The Color Red – Part 2

Both Adams Are Red

[Study Aired November 16, 2025]

We have seen how the name ‘Adam’ is the same as the word ‘adam’ and that both mean earthy, of the ground and red. We have demonstrated that this word ‘adam’, whether speaking of mankind, the earth, the ground or the color red, are all to be recognized spiritually as that part of the man of God which is rejected of God and is in rebellion to the laws of God. Above all we have seen that this is not to be applied only ‘without’/outwardly and in the lives of others, but it is first and foremost to be understood as signifying what is within the lives of every believer at his appointed time to be dominated by our ‘red’ flesh and later to be dominate that ‘red’, carnal-minded old man. The negative application of the color red is that which first dominates us in the flesh. The positive application of the color red, is the domination of the flesh by the spirit. Both are typified by red.

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.

There is also the much less discussed but equally important, positive application of the color red. It is the same root ‘adam,’ but it is called ‘admoniy’. This word also is used to describe both God’s rejected anointed and God’s elect anointed:

Gen 25:25  And the first came out red [admoniy – H132], all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

1Sa 16:12  And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy [red – admoniy – H132], and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.

Why are both the lost and the saved pictured as red? It is because ultimately no one is lost. It is because all men must endure that which is temporal before any will come to that which is eonian, leading to that which is immortal. Red, then, is the best of the temporal man of God, that which is earthy and first and red, is also therefore necessarily connected with that which is to become immortal.

Crimson and Scarlet in Scripture

There are other words in God’s Word which have this same ‘red’ concept but are not derived from the word Adam. That is what we will cover in today’s study.

The two other words which convey the color red are crimson and scarlet.

2Ch 2:7  Send me [King Solomon] now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson [H3758: karmiyl – red], and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

2Ch 2:14  The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson [H3758: karmiyl]; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.

2Ch 3:14  And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson [H3758: karmiyl], and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

Here is Strong’s definition of the word ‘karmiyl’ iin these three verses:

H3758

כַּרְמִיל

karmı̂yl

kar-mele’

Probably of foreign origin; carmine, a deep red: – crimson.

‘Karmiyl’ is “deep red: -crimson”

Total KJV occurrences: 3

Isaiah speaks of the color red, but he uses two more words we have not seen before in this study of the color red:

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet [H8144: shaniy], they shall be as white as snow; though they be red [H119, ‘adam’] like crimson [H8438: tola ], they shall be as wool.

Here is Strong’s definition of ‘shaniy’, the word translated ‘scarlet’ in Isaiah 1:18:

H8144

שָׁנִי

shânı̂y

shaw-nee’

Of uncertain derivation; crimson, properly the insect or its color, also stuff dyed with it: – crimson, scarlet (thread).

Total KJV occurrences: 42

Here is the first entry in scripture for this word ‘shaniy’:

Gen 38:28  And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet [H8144, ‘shaniy’] thread, saying, This came out first.

Here is Strong’s definition for ‘tola,’ the word translated ‘crimson’ in Isaiah 1:18:

H8438
tola  to le a h  to la ath  to la ath
to-law’, to- lay- aw’, (3, 4) to- lah’- ath

From H3216; a maggot (as voracious); specifically (often with ellipsis of H8144) the crimson grub, but used only (in this connection) of the color from it , and cloths dyed therewith: – crimson, scarlet, worm.

Look at how it is used by King David:

Psa 22:6  But I am a worm [tola, red grub], and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

Here is a “man after God’s own heart”, the man who is to replace God’s rejected anointed King Saul, who recognizes that he is nothing more than a little red grub “despised of the people.”

This should remind us all of another inwardly applied scripture:

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. [A ‘tola’, a red grub]

The color red should remind us all that we are all Adam, and all that is in Adam is in us by right of birth. It should remind us that we are all in Babylon before we “come out of her:”

Jer 4:30  And when thou [God’s rejected anointed – Babylon] art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson [H8144: shaniy – same word translated ‘scarlet’ in Isaiah 1:18], though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

Rev 17:4  And the woman [Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots] was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

It takes nothing less than the resurrection from among the dead to change this ‘red’ Adamic nature within us all. Only then can we become ‘ruddy’ as God’s new accepted kings and priests. The flesh is always before the spirit:

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Christ had to come in the flesh before He could come in us in spirit.

Gen 38:21  Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.
Gen 38:22  And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place.
Gen 38:23  And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
Gen 38:24  And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
Gen 38:25  When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.
Gen 38:26  And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.
Gen 38:27  And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
Gen 38:28  And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
Gen 38:29  And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.
Gen 38:30  And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

Pharez, breach; “Pharez, division; rupture,” according to Hitchcock’s dictionary of names, came out first and thus became the father of Christ “according to the flesh.” Here is that part of Christ’s genealogy in Luke:

Luk 3:33  Which was [the son] of Aminadab, which was [the son] of Aram, which was [the son] of Esrom, which was [the son] of Phares, which was [the son] of Juda,

What does the scarlet thread on the hand of Zarah mean? What it means is that Zarah typifies the second Adam. It typifies Christ after the spirit:

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [after the flesh].

That is never first which is spiritual. Pharez was first and was the physical father of Christ, but the promise of the spirit came “afterward”:

Gen 38:30  And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

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.

Zarah was “afterward that which is spiritual.” Why did Zarah put forth his hand first? He did so to tell us that Christ was first with His Father. He did so to tell us that even though both Pharez and Zarah are born of Judah, who was born of Adam, nevertheless even the first Adam also was “of God.” It is all right here in 2Corinthians 5, only two verses after telling us that we are to “know no man [including Christ] after the flesh” we have this verse:

2Co 5:18  And all things [both Adams – Adam after the flesh and Adam after the spirit] are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.

‘Adam’ means “earthy, red.” The “last Adam” also has a “scarlet thread” around his hand signifying the beauty and health of God’s elect in Christ, who was here before the first Adam. In spite of His preeminence, He, too, was “out of the ground:”

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Zarah, too, was “out of the ground.” Zarah does not mean “division or rupture” as Pharez means. According to Hitchcock’s Dictionary of names, Zarah means:

“East; rising, brightness.” And who is the brightest of them all?

Rev 22:16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, [and] the bright and morning star.

As much as the Adversary wants us to believe otherwise, God truly brought and is bringing us our savior “of our own brothers,” out of the red earth, “out of the ground.”

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well [spoken that] which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require [it] of him.

Zarah’s “scarlet thread” foreshadows all of this. Of all of God’s creation, Christ alone was spirit first, and is truly “the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

The same message is to be seen in the “line of scarlet thread” of Rahab the harlot who saved the spies in Jericho:

Jos 2:17  And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
Jos 2:18  Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.

Jos 6:25  And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

That “line of scarlet thread” served the same purpose for Rahab and her family as the “blood on the two side posts and the upper door posts” of the houses of the Israelites during the first Passover in Egypt:

Exo 12:7  And they shall take of the blood [of the Passover lamb], and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

Exo 12:13  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

The salvation and deliverance of  Israel from Egypt by ‘the blood of the Lamb’ on the doorposts, and the salvation of Rahab and her family by the red thread in the window, both signify how the blood of Christ cleanses us from our sins.

Red Blood Both Stains and ‘Washes White’:

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.

Isa 63:1  Who [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this [that is] glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
Isa 63:2  Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
Isa 63:3  I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people [there was] none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
Isa 63:4  For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

What Makes Scarlet and Crimson Sins White?

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.

It is the shed red blood of Christ’s physical body which was sacrificed by His Father for our sins and to bring salvation to all men. Life comes only “through death”, through the death of the flesh of our old man, just as life came to Christ through the death of His corruptible flesh and blood:

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

‘Adam’ means ‘red’, and the blood of every son of Adam is red blood.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death [The pouring out of His red blood], to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and [red] blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death [the shedding of red blood] he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

The shedding of Christ’s blood signifies the dying of our own old man when Christ is living His life within us. “[We] die daily” and we are “crucified with Christ” daily as a “living sacrifice”:

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

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.

Christ was mocked in a Scarlet Robe.

Mat 27:28  And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

Why a scarlet robe? Because scarlet is the color of earthly royalty and rulers. Look at the colors of this ruler:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Who is riding this “scarlet colored beast?”

Rev 17:4  And the woman [Babylon] was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Jer 4:30  And [when] thou [art] spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

The great harlot is “clothed… with crimson”, yet crimson is also one of the colors of the veil of the temple:

2Ch 3:14  And he made the vail [of] blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

So both the lost and the saved are pictured as red because no one is lost ultimately, and because all men must endure that which is temporal before any will become that which is eonian, leading to that which is immortal. Red, then, is the best of the temporal man of God, that which is earthy, natural and first, and red is also therefore necessarily connected with that which is to become immortal.

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

In conclusion we have seen both the positive and the negative applications of the color red which is used of the holy spirit to connect the spiritual with its “out of the ground” origins.

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

So the color red signifies our earthly origins. Our next study will be the color blue which signifies the goal of earthly beginnings. Blues signifies our heavenly destination.

[Next study in this series is here.]

The Color Red – Part 1

Introduction to the Spiritual Significance of Colors

[Study Aired November 14, 2025]

A simple prism demonstrates that every shade in the spectrum of colors is to be found in a single ray of sunlight. What this tells us, according to Romans 1:20, is that every shade of color is to be found in Christ and His Father of whom are all things:

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:

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.

Colors, like every word of scripture, carry a spiritual meaning with them. Light signifies truth and knowledge. Darkness is the absence of truth and knowledge. Each color in the entire spectrum of light carries with it equally important truths, understanding and knowledge, and they are all within the old man Adam within all of us.

It so happens that like the three-sided prism, there are only three primary colors. Those three primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. It is out of these three colors, and combinations of these three colors, that all other colors come. What does the number three tell us? It tells us that colors, like all else in God’s Word, reveal that there is a process of judgment taking place within the plan of God (read The Spiritual Significance of The Number Three).

Today we will see that the primary color red signifies that 1) mankind is of the ground, 2) red signifies God’s rejected anointed, 3) red is symbolic of an incurable disease, 4) it signifies the color of the Adversary himself and finally, 5) in its positive application, red indicates the health and beauty of God’s chosen elect.

1) Red As Mankind, The Ground of The Earth

The first color mentioned in scripture is the color ‘red. Adam, man, was taken out of the ‘adamah,’ the ground:

Gen 2:4  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth [H776: ‘erets’] when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Gen 2:5  And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and [there was] not a man to till the ground [H127: adamah].
Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man [H120: adam] of the dust of the ground [H127: adamah], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man [H120: adam] became a living soul.

Adam, the first man, who was also named ‘Adam’, Strong’s #121. According to Hitchcock’s dictionary of names, Adam’s name means “earthy; red.” The word ‘man’ [Strong’s #H120] is also ‘adam.’

Gen 2:19  And out of the ground [H127: adamah] the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam [Strong’s #121 – adam] to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

Here now is Strong’s definition of ‘Adam:”

H121
‘a da m
aw- dawm’
The same as H120; Adam, the name of the first man, also of a place in Palestine: – Adam.

The first entry in scripture for the word ‘adam’, signifying mankind is found in:

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man [Strong’s #120] in our image, after our likeness: and let them [mankind] have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So “Adam” [Strong’s #H121] is the same as the “man” [Strong’s #H120]. Both mean “earthy, red“, and both mean “man.”

2) Red Signifies The Rejected Twin Brother of God’s Elect

This is very instructive inasmuch as the color red is also associated with the very best the flesh has to offer:

Gen 25:25  And the first came out red [Hebrew: admoniy – Strong’s #132 – red or reddish], all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau [H6215: ‘Esav’].
Gen 25:26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Gen 25:27  And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

Esau “was… a man of the fields” tells us who Esau is spiritually. It is Christ Himself who gives us the spiritual meaning of the word ‘field’:

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one [Esau signfies Abraham’s rejected anointed seed in this world, physical Israel, Gal 4:24-25];

Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Jacob “a plain man dwelling in tents” tells us who Jacob is spiritually:

Heb 11:9  By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles [G4633: ‘skene’ tents] with Isaac and Jacob [Esau, Jacob’s twin, signified by “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, is omitted], the heirs with him of the same promise:

This is Strong’s definition for this Hebrew word, ‘skene’:

G463
σκηνη
ske ne
skay- nay’
Apparently akin to G4632 and G4639; a tent or cloth hut (literally or figuratively): – habitation, tabernacle.

In this story Isaac signifies our ‘old man’, our flesh, which is attached to the things of the flesh:

Gen 25:28  And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Jacob signifies the Lord’s elect:

Rom 9:10  And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

God’s elect are not elect because they are righteous; they are God’s elect in spite of their lack of righteousness. Jacob was a scoundrel who effectively stole both Esau’s birthright and blessing. The fact that Isaac loved Esau, and the fact that Esau was the first-born twin brother of God’s typical elect Jacob, tells us that Esau is just an earlier type of God’s rejected anointed, King Saul. It is always God’s rejected anointed who want God’s anointed dead. Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son, mocked Isaac (Gen 21:9), Esau, Isaac’s firstborn, wanted Jacob dead (Gen 27:41). Saul wanted David dead (1Sa 18:11), and the established church wanted Christ dead (Joh 19:6).

The three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are types of us. They typify the three stages of our spiritual progress. Abraham signifies the beginning of our calling (Gen 12:1), as “carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4). As we begin to know Christ Esau’s wild venison appeals to us more than Jacob’s domesticated lambs and goats, when we are in our intermediate ‘Isaac’ stage of spiritual growth. It is in this stage of our experience that we sell our birthright for a bowl of “pottage.”

Gen 25:29  And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
Gen 25:30  And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [H122: ‘adom’, red] pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom [H123: ‘Edom’ red].
Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
Gen 25:32  And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

 Here is Strong’s definition for Esau’s new name, Edom:

H123
‘e do m  ‘e do m
ed- ome’, ed- ome’
From H122; red (see Gen 25:25); Edom, the elder twin- brother of Jacob; hence the region (Idumaea) occupied by him: – Edom, Edomites, Idumea.

H122
‘adom’
aw- dome’
From H119; rosy: – red, ruddy.

‘Adom’, the color red, signifies the spiritual weakness of our flesh:

Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles [herbs without meat]; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Here is the spiritual significance of the color red. Red is “man, Adam, earthy, red.” Our birthright is spiritual, blue as we will see, and we just naturally think less of the things of the spirit, and we are all at first willing to sell our spiritual birthright for mere physical red herbs devoid of spiritual meat. This is all by design, and this story signifies what the Lord is working within every man at his appointed time:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all [things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil [within each of us because we must all live by every world of God (Mat 4:4).

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity [H120, ‘adam’, mankind] to humble them by it.

We are all Esau before we become Jacob. As we will see below, red is also the beauty of God’s elect. This is the New Testament reality of this Old Testament parable:

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [first] and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh [water] is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Water signifies the flesh (Rev 17:15), and spirit is spirit. “Flesh is flesh and… spirit is spirit.”

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.
1Co 15:47  The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

If the Lord gives us to desire the things of the spirit, then we will, by circumstances beyond our control, end up going to Haran (Babylon – spiritually called Egypt) to serve and from Babylon we will be given a wife, and we will from Babylon become the wife of Christ.

Gen 24:1  And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Gen 24:2  And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
Gen 24:3  And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: [“The Canaanites” signify the uncalled world]
Gen 24:4  But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred [Haran, of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians], and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

This was the experience of both Jacob and his son Joseph, and also Moses. They each lived lives of service, and they were given their wives outside of Canaan. They all first lived years of servitude before they were given their wives. This, of course, signifies us as the wife of Christ.

 3) Red is indicative of an incurable deadly disease:

Lev 13:19  And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish [#125 – adamdam], and it be shewed to the priest;
Lev 13:20  And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil.

Lev 13:49  And if the plague be greenish or reddish [#125 – adamdam] in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest:

Lev 14:37  And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish [#125 – adamdam], which in sight are lower than the wall;
Lev 14:38  Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:
Lev 14:39  And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, [if] the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
Lev 14:40  Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague [is], and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:
Lev 14:41  And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:
Lev 14:42  And they shall take other stones, and put [them] in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.
Lev 14:43  And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered;
Lev 14:44  Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, [if] the plague be spread in the house, it [is] a fretting leprosy in the house: it [is] unclean.
Lev 14:45  And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.

God’s Word is all a parable. Here is the New Testament interpretation and application of this Old Testament parable:

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly [that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, [concerning] him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6  Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

4) Red symbolizes the beast within all men:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet [Red] coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

5) There is another example of the spiritual significance of the color red. Red also signifies the work of the Adversary who robs us of our peace when we first profess to know Christ:

Rev 6:4  And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him [of God] that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

6) Red signifies the adversary himself:

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

7) The positive application of the color red:

Red also represents the beauty and health of the spirit of God’s elect:

1Sa 16:10  Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.
1Sa 16:11  And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all [thy] children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
1Sa 16:12  And he sent, and brought him in. Now he [was] ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this [is] he.
1Sa 16:13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

Here is the New Testament Spiritual application of this Old Testament parable:

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Summary:

So the negative applications of  red – adamah – adam – edom – are:

 1) of the ground and identifying with this earth, (Gen 2:7)

2) Red is symbolic of a religious man who signifies the rejected seed of Abraham. Red represents a religious man who cannot come out of this Babylon, and yet is that part of Abraham’s seed which is closest to its twin brother.

Ishmael was Abraham’s seed born of an Egyptian bondwoman. Ishmael does not typify that which would deceive the very elect if possible. It is Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, who sold his birthright for red pottage, who so despises God’s elect and yet he has great appeal to our flesh.

3) Red symbolizes that facet of our experience which is called an incurable deadly disease (Lev 13-Lev 14- The laws governing leprosy).

4) Red is also the color used of God to symbolize the “scarlet colored beast” which all men first are (Rev 17:4).

5) Red signifies the work of the Adversary who the Lord sends to take away our peace in this world as He drags us to Himself (Rev 6:4)

6) The adversary himself is called “a great red dragon” in Revelation 12:4.

7) The positive application of the color red is the beauty and health of God’s elect, “ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance… anointed in the midst of [their] brothers” (1Sa 16:12-13).

We will pause our study of the color red at this point. In our next study we will see many of the scriptures which demonstrate how the holy spirit uses the color red to show us that red signifies both our old and our new man inasmuch as our new man comes out of our old man just as both the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the Tree Of Life both come “out of the ground”:

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

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

Numbers 19:1-22 The Water of Purification and its Preparation

[Study Aired September 11, 2023]

Num 19:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 19:2  This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: 
Num 19:3  And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: 
Num 19:4  And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: 
Num 19:5  And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: 
Num 19:6  And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 
Num 19:7  Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
Num 19:8  And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. 
Num 19:9  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin. 
Num 19:10  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever. 
Num 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:12  He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. 
Num 19:13  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. 
Num 19:14  This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
Num 19:15  And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
Num 19:16  And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:17  And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
Num 19:18  And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
Num 19:19  And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 
Num 19:20  But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 
Num 19:21  And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 
Num 19:22  And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. 

Introduction

In chapter 18, we are shown the service to be rendered and the compensation or the reward given to the Aaronic priesthood, which represents the elect, and how the work of the Levites (our brothers and sisters in Babylon) is to aid the work of the elect. Chapter 19, which is the focus of our study today, follows up with the potential threats to the performance of the priesthood service and the Lord’s provision to sanctify us as we journey in this wilderness of life. As we are aware, there are so many things that can easily defile us to be disqualified in performing our role as priests in this life. During the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness, Aaron and his sons (the priests) were prone to being easily defiled, thus preventing them from performing their role as Priests. For example, just touching a grave makes one defiled. Our situation as we see this age gradually coming to an end is very challenging. We can easily be defiled in our heavens through false doctrines of which our Lord Jesus warned us:

Mat 24:3  As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 
Mat 24:4  And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
Mat 24:5  For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 

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.

The propensity for the people of Israel to be defiled as they journeyed through the wilderness was extremely high, and so this chapter focuses on the preparation of the water of purification, which is able to cleanse the people to make them clean. Today’s study is to enlighten our understanding on this water of purification, which is cleansing us as His priests so that we can perform our duties as priests of the Lord in this life. 

Num 19:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Num 19:2  This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:

The red heifer here is Christ who redeems us from our sins.  The color red qualifying the heifer, therefore signifies Christ in His humanity. The heifer being without blemish indicates that Christ was without sin. The fact that the heifer was ‘without spot’ means that Jesus Christ was perfect. The heifer was also not under any yoke which implies that Christ was not under any bondage to sin or anyone. Our Lord Jesus Christ was therefore the perfect sacrifice to take away our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 

1Jn 4:10  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 
Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 
Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 
Rom 3:25  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 
Rom 3:26  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Num 19:3  And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face: 

The fact that Eleazer, the Priest, was the one who led the red heifer, representing Christ, outside the camp to be slaughtered in verse 3 implies that we, His elect, all contributed to the death of Christ. In Acts 4:27-28, the list of all those who murdered Christ was mentioned as follows:

Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Does this list exclude anybody? No. We are all guilty of Christ’s murder. However, this outrageous act did turn out to be for our salvation. This is what our Lord said about us being guilty of the blood of the prophets:

Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Num 19:4  And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times: 

Verse 4 shows us that the blood of Christ (red heifer) cleanses our temple (our hearts and mind) from all unrighteousness. Eleazer cleaning the tabernacle seven times with the blood of the red heifer signifies Christ completely cleansing our hearts and mind with His blood.

Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 
Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 
Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 
Heb 9:16  For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 
Heb 9:17  For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 
Heb 9:18  Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 
Heb 9:20  Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 
Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 
Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 
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. 
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 
Heb 9:25  Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 
Heb 9:26  For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 

Num 19:5  And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: 
Num 19:6  And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. 

Where there is burning, there is the judgment of God as shown in the following verses:

Deu 32:24  They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. 

Job 41:19  Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

Isa 4:4  When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.

Verse 5 and 6 therefore signify the judgment of the Lord in His humanity which resulted in His total obedience to His father, and therefore He became the author of eternal salvation for His elect, the priests, and for the rest of the world.

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 

We need to understand the significance of the cedar wood, hyssop and the scarlet which were cast into the midst of the burning of the red heifer. Cedar wood, hyssop and the scarlet are essential ingredients in the purification process according to the law of Moses as shown in the following verse:

Lev 14:51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:

Cedar trees are considered to be the first of trees. The Bible describes the cedar tree as strong, durable, graceful and beautiful. It is known for its longevity and resistance to decay. It is a symbol of Christ’s considerable spiritual stature, excellence and perfection in God. In the case of cedar wood, it represents Christ in His humanity.

Isa 9:10  The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars [Strong and Durable].

Psa 80:10  The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars [Graceful and beautiful].

Eze 17:23  In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

Throwing cedar wood into the burning of the red heifer means that Christ was judged in His humanity as He suffered for our sake.  It also means that Christ’s coming to us is with judgment.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Hyssop is an evergreen plant of the mint family. It was first used in the Bible as a sort of paintbrush to apply a lamb’s blood for cleansing. This usage had been consistent in the law of Moses. 

Exo 12:22  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

As we can see, hyssop is therefore an instrument used for cleansing. In this life, it is we, His elect, whom the Lord uses to cleanse His people and therefore we are represented by the hyssop. Being thrown into the burning of the red heifer means the elect must fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for the body’s sake in this age.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 

The next item thrown in the burning of the red heifer is the scarlet. The word “scarlet” properly refers to the insect “coccus ilicit”, the dried body of the female yielding coloring matter from which is made the dye used for cloth to color it scarlet or crimson. The first time this word was used in the Bible was as follows:

Gen 38:28  And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.

We, His elect, are the firstfruit of Christ who are the first to know Him in this life (first to come out). We therefore represent the scarlet that is thrown into the burning of the red heifer. Again, this implies that we are to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for the body’s sake in this age. The two items (the scarlet and the hyssop) serve as witnesses to the fact that, as His elect, we must suffer with Him in this life. 

It is also very insightful to note that the throwing of the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet into the burning of the red heifer also symbolizes that the elect together with our Lord Jesus will administer judgment in the lake of fire to all humanity to bring them to Christ, just as the son of God (Jesus) was with the three Hebrew boys (the elect) in the oven during Nebuchadnezzar’s time. In this case, the red heifer represents the beast within all humanity.

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;

Dan 3:24  Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 
Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 
Dan 3:26  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. 

Num 19:7  Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
Num 19:8  And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. 

The priest, or the one responsible for the burning of the red heifer, must wash his clothes or bathe his flesh in water in order to be clean. The washing of clothes and the bathing of the flesh in water all signify how the word of the Lord (water) cleanses us as we are given to know the truth of the word. 

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

The fact that the priest and the one unclean would continue to be unclean until the evening means that it takes a while to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. That is to say that being cleansed or sanctified is a process. It is not a one-time event. 

2Co 3:18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another [a process]. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Num 19:9  And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin. 
Num 19:10  And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute forever. 

As we are aware, ashes indicate that burning had taken place. The burning of the heifer shows us the suffering of Christ. Remember that during the burning of the heifer, cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were added to the burning. We indicated that the hyssop and the scarlet represent the elect. The ashes of the heifer collected and preserved therefore include the ashes of the hyssop and that of the scarlet. The ashes of the heifer to be collected and preserved for the water of purification therefore is a symbol of the suffering we must endure in order to be cleansed. In other words, it is the fire of the word of the Lord. This implies that there is no cleansing when there are no fiery trials in our lives (fire of the word) since the ashes together with running water constitute the water of purification. 

Mat 13:20  As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 
Mat 13:21  yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word [the fire of the word], immediately he falls away.

The ashes of the heifer, which are a mark of suffering, are the same as the scars on the hands of our Lord Jesus when He appeared before Thomas and asked Thomas to put his finger into His scars as proof that He has resurrected. 

Joh 20:25  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 
Joh 20:26  Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 
Joh 20:27  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 
Joh 20:28  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 
Joh 20:29  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

In verse 10, we are told that gathering ashes of a heifer makes one unclean. In another perspective, gathering ashes is the same as requiring evidence before believing, which makes us unclean. That was what happened to Thomas, and as a result, the Lord told him it is those who have not seen but yet believe who are blessed.  

The rest of the verses of this chapter focus on the sources of contamination which would require the use of water of purification.

Num 19:11  He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. 
Num 19:12  He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
Num 19:13  Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. 
Num 19:14  This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.

Spiritually, a dead body of any man refers to a person who is spiritually dead. Touching a dead body therefore means accepting the false teachings or doctrines from a spiritually dead person. As stated in verse 11, such a person becomes unclean for a complete period of his or her life until the person has access to the water of purification. In verse 12, purifying himself on the third day means that it is through the process of judgment that such a person will become spiritually mature or clean and shall be regarded as being clean over his complete (7 days) walk with Christ. This also implies that if such a person does not experience the process of judgment, such a person will not be clean or spiritually mature. 

In verse 13, we are told the consequence of touching a dead body of a man, that is, accepting false teachings or doctrines from a spiritually dead person. It defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and in the final analysis, such a person is cut off from the elect if he or she does not accept the judgment, or the fiery trials produced by the fire of the Lord’s words (water of purification). Defiling the tabernacle of the Lord means that our hearts and minds become defiled with false doctrines. Verse 14 says that if a man dies in a tent and we continue to come into the tent of the dead man, we shall be defiled for the rest of our walk with the Lord (complete 7-day period). What this implies is that if a person in our midst (in a tent) becomes spiritually dead and we continue to fellowship with such a person, we end up defiling our hearts and minds for the complete period of our walk when we continue to fellowship with the spiritually dead person. This scenario is what the apostles warned us about as follows:

Jud 1:3  Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 
Jud 1:4  For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 

Jud 1:8  Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 

Jud 1:10  But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
Jud 1:11  Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Jud 1:12  These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 
Jud 1:13  wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
Jud 1:14  It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 
Jud 1:15  to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 
Jud 1:16  These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. (ESV)

Num 19:15  And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean. 
Num 19:16  And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 

Verse 15 talks about the fact that an open vessel, without a cover fastened to it, is prone to being contaminated or unclean. We are the open vessel that must have a cover. Having a cover means we must be able to test the spirit to see if it is of the Lord. If we are not able to test the spirit, then we are just like an open vessel without cover which makes us unclean. 

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Verse 16 deals with being unclean by touching anything associated with a dead person – the dead body, a bone of a man or a grave. This means that we should not share fellowship with anyone who we know is spiritually dead, otherwise we end up becoming spiritually dead for a certain complete period of our walk with Christ (unclean for seven days). During Paul’s time, the church in Corinth was still having fellowship with a man who even slept with his father’s wife, although this deed was known within the church. This was Paul’s advice to the church:

1Co 5:1  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 
1Co 5:2  And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 
1Co 5:3  For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 
1Co 5:4  When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 
1Co 5:5  you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 
1Co 5:6  Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 

1Co 5:9  I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people 
1Co 5:10  not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 
1Co 5:11  But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. (ESV)

Num 19:17  And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
Num 19:18  And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
Num 19:19  And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. 

It takes running water and the ashes of the burnt heifer for purification for sin. The running water here refers to the living and active word of the Lord.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

As indicated earlier, the ashes of the burnt heifer refer to the fiery trials we endure or the fire of the word, which together with the living word of the Lord, causes us to learn righteousness or become clean. A clean person dipping the hyssop in the water and sprinkling it upon the tent means that it is the elect who, through what every joint supplies, helps those who have been overtaken by a fault to cleanse their hearts and mind with the truth of the word of the Lord. The clean person or the elect sprinkling upon the person who is taken in a fault on the third day means that it is through the process of judgment of our old man that we become clean or spiritually mature. The fact that he shall purify himself on the seventh day after washing his clothes and bathing himself in water signifies that the complete period of his walk with Christ shall be characterized by knowing the truth of the word of the Lord which is able to make one clean.  

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 

Num 19:20  But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. 
Num 19:21  And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even. 
Num 19:22  And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even. 

These verses show us that if we do not walk by the truth of the word of the Lord (water of purification), we shall be alienated from the people of God or the elect. This means that we must pay heed to what we hear. It is not by our own power that we can walk in the truth of His words, but if we depend on Him, He will drag us to walk in His truth. 

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 
Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 
Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 
Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

May the Lord help us to be doers of His word as we see the day approaching! Amen!!

The Book of Joshua – Part 2: Rahab Hides the Spies – Jos 2:1-24 (MKJV)

[Study Aired February 25, 2023]

In Part 1 of the study into the book of Joshua, we saw Joshua established as the Lord’s fearless leader over Israel. The most patient and humble man (Num 12:3), Moses, suffered and contended with Israel’s endless complaints. He never thought it easier to dwell in the corner of a rooftop than with this brawling woman. Upon coming down from the mount with the commandments of the Lord and seeing the Israelites wild partying around their golden calf, Moses said, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” (Exo 32:32)

Under Joshua, young Israel crossed the Jordan River with the initial arousal of a righteous bride in the flush of building her house upon the foundation of her God.

Pro 14:1 Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

The Lord’s young carnal bride is the same woman that died in the wilderness, starting afresh, doomed to repeat her elder half’s sins. For the Elect of God, coming out of Egypt reflects the fact Babylon doesn’t magically make our lusts disappear. Learning how to rout the giants from our land is a painfully slow learning process, duplicated from our predecessor’s experiences.

Israel, under Joshua, has a honeymoon phase of successes that, after his death, transforms into a seesaw of pouting resistance and, in word only, her agreement with her Lord. With tears from chastisement and a double mind, she maintains her pleasures of the flesh.

First, a series of miraculous wins over her enemies that to this day empower her pride.

Jos 2:1 And Joshua the son of Nun [phonetically – noon] sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go look over the land, even Jericho. And they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab. And they stayed there. 
Jos 2:2 And the king of Jericho was told about it, saying, Behold, men from the sons of Israel came in here tonight, to search out the country. 
Jos 2:3 And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men that have come to you, those who have entered into your house. For they have come to search out all the country.
Jos 2:4 And the woman took the two men and hid them. And she said, Two men came to me, but I did not know from where they came. 
Jos 2:5 And it happened when it was dark, at the time of shutting the gate, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Go after them quickly, for you shall overtake them. 
Jos 2:6 But she had brought them up on the roof, and had hidden them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof. 
Jos 2:7 And the men went after them on the way to Jordan, to the fords. And when they who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 
Jos 2:8 And before they had laid down, she came up to them on the roof. 
Jos 2:9 And she said to the men, I know that Jehovah has given you the land, and that your terror has fallen on us, and that all those who live in the land faint because of you. 
Jos 2:10 For we have heard how Jehovah dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 
Jos 2:11 And we had heard, and our hearts melted, nor did any more spirit remain in any man, because of you. For Jehovah your God, He is God in Heaven above and in the earth beneath. 
Jos 2:12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by Jehovah, since I have dealt with you in kindness, that you will also deal with kindness to my father’s house. And give me a true token, 
Jos 2:13 and shall save alive my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. 
Jos 2:14 And the men answered her, Our life shall be for yours, if you do not tell our business. And when Jehovah has given us the land, we will deal kindly and truly with you. 
Jos 2:15 Then she let them go down by a cord through the window. For her house was on the town wall, and she lived on the wall. 
Jos 2:16 And she said to them, Get up into the mountain lest the pursuers meet you. And hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers have returned. And afterward you may go your way. 
Jos 2:17 And the men said to her, We will be blameless of this oath to you which you have made us swear.
Jos 2:18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall set this line of scarlet thread in the window from which you let us down. And you shall bring your father and your mother, and your brothers, and all your father’s household, home to you. 
Jos 2:19 And it shall be, whoever shall go out of the doors of your house, his blood shall be on his head, and we will be blameless. And whoever shall be with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is on him. 
Jos 2:20 And if you tell our business, then we will be free of the oath which you have made us swear to you.
Jos 2:21 And she said, Let it be according to your word. And she sent them away, and they departed. And she set the scarlet line in the window. 
Jos 2:22 And they went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. And the pursuers looked for them throughout all the way, but did not find them. 
Jos 2:23 And the two men returned and came down from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. And they told him all that happened to them.
Jos 2:24 And they said to Joshua, Truly Jehovah has delivered all the land into our hands, for even all those who live in the country faint because of us.

Beginning the Study:

Jos 2:1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

Joshua’s name is rarely referred to simply as Joshua; he is broadly called “Joshua, son of Nun”. The origin of the name “Nun” means 1. (Niphal) continue, to increase, propagate 2. (Hiphil) continue, to increase, propagate. Indeed, during the honeymoon phase of Israel’s entry and conquering the Promised Land, their success after success elated them and their numbers and wealth rapidly increased.

As with Israel in the flesh, the Bride of Christ today has viewed her spiritual land of inheritance, Christ, and by his decree, nothing will subdue her arousal for Him. She has become her Lord’s wife with her harlot sister under her feet as she bathes in the fully encompassing brightness of the sun in Him.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed [encompassed] with the sun, [Christ] and the moon [Jews who say they are Jews but do lie] under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

The Woman clothed in the sun came from the lesser light, the moon, who became a harlot still in the wilderness. The Woman clothed in the sun by her husband is one in him as they rule as one in the One Thousand-Year reign with both the moon and the earth under their feet.

Isa 66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

Under Joshua’s leadership, the children of Israel have yet to come into the fullness of her harlotry and become the rejected wife. For now, she is gung-ho, especially when the Lord proves His word by repeatedly going before them to consume their enemies ~ and we know from personal experience following amazing victories that banqueting, dancing, and intemperate merriment is the impulse.

Pro 15:15 All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

There was a “mixed multitude” who saw the Lord’s work with the Hebrews and who came out with her from Egypt (Exo 12:38). Those people are simply referred to as those “outside the camp”, even though they became part of the nation of Israel effectively grafted in through belief. 

Isa 54:5 For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth.

Though Israel knows her espousal to her Lord (Exod 19:1-25), she doesn’t know that she will be represented as the “moon”, as the Lord’s first wife, and would naturally be a bit mystified as having children as voluminously as the sand of the sea (Gen 22:17). For now, she will not suffer her historically distant brothers and sisters of the Promised Land to share in her inheritance. Yet, as we know from many years of study, the Lord’s church, His first wife, shares her inheritance and pollutes her land by sharing her husband’s ‘fair jewels’ of truth with her pagan brothers and sisters. The very first conquest of which is Jericho, whose name means H3391 ‘moon’.

Jos 2:2 And the king of Jericho was told about it, saying, Behold, men from the sons of Israel came in here tonight, to search out the country.

The Elect of God today are given by Him the eagerness of the Shulamite, graphically seen in the Song of Solomon, to seek Him with single-minded passion in our Babylonish night when our sisters are asleep to excitedly search out our land within.

Joh 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 
Joh 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The Elect of God is inspired to enquire that there is more to Christ than their dull-eyed Nicolaitan church leaders can teach, who are ruled by Satan, the king of Jericho. The Elect of God enthusiastically searches their country within, routing it of falsehoods to match the Lord’s spiritual land ~ the Sun of God. (No wonder the Lord’s word spiritually discerned is gobble-de-gook to the world)

Jos 2:3 And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men that have come to you, those who have entered into your house. For they have come to search out all the country.

There is a dual meaning for Rahab: she is both the world and the Bride’s former self. Joshua’s two men (2 = witnesses) are the Bride of Christ before the resurrection to life and are about to save the world in the flesh from utter destruction, yet rule the figurative Rabab and her sisters dwelling safely from war in the One Thousand Year reign.

Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Joshua’s physical wars and rebuking of the nations afar off with the Lord’s command to “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong” (Joe 3:10) abruptly come to an end at the beginning of the One Thousand Year reign with the rod of iron. The rescuing of greater Zion, the elder sister of Babylonian Christianity, and the mixed multitude of the world begins with the end of that age, in which war, lies, and every other letting of spiritual blood will not be tolerated!

The one thousand-year rule is the beginning and preparation for Rahab being absorbed into Zion and then gradually on the Eighth Day saying, “come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.”

Mic 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 
Mic 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
Mic 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Much more exciting symbolism surrounding Rahab in subsequent Joshua studies is attributed to her God-given ‘shady-lady’ entrepreneurial dealings, which will be revealed. Without blowing those wonderful disclosures here, the secondary shadow of Rahab is her representing the world being saved from utter destruction at the end of this age. She will live safely with her future sisters of Babylon in the one thousand-years, where figuratively, Joshua’s rulership and implementation of the rod of iron will establish all physical delights and health without one person being converted. Just like Israel in the wilderness under forced rulership of the Lord’s commands did not change their hearts.

Isa 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and [this time] they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 

Jos 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father’s household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Jos 2:4 And the woman [Rahab] took the two men and hid them. And she said, [to the king of Jericho] Two men came to me, but I did not know from where they came. 

Gentile Christianity has likewise hidden the Lord’s Two Witnesses, His Body, in the walls of that great city (figuratively Jerusalem within) that had become a harlot while the witnesses spied out their inheritance. Neither does Gentile Christianity, let alone the world, know from where they suddenly appeared, especially with their modern surveillance where nothing escapes their knowledge.

Jos 2:5 And it happened when it was dark, at the time of shutting the gate, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Go after them quickly, for you shall overtake them. 

The spiritual shutting of the gate to the First Resurrection will likewise happen when the Beast powers turn on the Moon and utterly consume her with fire. The outlawing of Christianity is already stirring for that Great City called Sodom, Egypt and Babylon and her imminent destruction. Speaking the word of God will be an indictable act where new people attempting to know Christ will grope in the dark and be unable to find the “two men” no matter how eagerly they are pursued to gain knowledge or to kill.

The one thousand-year rulership under the rod of iron is the Seventh Day, where Christ and His Christs perform no heart-changing work. The gates of understanding are shut; thus, no man can come in or out.

Neh 13:17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? 
Neh 13:18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath. 
Neh 13:19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.

On the Eighth Day, the walls of Jericho, Babylon and Egypt are flattened; the gates are effectively opened, and everyone symbolically dies in the Lake of Fire, the resurrection to judgment, and are spiritually circumcised on the Eighth Day.

Lev 12:3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 

Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

At the end of the Seventh Day, Gog and Magog, surrounding the camp of the Elect of God, will not “overtake them”. 

The earth, represented by Rahab, helped the Lord’s servants. She kept them above herself in the heavens of the rooftop under flax so that if it caught fire, no smell of smoke would be on their clothes, nor would the fire hurt them, for they have learned to be comfortable in the fire. They are not in Jericho to warn that city but to bring forth judgment.

Jos 2:6 But she had brought them up on the roof, and had hidden them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof. 

Part of the reason for hiding the spies under the flax “laid in order” was to cause their pursuers to see the orderly pile of flax as having not been disturbed, which would give away their hiding place. God gives a distinct order in proclaiming the truth and church operations in the Body of Christ, whereas chaos reigns in Gentile Christianity.

The Wife of Christ is given white robes made of linen, and we know linen is cloth woven from flax. In its raw “natural” symbolism, the spies hiding under the flax are the precursor for their much later successors being clothed in spiritual linen.

The Lord loves order. The Shulamite’s teeth (The Bride of Christ’s perfect consumption of truth) are twins and perfectly set in her beauty.

Act 21:24 taking these, be purified with them, and be at expense on them, that they may shave the head. And all shall know that all what they have been told about you is nothing, but you yourself walk orderly, keeping the Law.

1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order. 

1Co 15:22 for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruit; afterward those of Christ at His coming.

Rev 19:7 Let us rejoice and let us exult, and we will give glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb came, and His wife prepared herself.
Rev 19:8 And it was given to her that she be clothed in fine linen, pure and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

Jos 2:7 And the men went after them on the way to Jordan, to the fords. And when they who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 

Mat 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; 
Mat 12:16 And charged them [Rahab] that they should not make him known:
Mat 12:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Mat 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
Mat 12:19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
Mat 12:20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
Mat 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles [eventually] trust.

Jos 2:8 And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof; 
Jos 2:9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

Psa 2:8 Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. 
Psa 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 

Jos 2:10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 
Jos 2:11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

The forthcoming sacking of Jericho at the Lord’s hands, typified by most of the biblical cities of the Promised Land and their demise, represents the ultimate end-time destruction of Babylon.

Isa 13:4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.
Isa 13:5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 
Isa 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 
Isa 13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
Isa 13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
Isa 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Jos 2:12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give me a true token: 
Jos 2:13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

Rahab’s request of the two spies to remember to save her and her family is reflected in Joseph saving his father Jacob’s house during the famine. Joseph’s “token” H226 means a sign, signal, distinguishing mark, and remembrance. A “true token” is a faithful and reliable signal. Benjamin was effectively a token for the reliable bringing forth of Jacob’s household to Egypt and their salvation in the coming famine. 

Likewise, when the death angel passed through Egypt and slew all the firstborn, a faithful and reliable signal, a token of blood, was placed on the lintel over the door so that death passed over the Hebrew’s homes. 

The origin of the word “blood” (H1826) means to be silent, to be still. Rahab assured the spies that she would be silent if the city’s guards questioned her about the spy’s whereabouts. When Israel came to crush Jericho, the spies saw Rahab’s “scarlet” sign of concealed and dual meaning (red being a harlot’s sign) hanging in the window of her home in the walls of Jericho. The invading army of Israel would effectively “pass over” destroying her home and thus saving her life. 

Exo 12:12  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 
Exo 12:13  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Jos 2:14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. 
Jos 2:15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. 

Just as the Shulamite represents the New Heavenly Jerusalem, with her embedded towers symbolising her breasts, Rahab is pictured as a type of Old Jerusalem. She lives upon the walls of her city, Jericho, where her breasts were bruised by her many suitors, just as the Saints of the Lord had their breasts bruised by our many suitors in Babylonian Christianity, represented by Oholah and Oholibah. The Body of Christ came out of and is the daughter of “one mother”, Babylon the Great, though she is represented as two; Old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem above.

Eze 23:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 
Eze 23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
Eze 23:3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. 
Eze 23:4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. 
Eze 23:5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours.

Progressively and with increasing astonishment, we shall see that Rahab represents the woman we once were.

Jos 2:16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way. 
Jos 2:17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
Jos 2:18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee. 
Jos 2:19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

Verses 16-19 reveal to us that we are forewarned of the coming destruction of our old man within. The only way to survive is to flee to the mount of the Lord.

Psa 11:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

“Three days”, mentioned 63 times in scripture, is powerfully significant in that it means a process for the completion of judgment; and for the Elect of God, particularly its spiritual completion. We flee to and wait on the mountains of our Lord for our perfection for three symbolic days for the destruction of our flesh until the hoped resurrection to life, just as Christ did at His death. Afterward, we will “go your [our] way” with Him to rule with the iron rod on the Seventh Day.

Christ is our “scarlet thread” by the blood of His death upon the cross. We figuratively escape our pursuers by that sturdy rope from Jericho’s walls as we flee Babylon and are in the three-day process of being saved on the mount of our Lord (Isa 2:1-5)

The words of Moses were powerfully in the minds of the two spies; they warned Rahab that she had better be true to her oath. Otherwise, she would perish with the rest of Jericho since the two spies were dedicated to keeping their side of the oath.

Num 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

For God’s people today, however,

Jas 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

If it is our Lord’s will, we, too, will be saved from the coming destruction of Babylon both within and, hopefully, physically.

When destruction comes to Jericho, the two spies require Rahab’s entire household to be in her house to be protected by the sign of the scarlet thread. The scarlet “thread” is a cord strong enough to at least hold the weight of one man; however, viewed from a distance, it would appear as a thread. The fact that Rahab’s home was the only structure left following the destruction of the entire walls of Jericho was outstanding in its own right. Rahab’s home would have thus become a tower, not too figuratively dissimilar to the Shulamite’s two breasts pictured as towers embedded in the walls of Jerusalem, the city she represented (Son 8:10). Rahab’s symbolic one breast, the seat of her emotions, represents unity, and Rahab’s faith in what the Lord of Israel was doing in that nation, unified her identity with them. Rahab’s faith through belief by her works justified her salvation from the coming demolition. For the Church today, that unity is the Lord singularly focused on the apple of His eye, His Bride, with one chain around her neck, likewise identifying her being saved by the scarlet blood of the cross. (Zec 2:8. Son 4:9)

Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Jas 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Jas 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Jas 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Heb 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Having gone into Jericho, the spies can symbolise them coming out the window of the city’s womb of Jericho, the “moon” (church) on a scarlet thread, symbolic of Israel, the firstborn; yet, at this point, the coming unwitting rejected wife of God.

Likewise, the Church of the firstborn is coming out of Babylon’s womb on the scarlet thread of Christ’s blood to be killed daily inside Jerusalem. Jericho, Tyre, Ethiopia, Babylon, and Old Jerusalem are one and the same, and they being the elder, serve the younger New Heavenly Jerusalem above who, like Christ, walk in truth today and tomorrow in the death of the old man.

Luk 13:31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying to Him, Go out and depart from here, for Herod will kill you.
Luk 13:32 And He said to them, You go and tell that fox, Behold, today and tomorrow, I cast out demons and I complete cures, and the third day I will be finished.
Luk 13:33 Yet I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following. For it cannot be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34 Jerusalem! Jerusalem! the one killing the prophets, and stoning those having been sent to her; how often I desired to gather your children in the way a hen gathers her brood under the wings, and you did not desire it. 
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. And truly I say to you, You will not see Me until it come when you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Jos 2:20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.

The Elect of God doesn’t go around today forcing their God-given truths on Jericho. Today is not Jericho’s time to begin salvation. Noah’s and Rahab’s households symbolise the latter times “little flock” who go before their brothers and sisters of Jericho and Babylon, who are Gog and Magog, the entire world (Eze 38. Rev 20:7-10)

Jos 2:21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

The scarlet thread in Rahab, the harlot’s window, is significant with its connection to Rahab effectively putting forth her hand from the window’s womb of Jericho, and Zarah, the son born to Judah upon his adulterous affair with his daughter-in-law, putting forth his hand from Tamar’s womb unwittingly masquerading as the firstborn of the twins (reminiscent of Jacob grabbing Esau’s heel). In fact, Pharez was born last, sustaining the principle of the elder, Zarah, serving Pharez, the younger and that each man will be saved in his own order by the spiritually younger one.

Gen 38:30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah. H2226 – ‘a son of Reuel and grandson of Esau, one of the dukes of the Edomites’ Origin H2225 – ‘dawning, shining, rising’. The rising heavenly Jerusalem adorned for her husband (Rev 21:2)

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Christ is descended from Pharez and represents the Bride of Christ saved in the order the Lord ordained before her elder harlot sister Israel in the wilderness that is Old Jerusalem and Babylon are saved. 

Tremendous hope is generated for the weak of the world Lord’s Church today and their sins, as seen from Christ’s lineage coming through two harlots, Rahab and Judah’s miserably adulterous affair with Tamar, as seen in Matthew 1:1-17. The Body of Christ fully knows they have symbolically been Rahab and Tamar and have been adulterous Judah in the flesh and are now spiritual Judah.

Gen 38:24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

The sceptre began with Abraham and ended with Christ through a long and torturous birth bringing forth the man-child, Christ.

Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Jos 2:22 And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not. 

Similarly, the Gentile Christian church today, as we once did, searches for the Lord’s truth and finds it not.

Luk 8:10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others [Babylonian brothers and sisters of the rejected church] in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Jos 2:23 So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:
Jos 2:24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.

The terror striking the inhabitants of Jericho is a similar dread in today’s world as they increasingly become aware that all is not well, reflected in the glaring putridness within. The world will tremble at the coming of the Lord and again at the resurrection to 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;
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 2:3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

(Key verses: Gen 25:22-34)

Spiritual sonship is a theme in the scriptures which highlights God’s purpose with mankind, which in this life is reserved for those few whom He is conforming to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ (Joh 1:1-4; Col 1:15-19; Rev 3:14). Jesus is God’s preeminent creation as He is above everything, and He alone has immortality or spiritual perfection at this stage with the Father (1Ti 6:15-16; Eph 1:13-14). This glorious conforming process in the few elected ones is marked with fiery trials and much tribulation to make these sons of God perfect (Rom 8:29; 1Pe 4:12; Act 14:22; Heb 2:10; Heb 12:4-7):

Rom 8:22 (Phillips NT) It is plain to anyone with eyes to see that at the present time all created life groans in a sort of universal travail.
Rom 8:23 And it is plain, too, that we who have a foretaste of the Spirit are in a state of painful tension, while we wait for that redemption of our bodies which will mean that at last we have realised our full sonship in him.
Rom 8:24 We were saved by this hope, but in our moments of impatience let us remember that hope always means waiting for something that we haven’t yet got.
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for something we cannot see, then we must settle down to wait for it in patience.

This theme of spiritual sonship is also typified in Genesis through the relationships between Abraham, “the father of us all” in terms of the faith, and Abraham’s beloved son, Isaac, and Isaac and his offspring (Isa 51:1-2; Rom 3:22; Rom 4:12; Rom 4:16; Rom 9:7-8; Heb 11:17-18). Whether it is physical or spiritual, the firstborn in scripture is related to might, strength, excellence, dignity, elevation and power, which all links to taking or having governance and authority (Deu 21:17; Psa 105:36; Hos 12:2-3):

Gen 49:3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

This rulership and authority of the firstborn, as acknowledged by the father of the son, is also promised within the law of the double portion according to the law of Moses:

Deu 21:15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn [Hebrew: “bekôr” which links with “bikkûr” which means “firstfruit”: In Exodus 23:16 this “bikkûr” also is the feast of harvest or pentecost] son be hers that was hated:
Deu 21:16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:
Deu 21:17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

This spiritual truth of the double portion of the firstborn was established in the beginning in Jesus Christ as the Lord and ruler of both the heavens and the earth, which is what this double portion in the law of Moses typified (Gen 1:1; Gen 2:7; Pro 8:22-30; Joh 1:1-4; Act 17:24; Rev 1:1-8). This Jesus could only reveal to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead:

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, All power is given [Greek aorist tense] unto me in heaven and in earth.

Within these two realms there is also an order established by God. It is only through faith that anyone will be able to see that the things which are seen (“the earth”), are ruled and controlled by the spiritual (“the heaven”), which do not appear to the natural man as such, and which the natural mind cannot appreciate or understand (1Co 2:14):

Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

All things are first “bound” or “loose[ed]” in heaven before it has any affect or application on the earth:

Mat 18:18 (CLV) Verily, I am saying to you, Whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth shall be those loose in heaven.
Mat 18:19 Again, verily, I am saying to you that, if ever two of you should be agreeing on the earth concerning any matter, whatsoever it is they should be requesting shall be coming to them from My Father Who is in the heavens.

From this perspective, the heaven rules not only that which belongs to heaven, but also that which is on earth (Mat 6:9-10). The rulership of the heavens is therefore vital to lay hold of as this powerful heavenly perspective and insight helps us to subdue and have dominion over our own earth and all the nations of that earth (our own bodies and carnal mind first):

Isa 40:17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

These spiritual foundations were properly laid in the beginning – that is in Christ, the firstborn or firstfruit (Hebrew: “rêshı̂yth”; Greek: “archē”) of the Father (Gen 1:1; Joh 1:1-3; Rev 1:8). Through Christ, the foundations of heaven and the foundations of earth were laid, and He works with them (Psa 24:1; Pro 16:4; Joh 1:3; Col 1:16; Job 38:4; Psa 102:25). Spiritually the number 12 speaks of foundations (including that of power and authority), and the number 24 signifies the total authority over the foundations of heaven and earth (Gen 2:7; Gen 17:20; 1Co 3:11; Jas 1:1; Rev 14:1-5; Rev 21:19-20). This position was given to Jesus by the Father, and He gives this ‘right’ of the firstborn also to those whom He receives from the Father in this age – the “uihothesia” who is also called “a kind of firstfruits” in the scriptures (Exo 23:15-16a; Psa 103:19; Mat 16:19; Luk 12:31-32; Rom 8:23; Jas 1:18):

Isa 40:21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Isa 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Isa 40:23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

This rulership is now made available to those whom He has chosen before the foundation of the earth to rule and reign with Him:

Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

This dominion over all is a desire every human craves, but our natural thinking on this is always twisted. Many therefore exercise evil authority over others and are greedily chasing earthly possessions to give them this false sense of being blessed and in control. This constitutes also what the strong delusion is which God sends in them (2Th 2:11). In the world this hierarchy of power is prominent, which is also revealed through the spiritual whore, Babylon. This whore enjoys keeping many in spiritual diapers and looks down on those who are deemed not up to their spiritual standard. This spiritual whore is rewarded with what she has been given to believe:

Rev 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

The law of the firstborn is what caused so much unhappiness in the household of Isaac and Rebekah. After Isaac waited and prayed patiently for twenty years for an offspring with his wife, Rebekah conceived twins (Gen 25:19-21; Gen 25:26), but there was a struggle within Rebekah’s womb which will affect their lives as long as they lived:

Gen 25:22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

So this struggle was for this right to rule. This struggle relates to the war in our own heaven when we become aware of this double portion or two eons in which we must live and rule (Mat 4:4; Rev 12:1-17). God ordained that the heavens and the earth will be these opposing forces as the generations of the heaven and the generations of the earth will always be foreign to each other (Gen 1:1; Gen 2:4; Psa 2:1-2; Gal 5:17). Although the flesh is first on the earth, it will not have spirit life or get the double portion of spiritual rulership, which is given to the one that is born “afterward”:

Mat 19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

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.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

The spiritual eon comes second or last for us, and that spirit life in the second man, Christ, gives us the rulership over all. What the flesh cannot see or accept is that the last Adam, Jesus Christ, is actually the Lord from heaven who has this rulership before the foundation of the earth (Isa 48:13; Zec 12:1; Heb 1:10):

Col 1:15 Who [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The war in the heavens is all about inheritance – the spiritual versus fleshly inheritance. God has no pleasure in flesh or its inheritance:

Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

The outcome of this struggle in the womb of Rebekah was already predetermined: “…the elder [flesh] shall serve the younger”. The election that those who “are after the spirit” will have dominion over those who “are after the flesh” is revealed in these two offspring of Isaac and Rebekah. As the first Adam is “the figure” or type of the last Adam, they are indeed a twin in that sense, but the lastborn has the superior position (Rom 5:14):

Rom 9:10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

God had nothing against Esau personally, but against that which he was chosen to represent, which is death and its fleshly desires. God’s pre-election or predestination is a doctrine which few can accept because of their false beliefs in a free will of mankind and the doctrine of an eternal hell. These and other false teachings prevent many from seeing how God works His plan to save all people through His elected spiritual sons. Those who reject the doctrine of predestination actually accuse God of being unrighteous in making these choices:

Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

These accusers of God cannot accept the great mercy of God, and their hate-filled heart will only be satisfied if their enemies burn in an eternal hell (Psa 136:1-26). This is revealing the wickedness of their own Adamic hearts which they themselves cannot see in their self-righteous state of mind. God has never spoken a word, and neither did it ever come up in His mind that He will burn His own children with physical fire for all eternity (Lev 18:21; Lev 20:1-5; Eze 16:20-21; Jer 7:30-31). Yet many are still deluded by these false and evil teachings of eternal hell and the eternal existence of flesh and death, even when God clearly states in the scripture that death in all its carnal forms will be destroyed (Rom 8:6-8):

1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Rev 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Our first old man is indeed delivered and redeemed by the fire of God’s word through judgment which brings the resurrection to new life through Christ, the firstborn (Exo 13:13; Isa 26:9; Jer 5:14; 1Co 3:13-15). God made the choice, and we respond to His choice – not the other way around (Rom 9:16):

Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Sonship is God’s choice and through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob this is made clear for those who can receive this. Through Isaac’s offspring, this pattern is repeated, and again the firstborn is rejected even before he did anything either wrong or right:

Gen 25:24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
Gen 25:25 And the first came out red [Hebrew: “admônı̂y” from “âdam”], all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

The firstborn was Esau, and he was red and hairy, which reflects the first man Adam who is from the ground or field, and that includes “all that is in the world” (Num 6:18-19; 1Co 11:14):

Mat 13:38a The field is the world….

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Esau is that which represents the lusts of this world in us as we all must first endure this stage of fleshly sonship, and this type of sonship is not “of [the spirit] of the Father” (Mat 19:30). Jacob, the twin brother of Esau, was the last born, and his actions in the womb and during the birth process reveal so much about our own walk and the struggles of the flesh until the day of final redemption from this “body of sin” (Rom 6:6; Rom 7:18; 2Co 5:21):

Gen 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

Jacob was holding on to Esau’s heel! Jacob’s name actually means exactly that – “heel holder” or “supplanter”. Heels are the part of the foot which leaves prints and tracks, and through these prints or tracks others can identify us and our walk (Psa 89:51; Son 1:8):

Jer 13:22 And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels [Hebrew: “âqêb”/“iqqebâh” = heel/footsteps/footprint] made bare.

The heels we first take hold of are visible in the tracks or footprints of the rejected flesh, which is revealed to us when we can see the man of sin in ourselves first (2Th 2:3-4; Rev 13). The revelation of our true carnal nature is important in our growth and development in sonship. We start off being the enemies of the elect of God when we have reproach in our hearts against the truth in the words. Our old man of sin does lift his heel against the new man:

Psa 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend [our old man], in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel [Hebrew: “âqêb” or “iqqebâh”] against me.

Psa 89:50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;
Psa 89:51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps [Hebrew: “âqêb” or “iqqebâh”] of thine anointed.

God’s elect will be brought to repentance by the rebuke and chastening of our loving Father, and then they will continue in His Word, even against those who hide themselves and mark our steps to rejoice when we stumble (Psa 56:4-6; Joh 8:31; Heb 12:5-7). This relationship between Jacob and Esau and the ways they live also brings important aspects of our own growth process to the fore:

Gen 25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

These two sons of Isaac and Rebekah also caused the division in the family in terms of the preference these parents showed for these two sons and their way of life:

Gen 25:28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Esau, like his name, was attached to anything that is red, which connects with the earth, which is the first Adam (Gen 2:7). Isaac was also more attached to the fleshly firstborn, Esau, but Rebekah loved the last born, Jacob:

For Sarah the second born of her husband was the favourite son (Isaac). Now also for Rebekah the second born of the twins (Jacob) is favoured. A woman is a picture of the church in scripture – the false church or the true church – and these two women, Sarah and Rebekah, are given to us as types of the true church in the way they were attached to the types of the true Seed which God favoured (Gal 3:16; Gal 3:29). It is through God’s true church that the true sons of God and the manifold wisdom of God will be revealed:

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
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.

The earth is what the weak flesh is attached to, and from its composition the flesh also sees its survival and preservation (Gen 2:7; Gen 3:17-19):

Gen 25:29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
Gen 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [Hebrew: “âdôm” from “âdam”] pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom [Hebrew: “ĕdôm” from “âdôm”]

Jacob, true to his name, wanted to negotiate for something much more important than what his flesh wanted. He wanted rulership over much more:

Gen 25:31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright [Hebrew: “bekôrâh” = belonging to the “bekôr”]
Gen 25:32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Gen 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Esau despised the rights of the firstborn and the inheritance attached to it (Gen 17-18; Gal 3:16; Gal 3:29). The buying of this birthright was, for the time being, only this pottage of lentils, but it will becomw a more costly transaction for Jacob progressively. This inheritance connects spiritually to the blessed and holy first resurrection which comes at a very high price for God’s elect – the losing of their lives (Mat 10:38-39):

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Many cannot appreciate this powerful inheritance when they, like Esau, cannot see the profit to live soberly in this present age as the chastening power of the grace of God has not been unveiled to them (1Tim 2:11-12). They despise the true sons of God by rejecting and mocking their election and make fun of their suffering as they cannot see what the mystery of the glory of Christ is (Luk 24:46; 2Co 11:23-28; Col 1:24-27). Although the first resurrection is not yet fulfilled outwardly, this spiritual governance and dominion over sin is being inwardly established now in the elect, even in downpayment form (Eph 1:13-14).

Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

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

Begotten and Born
Numbers in Scripture
Colors in Scripture – Red, Part 1
The Spiritual Significance of The Nazarite Vow
Revelation 14:1-5
The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God, Part 7

Both Adams Are Red

We have seen how the name ‘Adam’ is the same as the word ‘adam’ and that both mean earthy, of the ground and red. We have demonstrated that this word ‘adam’ whether speaking of mankind, the earth, the ground, or the color red, are all to be recognized spiritually as that part of the man of God which is rejected of God and is in rebellion to the laws of God. Above all we have seen that this is not ‘without’/outwardly and in the lives of others only, but it is first and foremost within the lives of every believer at its appointed time to dominate and later to be dominated. The negative application of the color red is that which first dominates us in the flesh. The positive application of the color red, is the domination of the flesh by the spirit. Both are typified by red.

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.

There is also the much less discussed but equally important, positive application of the color red. It is the same root ‘adam,’ but called ‘admoniy’. This word also is used to describe both God’s rejected anointed and God’s elect anointed:

Gen 25:25  And the first came out red [admoniy – H132], all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

1Sa 16:12  And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy [red – admoniy – H132], and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.

Why are both the lost and the saved pictured as red? It is because no one is lost ultimately. It is because all men must endure that which is temporal before any will come to that which is eonian, leading to that which is immortal. Red, then is the best of the temporal man of God, that which is earthy and first and red, is also therefore necessarily connected with that which is to become immortal.

Crimson and Scarlet in Scripture

There are other words in God’s Word which have this same ‘red’ concept but are not derived from the word Adam. That is what we will cover in today’s study.

The two other words which convey the color red are crimson and scarlet.

2Ch 2:7  Send me [King Solomon] now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson [H3758: karmiyl – red], and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

2Ch 2:14  The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson [H3758: karmiyl]; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.
2Ch 3:14  And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson [H3758: karmiyl], and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

Isa 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet [H8144: shaniy], they shall be as white as snow; though they be red [H119: adam] like crimson [H8438: tola ], they shall be as wool.

Here is Strong’s definition for ‘tola,’ the word translated ‘crimson’ in Isaiah 1:18.

H8438
tola  to le a h  to la ath  to la ath
to-law’, to- lay- aw’, (3, 4) to- lah’- ath

From H3216; a maggot (as voracious); specifically (often with ellipsis of H8144) the crimson grub, but used only (in this connection) of the color from it , and cloths dyed therewith: – crimson, scarlet, worm.

Look at how it is used by King David:

Psa 22:6  But I am a worm [tola, red grub], and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

Here is a “man after God’s own heart”, the man who is to replace God’s rejected anointed King Saul, who recognizes that he is nothing more than a little red grub “despised of the people.”

This should remind us all of another inwardly applied scripture:

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.

The color red should remind us all that we are all Adam, and all that is in Adam is in us by right of birth. It should remind us that we are all in Babylon before we “come out of her:”

Jer 4:30  And when thou [God’s rejected anointed – Babylon] art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson [H8144: shaniy – same word translated ‘scarlet’ in Isaiah 1:18], though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

Rev 17:4  And the woman [Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots] was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

It takes nothing less than the resurrection from among the dead to change this ‘red’ Adamic nature within us all. Only then can we become ‘ruddy’ as God’s new accepted kings and priests. The flesh is always before the spirit:

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Christ had to come in the flesh before He could come in us in spirit.

Gen 38:21  Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.
Gen 38:22  And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place.
Gen 38:23  And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
Gen 38:24  And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
Gen 38:25  When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.
Gen 38:26  And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.
Gen 38:27  And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
Gen 38:28  And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
Gen 38:29  And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.
Gen 38:30  And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

Pharez, breach; “Pharez, division; rupture,” according to Hitchcock’s dictionary of names, came out first and thus became the father of Christ “according to the flesh.” Here is that part of Christ’s genealogy in Luke:

Luk 3:33  Which was [the son] of Aminadab, which was [the son] of Aram, which was [the son] of Esrom, which was [the son] of Phares, which was [the son] of Juda,

What does the scarlet thread on the hand of Zarah mean? What it means is that Zarah typifies the second Adam. It typifies Christ after the spirit:

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [after the flesh].

That is never first which is spiritual. Pharez was first and was the physical father of Christ, but the promise of the spirit came afterward:

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.

Zarah was “afterward that which is spiritual.” Why did Zarah put forth his hand first? He did so to tell us that Christ was first with His Father. He did so to tell us that even though both Pharez and Zarah are born of Judah, who was born of Adam, nevertheless even the first Adam also was “of God.” It is all right here in 2Corinthians 5, only two verses after telling us that we are to “know no man [including Christ] after the flesh” we have this verse:

2Co 5:18  And all things [both Adams – Adam after the flesh and Adam after the spirit] are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.

‘Adam’ means “earthy, red.” The “last Adam” has a “scarlet thread” around his hand and stands for the beauty and health of God’s elect in Christ, who was here before the first Adam. In spite of His preeminence, He, too, was “out of the ground:”

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Zarah, too, was “out of the ground.” Zarah does not mean “division or rupture” as Pharez means. According to Hitchcock’s Dictionary of names, Zarah means:

“East; brightness.” And who is the brightest of them all?

Rev 22:16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, [and] the bright and morning star.

As much as the Adversary wants us to believe otherwise, God truly brought and is bringing us our savior “of our own brothers,” out of the red earth, “out of the ground.”

Deu 18:15  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Deu 18:16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well [spoken that] which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require [it] of him.

Zarah’s “scarlet thread” foreshadows all of this. Of all of God’s creation, Christ alone was spirit first, and is truly “the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Red Blood Both Stains and Washes White

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.

Isa 63:1  Who [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this [that is] glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
Isa 63:2  Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
Isa 63:3  I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people [there was] none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
Isa 63:4  For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

What Makes Scarlet and Crimson Sins White?

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.

Christ was Mocked in a Scarlet Robe

Mat 27:28  And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

Why a scarlet robe? Because scarlet is the color of earthly royalty and rulers. Look at the colors of this ruler:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Who is riding this “scarlet colored beast?”

Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Jer 4:30  And [when] thou [art] spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

Yet crimson is the color of the veil of the temple:

2Ch 3:14  And he made the vail [of] blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon.

So both the lost and the saved are pictured as red because no one is lost ultimately, and because all men must endure that which is temporal before any will come to that which is eonian, leading to that which is immortal. Red, then, is the best of the temporal man of God, that which is earthy, and first, and red is also therefore necessarily connected with that which is to become immortal.

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

The color red connects the spiritual with its “of the ground” origins.

[Next study in this series is here.]

The Color Red – Part 1

Colors, like every word of scripture, carry a spiritual meaning with them. Light is truth and knowledge. Darkness is the absence of truth and knowledge. The entire spectrum of light carries with it equally important truths, understanding and knowledge, and they are all within Adam within us.

It so happens that there are only three primary colors. Those three primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. It is out of these three colors, and combinations of these three colors, that all other colors come. What does the number three tell us? It tells us that colors, like all else in God’s Word, reveal there is a process taking place (read The Spiritual Significance of The Number Three).

Today we will see that the primary color red shows us 1) mankind is of the ground, 2) God’s rejected anointed, 3) symbolic of an incurable disease 4) the color of the Adversary himself and finally, 5) in a positive application, red indicates the health and beauty of God’s chosen elect.

1) Red As Mankind, The Ground of The Earth

The first color mentioned in scripture is the color ‘red. Adam, man, was taken out of the ‘adamah,’ the ground:

Gen 2:4  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth [H776 – ‘erets] when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Gen 2:5  And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and [there was] not a man to till the ground [H127 – adamah].
Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man [H120 – adam] of the dust of the ground [H127 – adamah], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Adam, the first man, whose name was Adam [Strong’s #121], according to Hitchcock’s dictionary of names, means “earthy; red.” The word ‘man’ [Strong’s #H120] is also ‘adam.’

Gen 2:19  And out of the ground [H127 – adamah] the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam [Strong’s #121 – adam] to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

Here now is Strong’s definition of ‘Adam:”

H121
‘a da m
aw- dawm’
The same as H120; Adam, the name of the first man, also of a place in Palestine: – Adam.

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man [Strong’s #120] in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So “Adam” [Strong’s #H121] is the same as “the man” [Strong’s #H120]. Both mean “earthy, red“, and both mean “man.”

2) Red Is The Rejected Twin Brother of God’s Elect

This is very instructive inasmuch as the color red is also associated with the very best the flesh has to offer:

Gen 25:25  And the first came out red [Hebrew – admoniy – Strong’s #132 – red or reddish], all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau [#H6215].
Gen 25:26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Gen 25:27  And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

Esau “a man of the fields” tells us who Esau is spiritually:

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one [Esau is Abraham’s seed in this world];

Jacob “a plain man dwelling in tents” tells us who Jacob is spiritually:

Heb 11:9  By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles [G4633 – a tent] with Isaac and Jacob [Esau is omitted], the heirs with him of the same promise:

G463
σκηνη
ske ne
skay- nay’
Apparently akin to G4632 and G4639; a tent or cloth hut (literally or figuratively): – habitation, tabernacle.

Gen 25:28  And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

The fact that Isaac loved Esau, and the fact that Esau was the first born twin brother of God’s typical elect Jacob, tells us that Esau is just an earlier type of God’s rejected anointed, King Saul. It is always God’s rejected anointed who want God’s anointed dead. Esau wanted Jacob dead. Saul wanted David dead, and the established church wanted Christ dead.

The three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are types of us. They typify the three stages of our spiritual progress. Esau’s wild venison appeals to us more than Jacob’s domesticated lambs and goats, when we are in our intermediate ‘Isaac’ stage of spiritual growth.

Gen 25:29  And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:

Pro 13:15  Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.

As contrasted with Jacob’s way of life…

Gen 25:30  And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [H122 adom] pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom [H123 edom].

Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

H123
‘e do m  ‘e do m
ed- ome’, ed- ome’
From H122; red (see Gen_25:25); Edom, the elder twin- brother of Jacob; hence the region (Idumaea) occupied by him: – Edom, Edomites, Idumea.

H122
‘a do m
aw- dome’
From H119; rosy: – red, ruddy.

Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
Gen 25:32  And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles [herb’s without meat]; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

This is the spiritual significance of the color red. Red is “man, Adam, earthy, red.” Our birthright is spiritual, blue as we will see, and we despise it for mere physical red herbs devoid of spiritual meat. This is all by design. It is all being worked within us:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all [things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil [within each of us because we must all live by every world of God (Mat 4:4)

We are all Esau before we become Jacob. As we will see below, red is also the beauty of God’s elect. This is the New Testament reality of this Old Testament parable:

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [first] and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh [water] is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Water is water and spirit is spirit. “Flesh is flesh and… spirit is spirit.”

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.
1Co 15:47  The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

If it is given us to desire the things of the spirit, then we will, by circumstances beyond our control, end up going to Haran (Babylon – spiritually called Egypt) to serve and to be given a wife. This was the experience of both Jacob and his son Joseph. Both lived lives of service, and both were given their wives outside of Canaan. Both first lived years of servitude before they were given their wives. This, of course, is Christ.

 3) Red is indicative of an incurable disease:

Lev 13:19  And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish [#125 – adamdam], and it be shewed to the priest;
Lev 13:20  And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil.

Lev 13:49  And if the plague be greenish or reddish [#125 – adamdam] in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy , and shall be shewed unto the priest:

Lev 14:37  And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish [#125 – adamdam], which in sight are lower than the wall;
Lev 14:38  Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:
Lev 14:39  And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, [if] the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
Lev 14:40  Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague [is], and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:
Lev 14:41  And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:
Lev 14:42  And they shall take other stones, and put [them] in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.
Lev 14:43  And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered;
Lev 14:44  Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, [if] the plague be spread in the house, it [is] a fretting leprosy in the house: it [is] unclean.
Lev 14:45  And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.

God’s Word is all a parable. Here is the New Testament interpretation and application of this Old Testament parable:

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly [that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, [concerning] him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6  Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

4) Red Symbolizes The Adversary

There is one more example of the color red. Red is also the color of the Adversary:

Rev 6:4  And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him [of God] that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Who else has seven heads and ten horns? None other that the crown of God’s beastly creation:

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Where then does the beast, old red Adam, the man, get his power and his throne and his great authority? He gets it all “from the dragon.”

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the [great red] dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

5) The Positive Application of Red

Red also represents the beauty and health of the spirit of God’s elect:

1Sa 16:10  Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.
1Sa 16:11  And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all [thy] children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
1Sa 16:12  And he sent, and brought him in. Now he [was] ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this [is] he.
1Sa 16:13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

Here is the New Testament Spiritual application of this Old Testament parable:

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

So the negative applications of  red – adamah – adam – edom – are 1) of the ground and identifying with this earth, 2) symbolic of a religious man, the rejected seed of Abraham. Red represents a religious man who cannot come out of this world, and yet is that part of Abraham’s seed which is closest to its twin brother.

Ishmael was Abraham’s seed born of an Egyptian bondwoman. Ishmael does not typify that which would deceive the very elect if possible. It is Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, who sold his birthright for red pottage, who so despises God’s elect. 3) Red symbolizes that facet of our experience which is called an incurable deadly disease. 4) Red is also the color used of God to symbolize the Adversary.

5) The positive application of the color red is the beauty and health of Gods elect, “ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance… anointed in the midst of [their] brothers.”

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