Christmas (4)

In many areas of the world, red and green are the only bright colors that survive in nature during the winter. In fact, at a time when most plants are barren, those that remain green and even blossom (eg: holly with its red berries and the poinsettia with its brilliant red leaves) captivate attention. Since the vibrant red and green colors of these plants have long had a meaningful association with winter, it seems natural that they would eventually become attached to the most significant celebration of the season, Christmas. The colors of red and green also have intriguing biblical relevance, particularly in so far as they represent life.

Throughout the Bible, the color red has a strong association with life and blood. Interestingly, the first human life in all creation was a man named “Adam.” The name in Hebrew can be translated as “man” or “red.” This man was created as the first of all human life on earth, but he also became the first to bring death to humanity.

When Adam and his wife Eve first sinned against God by eating of the forbidden fruit, they brought death into the world. Since man was the source of death, man would also have to be the solution in overcoming it. Herein lies the dilemma; only God himself could conquer death, and God was not a man. Human blood was required to reverse the consequence of human sin. For this reason, and beyond all comprehension, God chose to become a man.

This man Jesus is also called the last "Adam.” Remember that "Adam" means both “man” and "red". Jesus became a real man with real flesh and red blood of humanity. He spilled this blood to conquer death and give us life!

Leviticus 17:14 records that “the life of a creature is in the blood.” For this reason, the Jewish people were not permitted to eat the blood of any creature. This sheds light on the significance of Jesus’ words when he said in John 6:53, 54. "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 

For hundreds of years, the Jewish people used the blood of animals to “cover” their sins. The blood of Jesus, however, was meant to do more than cover sins; it was given as a drink offering that would purify man from the inside out. Isaiah 1:18 foretold, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” The color  red gives a visual of the sacrificial animal blood that was shed to cover and hide sin. In a sense, our sins were so drenched with blood that they were “like scarlet” and “red as crimson.” Isaiah pointed to the future sacrifice of Jesus whose blood would not simply cover over sins; it would so effectively wash them away that his people would be “white as snow.”

Though the red of blood is often associated with death, in the case of Jesus and all who believe in him, it always symbolizes life. Death could not conquer Jesus. He is alive, and his blood, real human blood, gives life to all who believe in him.

In regard to the color green, it is used frequently throughout the Bible to describe living things in nature: leaves, grass, pastures, plants and trees. Yet, just as sin brought death into the world for man, it brought death and decay to all of nature. The course of nature follows the course of man. After time, all living things wither and die. However, Jesus came to redeem man back to life, and he will do the same for creation.

The Book of Romans records how all of creation “waits in eager expectation” of being “liberated from its bondage to decay” and being brought into “glorious freedom” in Romans 8. Not only will the bodies of Christians be made new, God will one day make “a new heaven and a new earth” that will never decay or die according to 2 Peter 3:13.

May the colors of Christmas serve as a reminder of how all creation from man, symbolized by red, to all of nature, symbolized by green will be redeemed by Jesus for new and eternal life.