Colors, Symbolic Language of the Holy Spirit (part 2) Purple

There is absolutely no reason that I should have 10 shades of purple in my nail polish box excepting the fact that none of them is the perfect shade of purple! The perfect purple should be bold and bright but deep as well, a perfect balance of red and blue tones, but with a shimmer… It’s difficult to describe without saying the word juicy. I relate to colors in a similar way to babies. It’s a good color if I want to taste it, but not necessarily a grape or wine color.

Sometimes I feel as though people see colors differently, just like people taste food differently. Colors are a full sensory experience, emotions, flavors and fragrances all tie with individual and combined colors.

Purple is of course the color of royalty. In almost every culture around the world, the tradition for purple has been for nobility and the very wealthy because the pigment for ‘tyrian purple’ comes from a snail which produces so little of the natural dye that twelve thousand snails are needed to produce coloring for a single garment’s trim. (A similar animal produced the blue necessary for the Hebrew temple garments, but that’s another post.) In many cultures it has even been illegal for commoners to wear colors above their class.

The first story that comes to mind relating to purple is Esther. This was a true ‘Cinderella Story’… a beautiful orphaned girl in a hostile environment is summoned by the king and ultimately becomes queen. The only person who cares for her facilitates the process by prayer, advice and being present in the shadows. This is where the fairy tale says ‘happily ever after’ but not so with Esther. She is drawn into ethnic, religious and political intrigues and with faith, must use all of her beauty, charm and discernment to save her nation. This is no simple princess story. Esther’s faith, wisdom and character are tested. She must risk her very life to find favor with the king. In the end she is honored but also her guardian Mordecai is honored.

Purple is a kingdom color, regarding territory, birthrights and station, favor and duty, but above all, pleasing the King and finding favor with Him through intimacy.

The next story that comes to mind is Lydia. We fast forward to the New Testament past the Gospels. Lydia was a seller of purple. She was very wealthy and she was in love with Jesus! A woman in business in any time frame has to be many things, but we’ll focus on the basics.

Lydia was a risk taker who needed to travel in order to negotiate sales and purchases of materials. Travel was extremely dangerous. She needed to be good with people, shrewd but fair to negotiate a good price on the best materials she could find. Nobody took it easy on her because she was a lady, if fact I’m sure men tried to take advantage of her financially on a regular basis. Her reputation as well as the reputation for her goods must have preceded her. In fact the quality of her purples must have been the very best.

I’m sure there were a number of women who did this through history but Lydia gets a biblical mention because in her travels, negotiations and product evaluation she shared the gospel of Jesus, with her wealth she planted churches through the land. She carried with her great value, the knowledge of Jesus as Messiah.

Again, purple is a kingdom color, it is about intrinsic value and worth, rarity, but also wisdom, good reputation, courage and hope.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2  Deep purple (as well as deep indigo and black) colors this verse with mystery and royal intent to find the hidden things of the King of Kings.

This was written in the times when the Spirit of God would rest only upon the prophets and/or the kings (and craftsmen for course), and why kings and rulers were treated like deity. Now it is still the glory of God to conceal His secret things, but as His adopted sons and daughters, we are the royalty that must seek out His hidden treasures.

Purple also means holiness & being set apart, a royal priesthood, to abide in Christ as the vine, wine which is joyfulness and inhibition, to revel in Jesus and His blood as He is our redeemer and savior, taking part in the cup so that we may take part in the resurrection, new wine and revelations of the Holy Spirit.

Wine was added to water to improve the flavor and the healthfulness. It was added to water that may or may not have been safe to drink. This improved the flavor but it also added a medicinal boost as the alcohols killed off potentially harmful bacteria or micro organisms and the pro-biotic bacterias gave the immune system a boost. Though this wasn’t common knowledge, it was a common practice.

This still only just begins to tell of what the Lord says through purple. The ancient traditions, the secret meanings and the newly revealed words by the Holy Spirit. Anyone is welcome to add what they have heard about purple, and don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a part of the Colors series.

Blessings!