Audio Download

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.]