Blue, Purple and Scarlet Thread

Throughout the entire history of humanity, God continues to pursue in love. He does everything for us to be able to receive and believe. His desire is for us to be at home with Him. In amongst humanity’s guilt and shame, from generation to generation, God continues to reveal Himself intimately and personally. That is the truth of who He is, that is His character, identity, power and glory. As you listen be blessed, empowered and transformed in Jesus' name! 

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Transcript

00:00 Intro music and voice over.

Welcome to jesus loves the world podcast. For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name! 

00:20 Preacher

Throughout the entire history of humanity, God continues to pursue in love. He does everything for us to be able to receive and believe. His desire is for us to be at home with Him.

Right back at the beginning, when the first man and woman chose to be one with both good and evil, instead of being one with only good, God still pursued them in love. As a result of their choice, the first man and woman activated evil into God’s once perfect world. They became overwhelmed with guilt and shame and instantly ran away from God and hid from Him. 

Yet in love, God came to them, right where they were at. In amongst their guilt and shame, God stitched clothes for them. This is so beautiful the creator of heaven and earth and all things good personally covered their shame. God did this for their benefit. So that they would not have to run away from Him, but could come to Him at any time. 

In amongst humanity’s guilt and shame, from generation to generation, God continues to reveal Himself intimately and personally. That is the truth of who He is, that is His character, identity, power and glory. 

God continues to reveal Himself to humanity in ways each individual and people group can understand. To the Ancient Israelites, God assures them that He heard their cries. Not only did God hear their cries for deliverance from their oppressor the Egyptians, but He made His mighty power known and delivered them from the hands of their oppressor. God describes this deliverance as setting them on eagles wings, bringing them to Himself. 

However after they had been delivered from their oppressors, the Ancient Israelites chose to give their allegiance to their oppressors gods. The very ones they pleaded with God to deliver them from. 

The Ancient Israelites had decided that they did not want to encounter God directly. So God in His grace and mercy, still pursued the Ancient Israelites and all humanity in love. God chose His servant Moses and subsequent servants, to speak to the Ancient Israelites for Him. 

As God continued to love them and journey with them all through their wanderings, He provided for them shoes that never wore out, food from heaven and water from a rock. God spoke to them through Moses and affirmed them as His special treasure. 

He instructed Moses and all the people to build a tabernacle or sanctuary. A place where His presence was visible to them right from their own camp site. 

God also instigated a legal system of offerings and sacrifices, all for their own benefit. This system would protect them from their pride, revealing their need for a saviour and satisfy the human desire that someone has to pay the cost for an injustice. 

All this was to empower them to receive and believe God’s eternal love and forgiveness that He always is giving. They would be free to choose to give their allegiance to God, worship Him and be comfortable with Him dwelling with them. 

So let us pick up the conversation between God and Moses in regards to the pattern of the tabernacle. 

Exodus 25:1-9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

The items gathered are rich in symbolism and meaning for the first hearers and for us today. Within the precious stones and metals, fine linen and animal skins, spices and incense, there is blue, purple and scarlet thread. This  tricolour thread is to be used according to the pattern for the tabernacle of meeting given to Moses. 

Throughout the next chapters of the book of Exodus, we discover that the tricolour thread was to be used in various applications. On the 10 curtains, the veil, the screen for the door, the screen for the gate, the hem of the High Priest’s garment of ministry and its sash.

Accompanied with gold, the tricolour thread was used on both the breast plate and shoulder garment of the High Priest. 

The individual colours of blue, purple and scarlet have very significant meanings throughout both the Old and New Testament. 

So let us look at each of the three colours, one by one.

Blue on its own is used for various items in the tabernacle. For the edge of the curtain, the cloth on the table with the showbread, the lamp stand cover, the cloth over the golden altar and the cloth for the utensils incorporates blue.

Blue is also used for the robe of the priest and the cord of their turban. 

To the Ancient Israelites, the colour blue represented the relationship between the people and God. To them blue was specifically associated with the role of a priest.

As the Ancient Israelites didn’t want to directly engage with God, a priest was chosen for the purpose of acting as a mediator between God and the Ancient Israelites. To be a priest was considered an act of service to the people in pertaining to the things of God. 

The primary role of the High Priest was to offer acceptable sacrifices of various kinds to enable the people to believe their offences were forgiven. On the shoulders of the garment of the High Priest would be the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. So the High Priest would symbolically be carrying the people into the holy of holy holies and offer sacrifices on their behalf. 

To be able to believe and receive God’s forgiveness that is always there, the people needed to know a sacrifice had been made. So God in His great love brought in a system to help the people receive and believe. 

The priests were anointed by the Spirit of God for the people. By following the system of offering and sacrifice, adorned with the tricolour thread according to God’s pattern, the High Priest’s were empowered to fulfil their duties without any fear or condemnation. 

Given the significance of the colour blue representing the role of a priest, that is to serve the people in the things of God, God also instructed Moses to speak to the Ancient Israelites about their collective priestly role. So on behalf of God, Moses told the Ancient Israelites to make tassels on the corners of their garments and to include blue thread into the tassels. 

The tassels were to remember their relationship with God. To remind them of all God had said to them and done for them, so that they will not follow the harlotry of their hearts. The blue thread within the tassels was specifically there to remind them what God had declared over them in regards to the surrounding nations. That is that they shall be to God, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They were set apart to serve in the priestly role amongst the nations. 

In a moment in human history the Son of God, stepped down into our guilt and shame and became the eternal  High Priest for all humanity.

Jesus as a man effectively carried humanity into the holy of holies. He revealed God the Father to us and gives us the same relationship of intimacy with the Father that He has. Jesus the eternal one continues to make intercession for humanity. 

Jesus is the eternal High Priest, who gives all of Himself to humanity. He makes us priests to serve humanity in the things pertaining to God. 

Blue - represents the role of the priest and Jesus is the eternal High Priest of all people.

The next colour of the tricolour thread is purple. Purple represents royalty or the role of a king. Even the surrounding nations of the Ancient Israelites knew the significance of this regal colour. As there kings would parade in their purple robes, signifying their right to rule and reign. 

The role of a king is to be the leader of people and has the right to rule and reign in certain areas. The king  represents the foundation of power. 

To the Ancient Israelites, God was their king. He ruled in perfect love, serving and providing for them. This was the complete opposite to humanity who would rule with a selfish motive of taking from the people to satisfy their own needs. 

Jesus is the king of all kings. He is the ultimate power and authority. As the king of God’s kingdom, Jesus is the foundation of power. 

Jesus is the servant king, who gives His kingdom and all its benefits to all who believe and receive Him and His right to rule and reign. He gives all of Himself, His crown of victory over death, His righteousness or justice, His glory and His right to rule and reign over evil and our own selfish desires. 

Purple - represents the role of the king and Jesus is the eternal King of all kings.

The last colour of the tricolour thread is scarlet. Scarlet is representative of both the guilt and shame of humanity. It also symbolises the shedding of blood and resultant death to atone for any offence caused. 

It was believed by humanity that if a blood sacrifice was made, that death would pay the cost for the wrong doing.   A blood sacrifice would be made in an attempt to restore order or appease the gods. Blood sacrifice was a common practice throughout ancient cultures and is still practiced in some today. To the Ancient Israelites blood also represented ceremonial purity or cleansing. 

Even though the Ancient Israelites had again chosen the ways of the world and given their allegiance to the gods of the surrounding nations, offering blood sacrifices to them, God still pursued them in love. Reaching down to their level, in a way they would understand. 

God challenged them to come and reason with Him, that is be real with Him. They would say they are HIs but in their hearts had given their allegiance to the gods of the surrounding nations. 

If only they would come to Him and cease from being one with evil, God said to them, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.’ 

It is important to remember that God is not like the gods made by humanity or humanity itself. There is no violence in Him and hates blood sacrifices, for He is the giver of life.

However to help us believe and receive salvation and healing, eternal life and His kingdom, God became the sacrifice for us. As we needed to know that someone has paid the cost for all the offences said, thought or done by humanity.

Jesus is the eternal sacrifice, who in that moment in human history clothed Himself in humanity. Through His journey through this life, He was undefiled, there was no selfishness in Him. 

Yet Jesus paid the cost of all humanity’s offences with His death. The cost of each individual offence with His own blood. 

Jesus’ sacrifice was exclusively for our benefit and a consequence of God’s great love toward us. Jesus willingly subjected Himself to the lowest form of humanity. He became a slave for us and died a humiliating death at the hands of humanity. It was our selfish desires of fleshly pride and unbelief that cried out, ‘crucify Him, crucify Him.’ 

We needed the sacrifice to believe, to know someone had paid the cost. So God in Jesus became that someone. 

In Jesus death and resurrection our last enemy of death had been defeated. As Jesus willingly gave up His life and died in human form and was raised to life in human form.

He is eternal and continues throughout history to reach down to us and reveal Himself in ways we could understand. Even to the lowest point of the destructive forces of selfish desires, evil and the consequences of death. For such is His great love and amazing grace. 

Scarlet - represents the offences of humanity and the sacrifice to pay the cost for them. Jesus is the eternal sacrifice.

The blue, purple and scarlet thread represents all that God has done for us. Blue for the role of the priest, purple for the role of the king and scarlet for the offences of humanity and the sacrifice to pay the cost for them. Jesus is the servant High Priest, King of all Kings and the eternal sacrifice. 

19:40 Outro music and voice over. 

For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!