THE SCARLET THREAD By Esther M. Bandy
Have you ever been on a treasure hunt? Isn’t it fun to follow the clues? Years ago, I learned of a scarlet thread in the Bible that runs from Genesis through Revelation. The clues lead to treasure! In Genesis, chapter 3, after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were ashamed. They hid in the garden and tried to cover their sin with fig leaves. Their efforts were futile. They needed a blood sacrifice, and God provided it. God sacrificed an animal and covered them with its skin. In Genesis, chapter 4, Cain and Abel were the first children. Adam and Eve must have taught them to offer a sacrifice to God for sin. Abel offered a lamb, and God received it. Cain offered fruit and vegetables, but God rejected his sacrifice. Why? Cain offered his own work, not the sacrifice God required. This reminds us of different religions. Those who approach God through the sacrifice He requires are received. Those who try to earn God’s acceptance through their own works are rejected. In Genesis 22, Abraham took his son to Mt. Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice. This is a picture of God the Father offering His Son as our sacrifice for sin. When Isaac asked where the lamb was, Abraham said that God would provide himself with a lamb. This is a foreshadow of the Lamb of God the Father gave to save the world from sin.
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In Exodus, we learn that the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. God sent Moses to Pharoah with a message: “Let my people go.” When Pharoah repeatedly refused, God sent the plagues. Finally, God said the Israelites should put the blood of a lamb on their doors. God delivered them by sending the death angel to kill the firstborn of the Egyptians, but the people with blood on their doors were safe because the angel of death passed over their homes. This became known as Passover. “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.” (Exodus 12:13-14 KJV) Leviticus 17:11 (KJV) says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” When two Jewish spies went to Jericho, Rahab hid them. They offered to protect her when their army returned. “Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever
