Spiritual Significance of Color in Scripture – Black, Part 2

The Color Black in the New Testament

[Study Aired December 14, 2025]

The Color Black in the New Testament is based upon what is revealed in the Old Testament.

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

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 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.

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Just quoting Psalm 139:12 will get one accused of “calling good evil and evil good.” However, this verse doesn’t say that ‘light and darkness are alike to me.’ What it does say is “darkness and light are both alike to thee” – to God. If “the night shone as the day” to me, then I could say that light and darkness are alike to me. Such is not the case for mortal man, because mortal man is not God. So we read:

Isa 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Since “all is of God” evil and good, darkness and light, and sweet and bitter are all “alike to thee.”

1Co 11:12  For as the woman [is] of the man, even so [is] the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.

None of these verses of scripture say ‘of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all good things.’ Instead, these New Testament verses are all confirming the Old Testament doctrine which teaches that God is the Creator of good and evil, and He is Sovereign in the kingdoms of men:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and [I] create darkness: I make peace, and [I] create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Three Greek Words Translated Black

There are three Greek words translated black or blackness in the New Testament. They are:

1) G3189
melas
mel’- as
Apparently a primary word; black: – black.

This word is used three times in the New Testament:

Mat 5:33  Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
Mat 5:34  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:
Mat 5:35  Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36  Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black [G3189: melas].
Mat 5:37  But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Third Seal

Rev 6:5  And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black [G3189: melas] horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Rev 6:6  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Fifth Seal

Rev 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black  [G3189: melas] as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

2) G1105
gnophos
gnof’- os
Akin to G3509; gloom (as of a storm): – blackness.

Heb 12:18  For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness [G1105: gnophos], and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which [voice] they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Heb 12:20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Heb 12:21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

This is the only place in the New Testament where this word appears.

3) G2217
zophos
dzof’- os
Akin to the base of G3509; gloom (as shrouding like a cloud): – blackness, darkness, mist.

This Greek word  appears four times in the New Testament. Two times it is translated ‘darkness’:

2Pe 2:4  For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness [G2217: zophos], to be reserved unto judgment;

Jud 1:6  And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness [G2217: zophos] unto the judgment of the great day.

One time it is translated ‘blackness’:

Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness [G2217: zophos] of darkness for ever.

And once it is translated ‘mist’:

2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

Notice that both ‘gnophos’ and ‘zophos’ have G3509 as their root. Here is Strong’s definition of 3509:

4) G3509
nephos
nef’- os
Apparently a primary word; a cloud: – cloud.

So the root for two Greek words which are both translated as ‘blackness,’ (one is also translated ‘darkness’) is the Greek word translated ‘cloud’, and it appears just one time in the New Testament:

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Clouds Often Appear Black

What did we learn in our last study on this word ‘black’ in the Old Testament? We saw that the words ‘black’ and ‘darkness’ are often used in reference to clouds:

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.

1Ki 18:45  And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

Jer 4:22  For my people is foolish [Ahab as well as all of us], they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Jer 4:23  I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

Jer 4:28  For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

When God’s own people, whom He has brought up out of Egypt, come to the point that they do not even know Him, then at that point the “heavens are black” and “the heavens have no light” and the “heavenly things themselves must be purified…”

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

The orthodox Christian world is always talking about ‘heaven’, but they aren’t capable of “understanding what they say or whereof they affirm.”

1Ti 1:7  Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.

“The heavens…have no light”, and they are hidden from them by dark clouds. “The heavens above are black” means this:

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Let’s go back to our first listed Greek word for ‘black’. That word was ‘melas’ (G1389). The neuter form of that Greek word is translated as ‘ink’ three times in the New Testament. Twice it appears in the epistles of John where John states that he “has many things to say but would not write with ink.” The other time this word appears is in 2 Corinthians 3. The word here is ‘melan’ not ‘melas.’ Let’s look at what we are told of this Greek word ‘melan’:

G3188
melan
mel’- an
Neuter of G3189 as noun; ink: – ink

2Co 3:2  Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
2Co 3:4  And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God;
2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter [ink without spirit] killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

There is one more part in our study of the color black, but let’s summarize what we have learned to this point. The three primary colors of ‘the material realm’ are red, blue and yellow, and when these three primary colors are all mixed together they produce the color black.

However, when the primary color of sickly and deathly yellow in the material realm is replaced by the vibrant life-giving color green in ‘the intellectual’ (think spiritual) realm and we mix red, blue and green these three primary colors of  ‘the intellectual’ spiritual realm produce pure life giving light or the color white.

Truly:

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Christ is our head, and He is also our light in which all the colors are contained:

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

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

The Spiritual Significance of the Color Green – Part 2

[Study Aired November 30, 2025]

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.

A brief summary

Green is the first color mentioned in scripture which is a combination of two of the three primary colors of the material realm. It is the combining of the primary color blue with the primary color yellow. We have shown that the spiritual significance of blue is its association in scripture with the things of the heavens. All that binds together Christ’s tabernacle is the blue loops at the ends of the curtains that make up the tabernacle. The robes of the priests were blue, and all of the holy things were wrapped in blue.

Yellow, on the other hand, in its negative application is associated with the deadly disease of leprosy. It is described with two different words, but both of those words are associated with the deadly disease of leprosy, and leprosy was prevented by keeping oneself clean of pollutions.

So the combining of the two primary colors of blue and yellow produce green. Green, therefore is a scriptural word which will always be a reference to the combining of these two colors with the goal of turning that which is born in a yellow and dying condition into an immortal, blue spiritual body.

Last week we saw how God in our immaturity gives us only “every green herb” for food until we are truly baptized “with the washing of water by the word.”

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.

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

Only after we have begun to be crucified with Christ, have endured the waters of baptism, the Lord begins to raise us up in newness of spirit. Only then are we given “everything that moveth” as strong meat to nourish us:

This is the menu given Noah after the baptism of the flood:

Gen 9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

So “every green herb” is just another way of saying that we are not yet able to accept the “strong meat” of the word of God. The green herbs may be a little better than the milk of God’s Word, but it is no more the stage of maturity than is the ‘milk.’ Both are, in God’s Word, for those who “are weak in the faith.”

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.

So we saw that it is only the strong in the faith, who are able to receive “strong meat.”

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 5:14 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.

Introduction – Green as Both Positive and Negative in Scripture

Today we will look at how the color ‘green’ is used in the New Testament, and we will again see that green, in the physical realm, is the result of the very beginning of the process of the work of the spirit, signified by the color blue, upon the dying flesh, which is signified by the color yellow. We will see that as that process is being completed, physical life, signified  in nature by green plant life, is born within us. Plant life is ‘life’, but it is not life which has been given “the breath of life”, such as living, breathing creatures possess. It is so very instructive to know that the coming together of the three primary colors  of the material realm, blue, red, and yellow, the realm in which paints are mixed to produce all the many hues and colors we all see and enjoy, when those three colors are combined produce the color black, signifying darkness and death.

God has ordained that all in Adam must “pass from death unto life.”

Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

The mind of Christ does not consider mere physical life to be life at all. Just as blue, red and yellow, the three primary colors of the material realm, produce the color black, signifying darkness and death, the mind of Christ considers this physical, material realm to be the realm of  death in need of “passing from death unto life” (Joh 5:24). Christ blatantly refers to the ‘life’ of this dying red clay vessel as death itself:

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Luk 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

Revelation 8 speaks of the blowing of the first trumpet in the beginning of our judgment:

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 [green] trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

“All green grass was burned up” is in the ongoing aorist tense. The Lord wants us to know that our judgment is a process which takes time to accomplish. We are not judged in ten seconds, rather we are being “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20), and we are in the process of “dying daily” (1Co 15:31).

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

We will also see that as “all the green grass is [being] burned up” there is another later crop of many “green things in the trees, and in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt” which had not even come up yet when “all the green grass was burned up” at the beginning of our deliverance from Egypt.

Exo 10:15 For they [the locusts which came after the hail had already destroyed “every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.”] 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.

This is all in different forms of the Qal stem in Hebrew. ‘Hiphil’ “expresses the causative action of Qal.  Niphal is the passive of Qal.  The Qal stem in Hebrew is the equivalent of the Aorist tense in Greek. Both can and often do denote an ongoing process. The vast majority of verbs in both languages are in this ongoing tense. The process of photosynthesis in nature which produces all the green we see in our ecosystem, signifies this ongoing process of passing from the black, dark death realm of the material realm into the life giving white light of the intellectual spiritual realm.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

The verbs ‘loved’ and ‘gave’ are both in the ongoing aorist tense.

Understanding this Is, Was and Will Be principle in God’s Word helps to clear up many apparent contradictions in the book of Revelation and throughout God’s Word. For example…

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.

…Is followed in the very next chapter with this apparently contradictory statement:

Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them [the locusts] 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.

Why only a third part of the trees in chapter eight? Why all the grass? The answer is that all of the signs and symbols used by the holy spirit have both a positive and a negative application. All the increments mentioned in the book of Revelation, “the fourth part” (Rev 6:8), “the third part” (Rev 8:12), reveal the fact that salvation is a lifelong process. It demonstrates the truth that we must all “keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 1:3 Blessed [is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. [In every generation]

Why would God want to “burn up” that with which He is working? Here is why:

1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

Because the Word of God has both a positive and a negative application, “the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.”

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Why must the “glory of man… wither and … fall away” (1Pe 1:24)? Here is why:

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

“Flesh and blood” are sinful, signifying the negative application of the non-oxygen breathing vegetative spiritual state of our old man.

Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Sinful flesh, even the flesh of Christ, “cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” The only reason the flesh of Christ did not rot into the earth is that He was resurrected from the dead and was “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

It was after Christ had been tried and condemned, after being beaten within an inch of His life, that he made this statement:

Luk 23:26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
Luk 23:27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
Luk 23:28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
Luk 23:29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
Luk 23:30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.
Luk 23:31 For if they do these things [Crucify Christ] in a green tree [when the Lord was with them and giving them His Word], what shall be done in the dry [When the Lord sends a famine of His Word, (Amos 8:11)] ?

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: [“In the dry” famine]

What is the “green tree” and what is “the dry?” Christ had “come to His own [with His “gospel of the kingdom of God”, signified by “the green tree”], and His own received Him not:”

Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

Nevertheless, multitudes were following Christ, listening to His parables, being healed of their diseases and eating of His loaves and fishes.

Mar 6:34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
Mar 6:35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time [is] far passed:
Mar 6:36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
Mar 6:37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
Mar 6:38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
Mar 6:39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
Mar 6:40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
Mar 6:41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave [them] to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
Mar 6:42 And they did all eat, and were filled.

Why did Christ tell His disciples “Give you them to eat?” Does this mean that He now expects us to perform this miracle just as He performed miracles of healing? Absolutely not! What this is telling us is that God wants His disciples to give His followers spiritual nourishment. “Give ye them to eat… their daily bread.”

Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.

Christ gives us His Word day by day, as He determines is best for fulfilling His purpose in us. This is what Christ was doing for the people. He did it daily. This was “the green tree.”

“He began to teach… much people… He commanded them to make all sit by companies upon the green grass… they did eat and were filled.” But they were still “in a green tree,” sitting on “green grass”, signifying the living vegetative state of a “carnal… babe in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4).

It was this very group of people who would soon be without His teachings. They would then be “in the dry” and calling for Christ’s crucifixion only days later:

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

Here is the answer to that question:

Lam 4:10 The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Lam 4:11 The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in [“the sinners in”] Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

What is “the destruction of the daughter of my people?” Do we think this signifies a physical invasion and the physical loss of national sovereignty? No, that is not what “the destruction of my people” means. Here is what really is destroying God’s own people to this day:

Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

These are not just words which “will be.” This is the state of God’s own people today. This is what is within each of us when we are “in the dry.” While we are blinded to our blindness, we are unaware that “every green herb” is being eaten by the locusts in our lives; we are literally starving to death and devouring our own flesh as we continue in our blindness and our rebellion against the Word of God:

Deu 28:53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

Deu 28:22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

Jer 2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

Amo 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.

Hag 2:17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD.

“The green”, on the other hand, is that time in our lives where God’s spirit is still dealing with us, still in the process of turning the yellow we are into the blue we are all to become:

Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
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.

The key to understanding the book of Revelation is Revelation 1:3, 22:6-7:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings [are] faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed [is] he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

What do locusts do? Locusts eat up “all the green things which the hail had not destroyed.” Green signifies a process which has an end. It is a process which, like the flesh in which it is working, must one day come to its consummation.

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.

Had not every herb and all the fruit trees already been destroyed by the hail?

Exo 9:23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
Exo 9:24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
Exo 9:25 And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.

The destruction of Egypt within us is a process which gets more intense as it progresses. There are many who fear God, and yet they are still “in Egypt:”

Exo 9:18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
Exo 9:19 Send therefore now, [and] gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field; [for upon] every man and beast which shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die.
Exo 9:20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:
Exo 9:21 And he that regarded not the word of the LORD left his servants and his cattle in the field.

Why did Israel live through all of this? Was it all simply an historical event? Is that why all of this was written? Was it written so we could know what happened? Here is what Paul tells us:

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore [for this reason] let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

“Happened to them and are written for our admonition?” Why? So we can be prepared for a plague of hail to be followed by a plague of locusts? No, that this is an incremental spiritual process is revealed in this very same chapter:

Exo 9:27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD [is] righteous, and I and my people [are] wicked.
Exo 9:28 Intreat the LORD (for [it is] enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.
Exo 9:29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth [is] the LORD’S.
Exo 9:30 But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God.
Exo 9:31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley [was] in the ear, and the flax [was] bolled.
Exo 9:32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they [were] not grown up.
Exo 9:33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.
Exo 9:34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
Exo 9:35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.

“The hail smote every green herb of the field, and brake every green tree of the field” and yet there was still much work to be done with the flesh because “the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up.” Here is what this Old Testament type is telling us:

Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

“Let both grow together until the harvest” is not a once in a lifetime statement. The flax and the barley are smitten first, but the wheat and the rye have yet to be dealt with. Neither the barley and flax nor the wheat and the rye are smitten before they “are grown up”, or as Christ put it, “until the harvest:”

Exo 9:31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.
Exo 9:32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they [were] not grown up.

Christ is working with us at every step of our spiritual development.

Our sins are not judged until they have matured. Otherwise the needed lessons will not have been learned. So letting the tares grow with the wheat “until the harvest” is an inward statement of how “judgment begins at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17).

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Here is another type and shadow of this same spiritual principle:

Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

The “giants in the land” who Israel confronted after their time in the wilderness, are nothing but a later, more mature type and shadow of the “green things” of Egypt. The natural man sees the fact that Israel was not affected by the last seven plagues and turns a type of God’s dealing with carnal babes still in Egypt into a type of His dealings with grown sons. It amounts to spiritual suicide which takes away the elect’s part in the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son [Greek: uihos – grown son] whom he receiveth.

Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

The point the spirit is making is that our judgment continues within us just as it did with Christ, until we draw our last breath in these ‘green… things’ which are still mere vessels of corruptible clay and dust.

We will break here for now. In our next study we will see how this color, and its significance as the working of the spirit in this dying vessel of clay, is applied in the book of Revelation.

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.

[The next study in this series is here.]

The Spiritual Significance of the Color Green – Part 1

[Study Aired November 28, 2025]

I am revising this study of the color green because I  have learned since this was first written in 2007 that there are two sets of three primary colors. As we have seen thus far, the generally accepted three primary colors are blue, red and yellow. I have just discovered that those three primary colors when combined create the color black. The other set of three primary colors produces white or pure light when combined. This new set of primary colors is red, blue, and green. These three primary colors when combined produce white, or pure light. Red and blue are common to both sets of three primary colors. When you replace yellow with green in the three colors which produce black, that simple change causes red and blue when combined with green to produce white or pure  light. Therefore the first set of primary colors, red, blue and yellow, which when combined produce black, signifies this dying natural realm. The second set of three primary colors which when combined produces white or light signifying the realm of the life-giving spirit.

Here is how this link: https://science.howstuffworks.com/primary-colors.htm, expresses all of this from a natural perspective:

Two Color Theories: Additive and Subtractive Colors

“If you’re talking about painting, then yes: Red, yellow and blue are the primary colors. If you’re talking about physics and light, though, your primary colors are red, green and blue.” (End Quote)

Since we are all still in these “earthen vessels” we will continue this study with the understanding that replacing yellow with green takes us from the dying mind of the natural man to the life-giving mind of the spirit.

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.

It is in this natural realm, where red, blue and yellow, the primary colors of our old man, combine to produce darkness and black, that we are striving to become a new man where red, blue and green combined will produce the pure life-giving light, the color white, of our new man. We are twice exhorted to “put on the new man”:

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Gal 5:17  For the flesh [Red, blue, and yellow] lusteth against the Spirit [Red, blue, and green], 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.

The flesh is called ‘the first man Adam’ (1Co 15: 45), a beast (Rev 13:1). ‘The first man Adam’ is also called “a living soul” which innately possesses “the breath of life”.

Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

When I first checked with Strong’s numbers to see what Hebrew word was translated as ‘breath’ in Genesis 2:7, I fully expected that it would be ‘ruach’ because I had discovered earlier that the Hebrew word ‘ruach’ was translated as breath in this verse:

Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath [H7307: ‘ruach’, spirit]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

Just two verses later this same Hebrew word is twice translated as ‘spirit’:

Ecc 3:21  Who knoweth the spirit [H7307, ‘ruach’] of man that goeth upward, and the spirit [H7307, ‘ruach’] of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

‘The breath of life’ in Genesis 2:7  is not translated from the Hebrew word ‘ruach’. The word ‘breath’ in Genesis 2:7 is translated from the Hebrew word H5397, ‘nashamah’, and this is how Strong’s defines this Hebrew word:

H5397

נְשָׁמָה

neshâmâh

nesh-aw-maw’

From H5395; a puff, that is, wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect or (concretely) an animal: – blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit.

Total KJV occurrences: 24

This word appears in the Hebrew 24 times and is translated as ‘spirit’ but twice. The vast majority of entries are translated as ‘blast, 3; breath, 12; breathe, 2; breathed, 2; breatheth, 1; inspiration, 1; souls, 1, and spirit, 2. This Hebrew word ‘nashamah’ has only to do with a breathing creature, and nothing to do with the realm of the spirit.

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 led 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 are 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 our 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.

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?s=the+color+yellow

Green is the coming together of blue with yellow when we are dealing with the three primary colors of the natural realm. But the primary colors of a three sided glass prism are red, blue and green, and the color green which dominates the plant kingdom of the living but not oxygen breathing creation is produced through the system of photosynthesis. This is what Google said when I asked, “What is photosynthesis”:

“Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants, algae, and certain bacteria convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy stored in glucose, a type of sugar, while releasing oxygen as a by-product. This process occurs primarily in the chloroplasts of plant cells, where the pigment chlorophyll absorbs light, mainly in the blue and red wavelengths, and uses that energy to drive the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air and water (H₂O) from the soil into glucose and oxygen. The overall chemical equation for photosynthesis is commonly represented as 6CO2+6H2O→C6H12O6+6O2, indicating that six molecules of carbon dioxide and six molecules of water are transformed using light energy into one molecule of glucose and six molecules of oxygen. Photosynthesis is fundamental to life on Earth, forming the base of the food chain, producing the oxygen in the atmosphere, and providing the energy source for nearly all ecosystems.” (End Quote)

Applying the Romans 1:20 principle of “the invisible things of God are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made”, to what we have just read we find that sunlight must be absorbed by our old man and that the “by product” of our old man absorbing the light of The Sun of Righteousness is the beginning of the birth of our new living, oxygen breathing new man. Here is this process explained in the New Testament:

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Death is defeat and life is victory. Death is the inevitable product of this natural realm and life is the inevitable product of the realm of the spirit.

The first color mentioned in the scriptures which is formed by a combination of two of the primary colors of this material realm 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.

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” which are created via the process of photosynthesis.

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

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).

When we speak of a person being in ‘a vegetative state’ we are saying that they are alive but without their mind.

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.

Now what are we told of those who only “eat every green herb” spoken of in Genesis 1:30?

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.  I can remember when I once considered this “green herb… first principle of the doctrine of Christ” as a T-bone steak. In reality even the doctrine of universal salvation 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 when we first saw it in the garden of Eden. The second time this word appears is after the flood of Noah. Here is what we are told Noah’s flood typifies 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 principles 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.

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.]

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/who-are-you/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=who-are-you Tue, 09 Feb 2016 05:04:59 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=11090

Who are you?

V____

Hi V____,

Thank you for your question. The answer is that I am a student of the Word of God. I have a theology degree, but like the apostle Paul “I count it all dung”, relying on a more Biblical accounting of who I am:

1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

If indeed those are the qualities of those who God has chosen, then I am indeed in very good standing with our Lord.

I hope I have answered your question.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Mike,

Thanks so much. The revelation you shared was so “Pauline and pointed” I just had never heard of you or your site, just as many people have not yet heard of me, but again it’s not about us but Christ.

So funny but interesting story was at the grocery store today and in the checkout line. I saw a bag of peanut M&M’s. I rarely eat them but was impressed to buy them, so I did. Got home unpacked the groceries and intended to go to the movies but was impressed to study The Word instead.

About an hour and a half into my studies I got up and was mediating the Word and saw the candy. I opened the bag and a yellow, blue and green M&M came out, just those three. I stared at them and was impressed that there was something with those colors. And then the green one was defective two pieces bonded together with the green coating chipped off. So I’m into Hebrew, and I go on the computer and search what does green mean in Hebrew; your site comes up and the revelation of the green herb vs strong meat. I thought “Lord, you are so great.” Would love to talk more. I do a site as well. All the blessed to you and His Shalom!!!

V____

Hi V____,

I am glad to hear that you were edified by reading the study on the color green. I hope you will continue to be edified by what you read.

I went to your site and read this:

“Be mindful of an understand something. Jesus not only gave His Life FOR YOU, He gave His Life TO YOU!!! He gave you His Life and He took our punishment for all the sin we and everyone would ever commit.”

Truer words were never spoken if we understand the meaning of being ‘given the life of Christ’.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

If those words of scripture are so wrested to the point of denying that we must “die daily’ and be “crucified with Christ”, which are also words inspirited by the holy spirit to be written by the same apostle Paul who wrote Eph 2:9-10, then we will never be granted to understand these words of scripture:

Col 1:24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and am filling up in my flesh, in His stead, the deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ, for His body, which is the ecclesia (CLV)

It is my prayer that you also find these verses I have quoted to be edifying and that the very next verse in Eph 2:8 is also found to be edifying to you:

Eph 2:10 For His achievement are we, being created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God makes ready beforehand, that we should be walking in them. (CLV)

It is a long paper but I suggest that you read The Law of Moses Versus The Law of The Spirit which you can find in the Essential Reading section of iswasandwillbe.com.

That paper was prompted by my ten years of studying with the Concordant Publishing Concern with whom I parted ways after I finally became aware that Christ in us produces “good works that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).

I look forward to hearing from you again.

Your brother who with the apostle Paul is filling up in my body that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, dying daily with Him (1Co 15:31), and who is being daily “crucified with Him” (Gal 2:20).

Mike

(Key verses: Gen 37:1-4)

The theme of spiritual glorification in scripture, as revealed through the life of Joseph in the Old Testament, helps us to understand elected rulership in God’s kingdom (Rom 5:2; 2Co 3:18; Col 1:27; Eph 1:4-6; Rev 4:4-6). To be seated on the thrones in God’s kingdom is reserved for His elected sons whom He foreknew and predestined to rule on earth in the symbolic thousand years and also to be the judges in the lake of fire (Mat 19:28; 1Jn 3:2; Rev 20:4-15; 1Co 6:2-3):

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified [Greek aorist tense].

Through God’s mercy and wisdom, these sons of God are prepared in this physical age to be used by God to “turn many to righteousness” in the age to come (Oba 1:21; Rom 9:23; Rom 11:30-32):

Dan 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament [heaven]; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever [Hebrew: “ôlâm” = Greek: “aiōn” (ABP+)] and ever.

God preordained His elect to be the first to be conformed to the spiritual image of Jesus Christ through a process of being changed “from glory to glory” (2Co 3:18). Everything God does and brings to us has purpose, and these sons of God know that the current sufferings in the flesh are actually used by God to redeem their mortal “outward man” to manifest His glory in the immortal new man in each of His elect (1Jn 3:2-3):

Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Jacob is back in Canaan with his family after spending twenty years in Haran with his uncle Laban. Among the twelve sons whom Jacob fathered through his two wives and two concubines, bigger rifts developed all the time which were caused by Jacob himself also. Jacob was very open in his favour toward Rachel and her two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel actually died at the birth of Benjamin, the youngest of his twelve sons. Especially as far as his second youngest son, Joseph, is concerned, Jacob had no problem revealing a special relationship which did not go down well with Joseph’s other ten brothers:

Gen 37:1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report [evil slanders].
Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours [Hebrew: “pas” = divers colours].

This coat of many colours was the most prominent symbol of Jacob’s favour on Joseph and his special position in the family. This highlights the link between the theme of clothing and the theme of rulership in the scriptures (Jdg 8:26; Est 8:15; Eze 23:6; Dan 5:16; Dan 5:29; Joh 19:2; Rev 17:4).

(We already touched on the theme of our spiritual covering in study #22).

In scripture this special type of clothing with many or diverse colours was significant to that of the ruling class, which was also mentioned in terms of Tamar, the daughter of King David:

2Sa 13:18 And she had a garment of divers colours [Hebrew: “pas” = divers colours] upon her: for with such robes were the king’s daughters that were virgins apparelled…

This fact is further confirmed in scripture with the symbol of the multi coloured rainbow “round about” the throne of God revealing the glory of God in His cherubims, also symbolized as the four living creatures or twenty-four elders in scripture (Rev 4:3-11). This is also what was revealed in a vision to the prophet Ezekiel while in captivity in Babylon:

Eze 1:4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Eze 1:5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

Eze 1:28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Eze 10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

These cherubims symbolize God’s special messengers (in “the likeness of a man” in this age), and these cherubims were also placed at the east of the garden of Eden with a flaming sword to “keep the way” of the Lord (Gen 3:24; Rev 1:1-3). These cherubims associate with God’s heaven and the throne of His glorious Christ (Col 1:27). They are given His spiritual light and clothed in the special garments of Christ (Psa 93:1-2; Psa 104:1-2; Rev 1:13).

Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

In spiritual terms, clothing is connected to our way of life, either under the cloak of our own righteousness…

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

…or the righteousness of Christ in His spiritual bride, His church (Gen 3:7; Gen 3:21; Rev 3:18):

Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Joseph’s life is given to us as a symbol of this process of spiritual glorification in those who are God’s heaven and His throne, which is His church from where He will reveal Himself to the rest of humanity and the spiritual world (Exo 25:17-22; Eze 10:1-7; Heb 9:5):

Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

This coat of many colours was never Joseph’s idea or choice, but his father’s idea, as a type of God’s election of those He wants in His spiritual bride in the Christ:

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Joseph wore his coat of many colours with full conviction, despite the disapproval and hatred which his election caused in the hearts of his brothers:

Gen 37:4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Joseph is our type of how we should never despise our election, also as far as diligence and truthfulness are concerned. We should always “watch” and “keep” our spiritual garments undefiled from earthly deceit, worldly lusts and foolish pride (Mat 24:4-5; 2Th 2:2-3; 1Jn 2:16; 1Jn 4:1-6; Rev 16:13):

Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

The way we watch and keep our clothing is seen in the way we live within a crooked and perverse generation of flesh, inside and outside (Php 2:15). When we are faithful in the commandments and ways of God, then we do watch and keep our garments. In this process of wearing God’s covering, the elect of God know that they are destined to be hated and killed by those who oppose the truth. We will, like it was with Joseph, be seen as being arrogant and conceited if we continue and abide in His Word and live in humility within our God-given calling and position in this life (Mat 23:12; Joh 8:31; Jas 4:6-10; 1Pe 5:6). Here again we see how hatred connects spiritually with murdering someone as seen in the hearts and actions of these brothers of Joseph (1Jn 3:15):

Gen 37:20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

God worked through Joseph’s eldest brother, Reuben, to convince his other nine brothers not to physically kill Joseph, although they already spiritually killed him in their hearts:

Gen 37:21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
Gen 37:22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

Reuben also reveals here the delusion in the carnal heart which wants us to believe that inward sins of the heart are not on the same level as outward acts of sin. (Rom 5:12-14).  Jesus said it is all the same thing as He used the example of adultery:

Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

There is also this delusion that if we do not commit outward transgressions as others at whom we naturally point fingers, then we are innocent of sin. All in Adam are guilty of all, as we were all born in a “body of sin” (Gen 2:7; Rom 6:6). It is only the elect who receive these inward eyes to accept that they are indeed guilty of all, and confess the “chief” of sinners status in all respects (Jas 2:10):

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Joseph’s brothers were fixated on stripping Joseph from his coat as if that will change anything according to his election:

Gen 37:23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;

God’s plans for His faithful elect will not be thwarted by puny creatures’ evil schemes and actions. He will cause His elect to walk according to what is righteous if they have received this strong desire from God to be in that holy and blessed first resurrection:

2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

After Joseph was stripped from his outward coat, his brothers cast him in a pit with no water and food.

Gen 37:24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

Joseph was totally incapacitated, and it is in this state that we will also be placed to be able to receive the provisions of God. God sent a company of traders and caused Judah, the fourth eldest brother of Joseph, to convince his brothers to sell Joseph to these traders for a profit of twenty pieces of silver (the Ishmaelites are also called Midianites according to Gen 37:36 and Gen 39:1):

Gen 37:25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites [or Ishmaelites] came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
Gen 37:26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
Gen 37:27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.
Gen 37:28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver [ref. Lev 27:5 and Exo 21:32; Mat 26:15]: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Reuben was not part of this transaction, and when he returned he was shocked to find that Joseph was not in the pit anymore. Here the theme of clothing is developed further when Reuben rented his own clothes after this discovery:

Gen 37:29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
Gen 37:30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?

The renting of clothing is frequently mentioned in scripture, and Reuben is the first person in the scriptures to do this. Jacob did the same when the ten sons brought Joseph’s coat to him after they dipped it in blood to give the appearance of the killing of Joseph by a wild animal:

Gen 37:31 And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
Gen 37:32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no.
Gen 37:33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
Gen 37:34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Gen 37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

Rending of clothes in the scriptures is a sign of severe grief for the loss of a well-loved and precious person or much valued thing (Num 14:6; Jos 7:1-9; Jdg 11:29-35; 1Sa 4:11-12; 2Sa 11:1-11; 2Ki 18:37; 19:1; 2Ki 21:20-28; Isa 36:22; Isa 37:1). Spiritually it relates to how we react when we receive the truth of a matter, and our fleshly response to it as flesh is not capable of handling truth, even in earthly matters (2Ki 22:11; Jer 36:23-24). Jesus also said these words to His “yet carnal” disciples before His death, and also to us before spiritual maturity comes through the spirit of God in us by whom we grow spiritually to eat the strong meat of the truth (1Co 3:1-4; Heb 5:12-14):

Joh 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

Our old garment of flesh must be rended apart as a witness of spiritual glorification as that opens up a higher heaven of intimacy with God (Gen 7:11; Isa 45:8; Mat 3:16; Rev 4:1; Rev 19:11). After Elisha tore his own clothes in two pieces, he laid hold of the mantle of his predecessor Elijah to receive the “double portion” of the spirit which worked in Elijah (2Ki 2:9-14). Elisha’s ministry was much more fruitful than that of Elijah as relating to the inheritance of the “double portion” of the rulership of God’s elect when we accept and are comforted through the judgment on our own unbelief and sin (Deu 21:15-17; 1Co 6:2-3; Rev 20:4-15):

Isa 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Isa 40:2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.

The significance of clothing is further developed in the Joseph story when he was taken to Egypt and sold as a slave to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh. Even here in the house of this Egyptian, the Lord prospered Joseph (Gen 39:1-2). Joseph’s garments will come into focus again in Egypt. Firstly, the wife of Potiphar wanted Joseph to sleep with her, but he rejected her continuously (Gen 39:7-9). Our fear of God as witnessed in our obedience to His commandments which provide protection against evil and seductive detractors:

Pro 14:26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
Pro 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Pro 22:3a A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself…

This wife of Potiphar kept bothering Joseph to sleep with her, and one day, while they were alone in the house, she caught him by his garment. In fleeing from her, his garment got ripped off, and he left it with her in the rush of getting away from her:

Gen 39:10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
Gen 39:11 And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
Gen 39:12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

Our righteous walk in keeping God’s commandments in this life will also be used against us – even when we are innocent of false accusations, as the life of Joseph reveals to us. The righteous in God will prevail in the end although they will suffer temporary trials and afflictions (Psa 46:10; Pro 11:9; Pro 30:5-6; Mat 5:11; Rom 12:19):

Gen 39:13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth,
Gen 39:14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:
Gen 39:15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
Gen 39:16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.
Gen 39:17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:
Gen 39:18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out.

The false witnesses against God’s elect will be believed by those who are devoid of truth themselves, as per God’s design:

Gen 39:19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled.
Gen 39:20 And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.

Through this prison experience, Joseph met the Pharaoh’s butler, and through Joseph’s interpretation of the butler’s dream, he was remembered after two years by this butler when no one could interpret the dreams of the Pharaoh. When Joseph was taken from prison, his clothing was also changed again to introduce a new phase in his walk:

Gen 41:14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.

Joseph’s reward for interpreting the dreams of the Pharaoh correctly yet again included clothing! Joseph was now dressed in fine royal linen to be made the ruler of all the land of Egypt which had dominion over the known world at that time:

Gen 41:39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Gen 41:40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Gen 41:41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
Gen 41:43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

This is all pointing to the rulership of the Christ over all kingdoms of this world under the rulership of the Father. Through this rulership all in flesh will eventually be given “changes of raiment” – the life of the spirit of the Father. Joseph’s new role and position also caused his brothers to be given new garments, but Benjamin, his own brother from their mother Rachel, was given five changes of raiment – more than the rest:

Gen 45:22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

Benjamin also is a type of God’s faithful elect through the faith of Jesus Christ as the number five is the spiritual meaning for grace through faith bestowed on the elect in this age (1Ki 6:24; 2Ch 3:12; Eph 2:8-10). Benjamin represents the elect who is being seated at the marriage feast arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, and to receive the double portion from God:

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Rev 19:8 And to her [the church] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Colors in Scripture
Numbers in Scripture
Rev 1:13 – Part 2
Hem of His Garment
Foundational Themes in Genesis – Study 22
Rev 4:1-3 His Throne in Heaven
Being Elevated by God is Not Enough
Rev 18:5-8

“The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture” Series

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Red) – Part 1

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Red) – Part 2

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

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Blue) – Part 2

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Yellow)

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

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Green) – Part 2

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Green) – Part 3

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Black) – Part 1

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Black) – Part 2

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color Black) – Part 3

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color White) – Part 1

The Spiritual Significance of Colors In Scripture (The Color White) – Part 2

Spiritual Significance of Colors in Scripture – The Color Black, Part 1

Psa 18:11  He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Isa 45:3  And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

As with every word in scripture, the color ‘black’ has both a positive and a negative application. In this particular study of the color black, I want to drive that point home by pointing out that even the word ‘sin’ has a positive application inasmuch as it is the first step which is necessary to “become as” God. I will give you two verses of many dozens which establish this point, and then we will move on. This first section has to do with King David’s sin in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba.

Psa 51:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Psa 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin [is] ever before me.
Psa 51:4  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when thou judgest.
Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psa 51:6  Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden [part] thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Psa 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psa 51:8  Make me to hear joy and gladness; [that] the bones [which] thou hast broken may rejoice.
Psa 51:9  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Then there is this enlightening statement made by Christ Himself in the garden of Eden:

Gen 3:22  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

In its positive application, black is the health and well being of the flesh. Black, being the opposite of white, darkness being the opposite of light, is not able to see beyond the flesh, but black sees God in the flesh. Black is a color which, even in its positive application, is intimately connected to the spiritually immature.

In its negative application black typifies a famine of the word, leading to spiritual starvation and spiritual ignorance and spiritual darkness.

The Seven Hebrew Words Which are Translated ‘Black’

There are seven Hebrew words which the King James translators have chosen to translate as black. Those seven words are:

1) H7838
sha cho r  sha cho r
shaw- khore’, shaw- khore’
From H7835; properly dusky, but also (absolutely) jetty: – black.

Positive

Lev 13:31 And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it [be] not in sight deeper than the skin, and [that there is] no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days:

Son 1:5  I am  black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

Son 5:11  His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

Negative

Zec 6:2  In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;
Zec 6:3  And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.
Zec 6:4  Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?
Zec 6:5   And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.

What do these “four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth” do? According to the book of Revelation they bring Christ to us, take away peace from us, bring a famine of the word to us and then we finally die; white… red… black… pale (green) horses of Revelation 6.

2) H7835
sha char
shaw- khar’
A primitive root (rather identical with H7836 through the idea of the duskiness of early dawn); to be dim or dark (in color): – be black.

This word appears just once in the Old Testament:

Job 30:26  When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
Job 30:27  My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
Job 30:28  I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
Job 30:29  I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
Job 30:30  My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

3) H6937
qa dar
kaw- dar
A primitive root; to be ashy, that is, dark colored; by implication to mourn (in sackcloth or sordid garments): – be black (- ish), be (make) dark (- en), X heavily, (cause to) mourn.

Positive

(1Ki 18:45 KJV)  And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

Negative

Jer 4:27  For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
Jer 4:28  For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed [it], and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

Jer 8:21  For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Jer 8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Jer 14:1  The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.
Jer 14:2  Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
Jer 14:3  And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
Jer 14:4  Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
Jer 14:5  Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
Jer 14:6  And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
Jer 14:7  O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.

Eze 32:7  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
Eze 32:8  All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 32:9  I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.
Eze 32:10  Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.

There are many verses which mention the sun turning to darkness:

Isa 13:10  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Isa 24:23  Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

Eze 32:7  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

Joe 2:10  The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
Joe 2:11  And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp [is] very great: for [he is] strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Joe 2:32  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Joe 3:15  The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

Amo 8:9  And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

Mic 3:5  Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
Mic 3:6  Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

4) H5508
so chereth
so- kheh’- reth
Similar to H5507; probably a (black) tile (or tessara) for laying borders with: – black marble

This word also appears only once in the Old Testament, but it demonstrates that “all things are of God.”

Est 1:5  And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace;
Est 1:6  Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.

5) H380
‘i ysho n
ee- shone’
Diminutive from H376; the little man of the eye; the pupil or ball; hence the middle (of night): – apple [of the eye], black, obscure.

Positive

Deu 32:8  When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
Deu 32:9  For the LORD’S portion [is] his people; Jacob [is] the lot of his inheritance.
Deu 32:10  He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Negative

Pro 7:7  And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
Pro 7:8  Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
Pro 7:9  In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
Pro 7:10  And, behold, there met him a woman [with] the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.

6) H7840
shecharcho reth
shekh- ar- kho’- reth
From H7835; swarthy: – black.

This word appears only once in the Old Testament.

Son 1:5  I am black [7835], but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
Son 1:6  Look not upon me, because I am black [7840], because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

7) H3648
ka mar
kaw- mar’
A primitive root; properly to intertwine or contract, that is, (by implication) to shrivel (as with heat); figuratively to be deeply affected with passion (love or pity): – be black, be kindled, yearn.

Positive

Gen 43:30  And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

1Ki 3:25  And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
1Ki 3:26  Then spake the woman whose the living child [was] unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, [but] divide [it].
1Ki 3:27  Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she [is] the mother thereof.

Negative

Lam 5:8  Servants have ruled over us:  there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand
Lam 5:9  We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness
Lam 5:10  Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

In Review

The Positive Application of the Color Black

A black hair is a sign of cleansed leprosy. The first time the word ‘black’ appears in the King James is in Leviticus 13. A “black hair” is an indication that the flesh is healthy and is not leprous.

Lev 13:29  If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard;
Lev 13:30  Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it [be] in sight deeper than the skin; [and there be] in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it [is] a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.
Lev 13:31  And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it [be] not in sight deeper than the skin, and [that there is] no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up [him that hath] the plague of the scall seven days:
Lev 13:32  And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague: and, behold, [if] the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall [be] not in sight deeper than the skin;
Lev 13:33  He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up [him that hath] the scall seven days more:
Lev 13:34  And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall: and, behold, [if] the scall be not spread in the skin, nor [be] in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.
Lev 13:35  But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing;
Lev 13:36  Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he [is] unclean.
Lev 13:37 But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and [that] there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he [is] clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

Black hair here is a sign of good physical, fleshly health in our ‘first love’.

Son 1:1  The song of songs, which [is] Solomon’s.
Son 1:2  Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love [is] better than wine.
Son 1:3  Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name [is as] ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
Son 1:4  Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
Son 1:5  I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
Son 1:6  Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; [but] mine own vineyard have I not kept.

Son 5:10  My beloved [is] white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.
Son 5:11  His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

The negative application of the color black

‘Black heavens’ mean judgment, which in turn breaks the famine. Israel had not seen rain for three years when Elijah prayed for rain:

1Ki 18:1  And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.
1Ki 18:2  And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

1Ki 18:43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, [There is] nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
1Ki 18:44  And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.
1Ki 18:45  And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

The different Hebrew words for ‘black’ are often translated dark and darkness, because it is darkness and lack of light with which the word ‘black’ is associated.

Psa 18:11  He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Ecc 2:13  Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

Of course, God is the maker of both:

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things].

He created darkness with a purpose in mind:

Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house [“spirits in prison”].

Isa 60:2  For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

It is this fact that keeps Him hidden from men who cannot receive the truth, but for those who love and can receive Truth:

Isa 45:3  And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

Next study we will see how this concept has been carried over into the prophecies of the New Testament.

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

Audio Links

The Color White – Part 1

As with every word we have covered, this word ‘white’ also has both a positive and a negative application. Why is that? It is because of what we learned in our last study:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

It is because all these words are the words of Christ, and what have we learned of Christ?

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:

How does this ‘cloud’ appear to those who do not know Christ?

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.

God’s Word is “a cloud and darkness to them.” The natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit, because they are foolishness to him.

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

“They are foolishness to him” means that God’s spiritual Words are “a cloud and darkness” to the natural man, and at the same time, they “give light by night to these” to whom God is revealing Himself.

Christ, the cloud, separates His people from Egypt. ‘Egypt’ is the natural man. That separation is accomplished by blinding Egypt while giving light to His own people. While those with whom God is working can see that Christ creates both light and darkness, they can also understand that it is He who creates both good and evil. This is contradictory to the natural man. The natural man cannot see how “sins as red as crimson” can be “washed white in the blood of the Lamb”; how one can “find his life by losing it”; how one can only see by acknowledging his blindness, and can only avoid judgment by being judged. The natural man cannot understand how it is possible to avoid the lake of fire by going through that same consuming fire here and now, and the natural man cannot see how we all avoid the wrath of God by enduring “God’s wrath on the children of disobedience” and “fulfilling the seven plagues of the seven angels.” Yet we are told:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

The natural man cannot see that God’s elect must “live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Including these words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God:

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

To the natural man it is contradictory to say that God is the creator of both good and evil. It is contradictory to say that Christ is a cloud which is both light and darkness, but that is why every word of the Word of God has both a negative and a positive application. It is because Christ is the cloud which separates his people from the people of Egypt, the natural man from the man who is “spiritually minded”. It is because Christ is His Word, and that word is “a cloud and darkness to them, but it gives light by night to these: so that the one comes not near the other all the night.”

How the Natural Man sees the Color White

The natural man sees white only as a type of light and righteousness. He cannot see white as a type of his deceived and diseased condition. Here is the only way ‘white is perceived in the eyes of the natural man:

Mat 17:2  And [Christ] was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Mar 9:3  And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Ecc 9:8  Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

These four verses will serve to express how most of us think of the color ‘white’. We think of white as snow, wool and the light of the Truth. One more verse will serve to demonstrate how this word is used in its positive sense:

Rev 19:8  And to her [Christ’s bride] was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

The Spiritually Negative Application of the Color White

This is not how ‘snow’ and ‘white’ are always used in God’s Word:

Exo 4:6  And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

Babylon Appears as White and as Light

Christ appears as “white as the light.”

Mat 17:2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Babylon also appears as an angel of light:

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

So Satan, too, is ‘white as light”, but it is the ‘white’ of the incurable disease of leprosy. It is incurable because “flesh… cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co 15:50). Flesh must be relinquished in order to enter the kingdom of God.

Many of the verses in the early parts of God’s Word connect the color ‘white’ to the disease of leprosy. We will bring this out later, but let’s begin where the Bible begins and see where ‘white’ first appears. White first appears in the King James Version of the Bible in ‘Babylon’ with all of its white sheep. By ‘Babylon’ I mean in Haran, where Jacob had gone on the other side of the flood, the river Euphrates, fleeing from his brother and looking for a wife. Jacob has served his father-in-law for two of his daughters and was now ready to go back to the land of Canaan:

Gen 30:25  And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.
Gen 30:26  Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.
Gen 30:27  And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake.
Gen 30:28  And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
Gen 30:29  And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.
Gen 30:30  For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
Gen 30:31  And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock:
Gen 30:32  I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and [of such] shall be my hire.
Gen 30:33  So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.
Gen 30:34  And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
Gen 30:35  And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.
Gen 30:36  And he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Gen 30:37  And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

In this story Jacob typifies Christ and those in Christ. Christ’s flocks have “some white in them,” but they are “speckled and spotted”, and none of the sheep belonging to Jacob are all white. All of the sheep are brown or speckled. Laban knew that sheep were generally white by nature, just as we are all leprous by nature. Laban actually believed that he had made a tremendous deal and that Jacob would probably get just a very small fraction of the increase of the flocks. However, this is all a parable about what is taking place within each of us. What God is showing us is that we are anything but white in any spiritual sense. At the same time, we are being brought to see that the white flocks of Laban and Babylon are nothing more than the “snow white” of spiritual leprosy. Laban never crosses the Euphrates River to go into the Promised Land, and yet it is very interesting that the Hebrew word for ‘white’ is ‘laban.’

H3835
la ban
law- ban’
A primitive root; to be (or become) white; also (as denominative from H3843) to make bricks: – make brick, be (made, make) white (-r).

The reason I said that “according to the King James Version” the word ‘white’ first appears in the story of Jacob’s time spent in the area of Haran is that, in reality, the word ‘white’ actually first appears in the Hebrew back in Genesis in the story of the building of the Tower of Babylon. It appears in the Hebrew word translated ‘brick’ as in the bricks used to build the Tower of Babel. The Hebrew root for this word translated ‘brick’ comes from the primitive root for the Hebrew word for white. It is:

H3843
lebe na h
leb- ay- naw’
From H3835; a brick (from the whiteness of the clay): – (altar of) brick, tile.

Gen 11:3  And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick [Hebrew: 3843 lebenah] for stone, and slime had they for morter.

So the tower of Babel was apparently built of white brick, but it is the whiteness of leprosy. Here is another Old Testament story which happened to them and is written for our admonition, which shows the connection between the color white and the incurable disease of leprosy:

2Ki 5:1  Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, [but he was] a leper.
2Ki 5:2  And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
2Ki 5:3  And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
2Ki 5:4  And [one] went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that [is] of the land of Israel.
2Ki 5:5  And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand [pieces] of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
2Ki 5:6  And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have [therewith] sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.
2Ki 5:7  And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, [Am] I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. [Leprosy was considered a death sentence.]
2Ki 5:8  And it was [so], when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
2Ki 5:9  So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
2Ki 5:10  And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
2Ki 5:11  But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
2Ki 5:12  [Are] not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
2Ki 5:13  And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, [if] the prophet had bid thee [do some] great thing, wouldest thou not have done [it]? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
2Ki 5:14  Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean [1Co 1:1-7, 1Co 3:1-4].
2Ki 5:15  And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that [there is] no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
2Ki 5:16  But he said, [As] the LORD liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take [it]; but he refused. [Abraham took nothing for delivering the king of Sodom, and John tells us to “take nothing of the Gentiles” [Gen 14:23, 3Jn 1:7].
2Ki 5:17  And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD.
2Ki 5:18  In this thing the LORD pardon thy servant, [that] when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon thy servant in this thing.
2Ki 5:19  And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
2Ki 5:20  But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, [as] the LORD liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
2Ki 5:21  So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw [him] running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, [Is] all well?
2Ki 5:22  And he said, All [is] well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.
2Ki 5:23  And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid [them] upon two of his servants; and they bare [them] before him.
2Ki 5:24  And when he came to the tower, he took [them] from their hand, and bestowed [them] in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.
2Ki 5:25  But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence [comest thou], Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.
2Ki 5:26  And he said unto him, Went not mine heart [with thee], when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? [Is it] a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
2Ki 5:27  The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. [Leprosy never leaves the carnal-minded and those whose thoughts and affections are on the things of this earth.]

Col 3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

The word ‘white’ appears in sixteen different verses of Leviticus 13, all in relation to the connection between the color ‘white’ and the signs of leprosy in either the color of the flesh or the color of the hair upon the flesh. White flesh and white hair upon the flesh are both signs of the incurable disease of leprosy, and leprosy is a physical type of the spiritual condition of the carnal mind.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Here are a few of the sixteen verses which describe the whiteness of leprosy, representing the spiritual type of “the body of this death.”

Lev 13:3  And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and [when] the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight [be] deeper than the skin of his flesh, it [is] a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

Lev 13:10  And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising;
Lev 13:11  It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean.

He is ‘white’, but “he is unclean.” He is a “whited sepulchre”.

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

If this verse means the local Babylonian minister to you and you have never yet come to see that this is, was, and will be dying daily within you, then you are still in Babylon. As with all the other seeming contradictions of the things of the spirit, the only way to “come out of Babylon” is to admit that “dying daily” is “coming out of Babylon… daily.”

We have mentioned both the positive and negative, the light and the darkness of this color white, but we have dealt mostly with the negative application this week. Next week we will deal with the spiritually positive application of the color white in the word of God. What we should be coming to see is that, just as God could create a crooked serpent and a tree of knowledge of good and evil and pronounce it all “very good”, even so ought we to begin to understand these verses of scripture:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Ecc 3:11  He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

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

Audio Links

Colors – White, Part 2

Introduction

The main truth we need to glean from this entire series on colors in scripture is the truth of this verse:

Psa 139:12  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

God is the creator of both light and darkness. Both are instruments in His hand.

Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

He uses light to describe Himself, and He uses darkness to describe how the flesh and the Adversary perceive Him and His Works:

Dan 7:9  I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

That is how God describes Christ who is “the express image of His Father and who is our door to His Father.

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.

Christ separates His people from the world and keeps them from coming near each other. He does this by appearing as “a cloud and darkness to them.” This was our focus last week. In this study we will focus on how the color white is used by God to show us that He “gives light by night to these.”

God’s elect fall, but rise to be “made white”

Dan 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Dan 11:33  And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Dan 11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

White is intimately connected with God’s chastening grace

From this day forward, when we see the word ‘white’ “they of understanding” will now know and “instruct many” that God’s Words all have both a positive and a negative application because God is the creator of both the light and the darkness and the good and the evil in us all. They will also “instruct many” that when all is said and done we will all be “made white” through purging trials. So when we read:

Dan 12:6  And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
Dan 12:7  And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [ things] shall be finished.
Dan 12:8  And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
Dan 12:9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Dan 12:10  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

There it is! It comes out and tells us, “Many shall be made white and tried…”

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, [and] exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [Greek: paideuo, chasten] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

That is what makes us worthy to wear “white linen:”

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

White is intimately connected with light and clothing or raiment

“The righteousness of the saints” is Christ’s righteousness. It is in Him that the saints are “clean and white.”

Mat 17:2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Luk 9:29  And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.

Mat 28:3  His [the angel at the tomb] countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

Mar 9:3  And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

White is associated with righteousness

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints

Joh 4:35  Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

White is associated with God’s elect

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Rev 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
Rev 4:5  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Rev 4:6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

Who are these “four beasts and four and twenty elders? The four beasts and the four and twenty elders also symbolize God’s elect:

Rev 5:8  And when he [Christ] had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Rev 6:9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Rev 14:14  And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

Rev 15:6  And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.

Who are these ‘seven angels?’

Rev 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him [the angel]. 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.

Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them [This ‘white throne’ is the same as the ‘white cloud’ in an earlier scripture].

Rev 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

Conclusion – White Is Christ and all who are in Him

Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 1:13  And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Rev 1:14  His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
Rev 1:15  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Rev 1:16  And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Rev 6:2  And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer [This white horse is Christ when He first comes to us and deals our beast his deadly wound, and He is Christ who comes to us as mature sons. It is all the revelation of Jesus Christ].

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

Never let us forget what we started with:

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.

Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

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Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Dan 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Ecc 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Let’s go back to our third word and consider how it is used elsewhere in scripture:

3) G2217
zophos
dzof’- os
Akin to the base of G3509 [nephos – cloud]; gloom (as shrouding like a cloud): – blackness, darkness,

2Pe 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

2Pe 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
2Pe 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous [are they], selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
2Pe 2:11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, [as] they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots [they are] and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam [the son] of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
2Pe 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
2Pe 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

Jud 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, [and] called:
Jud 1:2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Jud 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jud 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jud 1:5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Jud 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Jud 1:10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Jud 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Jud 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds [they are] without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jud 1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

So zophos, the Greek word so often translated ‘darkness,’ is also translated ‘blackness’ and has the same root as the Greek word translated ‘cloud.’ In other words, the holy spirit sees a connection between all three words blackness, darkness, and clouds. There is another word which is translated ‘darkness’ and has the same meaning of the absence of light. Here is that word:

G4656
skotoo
skot- o’- o
From G4655; to obscure or blind (literally or figuratively): – be full of darkness.

This word appears but once in the New Testament:

Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Which takes us back to the use of the word ‘black’ in the Old Testament:

Jer 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Jer 8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.

Joe 2:6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

The next word we will consider is the root of our previous word ‘skotoo.’ The root of ‘skotoo’ is ‘skotos.’

G4655
skotos
skot’- os
From the base of G4639; shadiness, that is, obscurity (literally or figuratively): – darkness.

This word appears 33 times and is consistently translated ‘darkness’ every single time in the King James Version. Here are but a couple of those 33 verses which we have not yet covered with this word in them:

Mat 22:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Darkness is where “many” find themselves. Here is another example of this word:

Act 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Act 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

One more verse with this word ‘skotos’ in it is:

Act 13:7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
Act 13:8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
Act 13:9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
Act 13:10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
Act 13:11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

“The hand of the Lord” can be on us for either good or evil. Always remember that to God “light and darkness are both alike to [Him].” It is all of God to the end of accomplishing His goal of bring all to Him.

The last word we will consider is the word which is the root of our previous word ‘skotos’ and is the primary root of so many of these Greek words at which we are looking. It is the Greek word ‘skia:’

G4639
skia
skee’- ah
Apparently a primary word; shade or a shadow (literally or figuratively [darkness of error or an adumbration]): – shadow.

This word appears just seven times in the New Testament and is again consistently translated all seven times as ‘shadow.’ Our first example is a verse which also has another form of this root in it:

Mat 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

As it turns out, the words ‘darkness’ and ‘shadow’ both have this Greek word ‘skia’ as their root. Here is another verse.

Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:15 [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [the reality] is of [the] Christ.

Another verse which demonstrates the meaning of black and darkness in God’s Word is:

Heb 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
Heb 8:3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
Heb 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

What is God’s “true tabernacle?”

Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Do you see that line upon line and precept upon precept reveals ‘heaven’ to be in the hearts and minds of God’s elect who will one day bring ‘heaven’ into the hearts and minds of all men. “The [true] tabernacle of God is with men.”

In summary black and darkness are:

1) The emptiness associated with the absence of God’s presence:

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And [then] the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

2) Ignorance or rebellion to the ways and words of God:

Mat 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Pro 2:10 When wisdom [Christ] entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Pro 2:11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
Pro 2:12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
Pro 2:13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness

Mic 7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
Mic 7:9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
Mic 7:10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she [Babylon within each of us] be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

3) The ways of the wicked are as darkness:

Pro 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

4) Black and darkness are a sign of God’s anger, indignation, and His judgment:

Joe 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

In the book of Revelation, John “was in the spirit on the Lord’s day…”

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

Joe 2:2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

Joe 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Joe 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

What is the timing of “the Lord’s day?” When does all of this take place? We need not guess.

Act 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

“The great and terrible day of the Lord” is the ‘day of harvest’, the day of being ‘judged’.

The ‘tares’ are separated from the wheat “in the time of harvest.”

Mat 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Amo 5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
Amo 5:19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Amo 5:20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?

Zep 1:15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
Zep 1:16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
Zep 1:17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

In conclusion let us remember what mankind in his black, darkened, fleshly, carnal state cannot acknowledge:

5) God creates both light AND darkness. Both are mere instruments in the hands of a sovereign God:

Psa 18:11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Psa 18:25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
Psa 18:26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
Psa 18:27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
Psa 18:28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

It is only by God’s grace that the ‘letters’ which hide the spirit behind them, are opened up and bring light to us.

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 [hidden in the ‘letters’ of the Old Testament].

1Pe 2:9 But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light [out of the letter and into the spirit]:

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not [those who cannot see the spirit foreshadowed by the letter].

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh [the letter] profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

The light is the life, and the life is the light. Who is that light? It is the Christ:

Joh 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Joh 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

What is “the light of the world?” It is “the Christ in you.”

Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

Dan 2:22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

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