Red is the New White

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

“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.

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” ().

“Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood.”

“Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood.”

LEWIS E. JONES, 1899

The color red conjures up a lot of images in the human mind. A woman in red symbolizes seduction. The scarlet letter, assigned to the adulterous woman, was a shade of red. Red flags are meant to be warnings of impending danger. A thief is caught red-handed. Prostitutes live in the red-light district. The character of the Devil is often seen in red. Red is the color of blood and a symbol for guilt, sin, and even anger. It is understood by most that if you drive a red sports car you will be pulled over more times by the police than if you were driving the same car in white. Red gets our attention; it has a sense of danger, sin, and guilt associated with it.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

White carries an entirely different sentiment. For centuries brides have worn white as a symbol of purity. White is considered a clean and bright color. Doctors and nurses often wear white. Some cultures view white as a sign of royalty. In early Westerns you could always spot the good guy because he rode a white horse and wore a white hat. A white knight is a man who rescues someone in need. If you were to see two women, one dressed in red and the other in white, you would probably associate innocence with the woman in white and looseness with the woman in red. You would never expect to see a woman wear red to her wedding; the imagery is just too incongruent.

“The Cross of Jesus Christ destroys all pride. We cannot find the Cross of Jesus if we shrink from going to the place where it is to be found, namely, the public death of the sinner. And we refuse to bear the Cross when we are ashamed to take upon ourselves the shameful death of the sinner in confession.”

Dietrich Bonhoffer

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

In the book of Revelation we see continual use of the color white on the people and the creatures that surround God. reveals such an image of Christ in white when it says, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” And the book of Daniel shows us a similar scene when it says, “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire” (7:9). says, “And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.”

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

It should be no surprise that the Bible uses the colors of red and white to symbolize both guilt and innocence, death and life. In God tells us that “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Consider the magnitude of this idea.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Red is a fast color, meaning that it is almost impossible to take red and make it white. If you’ve ever stained a white shirt with blood or tomato sauce and tried to get it out, then you know how colorfast red can be. Red is a stubborn reminder of our mistakes and often refuses to go away. In , red is the color of the dragon and symbolizes the Devil’s cruelty. And in , the red horse comes to take peace from the earth.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

So how is it then that red is the new white—the new innocence and purity? In this ultimate act of turning things upside down, making red white, God takes red, the color of blood, and applies it to our ugliness and sin in order to make us white as snow, justified in his eyes, no longer held guilty of our sin. As red covers white so well and so permanently, so blood covers the sins of man. Since the gates to the garden were closed to us, sin has ruled the lives of man, and so blood has flowed. The very first time blood flowed on earth was the blood that flowed in order that Adam and Eve might be clothed after their fall (). Soon after that, the act of man worshiping God involved blood. tells us that “by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.” And the covenant that God made with Noah came after Noah’s sacrifice after the flood, which we see in , “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.” God’s covenant with Abraham required blood. In this act of worship Abraham’s own blood was to be shed as a symbol of his commitment to die to himself in the form of the sacrifice of his son Isaac. But as Abraham lifted up the knife to kill his self-life in his son, God made a substitute for that blood with the blood of the ram (). Blood was also used to spare the Israelites from the plague of the death of the firstborn and was to be a signal for the Lord to pass over their homes. And when God confirmed his covenant with Moses, blood was not only sprinkled on the altar but was also thrown onto the people ().

In Hebrews we read about this moment with these important words:

Hebrews 9:18–22 ESV

Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

tells us why the blood was used as atonement for God’s people when it says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” As you look deeper into God’s Word, you will see that blood was needed for many things. When a house or a priest was consecrated, when a child was born, when a sin was to be forgiven, at the times of the festivals, always in everything, in order to have fellowship with God, blood had to be involved. The worshiper never came empty-handed; he always needed blood in order to worship. Even the high priest, who would go inside the veil to the mercy seat once a year, went into God’s presence but “not without taking blood” (). The Most Holy Place where God dwells can only be approached with the blood.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Why all this talk and need for the blood, you might ask. After all, blood comes only from one place—the death of a living thing. Must something die in order for God to be happy? As we saw in earlier in this series, “The wages of sin is death” (). So according to God’s law anyone who sins must die. The idea that God cannot stand the sins of man is a biblical one. Our sins provoke God’s anger. This is not an out-of-control, irrational anger, but a holy and righteous anger that is opposed to everything that is evil. His anger toward and opposition to evil can’t be glossed over or dismissed as inconsistent with his grace. It is because of his grace that his opposition doesn’t destroy us; but his grace doesn’t remove his anger—only the blood can do that. As we’ve said, blood requires death, so in the Old Testament God allowed for substitutions to be made. And these substitutions lost their lives in order that the sinner might be forgiven and reconciled with God. And so for the Israelites, the blood seemingly flowed morning and night because of the sinfulness of man and the need for fellowship with a holy God. These blood sacrifices of the old covenant now teach us about the importance of the blood and the need for a sacrifice to be made for sin.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

The old covenant prepared us for the coming of Christ and the shedding of the blood of the Lamb, once and for all. In it is written:

Hebrews 9:11–14 ESV

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Christ came to be the final sacrifice for man, and his blood is enough to cover us all. His death becomes our life, and his blood our propitiation.

RED IS INNOCENCE

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

His blood now means our innocence. His blood takes our filth and covers it all, removing all the stains and blemishes and making us white as snow. His red is our new white because as we read in , “The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” God cannot accept the sinner; he cannot have fellowship with him or bring him into his presence except for the blood. The blood of Jesus served as the final sacrifice to not only cover our sins but also to remove the punishment for them. In the blood of Jesus is seen all of God’s grace. Through the blood Jesus substituted his life for ours as seen in these words in : “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And the atonement, that which repaired the relationship between man and God, was made possible by the blood and by nothing else. We have to beware the thinking that it was out of God’s kindness and love that he saved us. Certainly he is kind and he loves us, but it was out of the death of his Son that he saved us. We can’t rely on God’s kindness or love to gain us access to the throne; it is only through accepting the blood that we can be viewed as innocent and allowed entry.

In Jesus says to his disciples, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” The blood, then, wasn’t truly the blood of Jesus. There was nothing magical in the cup; his blood wasn’t literally required in the stomachs of the apostles in order for them to be saved but was symbolic blood. The blood that covers our sins is not a literal blood, but a symbol of the death that Jesus died for us. When you bleed you don’t necessarily die, but biblically, the “blood” of Jesus represents the death of Jesus. It was his death, as seen in the blood, that secured our release from the penalty of sin. But his death did so much more.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

RED IS SALVATION

In sixteenth-century Holland King Philip of Spain controlled the country. When the people revolted, the king sent his army to squelch the revolt. The army went from house to house knocking down doors and killing everyone inside. Inside one particular house, a group of men, women, and children were hiding from the murderers. They were certain of nothing but their terrible deaths. But then a young man had an idea. He took a goat they had in the house, killed it, and then swept the blood under the doorway out into the street as quickly as he could. Then they cowered in silence.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

When the soldiers reached the house and started to bang on the door, one of them saw the blood coming out from under the door and shouted, “Come away, the work is already done here. Look at the blood beneath the door.” And the people inside the house escaped simply because of the blood. This story is reminiscent of the story of the Passover. The blood on the doorposts protected the people behind the door. And so it is with the blood of Jesus; his blood ceases God’s wrath against us. Romans tells us that “we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (). But what does it mean to be justified? To justify means to declare as righteous. The blood of Jesus declares that we are now righteous. can help us better understand what this means. The verses say, “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” That means you are saved from having to save yourself—saved from being perfect. The law and all that it might demand can never save you. But through the blood, and that alone, are you forgiven and saved from everything that being good promised to do for you.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

puts it this way:

2 Corinthians 5:18–21 ESV

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

So because of the blood, God will not count your sins against you but will be reconciled with you and no longer angry or separate. And there is the hope; there is the white knight on the white horse coming to save us all. His blood is making us white as snow.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

But there is in all of us an idea that this can’t possibly be enough, that some work must be done, and so we can easily resist the concept of justification simply through the gracious gift of Christ’s blood. But this is where death becomes you. You must, in order to receive justification, believe that the blood is enough. You must die to the part of you that insists it must participate in this salvation thing and to help out God. This part of us that might lie hidden underneath all our talk about gospel or God’s grace cannot be left to seduce our hearts. It must die in order that belief can do its work.

It was Abraham’s faith that was counted to him as righteousness; and the only act Abraham did was believing, which at times, especially at the time of the testing on Mount Moriah, would have been a feeling not unlike natural death. If your heart has a hard time believing justification by the blood, then consider killing the part of you that would argue against God’s gracious and necessary gift. Without this acceptance there is nothing you can do that can bring you back into right relationship with God.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Justification is God’s reaching down to man, not man’s reaching up to God. Man sinned, broke God’s standard, and became impure. And so man was in need of the righteousness of God in order to get back into right relationship with him. The blood provided this. agrees, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” So red is our innocence, our salvation, and...

RED IS PURIFICATION

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us who has access to God. His words must have shocked many when he said that only the pure in heart shall see God (). This means that if you are a child of God then you have a pure heart. So thanks to the blood you have access to God. should be the victory cry for all who believe:

Ephesians 2:13–18 ESV

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Did you get all that? Because of the blood you have been brought near to God; that makes you a part of the “pure in heart.”

See, the blood has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between you and God, making peace between you and reconciling you to him. Because of this you now have total access to the Father—access that is only granted to the pure. In the Old Testament, the unclean were not allowed to worship or enter the temple until they were cleansed because the unclean cannot draw near to God. This might sound frightening to you, a sinner. For many of us, the sins of the past continue to haunt us, and we are unable to forget the terrible things we’ve done. We see Christ and then we look at ourselves and we cringe; how unholy are we, how ugly. But the point of the blood isn’t to keep you there; it’s to purify you from the stains of your sin, to move you forward. The blood is our bleach.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

To belabor your sinfulness is to ignore the blood that cleanses you from all unrighteousness. When we die young we die to our right to hold on to the memory of our sins, holding them tightly in our arms, crying over them, unwilling to let them go because of the sheer magnitude of them all. The blood not only removes our guilt, but according to it cleanses our consciousness of sins. The blood holds all the power not just to forgive our sins but also to move us past them, to free us from the pain and suffering associated with reliving them and thinking about them, bemoaning them and belaboring them.

Rather than worry or fret over the magnitude of our sins we, like David, can say, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (). And we can be confident that he will do just that.

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

RED IS VICTORY

Your victory has already come. If it doesn’t feel like it, don’t fret; it’s only because you didn’t know it was yours for the taking. The book of Revelation shows you your future; just take a look and see what the blood will do: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (). It would do all believers good to remind themselves each day of the power of the blood, to bathe in it, to pour it over their mind and their hearts that they might never forget the power in the blood. These words mean so much and offer us the truth that will set us all free. Red is the new white. And what a beautiful sight it is. Own it. Take it. Enjoy it. You came to him covered in the filth of your sin, ugly, tired, worn out, and wondering what hope you could find. But now that you’ve been bleached white by the red blood and the power that it holds, you will never be the same. You can’t be—his Word confirms it. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” ().

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

How a Savior came from glory,

FINAL LAST WORDS

You are never too old to die young. It is never too late. Too much of your life has not passed. You have not made too many mistakes for God to forgive. But you can make today the turning point in your life—the point when you determine to completely bury yourself in Christ so deep that nothing can ever really harm you again. When you do that, when his love is all that surrounds you and all that contains you and all that you contain, then life is a whole new ball game. What was down is now up, what was death is now life, what was less is now more, and what was weakness is now strength; there is no more death for you. It is all nothing but life. No one can kill you when you are already dead.

I counted dollars while God counted crosses,

I counted gains while He counted losses,

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

How He gave His life on Calvary

I counted my worth by the things gained in store

But He sized me up by the scars that I bore.

I coveted honors and sought for degrees,

He wept as He counted the hours on my knees;

I never knew until one day by the grave

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

How vain are the things that we spend life to save;

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11

I did not yet know until my loved one went above

That richest is he who is rich in God’s love.

—Author Unknown

Excerpt From: Hayley DiMarco & Michael DiMarco. “Die Young.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/die-young/id494079000?mt=11