THE TOMB PERIOD
1940-1944

If there is anyone who can unashamedly say with the Apostle Paul; "Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course^-with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the Gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), it is none other than John Sung - "the Flame for God in the Far East." When John Sung threw his degrees and medals into the ocean on the eve of his arrival back in China and stepped out by faith to serve the Lord in November 1927, the Lord had already indicated to him he would have fifteen years of service with changing periods of three clearly marked out. Throughout all these years of service it was an upward treading of the Way of the Cross, but, with the Apostle Paul, despite many sufferings and oppositions, he had looked to Jesus his Savior, so that he could finish his course with joy.

Though John Sung returned from the Dutch East Indies and from Singapore where he preached his last to Shanghai January 18th, 1940, totally sick and exhausted, which re­quired him to undergo surgery, he still looked fondly to the South as he had promised. It was this ever upward and onward look that lifted him out of the miry clay, so that when a request was made to him by Grace Church in Shanghai to conduct meetings on the occasion of its Inau­guration he did not shy away from it. And still with that fiery spirit of a prophet in him (though he was indisposed) he started the service with a loud bang on the pulpit to silence the droning of an irreverent crowd. "Is this a Church or a theatre?" he thundered. Having silenced the audience at one stroke, he announced his text from I Thess 5:2: "The Day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." When he made an appeal for salvation at the close of the message was he not elated to see ninety odd hands coming forward to receive Christ? But the audience did not realize it was with great pain within that he kept on preaching to the last. When he reached home, he collapsed and that was the last of the last.

On November 15th, 1940 the old wounds in his body erupted again, so much so that he was advised to go for treatment at the Peking Union Medical College, China's most prestigious medical institution. The patient had de­layed on too many an occasion, but by December 4th, Dr Sung acquiesced to embark for Peking, leaving wife and children in Shanghai. Realizing he had entered the Tomb Period of his life, he remarked, "All this while I have been praying for others. Now others must pray for me."

At the Peking Union Medical College he was diagnosed for cancer and tuberculosis. On December 24th, 1940 he underwent a first operation. Two weeks after the operation he addressed a letter dated January 6th 1941 to Miss Leona Wu and the Evangelistic Leagues in Nanyang (Southeast Asia) as follows:

"Though I am lying on my sick bed I cease not to pray for you every morning.

"My passport for Nanyang was all ready last November to enable me to continue in the work I've not finished. But the British mail boat did not come though I waited day after day. In the meantime I answered the call to preach for seven days at Grace Church (Shanghai), November 10th to 16th. How did I know that my old sickness would erupt! It got worse day after day. So, on December 4th Mr. Chang Chou Hsin, president of the Tientsin Evangelistic League, came to take me to Peking. On the day of departure, I was running a temperature of 101°. By God's mercies we arrived in Peking safely and on December 9th I was admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

"The doctor's diagnosis discouraged me. Nevertheless, I underwent a successful operation on the morning of Decem­ber 24th. Now two weeks have flown, but I might have to go through another. Thanks be to God, He has put me through the sufferings of the cross, yea, even of a long duration. However, I believe all things come of God. Though I may not understand now, I shall know later. Whenever I go through the suffering, I look to the Cross, from which I derive a power to go through my own cross. When will this sickness leave me? I can't tell now. I hope you all will pray the more with tears and cryings that my duration of suffering might be shortened.

"I feel the Lord's coming is near. Let us prepare for the Rapture. But these grinding sufferings are necessary to take away our dross, so that we might face our Lord without fear. Though in the sight of men I'm somebody, being His servant, I can only shut my mouth to Him after going through the baptism of fire. I'm humbled to the dust. There's nothing to boast about, save in the Cross of Christ. Since I have undergone such long suffering I feel it is not good to remain on earth. If I should live on to preach the Gospel, that no doubt is good, but to depart and be with the Lord is far better!

"Before this I would preach on the Rapture, but in my heart I did not really look up to this. Now, when I think of the Rapture, I yearn thirstily for it.

"You who live in Nanyang no doubt are surrounded by worldly temptations, and there are the tribulations of the flesh. May you cleanse your hearts from all worldly lusts.

"The day gets darker and darker for me from now. I can only wait for the Light to come. May the Lord preserve you till He comes.

"As I have no opportunity to write to every Evangelistic League, I write only this one. Please pray for me, always. Jehovah-Shalom.

"This letter is dictated from my sick-bed in Peking Union Medical College Hospital."

Sung Shang Chieh, the least of the Lord's servants. January 6th, 1941.

On January 28th, 1941 he went through a second operation. During this confinement Dr Sung wrote another letter dated April 28th, 1941 to Miss Leona Wu and the Christian Evangelistic Leagues of Nanyang (Southeast Asia):­

"I have not written for some time because I have not heard from you. Let me report to you the latest, that you might pray more often for me before His Throne of Grace. I believe the sufferings I've gone through are beneficial to you. I have gone under the surgeon's scalpel twice, and it is now three months since the second operation. All the wound mouths have healed, except for a small one which has persisted for a month. Last week it was discovered there is more fistula that needs surgery to complete the cure.

"It is five months from December 9th to date. This is a long rest. During this period there have been many trials and pains, which gave me much discouragement. Now that these trials are over, as I look back, they are truly God's mercies and grace.

"Thanks be to God, He has put me into a hospital cold and stark in this northern region, as it were shutting me up in a tomb, that I might get closer to Him. By His great love I have received many precious messages. Never in all my life have I undergone such a testing, such an indescribable testing.

"Beloved brothers and sisters, the Day of the Lord is at hand. That Man of Sin, the son of perdition, is soon to be revealed. The fearful scene of Rev 13 is beginning to unfold before us. Be patient and faithful if you are to conquer. While the Beast will control the world and the world receiving his mark will marvel at the Beast and worship him, we can easily identify his mark. Our insignia is the cross. Their insignia is a metamorphosed cross. Do you see it? Without this mark no one can buy or sell. No one can take any profit. So, brothers and sisters, if there are still among you those who love the world with it’s' money and fame, when the world will worship the Beast you will be caught in it. Prepare to suffer in the steps of our Savior, who left behind Him footprints of suffering that those who love His appearing may follow in His steps.

"They are: 1) Steps of poverty. Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nest, but He found no place in the inn save a manger for his body, though angels brought good tidings. Lord, we will lie down with you without a pillow, but we have a resting place for You in our heart!

2) Steps of refuge. You had to escape to Egypt in a cold

dark night soon after Your holy birth, taking refuge in an

alien country from Satan's murderous clutch. 0 God, show

us how to follow in His fugitive steps.

3) Steps of hiding. See how the Lord of Creation has hid

Himself in the person of a laboring carpenter, earning little money, a friend daily to his insensitive tools, to his saws and knife blades and blocks of wood. All the money He had earned by blood and sweat were given to His mother to bring up a brood of orphans. 0 God! Give us patience to follow our Lord in these hidden steps!

4) Steps of waiting. When He patiently waited for God until John was cast into prison, He had already undergone the Wilderness Temptation, whereby He passed the test of holiness before He came forth to preach the Gospel. 0 God! Help us patiently follow our Lord in the steps of waiting.

5) Steps into No-Man's Land. Often we think of working in big cities and towns. As for our Lord He labored for years in Galilee among the village folks. He used the simplest parables to expound the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Thus He made those sitting in darkness and death to see a great light. In the wilderness He made miracle bread. By the lonely Jacob's well He preached the Wonderful Word of living waters to a woman. 0 God! Help us follow the Lord humbly to No-Man's Land.

6) Steps unknown to men. Praise the Lord, He did not preach in a big church, nor did He advertise big. He preached in Peter's little cottage to those who thirsted for the Word. Moreover He raised a paralytic and in an off-the-track spot in Syria. He praised a Canaanite woman for her faith. He opened the eyes of a blind man outside Bethsaida village. At the Pool of Bethesda He healed another paralytic of thirty-eight years and left the scene immediately. 0 God! Help us follow the Lord to No-Man's Land.

7) Steps up the Mountain. We are afraid of ghosts at night. We dare not go up the mountain. But He often climbed a hill at night to pray. He prayed a whole night before He ordained twelve disciples. He prayed on the mountain to avoid the multitude who wanted to make Him king. At the fourth watch He secretly led three disciples up the mountain to hold a Bible class with them. He showed them the mystery of the Cross and the glory to come. We do not have time to relate many another mountain experience, such as the Sermon on the the Mount and the Mandate from the Mount. 0 God! Help us follow Thee in Thy footsteps up the mountain.

8) Steps of great risk of life to save souls. After a terrible storm, He came to a graveyard where He saved one possessed of a devil. He also walked on the sea at midnight in order to render help to the twelve rowing lonesome in a little boat. On a crowded road He took pains to push His way through to Jairus' house to raise his dead daughter. O God! Help us tread the steps of One who risked His life to save souls.

9) Steps of being misunderstood. Oftentimes the steps He took were misunderstood by the people. Why did He enter Matthew's house to eat with publicans and sinners? Why did He enter Zacchaeus' home to stay with a rich man? Why did He eat in a Pharisee's home and allow His feet to be washed by the tears of a harlot'? Why did He delay two days before He came to Bethany to raise one He loved? Why did He allow Mary to break the alabaster box of precious ointment? Why did He preach to another harlot alone by a well? Why? O God! Help us walk a holy path in His steps of being misunderstood.

10) Steps of being detested. At Nazareth Synagogue where He preached He was almost pushed down a cliff. At various other places where He preached He was not ap­plauded but stoned instead. These were steps of being detested.

11) Steps of drinking the bitter cup. We all like to drink the sweet. He drank only the bitter, the bitterest of cups, in Gethsemane, willingly. 0 God! Help us walk in the steps of drinking the bitter cup.

12) Steps of being abandoned. His own brothers thinking He was mad did not believe Him. His beloved disciple sold Him and that disciple who obtained highest marks denied Him. On the night He was betrayed the disciples whom He had painstakingly trained for years left Him, but God stood by to strengthen Him. O God! Help us walk in the steps of being abandoned.

13) Steps of fulfilling God's will. Whenever He met with suffering He would encourage Himself with words of prom­ise from Scripture. He gladly obeyed to do anything so long as He fulfilled the Will of God. Whether He was betrayed by Judas, or taken into custody in the Garden, be it ever so bitter, He was willing if that was to fulfill Scripture.

14) Steps of being falsely accused. After He was arrested and tried before the Tribunal, He was falsely accused, but He said not a word in reply. Before Pilate He was declared innocent and yet He was to be crucified. He remained silent like a sheep led to the slaughter. O God! Help us walk in the steps of the falsely accused.

15) Steps to Golgotha. What a Via Dolorosa! He plodded on, step by step, until He reached the hilltop. There He was hung on a cross to bear our sins. Thanks be to God, He has left behind many more of his footprints which I cannot pen. Nevertheless, His footsteps, steps of bitter suffering, had fulfilled the will of God. Let us follow the Lord in His steps in order to see Ills Resurrection power and the glory of the Rapture. Thanks be to God, He will lead us in these steps that we might conquer through Him, leaving behind that sweet fragrance.

"Dearly beloved brothers and sisters, be Christians in these end-times! Unless we firmly follow the Lord, persevering in the way, we will surely fail. Now, my time is up. Here comes my food and my secretary has to go. I have many more things to say, but ...:May the Loving Savior be with you always, unto the end of the world."

Emmanuel

Dictated by the Lord's servant

through the pen of Hsu Han Ming

 April 28, 1941.

He was confined in hospital for the next six months.

On June 7th he left hospital, and on July 3rd he moved to his new abode at Hsiang Shan or "Fragrant Hill." But no sooner was he settled in than word came from Shanghai of the death of Joshua his only living son. Must misery tread upon one another's heel? Surely this son in whom he had great hopes that he would follow in his steps was now a total loss! But, like Job, he quietly submitted to His Higher Will. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21).

Rallying his spirits during this Period of convalescence he gathered around him a few sisters in the Lord to begin a deeper Bible study and prayer ministry. By August 26th Mrs. Sung and their three daughters (minus son Joshua) had moved up to Peking. During this time the Lord's servant had composed fifteen new hymns and written nineteen open letters addressed to Church and Evangelistic League leaders in China and Southeast Asia.

Of the nineteen open letters he had written, here's his last addressed to Miss Leona Wu and the Evangelistic Leagues of Nanyang dated October 9th, 1941, two months before the outbreak of the Pacific War, when all overseas communica­tions were cut off. In this last epistle Dr Sung writes:

"I have not written for two months. I'm sure you are waiting for my news while earnestly praying for me. Since I sent you the first letter after coming up the hill, I've not ceased to pray daily for you. May the Lord raise up among members of the Evangelistic Leagues in Nanyang, many, many workers to accomplish the work of the Father in these last days. Would that every member of the Preaching Bands become a worker for God.

"Oftentimes we put our hopes in the educated, in the knowledgeable, in the honorable, to lead us; But what God has chosen are the weak, the lowly, the uneducated, from our midst-the lay people to labor for Him in these end-times. The Father will establish His power through the lips of infants and from those who suck. The Father did not use those mighty warriors to kill Goliath; nor those encum­bered with steel armor and bronze helmet to defeat Goliath. He used one who was despised even by his own brothers, but his heart was single, fully trusting the Lord. He was David who had close communion with his Lord. He picked five stones, despised by the people. What are the five stones? They are five truths: To suffer with Christ, to crucify with Christ, to bury with Christ, to rise with Christ, to ascend with Christ! With these five stones we have more than enough to kill Goliath. So we can boast of nothing, but the Lord. We can boast only of our weakness, and the mighty power of the Cross, the mysterious working of the Holy Spirit and His clear testimony, the hope to come.

"While praying on the hill here, the Holy Spirit clearly told me, the Father will do a new thing in these end-times-He will open up rivers in barren high places and springs in the valleys, turning the desert into a pool, dry places into fountains. I pray God to give me a deep spiritual under­standing that I may know I'm all emptiness, all barren. Not only zero, but failure, that I may be `poor in spirit'. Not only a failure, but totally dried up, like the desert.

"Before the Father works a great revival, He must give us a deep thirst. During this time of spiritual thirst many put their trust in some revivalist and his preaching. They put their trust in a shot in the arm that brings revival for a little season, like Hagar's bottle of water that will not last but a few weeks. These people are not satiated, then how can they satiate others? Now let us come to the fountain of living waters which gives an endless supply. The Lord is that fountain. `Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.' He will be satisfied.

"I wish every member of the Evangelistic League will become a member of a Prayer League. In no time Nanyang will turn to Christ. If every Band, consisting of five or seven, will meet once a week and pray in the Spirit and kneel before the Throne of Grace, then let them `open up their coffin' to let His precious blood wash them clean. After this let them read a chapter of the Bible for meditation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and pray in the context of that Scripture on rotation, every one according to the light he has received. This will be a mutual help to prayer. This is like washing one another's feet, edifying one another, loving one another. Praying for one another, we bear one another's burdens and sorrows, comfort one another, share with one another. The more we pray in this manner the more we love one another, the more we are united. It will result in your need of me and in my need of you, so that we all will become one in the Lord, never to separate till death. When we attain such taste for prayer we will pray not only once a week, but once every day, and if we pray three hours per session, it will not be too long. At that stage you won't worry about your food. The sweetness of prayer in the Spirit transcends every other sweetness. Those who have tasted this sweetness naturally have no desire for the cinema, mahjong, gossip, novels, gambling. If one hundred of the Preaching Bands of Nanyang will attain to that sweetness of praying, they will win the whole of Nanyang to Christ. This is not some ideal, but a reality I've experienced up the hill here. I have been praying for ninety-eight days with a band of brothers and sisters. We pray sometimes for five or six hours at a stretch and this does not seem too long. The more we pray the more we love the Lord, the more we are united. The more we pray, the more we know the Father's will. The more we pray, the more happy, the more rested, the more we long for the Lord and the more we want to linger in prayer. The more we pray, the more our heart is set aflame, the more we understand one another, love one another. The more we pray, the more we find the zest for prayer, the more we die to self, to the world, the more we see our own weakness and become humbled. May you practice this prayer life. If every Preaching Band can pray in the Spirit it will be preserved until that Day. It will not be a Band in name only. If every Church has such a Praying Band it will more than revive that Church.

"On July 28th, little Joshua (Heaven's Will) left this world. He was our only male child from God, who used him as a type. According to Revelation 12, the great Red Dragon who hated the man-child would want to eat him up. But God the Father brought him to hide in His throne, lest he be swallowed. Now the Evangelistic League is a son of God and Satan who hates him tries his level best to eat him up. He uses science, rudiments of learning, law, tradition to catch him. The son of God the Father need to go to the throne of grace daily to hide, to pray always.

"On the Mount of Olives the Lord saw what Satan would do in the last days, so He told His disciples, `Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.' Without prayer even the elect would fall into temptation. When the power of darkness ruled supreme, see how our Lord asked His three disciples to pray together in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Lord prayed with all His might till his face was covered with sweat. The Lord prayed on till an angel came down to strengthen Him. I have seen how the Evangelistic League has failed many years - it has stressed on work and not on prayer. So their work in the past did not find acceptance with God. For these failures God has used my sickness these two years to lead me up the hill, that I might see the importance of prayer, the sweetness of spiritual communion, the great importance of communing with God.

"Though I cannot return to Nanyang, I can only corres­pond with you on what 1 have experienced in the spirit to console you.

"On August 26th my whole family moved up from Shang­hai to the hill. The Lord took care of them all the way. Our Shanghai home is temporarily under the care of Sister Chien, who takes charge of all my correspondence. My body is improving day by day, though the wound-mouth still leaves a small opening. It seems God has purposely left a thorn in my flesh to train me deeper in prayer, that I might enter deeper into His abiding.

"The weather has changed these few days, and has caused me to weaken. Today I have improved a little, so I take this opportunity to write. 1 remember your love for me in the Lord. -

"In my recent prayers, God has required me to rent a place at Hsiang Shan (Fragrant Hill) to open a North China Spiritual Training School. I have two co-workers in Miss Pih and Miss Liu. They help out in this School. Please pray for all this. May God use this Spiritual Training School to nurture many workers to serve Him according to His will. Amen.

"Working together in love, we have unity in spirit."

Dictated by John in the bosom of the Lord.

As summer yielded to autumn John Sung began to regain his stamina so that he could stroll the neighboring hills in the glory of golden leaves turning into vermillion and from vermillion to crimson. As he beheld a cloudless sky in the evening sun how he yearned for the Son of God to break through the blue as he began to look for Him more and more. For that was his testimony during the Tomb Period against the times he was so bent on his work.

As he had now all the time to himself, he began to compose his Bible Allegories. Gathering his friends in evening family worship he would spin out these Allegories as he felt moved by the Spirit. The purpose of these Allegories was to stress the importance of building up the Church and nurturing workers for the harvest fields. In the Bible Alle­gories published in July 1951 Mrs. Sung said in the Preface, "These Bible Allegories are the result of God's Word infused in Dr Sung's life, who coupled his understanding of the Bible with the spiritual experiences he had gained during over one decade of service." Through these Allegories he wanted to nurture a generation of workers who are crucified with Christ and risen with Him as the only effective means to accomplish the work of the Lord. All these themes are woven into the Allegories, but the Cross remains the centre of all his thoughts.

Gaining more strength in the new year of 1942 he declared the informal Bible classes he had been holding to constitute "Grace Hall." "Students" could come and go freely, but should stay not more than six months. During this period he had visits from Mr. Wang Ming Tao and Pastor David Yang Shao-tang as well as from Rev Wang Chao-Hsiang who was born again under his ministry. Despite Peking-being under Japanese occupation, the Lord so watched over his flock that they enjoyed a good measure of religious freedom.

Meanwhile Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor and thus embroiled the United States in the Pacific War. Insofar as Southeast Asia was concerned, one by one of the countries visited by the Lord's herald fell into Japanese hands. How the pastor-at-large for Nanyang must have prayed for his flocks scattered over these far-flung territories, from Burma on the West to the Moluccas in the East, from Hong Kong in the north to Surabaya in the South.

A downturn in his health occurred in the spring of 1943 so that he was sent to Tientsin for a third operation on March 27th. There he stayed under observation for three months before he was returned to "Fragrant Hill," Peking. Realizing that he had outlived the fifteen years given him and the seven years since his father told him in a dream, he continued to be a faithful undershepherd of Jesus Christ by praying for all his sheep. He received a constant stream of visitors who came from all parts of China to bless him as well as to be blessed. In June 1944 his health began to deteriorate rapidly so that his family had to send him to hospital again - this time to the German Hospital in Peking where a last operation was performed. Now let Mrs. Sung continue the story as she narrates it in a letter addressed to Miss Leona Wu and the Singapore Evangelistic League, dated Decem­ber 23rd, 1945, after the end of World War II when communications between Peking and Singapore were res­tored.

She says "After he was returned to `Fragrant Hill' from the German Hospital, the 1st day of July 1944, his condition became worse and worse. At one critical moment on August 16th he summoned his colleagues to tell them about their Bible study and how they should carry on the work. Addressing his close associates in Grace Hall he intimated, `Do not take it I will recover from this illness. I have prayed to the Father and He has shown me I must leave this world.' This indicates the Lord had made it clear to him.

"On the morning of the 17th, his condition became even more acute, for he lapsed into a coma. Many gathered to seek the Lord with earnest pleading and tears, so that he began to be himself again. As soon as he regained conscious­ness, he called all who had come to retreat at Grace Hall to receive further instructions: 1) Those of you who come to this Hill to pray and study the Bible must have an objective; 2) Pray, pray, pray. Our work henceforth is to pray. 3) No one should stay here more than six months after which he must go down from this Hill to work. I have many more words to say, but this pain in my leg irks me. I have no more strength to speak. Now may you all return." He remained all right to the afternoon hours. At five o'clock the next morning his condition took a sudden downturn. At 7:07 am on the 18th day of August the Lord took him, releasing him from his earthly tabernacle and sorrows. He left with a smile on his face, indicating he had found rest in the Lord's bosom. He was encoffined the same afternoon. The funeral service was conducted at Grace Hall, 51 South Garrison, Fragrant Hill. Those who came to say farewell comprised various Church leaders and delegates from the Evangelistic Leagues, numbering three hundred. He was laid to rest at the cemetery and on the 1st October 1944 a tombstone was erected over his grave. His coffin, made from a fragrant wood, and his grave, were all provided by the Lord, Jehovah Jireh. His body lies but a stone's throw from the main road, a spot where my husband was wont to wander and to ponder...."

Now the minister who officiated the farewell service to Dr John Sung was Mr. Wang Ming Tao. He spoke from Jere­miah 1:4-19 applying it to the Lord's servant, a Jeremiah raised up of God for this age. John Sung was one prophet God had raised up for the Chinese Church for such a time as this. Like the Apostle Paul he had preached the Word, instant in season, out of season. He had fought a good fight, he had finished his course, he had kept his faith. Henceforth there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give him at that day. Amen and Amen.