The Scarlet Thread

— The Cross is foreshadowed in the OT

— This is known as the Scarlet Thread which weaves through the OT and points to Christ

— Adam as a type of Christ

— God spoke directly to Adam, and Adam (in a prophetic role) was responsible to mediate God’s word by trusting, keeping, and preaching it to his wife and children (Hunter. 80-81)

— Adam (in a priestly role) was responsible to mediate God’s presence to the world by universally expanding Eden’s borders, filling it with image-bearers, and ruling over creation” (ibid. 81)

— “Adam (in a kingly role) was given dominion over the world as a servant king, who was to act as God’s image, his representative and son” (ibid. 81)

— Paul tells us clearly that Adam was “a type of Him who was to come.” ( Rom 5:14 )

— The curse and the serpent

— The Lord said to the serpent, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel”

— This “first gospel” is prophetic of the struggle between “your seed” (Satan and unbelievers) and “her seed” (Christ, a descendant of Eve, and those in Him)

— Killing of animals to make clothes

— After Adam and Eve sinned God killed animals to cover Adam and Eve

— Blood had to be shed to provide them covering ( Gen 3:21 )

— The first physical deaths should have been the man and his wife, but it was an animal — a shadow of the reality that God would someday kill a substitute to redeem sinners

— The acceptable sacrifice of Abel ( Gen 4:4 )

— Abel was a shepherd and brought a blood sacrifice consisting of firstlings and fat (the best animals)

— Cain was a farmer and brought first crops

— Abel’s sacrifice was pleasing to God because it was obediently given according to what God required (although not recorded here in Genesis )

— In the ark that saved Noah and his family ( Gen 7 )

— We all know the story of Noah and how eight people were saved

— Peter makes the analogy ( 1 Peter 3:20-21 ) that 8 people went through the judgment yet were unharmed because they were on the ark, which is analogous to the Christian’s experience of being in Christ, the ark of our salvation

— The birth of Perez and Zerah ( Gen 28:27-30 )

— Judah and his wife had twin sons, Perez and Zerah

— Zerah reached out his arm first and immediately the midwife tied a scarlet thread on his arm

— As it turns out Perez was born first and it was through his line that Christ came ( Matt 1:3 )

— In the deliverance of Israel from Egypt ( Ex 12 )

— In the struck rock that brought forth water in the wilderness ( Ex 17:6 )

— In the Levitical sacrifices

— The Passover, the Lamb and the Exodus

— The blood of the lamb was placed on the doorposts ( Ex 12:7 ) to protect the home from the angel of death ( Ex 12:13 )

— Just as the angel of death passed over the homes marked with blood, God will passover believers covered by Christ

— Like the Exodus we have been freed from the bondage of sin by Christ

— Jesus is the lamb, and you can’t get very far into John’s gospel without reading this:

John 1:29 NKJV

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

— Unlike the blood of lambs and goats which could never remove sin, Christ’s blood provides true redemption ( Eph 1:7 )

— In the serpent lifted up in the wilderness for healing( Num 21:9; Jn 3:14-15 )

— When the people spoke against Moses and God He sent fiery snakes to bite the people and punish them

— When they confessed their sin, Moses interceded and was told to lift a bronze serpent on a pole and anyone who looked upon it would saved

— We all have memorized John 3:16 but John tells us the meaning of bronze serpent immediately preceeding this famous verse: John 3:14-15

John 3:14–15 NKJV

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

— The point of this illustration is in “lifted up.” Just as Moses lifted up the snake on the pole so that all who looked on it might live physically, Christ will be lifted up on a cross and all who look to Christ on the cross will live spiritually and eternally.

— The scarlet thread of Rahab ( Joshua 2:18 )

— The scarlet rope hanging out of the window was a sign of her faith ad led to her salvation ( Heb 11:31 )

— In Boaz as Ruth’s kinsman redeemer ( Ruth 4:1-10 )

AND THERE ARE MANY MORE....

— The scarlet thread or yarn is mentioned as part of the tabernacle curtains ( Ex 26:1 )

— Scarlet is mentioned as part of the High Priest’s ephod ( Ex 28:6 ) along with threads of gold, blue and purple

— In the substitute ram provided to Abraham on Mount Moriah as the substitute for his son Isaac ( Gen 22:13 )

References

Booker, Richard Dr. The Miracle of the Scarlet Thread: Revealing the Power of the Blood of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation. Destiny Image. 1981.

Hunter, Trent. Wellum, Stephen. Christ from Beginning to End: How the Full Story of Scripture Reveals the Full Glory of Christ.

MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible, 2nd Edition. Thomas Nelson.