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

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

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

As we have seen thus far, there are three primary colors – blue, red, and yellow. As always we must remember that every word of God’s Word has both a positive and a negative application, just as Christ, the cloud which lead Israel out of  Egypt, was both light and darkness:

Exo 13:21  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, [from] before the people.

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

In brief summary, blue in scripture signifies the things of the heavens, both the heavens which are clean and pure and the heavens which must be cleansed:

Heb 9:23  [It was] therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Red signifies the things of the earth, both those which are called but not chosen and those which are chosen yet still in ‘vessels of clay.’

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure [Christ in us] in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Our final primary color, yellow, signifies both our dead and dying condition as flesh and our living and growing condition after being dragged to God by His Spirit. Read the study notes to see the scriptures which bear on each of these statements.

Green is the Coming Together of Blue with Yellow

The first color mentioned in the scriptures which is formed by a combination of two of the primary colors is the color we will deal with in this study. It is the color green. Here is where our color green is first mentioned in God’s Word. There is always much to learn where a word first appears in God’s Word:

Gen 1:29  And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Gen 1:30  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat : and it was so.
Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

So the color ‘green,’ a color created by mixing blue with yellow, is first mentioned as connected with the food eaten by those who are created on the sixth day and who cannot yet eat the “strong meat” of the Word of God. Green is associated with “the green herbs.”

Let’s take a look at Strong’s definition of this Hebrew word:

H3418
yereq
yeh’- rek
From H3417 (in the sense of vacuity of color); properly pallor, that is, hence the yellowish green of young and sickly vegetation; concretely verdure, that is, grass or vegetation: – grass, green (thing).

Dr. James Strong LL.D., S.T.D. shows no sign of being given spiritual insights, but, in spite of his spiritual blindness, he was gifted at knowing and understanding the Hebrew and Greek languages. So, look at the definition he assigns to this word translated ‘green’ in the English language. “The yellowish green of young and sickly vegetation.” This is a very  accurate portrayal of the spiritual meaning behind this word as we will see.

The connection of the corruptible, dying, color yellow with this color green, is undeniable:

Psa 37:1 <[ A Psalm] of David.> Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Psa 37:2  For they shall soon be cut down like the grass , and wither as the green herb.
Psa 37:3  Trust in the LORD, and do good; [so] shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

Isa 15:1  The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;

Isa 15:5  My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives [shall flee] unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.
Isa 15:6  For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.

What we have just been told is that “green things” are destroyed and “laid waste” by “the workers of iniquity.” Locusts and canker worm eat green things:

Joe 2:25  And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

What are we told of those who “eat every green herb?”

Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, [but] not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2  For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

All the theories of evolutionists notwithstanding, the truth of God’s Word is that before the flood of Noah “every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life,” was given nothing but “every green herb for meat.” Since “man shall… live… by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God,” what is being revealed to us here is that until we are “baptized and risen with Him” (Rom 6:1-4), and this is speaking of the True baptism of God’s word, we live only on herbs and are not capable of receiving the meat of God’s Word.

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of his resurrection:

When we are babes we are all “weak in the faith, eating herbs” which are green. So, both milk and herbs are all we can accept at first, so “every green herb for meat” is all we are given. If we do not go beyond milk and herbs, we will not be fit to be ruling with Christ in His kingdom:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.

There are the six milk doctrines of the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. They are also the food eaten by those who are “weak in the faith.” The last of these six doctrines is the doctrine of “eternal judgment.” Eternal judgment is nothing less than the doctrine of universal salvation.  Many of us seem to still think of this “first principle of the doctrine of Christ” as a T-bone steak. In reality it is at best “green herbs” eaten by those are “weak in the faith.”

The second time we see this word ‘green’ it is under completely different circumstances than we first saw it in the garden of Eden. The second time this word appears is after the flood of Noah. What does Noah’s flood typify in God’s Word?

1Pe 3:18  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19  By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21  The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

The flood of Noah is a figure of our baptism. The sad truth of Hebrews six is that most Christians never really get past baptism. They cannot, therefore, eat anything stronger than “green herbs.” What does God word say awaits those who are baptized into Christ’s death? What is given to those who do leave the principle of the doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity? What was the difference between the diet of mankind  before and after the flood?

Gen 9:1  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Gen 9:2  And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Gen 9:3  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Is there anything that is now not meat for us? Let’s look at an Old Testament example of those who were “weak in the faith, eating herbs” as contrasted to those who had gone beyond the milk and herbs of God’s Word:

Num 14:8  If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

After we get past being able to eat only green herbs and milk, only then “everything that moves” becomes a source of nourishment for God’s elect. Our greatest fears and enemies become victims of our desire to partake of the “strong meat” of the Word of God. Until that time, the things we use as nourishment, are also used by locusts as nourishment:

Exo 10:12  And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, [even] all that the hail hath left.
Exo 10:13  And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all [that] night; [and] when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
Exo 10:14  And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
Exo 10:15  For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? If you are into God’s Word, this will all sound familiar. In our next study we will cover many more of the scriptures with this color ‘green’ with its spiritual significance. Here are just a few such verses which we will examine at our next study;

Luk 23:31  For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

Green is positive inasmuch as the blue is performing its irresistible work in the flesh as it conforms the actions of this clay vessel to the actions of Christ.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world [yellow]: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind [blue], that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

But let’s close this part of our study of this color with the understanding imparted to us in our opening verse:

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Green is not blue. It is rather blue as it works with yellow. Green is weak and sickly flesh as it is being worked with and eventually destroyed by the pure, fiery, clean-burning, blue flame of the Word of God. “You cannot do the things you would” but “Christ in you” will do the things He would.

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

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

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