Chinese Witnesses of Yeshua’s Resurrection?

“Yeshua answered, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.’… Yeshua was speaking about the temple of His body”.
John 2:19,21

It is often thought that the Gospel accounts are the only line of written evidence or claim of the resurrection of Yeshua.

Though we have internal reasons to trust the scriptures, it is reasonable that people desire external evidence to the Gospels to doubly support the extraordinary events contained within.

One such possible line of evidence are reports from the most unexpected place in the world, China.

The Chinese Record

As mentioned in my article on Historical Evidence of the Crucifixion Darkness, there are Chinese reports from the 1st century which match the narrative of Biblical events in the New Testament.

The quotes of interest are as follows:

• Summer, fourth month [of the year], on the day of Ren Wu, the imperial edict reads, ‘Yin and Yang have mistakenly switched, and the sun and moon were eclipsed… In the day of Gui Hai, the last day of the month, there was a solar eclipse. [The emperor] avoided the Throne Room, suspended all military activities and did not handle official business for five days”. – History of Latter Han Dynasty, Vol. 1, Chronicles of Emperor Guang Wu (Guangwu), 7th year
• “Eclipse on the day of Gui Hai, man from Heaven died… [Three days Later] During the reign of Emperor Guang Wu on the day of Bing Yin, of the fourth month of Jian Wu, a halo, a rainbow, encircled the sun“. – History of Latter Han Dynasty, Annals No. 18 Gui Hai

As was mentioned in my crucifixion darkness article, these quotations are fascinating in the fact that it describes an unnatural darkness coming over the land during what was possibly the same time period Yeshua died, the “7th year of the Emperor Guang Wu“, which was 31AD, and the same time of year, the fourth month (of the traditional Chinese calender), which is the same time of year as the Jewish month of Nisan, the time Yeshua was reported to have died.

What adds even more interest to this passage, is that it mentions one, “a man from Heaven dying”, and secondly, specifically a “halo” or “rainbow” encircling the sun three days later after the event of darkness.

It is unknown to me how the Chinese chroniclers would know about the death of Yeshua. News in the ancient world did not spread that fast, and China did not have connections to the Western world during that time. Therefore, the “man from Heaven” may be a reference to something else, and therefore a crazy coincidence, just is it is with the “sins on one man, proclaim pardon to all under Heaven” likely referring to the Emperor and him feeling responsible for the sins of his people when he was frightened by the darkness he experienced that day, taking it as a bad omen.

Of course, others believe that somehow, for some reason, these people were “inspired” by God to write down these details. On such a thing, I cannot comment. But the record nonetheless attests to Biblical events, such as the unnatural darkness.

What else makes this part of the passage stand out, is the mention of the rainbow. It is not merely that there was a rainbow in itself which makes it interesting, as such things are a common occurrence to the human experience, but the fact that the Chinese chroniclers thought it was interesting enough to make a note of. Furthermore, the ‘timing’ they mentioned specifically is of great interest.

According to the Biblical account, Yeshua was said to have risen three days later after his death. On the day of his death, there was said to be a great darkness (Matthew 27:45). What we see in these ancient Chinese records are reports of unusual heavenly sights in the skies, one for the darkness, and three days later a rainbow which was interesting or unusual enough to make a record of.

Why is the mention of a Rainbow Interesting?

Of course, you’re likely wondering, why is the rainbow of interest? Does the Bible make mention of a rainbow during Yeshua’s resurrection?

The answer to the latter question, is no, the Bible does not mention a rainbow, so why is it of interest? Well, personally, I find this interesting, not just merely due to the sheer timing of this event, in contrast to the Biblical narrative, but there is another thing to consider in regard to this record, and that’s over the fact that it was a rainbow of unusual appearance, and the fact that the Bible has often referred to rainbows as being signs of holy or spiritual events at times.

A few examples:

• “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” – Genesis 9:13
• “Like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. That was how the surrounding brilliant light appeared. It was like the appearance of the glory of YHWH. When I saw it, I fell facedown and began to hear the voice of someone speaking.” – Ezekiel 1:28
• “After this I immediately came to be in the power of the spirit, and look! A throne was in its position in heaven, and someone was seated on the throne. And the One seated had the appearance of a jasper stone and a sardius stone, and all around the throne was a rainbow like an emerald in appearance.” – Revelation 4:2-3
• “And I saw another strong angel descending from heaven, arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire.” – Revelation 10:1

It’s important to make note, that whilst no rainbows are mentioned at all in the resurrection account, the fact that they ‘are’ mentioned to appear during many holy events and visions of God, and that the Chinese chronicles mention seeing some kind of spectacular “halo rainbow” around the sun in the same month and year Yeshua died, three days after an unusual darkness, is not something to shrug at.

Something interesting to note is that God had used a rainbow in Noah’s day as a sign of his “covenant” between him and the Earth, is that what is happening here perhaps? Is God showing a sign of his “New Covenant” by means of Yeshua’s resurrection and this apparent sign in the sky? It is possible that there was some kind of miraculous sign in the sky when Yeshua awoke from the dead?

It may seem odd that the Gospels fail to mention it, but that just makes it all the more fascinating to me.

The fact that these Chinese writings mention this unusual rainbow three days after the unnatural darkness, yet this detail not at all being in the Bible, I find even solidifying in the fact that it’s not “trying too hard” to “sound Christian”.

What do I mean by that? You might wonder.

It’s no secret, that sometimes, some overly zealous and well-meaning Christians, can get carried away and will at times make up claims to try and bolster people’s faith, but such claims being complete lies.

However, in these ancient and authentic Chinese passages, other than the phrase “man from Heaven died” raising a suspicious eyebrow from me, I find no real blatant attempt or sign that anyone is trying to play to Christian sentiments. The record doesn’t overplay itself by saying something like “there was darkness, and three days later a man was resurrected and seen flying up to the sky to Heaven”. Rather, the mention of something of an unusual rainbow sighting, that isn’t even in the Bible, three days after mentioning something that perfectly coincides with two Biblical narratives, the darkness, and a man from Heaven dying, I find to be even more of a powerful conviction.

A Possible Contradiction

Though the record looks very promising, it’s important to note that there is a problem with it, and that is the date… These events are recorded to 31A.D.

Though the year of Yeshua’s death is debated, and has been suggested to have been between anywhere from 30A.D-33A.D, the fact we must look to here is scripture appears to tell us that Yeshua died just before the Sabbath day (John 19:31), and raised from the dead on the “first day of the week” (Matthew 28:1, Luke 24:1-2, Mark 16:9, John 20:1).

But in the year of 31A.D, if he died on Nisan 14, his death would have been the third day of the week (a Tuesday) which was not a day before a typical Sabbath, and some would argue his rising, depending on how one counts the hours and days of his time in the grave, would have been the “fifth or sixth day” of the week (Thursday or Friday), and therefore some might aruge that 31 A.D poses a problem.

But this not need not be the case when it comes to the Sabbath, as we must remember, that it wasn’t a typical Sabbath the account spoke of, as the Jews held a “special Sabbath” on the day after Nisan 14, no matter what day of the week it was (Leviticus 23:5-7)… However, if the Biblical account tells us that Yeshua would have to be in the grave for three days, then 31A.D still proves problematic, as we do not reach the first day of the week being his time of rising, based on the traditional understanding of the Jewish calander of that year.

Therefore, if it was not the case that Yeshua died in 31A.D, then they may have been referring to either some other event which was oddly remarkably similar to the events of Yeshua’s death and resurrection.

The only other option to suggest would be that either we are misunderstanding the Bible’s meanings and dates, or, the Bible has been corrupted in places where it is stated that Yeshua raised up on the first day of the week (of which some suggest there is indeed manuscript evidence for). Alternatively, it’s possible that our understanding of the ancient Jewish calander may be incorrect (which is also something some scholars suggest).

Therefore, it could be a little ambiguous over when Yeshua died and whether or not these Chinese records coincide.

Conclusion

As I said in my aforementioned crucifixion darkness article, part of me considers the Chinese records “too good to be true”, but as to this date, I have yet to find anything denying the validity of these records, and I have in fact attempted to check for myself the source materials of these records (with difficulty, due to poor translation options of the Chinese texts), and have myself seen some these very words in the historical writings.

Therefore, it may just be so that we have an unexpected external historical attestment to events which may have revolved around the very resurrection of our Anointed Lord Yeshua.