The Scarlet Thread

By Rev. Mark Buetow

The Bible is a big book. When I was a child and my parents read me Bible stories, I always thought they were great stories. But it wasn’t until much later that I realized and learned that the stories in the Bible are actually all connected and related. In fact, they are tied together by what you might call a “scarlet thread,” and that thread is Jesus! Let’s explore how that thread ties the 66 books of the Bible together.

Everything begins in the book of Genesis. It is God who speaks and creates all things. The crown of His creation is mankind, male and female, made in His image. Despite the blessing of His Word, they were deceived by the devil and ate from the Tree of Knowledge and brought sin and death into the world. At that very moment, God revealed a promise (in Genesis 3:15), the promise that the “seed of the woman” would crush the serpent’s head. That was the promise of a Savior. Everything else in the Bible traces that promise to its eventual fulfillment in the Incarnation of the Son of God: His conception, birth, life, suffering and death, and resurrection. Keep an eye on that thread!

Since Adam and Eve, there have always been those who look for that promised Savior. When Cain killed Abel, the Lord gave Seth and through Seth’s line down to Noah and the flood and then to Abraham, that family tree is growing. As mankind spread over the earth, they forgot or ignored that promise of a Savior. But Noah remembered. The Lord kept that promise going through his family down to Abraham. But Abraham had no children. When he and Sarah were too old to have kids, the Lord gave them Isaac. It’s a miracle one step short of a virgin birth! To Isaac was born Jacob and Esau and it was Jacob through whom the promise was kept going (despite Esau being the firstborn). Jacob had twelve sons and the scarlet thread went through Judah’s line, literally! He got his former daughter-in-law Tamar pregnant and she had twins; the first born was marked with a scarlet thread because he pulled his hand back in and came out later!

It was Jacob’s family that moved to Egypt, taken care of by Joseph who had been sold there by his brothers. So far, Abraham’s family was growing but they didn’t live in the land the Lord promised. About 400 years later, the Lord remembers His promise and it’s time to get His people out of Egypt. He sent Moses who led the children of Israel (now many thousands, established in the Twelve Tribes, named from the twelve sons of Jacob) out of their slavery in Egypt. Across the Red Sea, after the Passover and the death of the firstborn. Lots of blood flowing there! Always forward, always that promise of a Savior in the background. Then, in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai, the Lord gives the Ten Commandments and sets up the tabernacle and the priesthood. He sets His people apart and covers their sins with the blood of sacrifices that are all pictures of the Savior to come someday. All this centered around the Ark of the Covenant which was kept in the Tent (tabernacle) which was itself made from fabric woven with scarlet threads in it!

The Old Testament is the story of Israel’s faithlessness and God’s faithfulness. He never loses sight of His promise even though His people forget or ignore it. Once they got to the Promised Land, their first target was the city of Jericho. The madam who ran the brothel there, Rahab, protected the Israelite spies and in turn her life was spared. When Jericho was destroyed, the Israelites knew where she lived because she had a scarlet thread hanging out of her window. Turns out this Rahab ends up in Jesus’ family tree, too. Then the Israelites entered the time of the judges. They fell away from God. He sent enemies to wake them up. They cried out for help. He sent judges to save them. They thanked Him. They fell away again. Rinse and repeat. Finally, they begged for a king (against God’s own counsel) and got Saul, but he was replaced by David, who was from the tribe of Judah.

David was the shepherd king. He committed adultery with Uriah’s wife but from her was born Solomon who took David’s place when David died. After Solomon, the tribes split into the northern ten (called Israel) and the southern two (called Judah). In the north, they fell away from the Lord from the start. There were tons of wicked kings and the Lord sent prophets to warn them, but finally He sent them to exile using the Assyrian army.

In the south, Judah had a line of kings who were always from David’s family. There were lots of faithful kings but lots of bad ones, too. Same problems: idolatry and turning away from the Lord. The Babylonians captured Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The temple was destroyed and God’s people went into exile.

It was during the exile that God’s people clung to His Word, remembered His promise, and trusted in Him despite their circumstances. Close to 70 years later they were able to go home and rebuild the temple. During this time of history in the Old Testament, there were many prophets who came to call God’s people to repentance and to remind them of the promise that would one day be fulfilled. They called God’s people away from idols to the Lord’s mercy. Books of wisdom and music (psalms) were written as people lived and thought about what God’s Word meant for them. While many of God’s people fell away, He continued to preserve the line that would be Jesus’ family tree. That scarlet thread was never cut!

Fast forward 400 years again and the Romans are in charge. Elizabeth and Zechariah give birth to John. Mary gives birth to Jesus. The Son has shown up in the flesh! The promise of God has been fulfilled. So Jesus came to live for us and suffer and die for us and rise again. On Calvary, on the cross, when the dead body of the Lord is pierced with the spear, blood and water flow out. And at that moment, the scarlet thread which has tied all of this together, becomes visible: the scarlet thread of His blood running down and saving us from our sins.

Then Jesus rose on the Third Day and sent His apostles into the world with the scarlet thread of His blood, delivered through preaching, baptizing, and the Supper. We hear its early start in the book of Acts as the Lord grows His Church. The apostles and others wrote their epistles, pointing people to Jesus and seeing in His Church the way in which God’s promises are fulfilled for you! In fact, the whole history of the Church right up to our time has been the story of God’s weaving that scarlet thread of salvation into your life, too! You have become a part of this story.

Finally the Book of Revelation reveals that Jesus is the Lamb of God slain “from the foundation of the world.” In other words, this scarlet thread was there before creation and binds Christ’s people to Him eternally. This scarlet thread, Jesus the Savior, has always been there. It’s always been the story. It’s always been God’s great Promise that ties everything together. It’s this scarlet thread that ties the whole Bible together and gives it meaning and helps it to make sense.

Whatever you read in the Bible, look closely! Whether it’s obvious or takes some careful searching, you’ll find that scarlet thread, Jesus, tying it all together and making you a part of this eternal story of God’s love and salvation.

Rev. Mark Buetow is the pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church and School in McHenry, Illinois. His article is a summary of his breakout sessions taught at the Concordia 2019 summer conferences.