When I drew the ancient Chinese character on the whiteboard, Lin Sen’s jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide. Whether he had ever even seen the word before, I don’t know. Most Chinese people in this generation have learned the modernized “simplified” script rather than the traditional or “complex” forms used by the Chinese people of millennia past. For example, the traditional character 園 in modern Chinese has been simplified to 园.
What surprised Lin Sen, however, was not the differences between the ancient, complex script I was using and the modern, simplified script. He was aware of those differences. What shocked him was my explanation of the ancient word’s mysterious meaning. It was as if he had just found the key to a door that had long been bolted shut.
Lin Sen was learning that major themes from Genesis’ early chapters are recorded in the strokes of his ancestors’ written language. What exactly did he see that so surprised him? Read on, and see for yourself.
Complex Chinese characters are often made of smaller components. To better understand this, let’s first dissect the character we mentioned above, 園, taking notice of each part.
園
Garden
囗 indicates an “enclosure.”
土 means “dust,” “earth,” or “soil.”
口 means “mouth.”
亻 and人 (shown in this character on its side) both mean “person.”
Formed from dirt (土), a man (亻) received the breath of life (口). From his side, another person was formed (人). Both the man and the other person lived within a boundary (囗), such as a hedge or wall.
If this sounds familiar, it should—the story comes directly from Genesis chapter 2, in which God the Creator made the first man (亻) from the dust of the earth (土), placed him within the boundaries of a garden (囗), and breathed (as from His mouth 口) into his nostrils the breath of life. “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 soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Genesis 2:7-8).
After making the man, God took one of his ribs and made another person—a woman (the second 人). “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man” (Genesis 2:21-22). Could it be that the second person (人) in our character appears to be lying on its side, to the right of the first person (亻), because God took a rib from the man’s side to make that second person?
Thus, in the Chinese word for garden, we can see the original garden of Eden—with its original residents, Adam and Eve!
禁
Forbid
The second character is composed of two parts. 林 shows two trees and 示 means “to reveal.”
In the original garden, God planted two trees: the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The first time anything was ever forbidden was when God revealed (示) to man that he must not eat of the fruit of one of those trees (林). “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
Has God revealed truth about Himself to us? While some people say that no one can know God, the fact is that He speaks to us through His written word, in the Bible: “I am he that doth speak” (Isaiah 52:6b). Our problem is not that God has not revealed Himself to us, but that we fail to listen to Him.
婪
Covet or Greed
This character contains 林, which shows two trees, and女, indicating “female” or meaning “woman.”
This word reminds us of a woman (女) who greedily desired (婪) the fruit of one of those two trees (林) already mentioned. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6).
What about you? If you had been in the garden of Eden, would you have eaten that fruit? The fact is that we all willingly choose, on a regular basis, to disobey God.
Consider this sampling from God’s law: “Thou shalt not commit adultery (Jesus said that the man who lusts after a woman commits adultery with her in his heart), Thou shalt not kill (the Bible says if you hate your brother in your heart you are a murderer), Thou shalt not steal (the value of the object stolen is irrelevant), Thou shalt not bear false witness (even the smallest “white lie” is still a lie), Thou shalt not covet (desiring what belongs to someone else); …Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Romans 13:9). By not keeping God’s law, we prove that we are rebels against God.
When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, He did more than break a small rule: he rebelled against the Creator of the universe. As a result of his rebellion (sin), all his descendants would be born as sinners, rebels against God.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). In other words, the result of Adam’s sin is death for the entire human race.
Because we are sinners by our very nature, at the very core of our being, we commit sin too. We deserve to receive the just penalty of our sin. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). It all started with Adam, but each of us personally and willingly chooses to disobey our Creator. Death is our just reward for rebelling against God.
In the Bible, “death” refers to three things:
1) physical death, as Adam died (Genesis 5:5);
2) spiritual death, being totally unable to comprehend and know God (Ephesians 2:1);
3) the second death, suffering forever in the lake of fire.
“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15).
裸
Naked
衤means “clothing” and 果 means “fruit.”
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they suddenly realized something was wrong—they realized they were naked, and felt ashamed. “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7). They tried to hide their nakedness (裸) using leaves of a fruit (果) tree to make clothes (衤) for themselves.
Just as Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with leaves, millions of people since then have attempted to cover their sins by patching together a coat of personal good works. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).
In the sight of our holy Creator, even our very best efforts are considered “filthy rags.” In God’s sight, what are you wearing?
躲
Hide
身 means “body,” 乃 (stylized in this character as “几”) means “is.”木 shows a tree and means “wood.”
Trying to escape from God’s presence, Adam and his wife hid (躲) their naked bodies (身) amongst the trees (木) of the garden. “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8).
It was as if they hoped God would think their naked bodies were trees (身乃是树), but neither fig leaves nor the trees of the garden could cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, nor hide them from God’s sight. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).
Today, many of us not only fashion a patchwork of self righteousness or good works to cover our sins, but we also tell ourselves that “since everyone else is doing it, I must be okay”—and we try to hide in the crowd.
However, God knows who we are and will judge each of us individually. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
“For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves” (Job 34:21-22).
初
Original
衤means “clothing” and 刀 means “knife.”
In order to cover their nakedness, God killed (perhaps using a sharp knife (刀) ?)—an animal or animals and clothed (衤) Adam and his wife with the skins. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). This was the original (初) clothing God provided for Adam and Eve.
What kind of animal did God use to clothe Adam and Eve? Although Genesis does not definitively say which kind of animal God used, many other portions of the Bible suggest it was a lamb. Our next Chinese character clearly points to that possibility.
義
Righteousness
What is righteousness? It is moral uprightness—the condition of being perfect or right in God’s sight. Only the LORD God, the Creator, is perfectly righteous. “The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works” (Psalm 145:17). “The LORD is righteous” (2 Chronicles 12:6b).
Our problem is that we all are unrighteous. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:10-11).
Because we are unrighteous, we cannot know, serve, and please God—and because we are unrighteous, we deserve for God to judge us. If God would not judge the unrighteous, then He would Himself be unrighteous: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). How can we solve this problem?
The Chinese word for righteousness indicates how we, enemies of God, can become righteous, for 義 has two parts. On the upper portion of the character we see羊, the root for “sheep” or “lamb.” On the lower half, 我 appears. This character means “me.”
In order for anyone to be made righteous, he must personally place his trust in a lamb (羊). He must be willing to say, “I need the Lamb” (我需要那羔羊). What does this mean? Let this Bible verse explain: “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. God the Creator provided His Son, Jesus Christ, sending Him into this world, to take away our sins and be our Saviour.
“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world….In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9, 14).
We are sinners, but Jesus Christ is the sinless and eternally-existent Son of God. After living a sinless life, He suffered and died for our sins on a cross, in our place, becoming our Substitute. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). He was buried, and He rose again the third day. He conquered death, and offers us eternal life through faith in Him.
Just as God covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness with the skin of an animal, He is willing to wash away, to remove our sins with the blood of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The person who places his faith, his trust in Christ is made righteous in God’s sight.
You see, from God’s point of view, there are two kinds of people: saved sinners and unsaved sinners. Which kind of sinner are you?
來
Come
十 is a cross and 人 means “person.”
As you can see in this character, there is a person (人) on either side of the person (人) on the cross (十). This character reminds us of Jesus Christ: “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him [nailed him to a cross], and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst” (John 19:17-18).
Before He died, the Lord Jesus explained why He came into this world: “The thief [the Devil] cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Christ came into the world to save us from our sins and to give us abundant life—both now and eternally.
Because Jesus Christ died on the cross, He is able to save all who repent (turn towards God and away from sin) and believe in Him. He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise [in no case; under no circumstances] cast out” (John 6:37). “Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37b).
Far too many, however, refuse to come to Christ in humble faith. For this reason, they can never receive God’s gift of eternal life. “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).
Whom does God want to save? Not just a select few! The Lord Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). On the cross, He was lifted up—and now He offers forgiveness to everyone. “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
What must you do to be saved? God invites all those who recognize they are guilty in His sight to come to Him, believing in the Lamb He provided. If you will come (來) to the Lord Jesus by faith, trusting Him alone to save you, then God will make you righteous (義) in His sight.
In God’s sight, where do you stand? Have you come to Christ, and are you under the protection of the Lamb of God?
Additional Chinese Characters
魔 Tempter or Devil
This character contains 鬼, meaning “devil” and 林, illustrating two trees.
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” ( Gen. 3:1). Other Scripture references make it clear that the serpent in the garden was no ordinary snake! He was, in fact, the devil himself (see Revelation 12:9). The serpent became the tempter (魔) who convinced the woman to partake of the fruit of one of those two trees (林).
船 Boat
This character includes 舟 which means “vessel;” 几, likely a stylized form of 八 “eight;” and 口, meaning “mouth.”
1 Peter 3:20 comments on Noah’s ark, saying, “…the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” In Chinese, as in English, “mouth” can refer to a person (人口—literally “person-mouth”—is used in counting populations). On Noah’s ark, there were eight (八) souls (Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives—口) on a vessel (舟). Interestingly enough, the Chinese translation for “ark” is 方舟, clearly showing the first part of the “boat” character.
塔 Tower
This character has 土, meaning “earth” or “clay,” 艹 which signifies “grass;” and 合, which means “unite,” “combine,” or “cooperate.”
Genesis records the world’s first known tower, built in a place called Babel.
“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:1-4).
Notice how they used brick (likely made of clay 土 and grass艹), and united (合) to build a tower (塔).
乱 Confusion
On the left, we see 舌 which is “tongue” and on the left we see 乚, which some have interpreted to indicate a leg walking away.
“And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:5-9).
Originally, the people of all the earth spoke one tongue (舌), the language spoken by Noah and his family. When the flood had subsided and Noah and his family exited the ark, God commanded them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 9:1)--that is, repopulate the earth with human beings.
When the people at Babel built the tower, they stated the reasons: “let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). Their motives were in direct rebellion against God’s command.
For this reason, God came down to judge them, and He did so by confusing their universally-understood language, dividing their tongues (舌) into a multitude of languages. Unable to communicate, they could no longer build their tower and city. Thus, they were scattered abroad “abroad upon the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9) (hence the radical,乚).
For further research on Chinese characters and radicals, we recommend the following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kangxi_radicals
http://www.chineseetymology.org/
China’s spoken language is a tonal language, meaning that sounds spelled the same way may carry very different meanings depending on the tone with which they are spoken. For example, mā, má, mǎ, mà, and må are completely different words.
The list below shows the traditional (complex) and modernized (simplified) characters presented in this booklet, along with a pronunciation key for each word.
園 园 yuán (second or rising tone)
禁 禁 jìn (fourth or falling tone)
婪 婪 lán (second or rising tone)
裸 裸 luǒ (third or falling, rising tone)
躲 躲 duǒ (third or falling, rising tone)
初 初 chū (first or flat tone)
義 义 yì (fourth or falling tone)
來 来 lái (second rising tone)
What surprised Lin Sen, however, was not the differences between the ancient, complex script I was using and the modern, simplified script. He was aware of those differences. What shocked him was my explanation of the ancient word’s mysterious meaning. It was as if he had just found the key to a door that had long been bolted shut.
Lin Sen was learning that major themes from Genesis’ early chapters are recorded in the strokes of his ancestors’ written language. What exactly did he see that so surprised him? Read on, and see for yourself.
Complex Chinese characters are often made of smaller components. To better understand this, let’s first dissect the character we mentioned above, 園, taking notice of each part.
園
Garden
囗 indicates an “enclosure.”
土 means “dust,” “earth,” or “soil.”
口 means “mouth.”
亻 and人 (shown in this character on its side) both mean “person.”
Formed from dirt (土), a man (亻) received the breath of life (口). From his side, another person was formed (人). Both the man and the other person lived within a boundary (囗), such as a hedge or wall.
If this sounds familiar, it should—the story comes directly from Genesis chapter 2, in which God the Creator made the first man (亻) from the dust of the earth (土), placed him within the boundaries of a garden (囗), and breathed (as from His mouth 口) into his nostrils the breath of life. “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 soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Genesis 2:7-8).
After making the man, God took one of his ribs and made another person—a woman (the second 人). “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man” (Genesis 2:21-22). Could it be that the second person (人) in our character appears to be lying on its side, to the right of the first person (亻), because God took a rib from the man’s side to make that second person?
Thus, in the Chinese word for garden, we can see the original garden of Eden—with its original residents, Adam and Eve!
禁
Forbid
The second character is composed of two parts. 林 shows two trees and 示 means “to reveal.”
In the original garden, God planted two trees: the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The first time anything was ever forbidden was when God revealed (示) to man that he must not eat of the fruit of one of those trees (林). “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
Has God revealed truth about Himself to us? While some people say that no one can know God, the fact is that He speaks to us through His written word, in the Bible: “I am he that doth speak” (Isaiah 52:6b). Our problem is not that God has not revealed Himself to us, but that we fail to listen to Him.
婪
Covet or Greed
This character contains 林, which shows two trees, and女, indicating “female” or meaning “woman.”
This word reminds us of a woman (女) who greedily desired (婪) the fruit of one of those two trees (林) already mentioned. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6).
What about you? If you had been in the garden of Eden, would you have eaten that fruit? The fact is that we all willingly choose, on a regular basis, to disobey God.
Consider this sampling from God’s law: “Thou shalt not commit adultery (Jesus said that the man who lusts after a woman commits adultery with her in his heart), Thou shalt not kill (the Bible says if you hate your brother in your heart you are a murderer), Thou shalt not steal (the value of the object stolen is irrelevant), Thou shalt not bear false witness (even the smallest “white lie” is still a lie), Thou shalt not covet (desiring what belongs to someone else); …Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Romans 13:9). By not keeping God’s law, we prove that we are rebels against God.
When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, He did more than break a small rule: he rebelled against the Creator of the universe. As a result of his rebellion (sin), all his descendants would be born as sinners, rebels against God.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). In other words, the result of Adam’s sin is death for the entire human race.
Because we are sinners by our very nature, at the very core of our being, we commit sin too. We deserve to receive the just penalty of our sin. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). It all started with Adam, but each of us personally and willingly chooses to disobey our Creator. Death is our just reward for rebelling against God.
In the Bible, “death” refers to three things:
1) physical death, as Adam died (Genesis 5:5);
2) spiritual death, being totally unable to comprehend and know God (Ephesians 2:1);
3) the second death, suffering forever in the lake of fire.
“And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15).
裸
Naked
衤means “clothing” and 果 means “fruit.”
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they suddenly realized something was wrong—they realized they were naked, and felt ashamed. “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7). They tried to hide their nakedness (裸) using leaves of a fruit (果) tree to make clothes (衤) for themselves.
Just as Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with leaves, millions of people since then have attempted to cover their sins by patching together a coat of personal good works. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).
In the sight of our holy Creator, even our very best efforts are considered “filthy rags.” In God’s sight, what are you wearing?
躲
Hide
身 means “body,” 乃 (stylized in this character as “几”) means “is.”木 shows a tree and means “wood.”
Trying to escape from God’s presence, Adam and his wife hid (躲) their naked bodies (身) amongst the trees (木) of the garden. “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8).
It was as if they hoped God would think their naked bodies were trees (身乃是树), but neither fig leaves nor the trees of the garden could cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, nor hide them from God’s sight. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).
Today, many of us not only fashion a patchwork of self righteousness or good works to cover our sins, but we also tell ourselves that “since everyone else is doing it, I must be okay”—and we try to hide in the crowd.
However, God knows who we are and will judge each of us individually. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
“For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves” (Job 34:21-22).
初
Original
衤means “clothing” and 刀 means “knife.”
In order to cover their nakedness, God killed (perhaps using a sharp knife (刀) ?)—an animal or animals and clothed (衤) Adam and his wife with the skins. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). This was the original (初) clothing God provided for Adam and Eve.
What kind of animal did God use to clothe Adam and Eve? Although Genesis does not definitively say which kind of animal God used, many other portions of the Bible suggest it was a lamb. Our next Chinese character clearly points to that possibility.
義
Righteousness
What is righteousness? It is moral uprightness—the condition of being perfect or right in God’s sight. Only the LORD God, the Creator, is perfectly righteous. “The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works” (Psalm 145:17). “The LORD is righteous” (2 Chronicles 12:6b).
Our problem is that we all are unrighteous. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:10-11).
Because we are unrighteous, we cannot know, serve, and please God—and because we are unrighteous, we deserve for God to judge us. If God would not judge the unrighteous, then He would Himself be unrighteous: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). How can we solve this problem?
The Chinese word for righteousness indicates how we, enemies of God, can become righteous, for 義 has two parts. On the upper portion of the character we see羊, the root for “sheep” or “lamb.” On the lower half, 我 appears. This character means “me.”
In order for anyone to be made righteous, he must personally place his trust in a lamb (羊). He must be willing to say, “I need the Lamb” (我需要那羔羊). What does this mean? Let this Bible verse explain: “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. God the Creator provided His Son, Jesus Christ, sending Him into this world, to take away our sins and be our Saviour.
“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world….In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9, 14).
We are sinners, but Jesus Christ is the sinless and eternally-existent Son of God. After living a sinless life, He suffered and died for our sins on a cross, in our place, becoming our Substitute. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). He was buried, and He rose again the third day. He conquered death, and offers us eternal life through faith in Him.
Just as God covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness with the skin of an animal, He is willing to wash away, to remove our sins with the blood of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The person who places his faith, his trust in Christ is made righteous in God’s sight.
You see, from God’s point of view, there are two kinds of people: saved sinners and unsaved sinners. Which kind of sinner are you?
來
Come
十 is a cross and 人 means “person.”
As you can see in this character, there is a person (人) on either side of the person (人) on the cross (十). This character reminds us of Jesus Christ: “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him [nailed him to a cross], and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst” (John 19:17-18).
Before He died, the Lord Jesus explained why He came into this world: “The thief [the Devil] cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Christ came into the world to save us from our sins and to give us abundant life—both now and eternally.
Because Jesus Christ died on the cross, He is able to save all who repent (turn towards God and away from sin) and believe in Him. He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise [in no case; under no circumstances] cast out” (John 6:37). “Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37b).
Far too many, however, refuse to come to Christ in humble faith. For this reason, they can never receive God’s gift of eternal life. “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).
Whom does God want to save? Not just a select few! The Lord Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). On the cross, He was lifted up—and now He offers forgiveness to everyone. “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
What must you do to be saved? God invites all those who recognize they are guilty in His sight to come to Him, believing in the Lamb He provided. If you will come (來) to the Lord Jesus by faith, trusting Him alone to save you, then God will make you righteous (義) in His sight.
In God’s sight, where do you stand? Have you come to Christ, and are you under the protection of the Lamb of God?
Additional Chinese Characters
魔 Tempter or Devil
This character contains 鬼, meaning “devil” and 林, illustrating two trees.
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” ( Gen. 3:1). Other Scripture references make it clear that the serpent in the garden was no ordinary snake! He was, in fact, the devil himself (see Revelation 12:9). The serpent became the tempter (魔) who convinced the woman to partake of the fruit of one of those two trees (林).
船 Boat
This character includes 舟 which means “vessel;” 几, likely a stylized form of 八 “eight;” and 口, meaning “mouth.”
1 Peter 3:20 comments on Noah’s ark, saying, “…the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” In Chinese, as in English, “mouth” can refer to a person (人口—literally “person-mouth”—is used in counting populations). On Noah’s ark, there were eight (八) souls (Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives—口) on a vessel (舟). Interestingly enough, the Chinese translation for “ark” is 方舟, clearly showing the first part of the “boat” character.
塔 Tower
This character has 土, meaning “earth” or “clay,” 艹 which signifies “grass;” and 合, which means “unite,” “combine,” or “cooperate.”
Genesis records the world’s first known tower, built in a place called Babel.
“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:1-4).
Notice how they used brick (likely made of clay 土 and grass艹), and united (合) to build a tower (塔).
乱 Confusion
On the left, we see 舌 which is “tongue” and on the left we see 乚, which some have interpreted to indicate a leg walking away.
“And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:5-9).
Originally, the people of all the earth spoke one tongue (舌), the language spoken by Noah and his family. When the flood had subsided and Noah and his family exited the ark, God commanded them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 9:1)--that is, repopulate the earth with human beings.
When the people at Babel built the tower, they stated the reasons: “let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4). Their motives were in direct rebellion against God’s command.
For this reason, God came down to judge them, and He did so by confusing their universally-understood language, dividing their tongues (舌) into a multitude of languages. Unable to communicate, they could no longer build their tower and city. Thus, they were scattered abroad “abroad upon the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9) (hence the radical,乚).
For further research on Chinese characters and radicals, we recommend the following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kangxi_radicals
http://www.chineseetymology.org/
China’s spoken language is a tonal language, meaning that sounds spelled the same way may carry very different meanings depending on the tone with which they are spoken. For example, mā, má, mǎ, mà, and må are completely different words.
The list below shows the traditional (complex) and modernized (simplified) characters presented in this booklet, along with a pronunciation key for each word.
園 园 yuán (second or rising tone)
禁 禁 jìn (fourth or falling tone)
婪 婪 lán (second or rising tone)
裸 裸 luǒ (third or falling, rising tone)
躲 躲 duǒ (third or falling, rising tone)
初 初 chū (first or flat tone)
義 义 yì (fourth or falling tone)
來 来 lái (second rising tone)