The Colour of Blood

Red is the colour for blood. The harlot, Rahab, who helped Joshua's spies escape from Jericho was told to bind a scarlet cord in her window so that her and her father's household might be saved from the coming destruction; an act reminiscent of the saving blood of the Passover lamb.
But red is also the colour of lust for undeserved power; selfish greed; and unbridled passion. At Christmas time, the colour red reminds us that Herod slaughtered the innocents. During His Passion, Roman soldiers stripped Jesus of His simple clothes and placed a scarlet robe upon His shoulders so that they might mock this one whom wisemen had sought as the "King of the Jews."

Red is associated with fire and destruction. We can still see vividly in our mind the Twin Towers tumbling in  into towering infernos.
It is the colour of perverted love or lust, and the evil passions. It also stands for those sins which are ingrained and intensely desired; even deeds so terrible that people cry out for justice and punishment.

Red is also the colour of the God of Love who suffered for humankind. It is the colour of His courage and His sacrifice. The same color which represents a consuming desire for righteousness, and the cleansing tide of Christ's blood.

What colour is sin?
Isaiah writes, "Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "Though
your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
As an illustration, if we take a red filter and look at something red
through the red filter, it will appear to be white. Jesus blood was not spilt accidentally. It was shed on purpose.

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood…" (Rom. 3:24-25). Propitiation means satisfaction or covering  which turns away the incurred wrath of God upon sinners. Because God is righteous and just, sin must be penalized.

The holiness of God prevents God from forgiving the sinner without a payment or "propitiation" of satisfaction. Propitiation brings about a change in God's attitude toward us, so that we are restored to the fellowship and favour of God. Propitiation points to God's wrath being appeased. Propitiation results in God no longer being angry with us. It is not enough that Jesus died-- the Blood Must Be Applied.
 


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