Reading No. 7 – Sabbath, December13, 2008

THE COLOR RED–GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE LATTER RAIN

by Idel Suárez, Jr., U.S.A.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness...” Matthew 6:33.

Red Is A Primary Color

Over a hundred years ago, Dr. Osmar Klopsch, a German immigrant to the United States, was reading the gospel story of the Lord’s Supper. Suddenly, he got an idea. It was an idea that would forever revolutionize the New Testament. As he read about the wine symbolizing the blood Jesus shed to cleanse us from our sins, he thought: ”Why not print all the words of Jesus in red? Isn’t wine red? Isn’t blood red? I’ll print His words in red so that they stand out in the Gospel narrative.”1 Dr. Klopsch owned publishing presses. His son was the publisher. As they shared this idea with others, it spread like wildfire in the publishing industry and before long, millions of copies were being printed in English with the words of Jesus in red.

The color red serves as an allegory to illustrate the relationship between the gospel truths of Jesus and the righteousness of God. As one of the key colors of the rainbow above God’s throne, it serves as a reminder of the process the Christian must experience as God transforms the believer from a sinner into a righteous son and daughter of God ready to receive the Latter Rain and meet Jesus in His Second Coming.

Red Is The Color of Sin

Nathanael Hawthorne, the famous American Puritan writer, wrote a story titled the Scarlet Letter. It was about a young lady guilty of transgressing the seventh commandment. Her village forced her to carry a Scarlet Letter on her clothing so all could recognize her as a sinner.

The color red is a symbol of sin. Even if our sins were red like crimson or scarlet, through Jesus they can be made white as snow, as white as wool, as white as righteousness. “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.” Isaiah 1:18.

The first step to salvation is to recognize that we are sinners, painted in red, but desire to be dressed in the white linen of righteousness. “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.” Revelation 19:8.

God wishes to free us from the great red dragon (Revelation 12:3), from sin, from death, and to bring us into His wonderful kingdom of grace. But to do so, we must barter with God.

Do you have sins? Do you have guilt? Behold, Jesus has righteousness and pardon. Why not exchange your sins and guilt, for His righteousness and pardon? Through the price paid on Calvary by the blood of Jesus this sacred barter and exchange can occur.

Red Is The Color of Blood

Though throughout the breath and length of scripture, righteousness is compared to the white garments of Jesus, the color red plays a decisive part in obtaining the justification by faith. Figuratively, we can not obtain those white garments without dipping them in the crimson blood of Christ. The heavenly messenger told John, “These... have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:14. Red is the symbol of blood.

We learn from the combination of colors that if all known colors are combined in specific proportions, white appears. Hence, as the believers exercise their faith in the atoning blood of Jesus shed to save them, they are accounted righteous. Faith in the blood of Christ is central to being justified.

According to Paul, God declares us righteous or unrighteous depending on our faith in the crimson blood of Jesus Christ to forgive our past sins. “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; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:25,26.

“As the penitent sinner contrite before God, discerns Christ’s atonement in his behalf and accepts this atonement as his only hope in this life and the future life, his sins are pardoned. This is justification by faith.... Pardon and justification are one and the same thing.” –Faith and Works, p. 103.Yet righteousness must be linked to faith in order to be profitable.

Faith is the key which unlocks the treasures of Jesus Christ’s righteousness. We claim His promises by faith. We take hold of Christ’s merits by the arm of faith. We are pardoned believing in the atoning merits of Christ’s blood. By faith, we are accounted as righteous. By faith, we are made just before the law, before the throne of God, and before the entire universe. In Christ, the repentant, forgiven, and believing Christian stands faultless.

The highest level of faith is implicitly trusting God at His word in each moment of our lives. The Apostle Paul says those who believe in God must “trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all”. 1 Timothy 4:9-11. Paul means that we need not only to exemplify but also teach others to trust Jesus. Jesus is not now on a cross. He is not in a tomb. He is alive in the heavenly sanctuary pardoning, interceding, and atoning for His trusting people.

Red Was The Color of A Sacrificial Heifer

In the Old Testament, there was a sacrifice made for the entire congregation of Israel to cleanse them from ceremonial defilement. It typified Jesus’ sacrifice to cleanse us who are dead in trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:1. “This sacrifice was a red heifer and represented the more perfect offering that should redeem from the pollution of sin.... This heifer was to be red, which was a symbol of blood.... Here, again, Christ was typified.” –Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, p. 120.

The red heifer (Numbers 19:2) had to be spotless, because Jesus never sinned. It was slaughtered outside the sanctuary, without the camp, foreshadowing Jesus’ crucifixion beyond Jerusalem’s walls. The ashes of the heifer were added to pure water, with a scarlet cloth and a hyssop branch, to repeatedly sprinkle the sanctuary, and the congregation of Israel. It symbolized the purification from defilement of sin. “Thus Christ, in His own spotless righteousness, after shedding His precious blood, enters into the holy place to cleanse the sanctuary. And there the crimson current is brought into the service of reconciling God to man.

“The repeated sprinklings illustrate the thoroughness of the work that must be accomplished for the repenting sinner. All that he has must be consecrated. Not only should his own soul be washed clean and pure, but he should strive to have his family, his domestic arrangements, his property, and his entire belongings consecrated to God.” –Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, p. 122.

Do you see how God’s righteousness must be continually and thoroughly applied to the believer for it to be efficacious unto salvation? Justification can not be just one moment in time. The believer must be continually and thoroughly consecrated through Jesus. This work requires sanctification.

Red Reminds Us of The Red Sea

The children of Israel after painting the upper door post and the two side posts of their homes with the blood of the Passover lamb, were to prepare to flee from Egypt. This typified how the blood of Calvary cleanses and renews our own upper door post -minds, and our side posts -our hearts according to the New Covenant. We too are to flee from Egypt and Babylon and from the current of worldliness. Israel then had to cross the Red Sea by faith. (Hebrews 11:29). Their enemies where there drowned for ever. Our own Red Sea is a symbol of baptism where our past sins and tendencies to sin are buried. Paul says, “And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” I Corinthians 10:2. Hence, we, too, need to prepare for baptism in order to be dressed in the white linen of righteousness.

Jesus Himself said that He needed to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. Matthew 3:15. Hence, baptism is a prerequisite for righteousness.

“In fulfilling ‘all righteousness,’ Christ did not bring all righteousness to an end. He fulfilled all the requirements of God in repentance, faith, and baptism, the steps in grace in genuine conversion.... Human beings, by uniting their weakness to the divine nature of Christ, may become partakers of His character.” –To be like Jesus, p. 362.

Have you been baptized in the name of Jesus and believing the third angel’s message?

Red Was One of The Colors of The Sanctuary

Moses was instructed to dye the skins of rams in red. “And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red...” Exodus 26:14. These served as a covering for the tabernacle where God would reconcile His believing people unto Himself.

A spectator could only see the white linen curtains, but under the badger skins lay the red skins of rams as a symbol of God’s sacrifice for our salvation. Red pomegranates adorned the high priest’s garments. Red stripes adorned the priest’s ephod. Red stones on the breastplate symbolized some of the tribes of Israel. Hence, these tints of red symbolized not only our sins, or Christ’s blood, but His sacrifice which must be continually and thoroughly applied for it to be efficacious. All this symbolizes the moment by moment mediation, intercession, atonement, and forgiveness which Jesus offers us from the heavenly sanctuary.

“The blood of Christ is efficacious, but it needs to be applied continually.... You need the blood of the sprinkling thoroughly applied, consecrating you and all your possessions to God.” –Testimonies for the Church, volume 4, p. 122, 123.

The sanctuary and all its services typify the work of Jesus, our High Priest, in redeeming, justifying, sanctifying, and glorifying us. The sanctuary was not only a place to exercise faith, but a place of continual action and work. Righteousness is doing.

Red Is The Color of The New Wine

Jesus made several references in the gospel to new wine. He said, “No man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, ... but new wine must be put into new bottles.” Mark 2:22. The new bottles are a symbol of the new man in Jesus Christ. And what is this new wine?
As Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper, He stated that the new wine, that is red grape juice, symbolized the New Testament or Covenant He would make with all His trusting followers. (Matthew 26:27, 28). In the New Covenant, God writes His law upon our hearts and minds, so that we will be moved to do His commandments. The New Covenant implies a law. Law is absolutely necessary to define righteousness and justice.

E. J. Waggoner wrote: “righteousness equals obedience to the law ...The law of the ten commandments, then, is the measure of the righteousness of God ...Since the law is the righteousness of God–a transcript of His character–it is easy to see that to fear God and keep His commandments is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12:13.”2

“Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law...” Isaiah 51:6, 7. “What do we learn from this? That they who know the righteousness of God are those in whose heart is His law, and therefore that the law of God is the righteousness of God.”3

Those who have His law in their hearts must naturally do His commandments. Why not underline the following verses in your Bible so that you can in the future define righteousness as doing His commandments?

“And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.” Deuteronomy 6:25.

“My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.” Psalms 119:172.

“O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:18.

“Then what is it? It is to hear and to see that with the righteousness of Christ which you hold by faith, righteousness supplied by His efforts and His divine power, you can keep the commandments of God.” –Faith and Works, p. 71.

Red Is The Color of Love

Do you remember being an elementary school child drawing red hearts and roses for your mother? Psychologists tell us that the first person an infant and a child learns to love is their mother. A mother’s love is supreme. When God wanted to compare His love to us, He compared it to a mother’s love. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Isaiah 49:15.

To many, the color red is a symbol of love. Righteousness also relates to love. Love is the standard of righteousness. Love and righteousness are actions. It is simply not enough to have a profession of faith or to superficially keep His commandments. Something else is needed on the path of righteousness. We need to do acts of love.

Luther preached, “We must also have love and through love we must do to one another as God has done to us through faith. For without love, faith is nothing, as St. Paul says, If I had the tongues of angels and could speak of the highest things in faith, and have not love, I am nothing.”4

To Luther, justification, or righteousness by faith, were not merely words spoken in heaven on behalf of the repentant and believing sinner. Heaven’s actions were paralleled here on earth. As God lovingly blots out sins, we can do nothing greater than manifesting that same love to others. Luther taught that righteousness was “faith through love.” He continued saying,
“Dear friends, the kingdom of God,–and we are that kingdom–does not consist in talk or words, but in activity, in deeds, in works and exercises. God does not want hearers and repeaters of words (James 1:22), but followers and doers, and this occurs in faith through love. For a faith without love is not enough–rather it is not faith at all, but a counterfeit faith”5

The Testimonies give us a similar picture on the need of faith to work by love. “And it is that faith which works that you want. How does it work? It works by love. What love? Why, the love flashing from the cross of Calvary.” –Faith and Works, p. 72.

In Hebrew, righteousness is “tzedek.” The rabbis define tzedek as works of mercy and love. Every honest son of Abraham needs to do works of righteousness to assure his sealing on the day of Atonement. There is no greater mandate in Judaism for tzedek than during the 10 days between the day of Trumpets (Rosh Hashana) and the day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). On this day, the rabbis teach that God seals Israel.

Do we not also believe in the sealing message? Are we not modern spiritual Israel? Are we not living in the prophetic period of the day of Atonement? It is in this time that Jesus, as our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec (king of righteousness), puts us at one with God, at one with one another, and at one with ourselves with the responsibility of loving.

It is not enough to believe or to talk or to preach about righteousness. We must do righteousness. Or as Luther puts it, we must be doers. Jesus said, we must do good works which to the Jewish frame of mind means doing works of love and mercy. Are you doing any works of love? Or are you a living fulfilment of Jesus’ prediction of the last days: one whose love has waxed cold? “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12.

Love is not passive, it is active. Love is a doer, a giver, a sufferer, and it endures for ever. Love is the highest level of righteousness. Faith is the alpha of righteousness, and love is the omega of God’s righteousness. God’s righteousness is love, because God is love. (I John 4:8.) God loves you.

As another year comes to its close, perhaps your love has waxed cold from all the iniquity and maliciousness witnessed on this old planet. Or maybe you are not just so in love with the Lord, with the Bible, and with your spiritual family as you used to be. Will you right now ask Jesus to forgive you, and increase your faith, and give you that true tzedek which works the first works of love for the glory of God and well-being of your neighbors?

Red Is The Color of Revolution

When contemporary revolu-tionaries take power, they fly red flags, hang red posters and dress in red for public parades. When the revolution comes to a country, it seems to be dyed in red. Red is the color of revolution. But not all revolutions are the same. Not all are dyed in red. There has been an agricultural revolution, industrial revolution, and a technological revolution in our planet’s history.

God has another revolution in mind. He is today preparing His people and setting the stage for the great last spiritual revolution related to righteousness. “There must be a spiritual revolution throughout the churches that the fruits unto righteousness may be seen in our daily life.” –The E.G. White 1888 Materials, p. 241. That revolution necessitates a master change in the thoughts, words, and actions of every revolutionary now. It is the coming Latter Rain. We are not to wait till it comes to experience the internal spiritual revolution which God has masterminded through His Spirit. We need change, and that change must start with me and with my family, with you and your home, with us and our church. The prerequisite for the Latter Rain is to have and own the righteousness of Christ. The last spiritual revolution this planet shall witness shall be like a shower of righteousness poured down from the heavenly sanctuary.

God intends to rain righteousness on those that seek the Lord. The Kings James Version of the Bible in English says, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.” Hosea 10:12.

“Now, some will tell you, and they will begin to reckon, and reckon, and reckon when the latter rain is coming. I would rather that you would reckon right now whether you have brought eternity into your reckoning concerning your individual self. Consider whether you have brought eternity daily to view. If you are right with God today, you are ready if Christ should come today. What we need is Christ formed within, the hope of glory. We want that you should have a deep and earnest longing for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Your old, tattered garments of self-righteousness will not give you an entrance into the kingdom of God , but that garment that is woven in the loom of heaven–the righteousness of Jesus Christ–will.” –Sermons and Talks, volume 1, p. 202.3.

“Those who have been long in the work have been far too content to wait for the showers of the latter rain to revive them.... The truth of God must be brought into the soul temple, to cleanse and purify it from all defilement.... We want the ministers and the young men to be converted. We want to lift up the standard. Let all the people come up to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us pray that we may hunger and thirst after righteousness; for Jesus says, ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.’” –The E. G. White 1888 Materials, p. 118.1.

“If we keep our minds stayed upon Christ, He will come unto us ‘as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.’ Hosea 6:3. As the Sun of Righteousness, He will arise upon us ‘with healing in His wings.’ Malachi 4:2.” –Christ Object Lessons, p. 66.1.

Red Heralds Jesus’ return

Both Isaiah and John tell us that Jesus will return dressed in garments of red. Why? Because red stands for redemption. He will come to redeem those who have become like Him, those who have His faith, keep His commandments, lovingly do His good works, possess His spirit, and wear His spiritual garments of righteousness. He shall come to bring in everlasting righteousness.

“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. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone... and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” Isaiah 63:1-4.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire... And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.” Revelation 19:11-13.

“What we want is Jesus. What we want is His love. What we want is the elevation and ennobling of character. What we want is to die to self right here–not wait until some future period. We want to make the consecration here. Oh, I am so thankful that it is not too late for us to be righteous... ‘Come now, and let us reason together. . . .; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool’. Isaiah 1:18. –Sermon and Talks, volume 1, p. 192-193.
Amen.

_________________
1. (1975) The History of the Red Letter Edition. The King James Version. The Open Bible Edition. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Publishers, p. 212.
2. E.J. Waggoner (1892). The Righteousness of God. Christ Our Righteousness. London: Pacific Press Publishing, p. 52.
3. Ibid, p. 51.
4. Martin Luther – The First Sermon, 9 mars 1522, Invocavit Sunday. In Theodore G. Tappert, editor. (2007) Selected Writings of Martin Luther, volume 2. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, pages 234, 235.
5. Ibid, pp. 234, 235.
“As the penitent sinner contrite before God, discerns Christ’s atonement in his behalf and accepts this atonement as his only hope in this life and the future life, his sins are pardoned. This is justification by faith.... Pardon and justification are one and the same thing.”
–Faith and Works, p. 103.

“In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.