Tyrian purple is the color of kings.
There was a time that wearing purple was forbidden by law, unless you were royalty. It was as much a symbol of elevated status as a crown on the head of a prince.
It cost about as much, too. Why? We have to look to why it’s called Tyrian purple to learn that.
In Lebanon, near the city of Tyre, marine mollusks were harvested by vast quantities to extract the gland that becomes the royal purple color. It was time intensive, painfully hard, and vastly expensive to produce the dye that saturated the fabrics that graced the limbs of Roman emperors and European kings.
It was a symbol that the wearer was better than the average Joe, and that others had better step aside.
Today we don’t cotton to that attitude, and for good reason. We understand color is not an indication of status. Rather, it is an indicator of taste and preference.
Luke 16:19-31 tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a poor beggar. Lazarus was covered with sores, while the rich man dressed in purple and fine linen.
The rich man thought his purple and fine linen made him better than the beggar just outside his door that ate from his scraps.
What does the Word tell us?
Matthew 25:41 tells us God will divide the left from the right:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ”
Matthew 25:46 names our punishment or reward:
“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Revelation 20:10 warns us we are responsible for our fellow traveler:
“And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Jude 1:6 says no one is exempt from the hand of God:
“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—”
1 John 5:17 makes it clear we can choose a better way:
“All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.”
The question we have to face is one men have faced for countless generations. Do we choose purple and fine linen, or do we choose the Lord? That question has nothing to do with the clothes we wear, but rather with how we view ourselves in our walk through this life. Do we consider ourselves above God’s laws? Do we look down our noses at those around us who struggle to do right? Or do we find our righteousness in the Lord?
The end of the passage in Luke 16:19-31 tells of the rich man in torment, and the beggar in Abraham’s arms. Which man got what he deserved?
Will we get what we deserve? Let’s draw close to God, and trust him to one day ferry us home to be with our Lord for all time.
Jesus is our purple and fine linen. Any other source of pride brings us to a bad ending.
Copyright © 2015 MyChurchNotes.net
Code: FGO.C.29.15.vp.esv