation of this character in the sermon in Beijing Mentougou Church. In his opinion, the character implied a period in human history and explains the God-Man relations as well as God's will to man. The ancestors of Chinese people created this character to record the scene of the creation.
The process of God's creation is recorded in Genesis 2, which may be associated with the Chinese character "福". According to verse 7-8 and 15 in this chapter, God created a man, putting him in the Garden of Eden, gave him a field and God was with him. This is a blessing.
Rev. Qi explained that "福" could be separated into several parts. The left part of this character is "示", which represented for God in ancient China. Indeed, all the Chinese characters with the radical "示" have something to do with God. The right part actually comprised three characters, namely, “一,口 and田”, meaning one or first, person and arable land respectively.
Combined with verses in Genesis 2, we could realize that "福" implies that in the beginning God put a man in the Garden of Eden and the man was blessed by God.
"田 means the Garden of Eden, 一and口 means Adam, the first man. The radical 示 at the left means God. Therefore, 福 (blessing) is man being with God," Rev. Qi Zhijun Explained. When Adam was in the Garden of Eden, he was a blessed man because he was with God. He had fruits to eat and work to do.
Rev. Qi Zhijun added," In a word, the character福tells us that man is created by God. A man must be with God if he wants to be blessed. Without the radical示, we get a new character富(wealthy). But wealth cannot bring true blessings. Only from God can we be blessed.
Translated by: Jasmine HE
