In the fall of 1866, Robert Jermain Thomas boarded a ship headed for Pyongyang, Korea. He knew his mission would most likely cost him his life, but he chose to go. Though contact with Westerners was forbidden, the British Trading Company was looking for a way to open a trade agreement with Korea. They needed an interpreter, and Thomas became that man. His motive for going was not the same as the British Trading Company; his goal was to preach the Gospel in a land that knew little to nothing about Jesus.

He would preach and hand out Bibles at every port where they stopped. Many people took the Bibles, even though they knew they could be killed if they were found in possession of one. At one stop, three young boys went to see the ship and were given Bibles. One was an eleven year old boy named, Choe. When the grandfather of one of the boys saw the Bibles, he told them to throw the Bibles in the river, but Choe chose to hide his and keep it.

When the ship neared Pyongyang, it came under attack. The Emperor had sent orders to stop the boat at all costs and to kill everyone on board. The boat was set on fire. Thomas threw all the Bibles overboard except one, which he kept in his hands. Upon reaching the shore, he fell to his knees before a soldier, who stood over him with a spear in his hands. Holding the Bible over his head, Thomas pleaded with the man to take it. It was obvious to the soldier that this man was not like the others, but he followed his orders, stabbing Thomas with his spear, and then he cut his head off. On September 3, 1866, Robert Jermain Thomas became Korea’s first Protestant martyr.

To many, it would seem that this young man from Wales had wasted his life. However, seed is never wasted! The soldier who killed Robert Jermain Thomas felt grief-stricken the moment after he killed the missionary, knowing in his heart that he had taken the life of a good man. He felt compelled to pick up the same Bible that moments earlier he had refused. He wasn’t alone. Several soldiers kept Bibles that had been thrown in the river. Some did it out of curiosity; others took them home as trophies. One soldier carried home several copies, and in an unusual move, he used the pages of the Bible as wallpaper for his home.

Over the next several years, stories would be told about the death of the Westerner and his dangerous books. Koreans would speak of the soldier who took the Bible and hung the pages on his walls. The house attracted the attention of many who would come to see the walls with the strange markings. Then, twenty years after the martyrdom of Thomas, the home came into the possession of a thirty-one-year-old man named Choe, the same person who, as an eleven year old boy, had hidden the Bible that Thomas had given him all those years earlier. When he heard about the home covered with pages of the same book, he had to buy it.

In 1891, a missionary named Samuel Moffett visited Choe after becoming acquainted with the story of Robert Jermain Thomas, Choe, and the home with the strange wallpaper. Moffett came to see the house and shared the Gospel with Choe that day. Choe’s journey over the last twenty-five years finally made sense. He accepted Jesus as his Savior. Choe would plant the first church in Pyongyang, in his home, the same home that had the bloodstained pages of the Bibles that Thomas risked his life to bring to Pyongyang. At one time, they adorned the walls as a trophy celebrating the death of the missionary. Now, they adorned the walls as a memorial to a man who gave his life so that Korea might know Jesus.

Over the next few years, several other churches would be started. In January 1907, a revival broke out in Korea. Over the next four years, this revival swept through Korea, and over one hundred thousand were gloriously saved. Revival came to Korea thanks to the sacrifice of a man who counted his life nothing for the sake of the Gospel.

At first, it may have appeared that Thomas wasted his life. But seed is never wasted. Robert Jermain Thomas is not a name well known outside of Korea, but millions of Christians in Korea know it. They trace their roots back not to men like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, or Evan Roberts, but to Robert Jermain Thomas and the revival of 1907. That was when the Korean church was birthed.