A kneeling figure under an authority's spoken word: receiving a command. Heaven's command over each person is their fate; the span fate grants is life itself.
生命 life, 命运 fate, 革命 revolution ('strip the mandate'). The Mandate of Heaven 天命 justified every dynasty — lose it and revolution 革命 was literally 'revoking the命'. 拼命 'risking one's life' just means trying extremely hard now.
Kneeling to receive the ORDER from above — your FATE, your LIFE.
革命 'revolution' literally means 'strip the mandate' — Chinese politics has run on this one character's logic for 3,000 years.