“Blessed
be the LORD, the God of Shem” (Gen. 9:26)
With
Noah’s words of blessings, “Blessed be the LORD,
the God of Shem” God has given a prophecy
to mankind. Shem is one of Noah’s three
sons. Yahweh is the God of Shem and the
Lord Jesus Christ is a direct descendant of Shem. (Lk. 3:23-38) We know that Shem had five sons named Elam,
Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. (Gen. 10:22)
Jesus’ ancestry came from Arphaxad.
The genealogy of Shem is traced to Abraham. (Gen. 11:10-32) In Genesis 12 God made a covenant with
Abraham.
“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you
and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will
curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be
blessed.” (Gen. 12:2-3)
The blessings that God
bestowed to Abraham have been fulfilled in the nation of Israel and the Messiah
Jesus. Indeed “all the families of the
earth” are truly blessed by our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ who is also the God of Shem.
There
is much information in the Bible concerning the descendants of Arphaxad but
little is written about the other four sons of Shem. The line of descendants of Joktan continued in their migration
towards the east after the flood (Gen.10:30-32) There is evidence in
anthropology that some of the descendants of Shem gradually settled down in Asia
particularly China. 
Some Chinese family names are traced to
Shem. Many scholars believe that Isaiah
49:11-12 refer to China. The Chinese,
who are believed to be descendants of Noah's son Shem, called themselves the
Sine people. The Chinese word was Chin. The three criteria of Isaiah 49:11,12
are that the country must be east or south of Jerusalem; must be far from
Jerusalem; and must be an important country to mention. China meets all these criteria.
The
earliest civilization in China showed their belief in the One True God, the
Creator of the Universe. They were worshiping the God of Shem. The first prehistoric dynasty is
said to be Xia (
), from
about the twenty-first to the sixteenth century B.C. The beginning of this period corresponds with the time that God
called Abraham and made a covenant with him.
This is also the same period when China first developed its own form of
writing.
I confess
that my knowledge of Chinese writing is very small and limited, but I
do know enough of it to share with you what I have learned through research on
its co-relationship with the belief in the One True God. Whereas the Abraham line of the Semitic race
has developed the Hebrew written language based on sounds, the Chinese written
language is based on pictures, symbols and signs. God gave the Hebrew people the Torah and He has given the Chinese
picture words as a way of revealing His truths to them. Let me show you a few of these words.
The first
Chinese word I would like to illustrate is “create”. Here is the Chinese word
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zao -
create |
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A
combination of these four symbols or picture words gives us the description
of how God created man. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
living being.” (Gen. 2:7) |
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The next
Chinese word we study is “righteousness”
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yi -
righteousness |
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The Biblical
meaning of “righteousness” refers to that only which God can impart on sinful
man when He takes away his sin through the shedding of blood. Abel’s sacrifice of an unblemished lamb was
acceptable to God. (Gen. 4:4) Abraham’s
sacrifice of a ram in the place of Isaac is also acceptable to God. (Gen.
22:7-18) The Chinese people have
understood this truth at the very beginning of its civilization when they
composed the word for righteousness by placing the word for lamb above the word
for “I” or “me” which consists of the word for hand and the word for
spear. The Chinese word for
righteousness consists of the word at the top for “lamb” or sheep which, of
course, refers to our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world. (Jn. 1:29) The
Chinese word for “righteousness” is also a prophecy of our Lord’s atonement for
sin on the cross at Calvary.
“But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a
spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” (Jn. 19:34)
This
miracle combined the two events of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and
His baptism on the Jordan River. This is the reason why our Lord said to John
the Baptist at His baptism, “Permit it to be so
now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Mt. 3:15) The apostle
Paul wrote: “Or
do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? Therefore we
were buried with Him through baptism into death, . . . (Rom. 6:3-4)
The next Chinese word that we shall consider is
“ship” 
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chuan - ship |
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When you have
a pictogram of eight people in a boat what do you think this Chinese word
refers to? Noah’s Ark, of course. Just read what the Bible says.
“On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem,
Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them,
entered the Ark.” (Gen. 7:13)
“. . . who formerly were disobedient, when once the
longsuffering of God 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
Pet. 3:20)
How did the Chinese
people know that eight people were saved in the Ark during the Great
Flood? It is easy! Shem is the ancestor of the Chinese people. When Shem’s descendants migrated to China
they also brought with them stories of the Great Flood. In fact many other countries also have
stories of the Great Flood. When the
Chinese formulated their written language they just composed the word “ship” by
using the three symbols of a floating vessel, eight and people. This is also their way of preserving truth
and history.
Our next Chinese word
is “tower” 
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t’a -
tower |
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This
Chinese word “Now the whole earth had one language and one
speech . . . And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower
whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be
scattered abroad over face of the earth.” (Gen. 2:1-4) |
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Our next Chinese word
is “come” 
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lai - come |
Two
persons |
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The Chinese
word “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21) “Come, now, and let us reason together,’
says the LORD, Though your sins are
like scarlet, they shall be while as snow; Though they are red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.” (Isa. 1:18) The last Chinese word that we shall consider
is “blessing” |
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fu -
blessing |
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“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has
chosen as His own inheritance.” (Psm. 33:12) |
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field
Although
the One True God had revealed His truths to the Chinese people through their
writings for thousands of years yet they have rejected Him and worshiped other
gods. Confucianism,
Buddhism and Taoism have been the major religions in China. But Confucianism had the greatest impact on
the Chinese society. It was the State
religion of China from 100 B.C. to 1,900 A.D.
Buddhism was first introduced to China about 65
CE. With the downfall of the Han
Dynasty in 220 CE and the troubled chaotic period that followed, Buddhism was
able to spread to different regions of China.
By the late 4th century, 90 percent of the people in the northwest
region of China (closest to central Asia and the Silk Road) were Buddhists. In 1949, the Chinese communists
gained control of China. The Government officially condemned religions. As a
result, most followers of religions lived outside mainland China. In 1970's, however,
the Communist Government relaxed its policy against religion and so, religion
enjoyed a revival on the mainland.
In 1949
the estimate of the number of Christians in China was put at one million.
"The growth of the church in China has no parallels in history." Researchers
estimated 30-75 million Christians in 1990 as likely. The State
Statistical Bureau in China confidently estimated 63 million protestants and 12
million Catholics in 1992. Compare this to the estimated 1,812,000
Protestants and 3,300,000 Catholics in 1949. Most of the growth is in
the unofficial house fellowship networks, and through the work of itinerant
preachers and numerous local revival movements. The number of
Christians in China has grown to an estimated total of between 100 million to 200
million. It is
possible that in China currently thousands of new converts each day believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God of Shem.
Our God is righteous
and fair in all His dealings with mankind that consists of many nations with different
languages. This is only one of the ways
that He reveals His truth to one ethnic race of people. God wants to give every person on earth an
equal opportunity to know Him.
“Then Peter opened his mouth and said: "In
truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever
fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (Acts 10:34-35)
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God
our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:3-4)
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are
all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's
seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:26-29)
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the God of Shem. “Blessed be the LORD,
the God of Shem”
Link:
"The oldest passages of the Bible in Chinese Signs" 
A Sermon based on this Article was preached by Paul Wong
to a Congregation in Houston, Texas on January 25, 2003
For comments please write first to: arkpw@sbcglobal.net
May God bless you.
Updated on 01/18/04
Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the
President of ARK International.
His ministry also serves as an architectural service company in Houston.
The ARK Forum on the Internet is international and non-denominational.
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