You might possibly be thinking “what possible connection can there be between China and the Bible!” However, you will be surprised to find that China is mentioned in the ancient Hebrew scriptures. Although there is no specific mention of England, France or the USA in the Bible, if we examine an ancient prophecy from Isaiah chapter 49 verse 12 (about 700BC), we do discover a mention of China:
“Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” (Isaiah 49:12)
In context, this prophecy appears to refer to the return of exiled Israel from the nations of the world. The “north” probably refers chiefly to Russian Jews and the “west” to American and European Jews. But while “north” and “west” are general terms, “Sinim” is a specific term, thought by many scholars to be China. The “Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible” explains Sinim as “Chinese?”. In fact the nouns “Sinology” or “Sinologist” use the same root word “Sin” meaning China. Isaiah thus prophesied that one day Israel”s exiles would return from China back to their own land. Other Christians have interpreted the above scripture to imply “Christians” rather than “Jews” meaning that many Chinese would come to believe in God. Maybe both interpretations are correct. However, regardless of how you interpret Isaiah’s prophecy, one important fact is that China (Sinim) is mentioned in the Bible!
Richard E. Broadberry 