Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18 (ESV)
From the primary colours of red, yellow and blue, to the more complex colour mixtures around us, colour adds an aesthetic ambiance to our environment. Here are some not-so-common colour facts:
- At birth Dalmatian dogs are always white.
- The safest car colour is white.
- Mosquitoes prefer children to adults and blondes to brunettes.
- The colour of a chilli pepper is no indication of its heat (usually, the smaller, the hotter).
- The most popular toothbrush colour is blue.
- The ‘black box’ that houses an airplane’s voice recorder is actually orange so it can be more easily detected amid the debris of a plane crash.
The colours red and white feature in Isaiah 1:18. The colour red in the Bible represents blood and redemption: red for red-emption. The thread of red can be traced throughout the Bible. It also represents our sin. We even talk about being caught red-handed. The words “scarlet” and “crimson” refer to dye that was extracted from both shellfish and a certain type of insect. When white garments were dyed with these colours, they could never be made white again. These colours were both colourfast and indelible. The colour white represents righteousness and purity.
The following question was asked in a science magazine:
Why does a scarlet or crimson object appear white when viewed through a red glass in the light?
The answer given was fascinating:
When a scarlet or crimson object is viewed through a red glass in the light, the object appears white. When light hits a red object, that means all visible wavelengths are being absorbed except the frequency red, which is reflected.
Our sins are washed white, or clean, through the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus is red, and by using red to eliminate red (representing our sin) we become white. Though our sins are as scarlet, the Father looks on them through the filter of the blood of His Son and sees us white and pure. He is able to cleanse us from all sin.
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 (NIV)
The Sovereign Lord extends to you and I the invitation to, “Come now, let us reason together.” Or as another translation goes, “Come now, let us settle the matter.”