The Spiritual Significance of Colors in Scripture (The Color Blue) – Part 1

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Colors in Scripture – Blue, Part 1

If the color red or scarlet, symbolizes Adam being of the earth, blue symbolizes  the last Adam, “the Christ,” coming to be in the heavens.

Our study today will deal with the spiritual significance of the process of spiritually going from scarlet to blue.

Exo 25:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
Exo 25:3  And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass,
Exo 25:4  And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,
Exo 25:8  And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
Exo 25:9  According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

Christ is hated in this world. He is hated and dead in the streets of Babylon. Nevertheless, He has a “sanctuary” where He can dwell in peace in the hearts and minds of His elect.

The phrase “blue and purple and scarlet” is found 19 times in scripture. All 19 are in the book of Exodus dealing with the tabernacle and the priesthood which operated within the tabernacle. In this context the color blue is mentioned as part of eight different facets of the temple and the priesthood.

1) The Tabernacle is Blue, Purple, and Scarlet

Exo 26:1  Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: [with] cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.

Look at what holds the curtains of the tabernacle together:

Exo 26:4  And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of [another] curtain, in the coupling of the second.

There were ten curtains that surrounded the tabernacle:

Exo 26:2  The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.
Exo 26:3  The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and [other] five curtains [shall be] coupled one to another.

2) Blue and Gold are What Connect the Curtains of the Tabernacle

If a cubit is 18 inches, then 28 cubits is 42 feet in length and four cubits would be six feet in breadth. So we have ten curtains 42 feet long which surround the tabernacle. These curtains are held together with blue loops connected one to the other with fifty “taches of gold.

Exo 26:4  And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.
Exo 26:5  Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another.
Exo 26:6  And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.

What is this telling those with eyes to see and ears to hear?

King James Version

1Co 12:11  But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ.
1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Rotherham’s Emphasized Version

1Co 12:11 But, all these, energiseth the one and the same Spirit, distributing unto each one, peculiarly, even as it is disposed.
1Co 12:12 For, just as, the body, is one, and yet hath many members, but, all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so, also, the Christ;
1Co 12:13 For, even to one Spirit, we all, into one body, have been immersed, – whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, – and, all, of one Spirit, have been caused to drink.
1Co 12:14 For, the body also, is not one member, but many:

3) The Vail Between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was Also Blue, and Purple, and Scarlet.

Exo 26:30  And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.
Exo 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:

Exo 26:32  And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks [shall be of] gold, upon the four sockets of silver.
Exo 26:33  And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. 

4) The “Door of the Tent” was Blue, and Purple, and Scarlet

The door is to be of “blue and purple and scarlet.” All three colors and the significance of all three colors are part of the process of entering through the veil into the presence of God.

Exo 26:36  And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, [of] blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.

Now just as the spirit does in the book of Revelation, notice how the spirit begins in the holy of holies and “looks behind” to see what it took to get there:

Exo 26:34  And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.
Exo 26:35  And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.
Exo 26:36  And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.
Exo 26:37  And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, [and] their hooks [shall be of] gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

Rev 1:10 I came to be, in Spirit, in the Lord’s Day, and heard, behind me, a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11 saying – What thou seest, write in a scroll, and send unto the Seven Assemblies, – unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum,- and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Rev 1:12 And I turned round, to see the Voice which was speaking with me, and, having turned, I saw Seven Lamps of gold;

5) The Vail into the Holy of Holies Hangs on Four Pillars, the Door of the Tent Hangs on Five Pillars

Exo 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:
Exo 26:32  And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks [shall be of] gold, upon the four sockets of silver.
Exo 26:36  And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.
Exo 26:37  And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, [and] their hooks [shall be of] gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

The cherubim in the blue and purple and scarlet veil are hanging on four pillars through which all who come into the holy of holies must pass. The cherubim in blue, purple and scarlet, hang on five pillars at the entry of the holy place. What, or rather, who are these pillars through which we come to our Creator?

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name.
Rev 3:13  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Doesn’t Paul tell us that we are the temple of God?

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

How are we the temple and yet pillars in the temple? Here is how that is accomplished:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

We are in Christ and Christ is in us. Even so we are in the temple, and the temple is in us.

Rev 3:13  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

6) “The Gate of the Court” of the Temple Has a Curtain of Blue, Purple and Scarlet Hanging on Four Pillars.

All who come into the holy place must first come through the “gate of the court.” This, too, is blue purple and scarlet.

Exo 27:16  And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.

7) The Garments of the Priesthood are Gold, Blue, Purple, and Scarlet

Exo 28:1  And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
Exo 28:2  And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.
Exo 28:3  And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
Exo 28:4  And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
Exo 28:5  And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.
Exo 28:6  And they shall make the ephod [of] gold, [of] blue, and [of] purple, [of] scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work.
Exo 28:7  It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and [so] it shall be joined together.
Exo 28:8  And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

8) Gold, Blue, Purple, and Scarlet are Used by Those Who Teach Others

“Cunning workmen…[who] devise curious works… in gold and silver and brass…  blue, and purple, and scarlet… and any manner of cunning work,” are those whom God is using to teach others to help in the building of the temple of God:

Exo 35:29  The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the LORD had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.
Exo 35:30  And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;
Exo 35:31  And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;
Exo 35:32  And to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
Exo 35:33  And in the cutting of stones, to set [them], and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work.
Exo 35:34  And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
Exo 35:35 Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.

Those they teach and the materials with which they work are both the result of God’s work in the heart’s of His people to build up His house. It is the unveiling of Jesus Christ which is “the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See [thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
1Co 14:4  He that speaketh in an [unknown] tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

How does he edify the church? He does so by working with “gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet” among other things which are used to build up and edify the temple of God by those who God has “filled with wisdom of heart to work all manner of work…”

Conclusion of the Significance of Blue and Purple and Scarlet

Blue, and purple and scarlet signify those in whom God’s Spirit is working the process of Going from scarlet to blue, from the first to the last Adam:

Exo 36:8  And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them.

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam [red – earthy – of the ground] was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit [blue – heavenly – of the spirit].

Purple is just the combining of the blue and the scarlet that is experienced in going from scarlet to blue.

[Here is the link to the next study in this series.]

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