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If I were to ask you to name the most famous Jewish painter, then who would you name? Actually if I asked to name ANY Jewish painter or artist, could you name one? The Jewish people were not known for their great art works and portraits. They were not known for their great brilliance in placing colors upon canvas. Today there is a great importance placed upon painting and decorating and if you decide to paint your house, say green, then you will have thousands of "greens" to choose from. We literally have millions of colors available to us today. And most of us could at least name one person or two that made or makes a living through art or painting.

It was not so in the Jewish culture. In fact in all of scripture, there are only 10 colors mentioned. Six of these were found in nature freely: White, black, gray, red, yellow, and green. The other four had to be manufactured and dyed by man: Purple, blue, crimson or scarlet (a deep red), and vermillion (similar to a reddish orange). The Jewish people did not know how to make these colors themselves and so had to trade with other people to get these colors.

I don’t have to tell you that there is a spiritual parallel in this, or I would not be talking about it in church. In fact all of the colors of the Bible clearly represent something. Black, for instance, represents the nighttime and mourning. It represents depression and being “down in the dumps.” When Job was afflicted by Satan, he said he felt “black.” The harlot in Proverbs worked in the “blackness of the night.” White on the other hand represented purity and cleanness. When Moses had an experience with God, his face became “white.” Jesus was similarly transfigured and shown with a white glow. When the Lord comes back, He will be clothed in white, and will we be given white robes to wear in heaven. This symbolizes the fact that we will be like Jesus. White is where light has fully shown. Black is the complete absence of light. Jesus said that He was the light of the world! Therefore whiteness represents purity that comes from allowing God to completely shine upon you, and black represents hiding yourself from the light of God’s Word. Gray is a mixture of black and white, and gray is only used in scripture to refer to older people’s hair color, and even that can teach us an important truth. Gray is never used to symbolize ANYTHING doctrinally in the Bible! The world may try to tell you that some things can be either right or wrong and are thus “gray” areas according to your opinion, but God’s Word says that everything is either black or white, either like Jesus or unlike Jesus, either having the light of God’s Word shining fully upon it, or hiding itself from God’s Word. Jesus taught this. You cannot serve two masters, for you will cling to one and despise the other! He who is not for me is against me. If you love me keep my commandments. Faith without works is dead. God’s Word is absolute truth, the gray comes from humanity!

Red was the color of blood and was regarded as the symbol for war and bloodshed. There was also a deeper form of red, called scarlet or crimson, that was manufactured from the juice of a certain type of insect that lived in oak trees. This juice was collected and used to make dye. Because it was made through a man-made process, this dye was expensive and only the rich and royalty could afford to have it. Crimson or scarlet was known for it’s strength, and once a garment had been dyed that color, nothing a man could do would change it to another color. It could only be redyed crimson or scarlet. The prophet Isaiah used the terms scarlet and crimson when describing man’s sin and the Messiah that was to come:

Why did Isaiah use the words “scarlet” and “crimson” to describe our sins? Because like those colors, sin is a man made state. We created our sinfulness by ourselves. And once a person is stained with sin, nothing that man can do will ever get rid of the color. All man has the power to do is to “redye” himself with the crimson stain of sin. But the Lord spoke through Isaiah and said “a day was coming where though your sins were 'AS scarlet' though they be 'red like crimson,' they shall be 'white as snow!'” They shall be white! When you apply the red crimson blood of Jesus to your life that is stained crimson red by sin, then a miracle happens! Red applied to red, creates white! The blood of Jesus applied to your sins makes you as pure and as white as the fresh fallen snow! Though man couldn’t spiritually change his color, God can! So who is the most famous Jewish painter of all? Jesus! That’s right Jesus! Because He can take a sin stained garment and make it into a white robe of righteousness! He can take a black night and turn it into morning light! He can take gray storm clouds and cause a beautiful rainbow to appear! Jesus is the master painter but He wants to paint on the canvas of your life!

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In the tabernacle, there was a vail placed before the Holiest of Holies where the presence of God dwelt. That vail was what kept man out of the presence of God. There are many lessons that we can learn from that vail. Hebrews states that the vail was Jesus’ flesh.

Indeed, the moment that Jesus died on the cross, something miraculous happened for the veil was ripped apart from top to bottom in the temple in Jerusalem! (Matthew 27:15) For man to go into the presence of God, the veil, the body of Jesus Christ, had to be removed! That’s why Jesus had to die upon the cross.

Another lesson that can be learned from the vail, is that it was hung upon four posts. In order to get into the presence of God you had to move past those four posts! We have four books of the Bible that tell the story of when Jesus came in the flesh. They are the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are the four posts upon which hangs our knowledge of the veil, the flesh of Jesus Christ. But if you are going to get into the presence of God, you must move beyond the four posts. You’ve got to move into the next book, the Book of Acts! Too many Christians spiritual experience is limited to the one that they had in the Gospels. They haven’t moved past the four posts and into the presence of God by moving into the book of Acts with a Day of Pentecost Experience (Acts 2)!

I’ve said all of that to get to this: God ordained the vail to be made of three colors!

These colors represent the characteristics of what man would need to get into the presence of God. Blue represents the sky and heaven. Purple is the color of kings as it was the most expensive of all the colors to possess. Crimson, was the color of blood and of sin. And Hebrews states that the veil was the flesh of Jesus Christ! Learn the lesson of the veil tonight, and don’t ever forget it. Even though they didn’t realize it, what God was trying to show the Israelites by placing that veil in the temple of blue, scarlet, and crimson, was that for man to be able to get into the presence of God again, somebody was going to have to come in flesh, that somebody would have to come from the sky and come from the heavens (blue), that somebody was going to have to be royalty (purple), and that somebody was going to have to shed blood to cover sin (crimson)!

Let me fast forward you to Pilate’s judgment hall. Jesus Christ, God in flesh, is standing there on trial.

Mark 15:16-20 And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. 17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, 18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! 19 And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him

He had already come from heaven and thus fulfilled the blue. They placed a purple robe upon Him in mockery, and pronounce Him king of the Jews. They then led Him to a place called Calvary to be crucified and to shed his blood, which was crimson! They didn’t know it, but they were fulfilling scripture! God said “I’ll fulfill my own strict requirements!” I’ll put on flesh, I’ll put on blue, I’ll put on purple, I’ll put on red! Why? so I can have a bride in white! I’m glad that the veil was torn on that cross, and now I can boldly go into the presence of God!

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Hopefully by now you realize that the few colors that are mentioned in scripture are not there by accident, but are full of meaning. Allow me to spend the remainder of the message by focusing on one color: purple.

In our text in Acts chapter 16, Paul is on a missionary journey with Silas, Luke, and a new young convert named Timothy. Paul had planned to go into Asia and preach the Gospel, but the Holy Ghost forbade him and told him to go into the nearby area of Macedonia. Paul and his companions then began to travel from city to city until they got to the largest city in Macedonia, the city of Philippi.

There was a lady in that town of great wealth and influence. Her name was Lydia. History teaches us that she was a widow and thus ran her own business. Even though she was a Gentile, she had believed the message of the Jews about Jehovah God and had become a Jewish convert. Lydia was originally from a city in Asia called Thyratira. She had moved to Philippi for business reasons. She was a “seller of purple.”

Today we have synthetic dyes and we can buy any color of garment that we desire at no extra cost. Things were different back then. Only a small group of people knew how to make purple and the process was closely guarded family secrets. These people were the Phonecians, the descendants of the Caananites. In fact the word Canaan came to mean “land of purple.”

I'll let you in on the secret formula. There was a certain type of shellfish that lived in the waters off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Within these small shellfish was a small gland that produced a white substance. The shellfish was harvested and the white substance removed from the shell. Then they would allow sunlight to shine upon the substance and when the light hit it, it changed to a very deep purple color. This substance was then used to dye fabrics that precious purple color.

It took 250,000 shellfish to make 1 ounce of dye. The shellfish had to be gathered by hand. Thus, to wear an entire garment of purple was very expensive. Really only the extremely wealthy and Kings and Princes could afford whole garments of it. That is why it became the symbol of royalty!

And Lydia was a seller of purple. She obviously had knowledge of the process and had access to the dye. She had people working under her making fine garments and curtains and fabrics of precious purple. She was obviously very wealthy, for we find later that Paul, Silas and probably Luke and Timothy stayed with her in her house. This testified that her house was large enough to have many rooms in a time when most people only had one room in their house. (for example, when Jesus taught the parable of the neighbor knocking at midnight, the man of the house did not want to answer the door, for to do so he would have to awaken and move his entire family all of whom were sleeping on the floor in front of the door Luke 11:5-8.) These men of God would have not been comfortable sleeping alongside a single lady so obviously Lydia had a huge house.

And Lydia loved to worship Jehovah God. In fact on a certain day, she would meet other women of the city by the river and they would pray and worship together. When Paul and his friends got into town, they found out that there were some ladies meeting and praying and worshipping at the river side so they went down there to meet them. They began to talk to the ladies about Jesus and about being baptized in His name and the precious Holy Ghost.

This lady, Lydia. This seller of purple, heard them and “attended unto the things which were spoken.” As Paul talked, something began to stir in Lydia, and she began to realize that what he was saying was truth. That the Jehovah God that she worshipped had come down and done away with the law by paying the price for sin. That the veil had been torn and fulfilled! Lydia was baptized, and then we find a remarkable statement:

What is remarkable is that Lydia’s household, her family, her slaves, the people who worked for her were ALSO baptized!

Lydia had been a seller of purple, and she was used to selling the best. Purple was her way of life. It was her reason for living. She was used to being around kings. But now she had received the King of Kings into her heart! Now she had been baptized into His wonderful name! Lydia had found a purple much more precious than dye. She had heard a story of a man who even though placed upon Him mockingly, wore purple and by doing so, had forever changed the meaning and symbology of purple! The King of Kings had come to bring truth! And that truth was the most precious thing on the face of the earth! Lydia had found truth; she had found the purple of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! She had heard a story about how that precious king had died and rose again so that she could have His precious Spirit! And what did she do? She became a seller of purple. Not just of the literal kind, but a seller of this precious truth that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords had come to earth and died that we might have life! She immediately went and told her family, she went and told her servants, she told all of those around her and she sold them on this King of Kings named Jesus, she became a seller of PURPLE!

What the text does not say teaches us lessons as well. Lydia didn't say, "well to embrace this new lifestyle might hurt my business." "I need to be careful and make sure that I will still be popular." She didn't say "but not everybody believes that way, so it's best to stay with tradition." She recognized that what Paul was preaching was precious. That he was selling a heavenly purple, and she was willing to buy into it with everything in her. Not only that, she was willing to become a seller of purple.

Somebody needs to realize what a precious thing you have! If you have the blood of Jesus and the Spirit of God, then you have the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! You are now a child of the King! But what God wants is for you to be a seller of purple! Some people look at the price of our Apostolic lifestyle and they feel like they can’t afford it! They don’t think that it’s worth giving up a sinful lifestyle! They need a seller of purple to convince them of it’s worth! They need someone to show them it’s beauty! They need someone that will step out in faith and become a seller of purple! It’s not too expensive! It’s worth it! We have the most precious thing on the face of the earth! Sell somebody on it! Lydia had been a worshipper of Jehovah God before, but realized that this that Paul is preaching about is worth selling out to! My worship will never be correct until I embrace this beautiful truth!

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Pilate tried to become a seller of purple. He desperately wanted people to believe that Jesus was their king. But Pilate was unsuccessful and could not sell the people on Jesus! Why? Because Jesus was not HIS King. You can speak as if you want people to come to truth, but it will never work until YOU are convinced of it's worth. Many people are trying to sell purple but really aren't convinced of it's value. They are just like Pilate, trying to say whatever they think that people want them to hear, but their actions and own lives testify that they are not truly convinced of it's worth! Lydia proved without a shadow of a doubt, that when you are truly convinced of the worth of this heavenly purple called truth, then you will live differently, you will act differently.

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Then again some people are like Herod. Herod was willing to put one of his own purple "gorgeous" robes upon a bloody, sweaty prisoner and mock Him in it. You see Herod was so familiar with purple that it meant nothing to him. Some people have heard so many scriptures, and even truth that it means nothing to them. It really didn't cost them anything. It wasn't precious to them. Herod had all the purple he wanted simply because of who he was. It didn't mean anything to him.

When you grab hold of truth and get baptized in Jesus' precious name and receive His precious Spirit, you are going to be persecuted by other people. You will have family members turn their back on you. You are going to have to fight hell to make it in living for God in this truth that you have found. It was free to receive but costs you everything to keep. God is going to require some sacrifice and some changes in your lifestyle. You are going to have to learn to face trials and situations with faith and find out what it's like to keep doing right even if you don't feel anything.

Why do the trials and persecution come? Because God wants you to become a seller of purple, and you will never be an effective seller of purple until you are convinced of it's worth. You will never be convinced of it's worth unless it costs you something. When you are going through trials, God is creating a seller of purple!

When people don't appreciate the cost of it, they will eventually mock this precious truth. Herod wanted to see Jesus, and wanted to see miracles. But he was not convinced of it's worth! Some would say, "but I would never mock Jesus Christ." But we mock Jesus by saying we are His children and not showing it through our lifestyle. If I was trying to sell you a product that I won't wear or I won't use, I make a mockery of my product. That's why God requires us to live a separated lifestyle. That's why God wants his people to be a "peculiar people." That's why we must be doers of the Word and not hearers only, because when we don't, we become a living mockery of the heavenly purple of truth.

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Lydia, the seller of purple, was Paul's first European convert. She sparked a revival in her family and her town. The seller of earthly purple had become the seller of heavenly purple!

After her conversion Paul and his companions stayed on to teach Lydia. One day Paul cast out a demon from a girl whom men had used to make money. The men got enraged and had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown into prison. Chained, beaten, and placed in the middle of the dungeon, Paul and Silas began to sing. At midnight God caused an earthquake and all the doors were loosed. Before the night was over, Paul and Silas had brought truth to the jailer and his family and they had been baptized in the lovely name of Jesus! But notice this:

When Paul and Silas left the jailer's house, they returned to Lydia's house where all of the "brethren" were. While Paul and Silas were in jail, Lydia had gathered up those new converts and started a prayer meeting. Paul and Silas' deliverance, the earthquake, and the conversion of the jailer and his family were not just from them singing praises, but from the result of a prayer meeting from a seller of purple! When you realize how precious truth is, and you make up your mind to become a seller of purple, your prayers will literally begin to shake prison doors open! They will cause chains and fetters to fall off in the spirit! They will cause enemies of God to fall to their knees in repentance under the power of God! They will loose the men of God in your life to minister in the Holy Ghost! It will literally shake heaven and earth! The prayer of someone that is sold out to truth! The prayer of a seller of purple!

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Fast forward to eight year later. Paul is once again in jail and he is writing a letter to the CHURCH IN PHILLIPI. We know it as the book of Philippians, but it is to the church that was formed from the revival that Lydia started. Lydia is mentioned indirectly several times in the book.

Paul called Lydia and the people that she won to God his "joy and crown!" She "laboured" with him in the gospel. She also laboured with the other workers that rose up in the church. There was no strife in Lydia, no jealousy, or envy, but she was a committed seller of purple! Because of it, she was the "crown" and "joy" of all the people that Paul had won to God! And more importantly, her name was in the "book of life!"

Eight years later, Lydia was still in the gospel! An entire church had been established because one lady became a seller of heavenly purple, an ambassador of truth! Then Paul went on to say that he was confident that God would continue the good work in them until Jesus Christ came back!

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He was right. Remember that Paul had ended up meeting Lydia in Philippi because he had really desired to go into Asia and start a church, but for some reason, the Holy Ghost had forbade him. Of course, Lydia, was the reason that the Holy Ghost wanted Paul to go to Philippi instead of Asia.

Fast forward almost 50 years later and God is giving John instructions and John is writing them down in what we call the book of Revelation.

Did you catch that? There were now seven churches in Asia! And one of them was in the town of Thyatira! We nowhere have any scriptural record of Paul or any other apostle ever going to Thyatira. But we do know that it was the hometown of Lydia! I'll tell you what happened! Lydia took Paul's words to heart that God would finish the work that He had started! The seller of purple went home and won her family and friends and hometown to God. It sparked a revival that swept across Asia! And it all started from a seller of purple!

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The same experience that Lydia experienced is available today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). If you don't have the Holy Ghost, you need it! If you are not convinced of the preciousness of the truth, then get convinced! I challenge you today: become a seller of purple! What are you a seller of? The world has too many people selling carnality, gossip, lies, false doctrine, and pridefulness! What God wants and needs for His kingdom is a seller of purple!

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