THE CHINESE IN THE BIBLE

According to latest statistics, the Chinese race numbers 1.1 billion, or nearly a quarter of the whole world. It is inevitable that the Almighty Father's love for the world that sent His only begotten Son must comprehend a goodly number of the sons of China. It is not unreasonable therefore to expect God's Word to contain some reference to China. India, being nearer to the Bible Lands, is mentioned twice in the Book of Esther. As for China, that Far Eastern Kingdom beyond India's horizon, she is nevertheless seen by the eagle-eye of the prophet Isaiah.

Talking of the wide outreach of the Lord's Servant, whereby the salvation He provides is not limited to a small group, both Chapter 42 and the beginning verses of Chapter 49 of Isaiah look beyond the boundaries of the Israelite nation. God's appointed Saviour is "for a light to the Gentiles" (Isa 42:6), "that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth" (Isa 49:6). Isa 49: 12 pictures a saved people as coming "from the north and from the west," but who are "these from the land of Sinim"?

Both the NIV Study Bible and the Ryrie Study Bible are tainted by modernistic so-called scholarship to take "Sinim" for Syene (modern Aswan in Egypt). Dr Allan A. MacRae my teacher, in his book 'The Gospel of Isaiah," is quite convinced with other Bible-believing scholars to take "Sinim" to refer to China. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary says, "The most widely held view is that China is meant .. . Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible says, "The Septuagint favours the view that a country in the East was intended...." The translators of the Chinese Bible equate Sinim with the Kingdom of Ch'in. When I was a resident in Israel in 1969, I was known to all in Bethlehem as the "Sini" (Pron. seenee)Did I then become an Egyptian hailing from Syene ? And what is a Sinologist, asks Dr MacRae.

Isaiah sees the fruits of Christ's saving grace borne by distant China. He sees the Chinese among God's children, even as it is echoed upon by the heavenly chorus, "... and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation" (Rev 5:9). Praise the Lord, we who are of Chinese stock are surely counted amongst the multi-racial congregations of the redeemed. That does not mean every Chinese in this Service (with reference to Calvary Pandan B-P Church where this message was given) is saved, and you who are of Indian or European stock are lost! It may be vice versa. Salvation in the final analysis is an individual matter. Are you, Chinese or non-Chinese, saved?

These who "shall come from far: and lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim," are those drawn nigh to God by messengers of the Great Commission (Matt 28: 18-20). There is a tradition that St. Thomas who brought the Gospel to India extended his mission to China, to Anwhei Province.

The earliest evidence of Christianity making a foothold in China was the arrival in Sian in 635 A.D. of the Nestorian missionary, Alopen, from Syria. 'This was in the Tang Dynasty and he was well received by the emperor Cheng Kuan. Though the Nestorian missionaries laboured zealously in China in the seventh and eighth centuries. Christianity died out, leaving few traces beyond the famous Nestorian monument at Sian. Nevertheless, the French historian Nau, according to Dr Holdcroft, is convinced "there may have been a Christian Church in every province of China," and Professor Saeki of Japan thinks the number was vastly larger and that the Nestorians had no small share in the creation of "the golden age of China." That a once-flourishing Church in China, like the one in North Africa in St. Augustine's time, had disappeared save for a monument like a tombstone, is a sombre thought to us B-Pers who are labouring to establish a Church in our generation. Should persecution come can you and I stand ?

In the 13th and 14th centuries Roman Catholic missionaries achieved some success during the Mongol dynasty (Kublai Khan), but again their  endeavours faded away. It was after another two centuries that Portuguese missionaries entered Macao. Francis Xavier, whose visit to Malacca (Malaysia) en route to China is commemorated by a statue, died in 1552 at China's doorstep, his dream of converting China unfulfilled.

Protestant missions to China were commenced in 1807 with the arrival of Robert Morrison. It was Morrison's translation of the Bible into Chinese in 1819 that laid the foundation for the firm establishment of the Chinese Church. It is interesting for us in Singapore to note also that Morrison was assisted in the translation of the Chinese Bible by William Milne who was based in Malacca.

"After three decades of Protestant missionary history in China, it was reckoned that the number of missionaries was over a score and the total of baptised Chinese was under a hundred" (Edward Band). For China was virtually closed to foreign trade and Protestant missionaries until the Opium War (1841). By the end of the century there were half-a-million Roman Catholics and 75,000 Protestants. But the resistance to foreign encroachments on Chinese soil resulted in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 whereby 191 missionaries (Catholic and Protestant) and 49,000 Chinese Christians were killed.

"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Despite persecution, Christianity grew, especially after the collapse of the Manchu regime and the rise of the Chinese Republic under Dr Sun Yat Sen (1911). The years 1920-27 were the heyday of missionary expansion, there being 8,500 missionaries in 1927. Meanwhile, the Chinese Church was beginning to stand on her own feet.

Among the early national leaders there arose Pastor Ting Li Mei, known as the Moody of China.  Later came Wang Ming Tao (who is still alive),  Watchman Nee and last, but not least, John Sung.  It is interesting to note that these three men were born immediately after the Boxer Rebellion within one to three years of each other. By 1949 when Mao took over China, there were one million Protestants in China (Leslie Lyall).

In the thirties, however, there was a nationwide awakening under the revival ministry of Dr John Sung. A nominal Christianity was suddenly roused to life like the dry bones of Ezekiel 37 becoming "an exceeding great army" (Ezek 37: 10). According to Dr Sung's own testimony, several hundred thousands were born again in a decade under his itinerant ministry throughout China and all over Southeast Asia. Oh, may evangelists arise who are willing to go forth for His name's sake (III Jn 7).

After about four decades of Communist rule, Christianity has multiplied rather by leaps and bounds, so that it is estimated there are 50 million now turned to Christ. No doubt this is the work of the Holy Spirit. But it must not be forgotten there was the good seed sown before Mao came, the children of the kingdom, viz.. the hundreds of thousands born again under John Sung's ministry (Matt 13:38). Rev Roy J. Birkey, missionary to China for 50 years, says of the lasting results of that Asian Awakening under John Sung, "His fruits still glow like the sun of a cloudless bright morning." (“ I remember John Sung", Schubert).

In Southeast Asia today there is a hardcore of remnants of the John Sung Pentecost, of whom are the Bible­-Presbyterians. Incidentally, there is a fourth Pilgrimage of the B-Ps to the Holy Land, the second under my charge since 1983. “Behold, there shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim" (Isa 49:12). May we be faithful heralds of a countless multitude from the Far East who "shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles" (Zech 14:16).  Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.