Secrets of the East: Did the Chinese Know about Jesus Over 2000 Years Ago?
Secrets of the East: Did the Chinese Know about Jesus Over 2000 Years Ago?
Astonishing Links Between Written Chinese and Biblical Concepts.
One of the oldest writing systems in the world, the Chinese characters date almost 3,000 years ago to the Shang Dynasty circa 1600 to 1046 BCE.
The Chinese characters are logograms, each character representing a word or a concept rather than a sound. It is highly visual.
The next time, you look at a Chinese character, look at it like an artist. It is a sketch, a drawing of a meaning, a visual representation of yesteryears. Each character depicts a happening that has transpired centuries ago but still holds meaning in our modern world.
Today, millions of Chinese still read and write in the form similar to that of their ancestors, allowing them the special ability to share and look into the lives of Chinese centuries ago.
And it is in these ancient characters that were passed down from one generation to another, the Chinese found mentions of biblical concepts; their ancestors may have encountered Jesus in their times.
The Bible
Although the Bible is a collection of religious text that were written over period of several centuries, historians tend to agree that it began around 1500 BCE to the first century CE. This would mean that the Chinese could have crossed path with the Bible or some evangelist could have spread the gospel to China during that period.
Whilst it is not possible to produce evidence to prove the claim above, the written form of several Chinese characters not only shared the same meaning to some Bible concepts but the “drawing” of the character depicted the meaning as well.
The two characters which I am about to show you, not only produces the literal but also the spiritual meaning of the Bible concepts. They may compel you to believe that the Chinese may have beheld Jesus earlier than any nations in the world, apart from the Jews.
1. Righteousness
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
Those were the words of John the Baptist when he laid eyes on Jesus of Nazareth. He repeated his conviction again, this time when he was with two of his own disciples:
And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” ( John 1:36, New King James)
The tenet of Christianity is the belief that God has given us His only son, Jesus Christ to be sacrificed like a lamb for the sins of the world. That Christ was sacrificed on the cross for sins that He did not commit, like the innocent lamb.
The lamb was flawless, faultless and obedient in his duty to fulfil God’s purpose of redeeming us, you and I. The sacrificial lamb has covered each one of us, individually with his blood, forever redeeming us from our sins; past, present and future. We are no longer defined by our own righteousness but that of Jesus, on the basis of His blood.
Behold now, the Chinese character for righteousness.
The Chinese character for righteousness (義) is made up of two main characters: the lamb (羊）and the pronoun, I or me (我).
As you can see, the character for I is written under the character of the lamb. Literally, righteousness means I am under the protection of the lamb. The innocent lamb, which has neither done nor knew any sins was killed to cover for my sins. That is righteousness for the Chinese.
2. Ship
And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. Genesis 6:13
In the book of Genesis, God was displeased with his creation, man and sought to destroy them with a great flood. The only man that God deemed righteous in that generation was Noah. He instructed Noah to build an ark, with specific instructions on how it should be built.
God then established a conversant with Noah; and proceeded to command, “you shall go into the ark - you, your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives with you.” (Genesis 6:18)
They were the only humans allowed into the ark, who enjoyed God’s mercy, grace and protection from the wrath that He was about to unleash to the unrighteous and un-repenting world.
How many were they: Noah, his wife, his sons and his sons’ wives?
In Genesis 6:9, we were told that Noah, a just man, who walked with God begot three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. That would make them a party of eight; Noah, his three sons and their wives respectively.
The Bible also confirmed the number of souls saved from the flood:
…who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
1 Peter 3:20
The number is eight.
Now behold the Chinese character for a ship 船
It is made up of three characters: 舟 which means boat, 八 the number 8 and 口 for mouth.
Literally, the word ship in Chinese means there are eight mouths on a boat; there are eight people on a boat. This corresponds with Noah and his family of eight on his ark, built to measure in the instruction of God.
The Chinese continue to write ship in the same manner, like how it is described in the bible.
In closing, I hope I have piqued your interest in the fascinating world of Chinese characters and culture. May reading this article bring you a step closer to the kingdom that God has created for us.
Ivan Yong is an Adjunct Professor, organizational psychologist, engineer, author, coach and startup angel investor. He is the Head of Global Social Responsibility Initiative Workgroup for European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC), the Founding Vice President of SRI (Social Projects) for EMCC, Asia, and a published author with the book titled, “Department of Startup: Why Every Fortune 500 Needs One” by BEP New York.