Red in the Bible

After last week’s post about red, I wondered how often the Bible mentions red. We may instantly think of the blood of Jesus—as some of you commented. But does it say, “Red blood?” It doesn’t. I looked it up.

Esau was the red twin (who asked his brother Jacob for a bowl of red stew).

The Red Sea is repeatedly mentioned citing God’s miraculous deliverance of the Israelites.

Animal skins were dyed red and covered the tabernacle.

Numbers 19 required a red heifer for a special sacrifice, which could send us down a long rabbit trail. Currently five red heifers are penned in a secret location in Israel and viewed as a fulfillment of end time prophecy. I’m certainly not equipped to expound on this.

But then we come to the glorious promise in Isaiah 1:18:

“Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”

Sin is red, scarlet, crimson, but is it actually red? Or is it the sacrifice for sin that is red?

Sin cannot be condoned—it must be atoned for, and the atonement is always a costly sacrifice that bleeds red. Before you protest, examine your own cry for justice when you are wronged. Whether you’re slandered, robbed, or raped, physically or emotionally, the abuse demands justice and justice is what we are promised. Later in Isaiah (42:1), he prophesies about Jesus.

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen One in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.”

But that is still not all Jesus’ shed blood is for. It is for our own sins, those red blots that stain us and are impossible to wash away. The Bible’s red is both for the sin and the sacrifice. What amazing grace and freedom are found in Jesus’ redemption. He alone saves us by opening the way to God, who says,

“Come now, let us settle the matter…
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”