The Color Red
“…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snowâ€
(Isaiah 1:18)
The color red is the color of sin (Isaiah 1:18). It has the longest light rays, and is usually associated with warning, even in the modern world of our own 21st century. Stop signs are red. Bio-hazardous materials are coded red, as well as other human threats.
1. The word red in Hebrew is derived from the root, dam, signifying blood
(Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, 708).2. The Old Testament tabernacle was covered with dyed animal skins
(Exodus 25:5).3. The Bible speaks of the redness of one’s eyes as compared to wine: “his eyes are darker than wine†(Genesis 49:12).
4. Certain astronomical phenomena are depicted in terms of blood red
(Joel 2:31; Revelation 6:12).5. Water is described in 2 Kings 3:22,23 as being red as blood.
6. The red-heifer of Numbers 19 has tremendous theological symbolism
(Hebrews 9:13,14).7. Messiah himself (Christ Jesus, Jn. 1:41) is ultimately clad in red
(Revelation 5:6,9; John 19:34).
The greatest threat of all is sin; bloody-red, deadly sin. But, the greatest redemptive feat of the universe is God’s substitutionary atonement through Christ Jesus, the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:21; Jn. 3:16; Isaiah 1:18)!
-Robert M. Housby