Red, White, and Wool

In a lecture on the words of Isaiah by Terry Ball that I listened to, he suggested that the imagery of Isaiah 1:18 points us to the life and atonement of the Savior.  Isaiah wrote, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”  The choice of words speaks far more than their simple meaning and points to other scriptures as well as to the sacrifice of the Savior.  Three images in particular seem to be direct references to the Savior: red, white, and wool.  

                The color red here (crimson and scarlet) points to the blood of the Savior’s atonement which allowed for us to be forgiven of our sins.  It was that blood that turns our sins from red to white.  We know that when the Savior suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, “blood cometh from every pore” (Mosiah 3:7).  Luke described it saying, “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).  Christ was literally covered in blood when He atoned for our sins, and Isaiah’s choice of words clearly connects with that.  We are, as Alma taught, “washed white through the blood of the Lamb” (Alma 13:11).  The color also points to the future advent of the Savior, for “the Lord shall be red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth in the wine-vat” (D&C 133:48). 

                The color white of Isaiah’s words represents what happens to us after our sins our forgiven and is a symbol of the purity and perfection of the Savior Himself.  The word “snow” is a commonly used in describing His appearance.  Matthew wrote of the risen Lord, “His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow” (Matt. 28:3).  Similarly the Prophet Joseph described Him, “His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow” (D&C 110:3).  In John’s description he used both of Isaiah’s terms: “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14). 

                The word “wool” obviously brings to mind the fact that Christ is represented by a lamb.  John the Baptist exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  Christ was perfectly obedient, and since He had no sin, His life could always be represented by pure white wool.  He is the Lamb of God because He was perfectly obedient to His Father, and He is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” as the great and last sacrifice for us (Revelation 13:8).  These small verses in Isaiah show just how carefully Isaiah chose His words and, more importantly, how he placed the atonement of Christ (even if my an indirect reference) at the center of His teachings.