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Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Scarlet Thread's purpose in Christmas

Exodus 26:1 “Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.

The Scarlet Thread that would bring about Christmas
Yesterday we talked about how God would use Judah, Jacob's grandson, to be the ancestor from which the humanity of the Savior would come on that first Christmas.  The idea of a "scarlet thread of redemption" signals God's intention of using a particular bloodline to accomplish His plan of salvation by the sending of the Savior.

The Scarlet Thread appears once again
As time marched onward from Judah, over 250 years would pass until the days of Moses and the nation of Israel in the book of Exodus.  Most are familiar with the Exodus out of Egypt.  The reason why God redeemed the people of God out of Egypt was so that they could worship Him in the wilderness.  In order to make this goal a reality, God revealed to Moses instructions for the building of a mobile worship center called "The tabernacle".

Many details were revealed - one of which included the materials making up the construction.  The Bible says that in the coverings for this worship center (which was really a tent of sorts), there was to be woven into much of the fabric fine linen dyed red or "scarlet". 

What the Scarlet Thread points to
Why was it that God wanted His worship center to have scarlet thread in its design?  because Scarlet thread would remind the people of God for the need of blood-bought salvation.  The scarlet thread, picturing redemption, also pointed the the price of redemption - blood.  The Jews would bring sacrifices for their sins, and the priests would represent them.  The whole worship system in the Old testament pointed to the time when the ulitmate sacrifice would be made by Jesus Christ on the cross.

Why the babe in the manger was born
Matthew 1:21 reveals why Jesus was called "Jesus": He shall be called Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins".  Jesus literally means: "The Lord saves".  Christ alone fulfilled the intentions of God's redemptive plan.  He alone completed the long line of the scarlet thread of redemption.  This is the chief purpose and meaning behind Christmas.