God's Inerasable Colour — Ian Paisley

You'll find a copy of the Holy Scriptures before you in the pew. Pick up the Bible and turn with me to the second book in the Bible, the book of Exodus. We're reading the first nine verses of this fourth chapter.

Exodus 4:1–9 and the Three Signs

Exodus chapter four, verses one to nine. And we will read it together, taking your time from me, please. And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice. For they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.

And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail.

And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

And the Lord said further unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again.

And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom. And behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they shall not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry ground.

Ending our lesson at verse nine, and God will seal this reading to our hearts of his very own infallible book. Let's bow our heads in prayer. I take the promised Holy Ghost, the blessed power of Pentecost, to fill me to the uttermost.

I take. Thank God he undertakes for me. And the people of God said, Amen. I want to speak today upon God's inerasable red. I was reading my Bible a fortnight ago, and I was struck with the reoccurrence of the color red.

The Rainbow and Its Colors of Judgment, Mercy, and Salvation

Especially as it is linked to cleansing from sin. And then I thought of the rainbow, and of course the seven basic colors, and there are only seven basic colors. All the other colors are either dilutions or additions to those seven colors.

And I thought of the color of the rainbow. The rainbow is a very interesting sign and signal given to the world after the flood. That never again would a flood of waters destroy this world. The colors of the rainbow are the basic seven.

The three upper colors are red, orange, and yellow. These colors are all indicated by different degrees of heat and can be seen in any fire. The lower colors are blue, purple, and indigo. These are royal and heavenly colors.

The central color is green, which is brought about by the intermingling of the blue and the yellow. The symbolism is brilliant. The fiery colors, red, orange, and yellow, typify God's judgment. The other colors, blue, purple, and indigo, they illustrate God's mercy.

By the mingling of both, bringing out the green color, speaks to us of salvation accomplished. When mercy and truth are met together, and righteousness and peace kiss each other. When we turn to the last book of the Bible, for the first time we see the completed rainbow.

The rainbow you see is only half the boat. But the rainbow around God's throne in Revelation 4 and verse 3 is the whole rainbow. It encircles the whole throne. And here we have a perfected salvation. So the rainbow calls our attention to the necessity of paying heed to the colors of the Bible.

The Rod, the Leprous Hand, and the River of Blood

Now if you read the Bible carefully, you will discover, as I discovered, that God's inerasable red is the most prominent color that is used in regard to cleansing from sin. If you turn over to Exodus chapter 4, the chapter we read together, you will notice that God appeared to Moses in the bush that burned but was not consumed.

And you will notice that God gave to Moses three signs. Very, very important. A sign of the rod, the sign of the hand, and the sign of the water. The rod turned into a serpent, the hand turned to leprosy, and the water turned to blood.

Now those three signs indicate the progress of saving the soul. The first thing you have to learn before you can be saved is that the devil has you by the throat. And he is there with all his power. But the rod can be brought into subjection to the power of God, and the serpent's power can be broken.

Maybe the devil is ruling your life at the moment, giving you a hard time for the devil is a hard taskmaster, but thank God the power of the devil can be broken. And then the second one is the hand. The hand is for service, for activity, for building, for work.

But the hand turned leprous, and the leprous hand can't be used because it's infectious, it spreads disease, and does not bring forth wages of that day. But the hand, when it reaches into the heart, and when God changes the heart, thank God he changes every part of you.

And when he brought out the hand, it was no longer leprous, it was healed. So God deals with the devil when he saves a man. He deals with his own personal heart trouble when he saves a man. And then we have the last sign, and what was it?

The river, the rivered river. Do you remember what Pharaoh tried to do? He tried to turn that river into a river of blood. And he commanded that all the firstborn children should be cast into the river.

But he didn't succeed, because the nurses, the midwives for the children of Israel were clever women, and they absolutely defeated the policy of the king. So he never got the river turned to blood. But here on the third sign, God gave Moses the power to turn the river into blood.

Circumcision and the Blood of Covenant Obedience

And the river that was something that talked of death became the gateway to life. The only way that God saves man is by the giving of life in the bloodshedding of his son. But once his son has given his blood, and that blood is applied to her heart, our sins are washed away, never to be remembered again forever.

Oh, there's power in the blood of the Lamb. Isn't it interesting to note that the first plague, the turning of the water into blood, and the last plague, the sprinkling of the blood to the sealing of the firstborn, are linked closely together, the first and the last.

Now when I read a little further, I read something else about the red, this inerasable red. First of all, we have the emphasis on death in the Red River. Then we have the emphasis on designation. And if you turn over to Exodus chapter 4, verses 24 to 26, you will find that Moses was traveling from his father-in-law's home in Midian to Egypt, and his wife Zipporah was with him.

But she was a difficult woman. Women are difficult. I read of a preacher recently, and he was preaching on the book of Daniel. And he says, this is a hard book. It's like every woman in this service. It's hard to manage.

And he nearly had a riot, for the woman didn't like those words. But anyway, let me say this to you this morning. Zipporah had a choice to make. She was either going to lose her son in death, or she was going to submit to the circumcision that drew the blood, and put the stamp of red upon her son.

And evidently she had resisted having her son circumcised, and she's now on the way to Egypt to see the God of the covenant glorified. But how could she glorify that God when she was living in direct disobedience to His command?

And so at the end, God met up with Moses. And God said to Moses, you have to take your wife into hand, Moses, because these boys have got to be circumcised. And she took a sharp stone, and she circumcised her sons, and she called her husband a bridegroom of blood.

But that blood shedding was the salvation of her two sons. They could not live without the inerasable blood. All right, let's come a little farther. Let's come to the red shelter. You remember the Passover in Exodus 12?

The Passover Blood and Deliverance Under the Crimson Archway

Here the emphasis is on deliverance. And you remember what happened? This lamb had to be slain. The blood had to be shed. The blood shed had to be preserved in the basin. The blood from the basin had to be applied and sprinkled on the side door and on the lintel.

And the blood must be appropriated because they had to go in under the crimson archway for safety. Satisfaction to God makes satisfaction to God for our sins. And our sins can only be dealt with by the redness of the crimson blood of the Redeemer.

God did not look at the house. God looked at the blood. You know there were houses there in Israel, that Israel occupied in Egypt. Lofty houses, strong houses, beautiful houses, rich houses. But it did not matter.

If there was no blood on them, the souls within it, the first born within it would die. On the other hand, the house might have been a hovel. An old ramshackle business building. But as long as the blood was on it, as long as the blood was on it, all was well.

The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, said Paul, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.

But unto us it is the power of God. We preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block. Unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto us who receive the power of God. Thank God for the blood on the house.

The shattering blood of the Lamb. When I see the blood, I'll stand guard over you. I learned something about the Passover this week that I never knew before. I learned that the Passover is recorded in the Bible only seven times to have been celebrated.

It was celebrated here in Exodus 12. It was then celebrated in the wilderness in Numbers chapter 9. When they entered Canaan under Joshua chapter 5, they celebrated the Passover. In the days of Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles 20, they celebrated the Passover.

In the days of King Josiah, 2 Chronicles 35, they celebrated the Passover. And when they returned from the captivity, Ezra chapter 6, they celebrated the Passover. Six times it is recorded that the children of the promise celebrated the Passover.

What was the seventh time? The seventh time was when our Lord Himself was there. And they went up to the upper room and they kept the Passover with the Lord. Seven, of course, is the number of perfection.

And thank God the last Passover was the perfect Passover. The Passover that hath not the blood of a lamb, but the blood of the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. In the last Passover, the true Lamb of God is seen, who hath been prefigured by all the preceding Passover lambs.

It should also be observed that Jesus Christ who celebrated the Passover had Himself been in Egypt. Did you ever think about that? He had been in Egypt. He was delivered, He was a firstborn that was saved out of Egypt.

He fled to Egypt for safety. And as the Passover came from Egypt, so Jesus Christ is the true Passover who was called out of Egypt. How wonderful is the unity of this book. How glorious is every sentence in it.

This book was not written by men. This book was told to men by God to be written. And then we come to the next red is the Red Sea. Exodus 14, 22 to 23. Here we have the emphasis on division. How the child of God can define all the powers of hell through the red of the blood of Christ.

The Red Sea as the Great Divide in Salvation

Note the name of the sea, the Red Sea. This is the sea which delivers saints but destroys sinners. It is here you have the great divide. And notice the return of the rod to the hand of Moses here. And the return of the rod by the use of the hand.

So the rod that was given him as a sign was used to bring about the greatest sign. The sign of the final destruction of Pharaoh and his host. It says here in verse 2 of Exodus chapter 14. Stretch out thy hand Moses.

The hand that was healed from leprosy is now full of the mighty power of God. Evangelically speaking the crossing of the Red Sea tells of the completeness of our salvation. It is the sequel to the Passover night.

Both are joined to give us a full view of what Christ has done for us. We sang tonight and today when God of old the way of life would teach to all his own. He placed them all beyond the reach of death by blood alone.

It is God's word, God's precious word that stands forever sure. When I the Lord shall see the blood I will pass over you. The Red Sea with its emphasis on the division. But then as we turn over in the books of Moses we find the red on the high priest's garments.

Blood-Stained Garments and the Dedication of the High Priest

With the emphasis of dedication. Exodus chapter 29 verse 21. The garments of the high priest were beautiful. We read there were garments of glory and beauty but there was one thing. Then God said put on the garments, the high priestly garments.

Bring the high priest to the sacrifice. Take the blood and stain his garments. Sprinkle the blood on the garments of glory and of beauty. The most beautiful thing in those garments was not the fine linen or the purple or all of blue.

It was the blood. It is the blood that makes it. All through the Bible we read about blood stained garments. Did you ever notice that? In the garden of Eden the first clothes that our fallen parents, the first man and the first woman ever wore.

They were made of the skins of the beasts which God slew. Blood stained garments were in Eden. Do you remember the man called Joseph? He had a special coat hadn't he? And what did the brothers do? They took a little lamb and killed it.

And they poured the blood on the coat of many colors. And they took it home and deceived their father. And said to their father an evil beast has devoured him. You know if Jacob had taken hold of himself he wouldn't have believed it.

How could a coat without a rip in it would have been worn by Joseph when he was torn to pieces by an evil beast. But he was carried away in a sorrow. Sometimes we are carried away with circumstances that we don't take time to think about the reality.

I was thinking of my blessed Lord this week. Wasn't his garment stained in the bloody sweat of Gethsemane? He sweat great drops of blood. And those drops of blood all over his body they made those garments blood sprinkled garments.

But when we get to heaven the Lord wears a vesture. And all through eternity when I look into the face of my Savior I will see the vesture dipped with blood. The unerasable red declares it to be so. Then we have a very peculiar scripture.

The Red Heifer and Purification from Sin

It's over in Numbers chapter 19 and verse 9. It's called the red heifer offering. This is another red. And we find about the speciality and peculiarity of the water of purification which came from the ashes of the red heifer's offering as a sacrifice.

And there could be no water of purification except the red heifer. The only thing that can purify a soul when they get fit for the presence of God is the red heifer offering. The offering that was peculiar and special.

For what? For the purification of the soul. There was an old man and he lay dying. And he called all his sons, twelve of them in all. He called them all to come and see him die. And when he called them to come and see him die there was something very special about that death bed.

You'll find it in chapter 49 of Genesis. And you'll find there was one man picked out. His name was Judah. And you'll notice that in verse 11 of the 49th chapter of Genesis it was said of Judah. He bound his foal unto the vine.

His asses caught unto the choice vine. He washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of Greeks. His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. He's the only man among the brothers that's characterized by blood.

His name is Judah. Who is he? He's a type of the lion of the tribe of Judah. Who has prevailed to open the book and to list the seven seeds thereof. And the stump was overflowing blood. His very asses coat was yoked to the choice vine.

His garments were washed in the blood. His clothes in the blood of Greeks. And his eyes with wine. How did Christ's eyes become filled with blood? Because he wore on the cross a crown. That crown was made with the long eastern thorn.

Almost six inches long. That pierced him to the very heart. Use that expression. And the blood flowed. Christ's crucified upright. And as the blood flowed it filled the eyes. If you'd look to Christ on the cross all you would have seen was eyes.

The Inerasable Blood and the Eternal Worth of Christ's Sacrifice

Oh the bleeding lamb. Oh the bleeding lamb. He was found worthy. To take the book and list the seeds. To bruise the head that bruised his heel. He was found worthy. Oh the bleeding lamb. He didn't weep tears for you.

He wept blood for you. Upon that cross. And thank God today there's the reds. There in erasable reds. They're stamped from God's redemption for eternity. And when ten trillion years of eternity is fled.

The redness of the blood will be as bright as ever. And the power of the blood will be as mighty as ever. Because the blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed church of God. Are you washed in that blood?

Have you got the reds stamped upon you? Are you ready for hope and for God? Let's bow our heads. Father we thank thee for thy holy and blessed word. Write it on our hearts. And take our thanks for the blood of the lamb.

The lamb of God who had taken away the sin of the world. And everybody say amen.