Special Meanings Of Colors In The Bible
Do Colors Have Special Meanings When Used In The Bible?
by JACK WELLMAN
What are
the significances of the colors in the Bible? Do they have a special
meaning?
The Rainbow
Almost
every time I see a rainbow I don’t think of Noah first; I think of God’s
promise that “the waters shall no more become a flood
to destroy all flesh” (Gen 9:15).
Interestingly,
the rainbow can appear before, during, and after a flooding rain but never
again on the global scale. The rainbow contains every color that has
significance in the Bible.
Although
there is nothing in the color itself, God will sometimes use colors to portray
an attribute of God or signify a purpose for accessories of the priestly
garments or some other special purpose.
Red as Atonement
Red as Atonement
From the
very beginning, red has been the color of atonement and this atonement is in
the form of blood. This one seems very clear if you read where Adam and
Eve had sinned and had lost fellowship with God and so “the
Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Gen 3:21).
This was
the very first blood sacrifice to be shed over the sins of humans.
God wants us to know that sin is costly; it
costs
Christians
are aware that “under the law almost everything is
purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
of sins” (Heb 9:22).
Even in
relation to human sin, one man’s blood is required if he takes another man’s
life (Gen 9:4-6).
White as
Righteousness
White
clearly represents the righteousness of God and sometimes specifically to
Christ’s righteousness.
Isaiah
wrote “Come now, let us reason together, says
the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
The
martyrs who had died for their faith (Rev 6:9) were all “given
a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow
servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they
themselves had been” (Rev 6:11).
The color
white clearly represents the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor 5:21).
The Book
of Revelation has more about the color white (15) than any book in the New
Testament and it most often refers to Christ or an attribute of His (like His
hair, Rev 1:14).
Only the
Old Testament Book of Leviticus has more (16) and this book is predominantly
concerned about the priesthood, which foreshadowed the coming High Priest Who
abides forever…Jesus Christ.
Purple as
Royalty
Purple is
representative of royalty as this is easily found throughout human history but
also in the Bible (Judges 8:26).
When
Daniel was placed as third in the kingdom of Babylon as when “Belshazzar
gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put
around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the
third ruler in the kingdom” (Dan 5:29).
When
Mordecai revealed a plot to assassinate the king, the king rewarded him, as it
was written, “Then Mordecai went out from the presence
of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a
robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced” (Esther 8:15).
Green as
Prospering
I don’t
mean that the color of prosperity is green, as in greenbacks but I mean
spiritually thriving as a plant does near a stream. David wrote “But
I am like a green olive tree in the house of God” (Psalm
52:8).
God says
of the righteous, “They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old
age; they are ever full of sap and green” (Psalm
92:13-14).
If you’re
planted firmly in the house of the Lord, your sap is full, you thrive being
green, and your fruit will bear even in old age.
Perhaps that fruit is
the fruit of the Holy Spirit which
will help believers bear much fruit even into their senior years.
Black as
Death
You can
see how often the color of black is associated
Since we
know that God is light and goodness (John 1) then the absence of light is dark
and death as the prophet Micah describes it, “Therefore
it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without
divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black
over them” (Micah 3:6).
Even the
third horse of the Apocalypse was black and
Conclusion
I could
not possibly have covered all of the colors and all of their significances in
one article.
You could
write a book on this subject but we do know that the color that you need to
know about the most if you have never been saved is red.
Red represents
the shed blood of Jesus Christ Who gave His life as a ransom for many but that
blood is useless until you apply it to the doorposts and mantels of your heart.
Then
God’s wrath passes over you and you will be in the kingdom and see colors and
sights so incredible as to defy description.
Would you want God to
change your life?
God has made it possible
for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in
your own life through a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and have
eternal life.
Say the following
prayer:
No comments:
Post a Comment