It’s Jesus who binds man and God together. In the Old Testament He is symbolically portrayed by a scarlet cord. Rahab hung such a cord from her window to signal that her life and her family’s lives were to be spared while the rest of Jericho was being destroyed (Joshua 2). And in the case of a healed leper being cleansed, a scarlet cord was placed between the life that was sacrificed and the one that was freed to live (Leviticus 14).
Chapter one of Romans insists that everything we need to know about God can be found in His creation (Romans 1:20-23). This is exceptionally true for the scarlet cord.
In her womb, the umbilical cord connects a mother and her child. The child’s own lungs and digestive system –though moving– are unused. Likewise, the child’s own heart –though beating– is bypassed. They do nothing to sustain life. It’s the mother’s lungs and digestive system that put oxygen and nutrients into her blood. It’s her heart that pumps her blood –her life– throughout the child’s body. It’s her blood that carries all of the child’s deadly waste back into her own body for removal by her cleansing organs. And it’s her blood that gives that lifeline its scarlet color.
Leviticus 17:11 says that the life of a being is in the blood. Through Jesus’ offering of His blood, God has provided everything needed for a new, eternal life –and He took away everything –all sin– that could ever destroy that new life!
