“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the Lord,
‘Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.’”
(Isaiah 1:18)
What an amazing promise and offer from God! No matter how foul and filthy we are and how horribly we have sinned, God is willing to forgive, forget, and wipe our slate clean! What kind of love is this? What kind of mercy? He even bids us come and reason with Him. What a reflection of the patience and compassion of God.
I looked up the meanings of the words for crimson and scarlet. Believe it or not, the Hebrew definitions are pretty much the same, and they are not so much about the colors scarlet and crimson as they are about worms. Worms?
What do worms have to do with being cleansed by God? If we take a closer look at the meanings from which the names of these colors –– both deep red like blood –– are derived, we see that they come from the worm or grub from which scarlet and crimson dyes were obtained during biblical times. This particular type of worm, the coccus illicis, would climb onto a tree, or wooden post, attach itself to the wood in a way that it could never be removed, and there give birth to its young. Right after she gave birth, the mother would die and secrete the crimson or scarlet fluid from her body which would then stain the wood. As she gave birth, her body would also form a protective covering over her young, and they would feed on her body to sustain them with nourishment and give them life. Once they were able, the larvae came out from under her body, and from the tree which was now stained crimson from her dying blood, her body would turn into a powder which would then fall like snow from the tree.
“But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind?”
(Job 12:7-10)
How amazing is this? Mere coincidence? Hardly! Everything in creation declares God’s wonders, awesomeness, beauty, wisdom, and plan. One thousand years before Jesus laid down His life, was crucified on the cross to shed His blood to cleanse and forgive us, and to give us new life, this is what King David prophesied of the coming Messiah:
“But I am a worm and not a man,
A reproach of men and despised by the people.
All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying,
‘Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.’
Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
Many bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
They open wide their mouth at me,
As a ravening and a roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
And You lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots.”
(Psalm 22:6-18)
By the way, the word illicis in the Latin name for this worm means “finished.” When Jesus bore our sins on the tree, He said, “It is finished.”
Coincidence? Hardly! Jesus, the King of all creation, became that worm so that we could become His sons and daughters and live with Him forever. He didn’t just take on or cover our sin, but He actually became our sin so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him, the just for the unjust, the godly for the ungodly. And He gave us a picture of what He would do and did for us in this lowly coccus illicis worm.
If you had a Bible, and somehow all the pages or verses got ripped out except for one or two, these few verses could sum up the gospel in a nutshell, just like that grub sums up the gospel in a worm. If it’s all you had, this would pretty much explain the amazing love and mercy of our God and Jesus who came to give His life and shed His blood to make us clean and new:
“For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
(Titus 3:3-7)