God’s Seven Redemptive Names And The Seven Colors Of The Rainbow
Last week we talked about God’s name “The Lord Is My Banner.” We discussed using banners to proclaim God’s dominion and his name, “The Lord Our Peace.”
I take doctrine and scripture seriously. What I’m about to share, I’m not sharing as doctrine. It’s a bit of speculation. I don’t like when people teach subjective things as if they were doctrine, without solid scriptural support. I’m going to compare God’s “seven redemptive names” with the colors of the rainbow. Although this shouldn’t be taken dogmatically, it may be encouraging and useful to you as you practice non-verbal proclamation.
I talked about non-verbal proclamation in I Will Awaken The Dawn. I mentioned this, but I didn’t get into how the colors might correlate with different aspects of God’s nature. I wanted to keep it to the most essential and necessary truths in that book. But after writing about white banners last week, I thought it might make an interesting blog post to talk about God’s names and the colors of the rainbow. I shared this in Russia years ago. My dad makes worship flags. I took a bunch of his flags to Russia and did a seminar on using colors and banners to proclaim God’s glory.
God’s Seven Spirits And Many-Colored Wisdom
I first read about God’s “Seven Redemptive Names” in F.F. Bosworth’s book Christ The Healer. I later learned that C.I. Scofield talked about the same thing.
Names are very significant in scripture. God’s names tell us about his character. God’s “seven redemptive names” describe seven redemptive aspects of his character. They are:
Jehovah-Raah—The Lord Our Shepherd
Jehovah-Jirah—The Lord Sees And Provides
Jehovah-Rapha—The Lord Our Healer
Jehovah-Tsidkenu—The Lord Our Righteousness
Jehovah-Shalom—The Lord Our Peace
Jehovah-Shamma—The Lord Is Present
Jehovah-Nissi—The Lord Our Banner
Learning about God’s seven redemptive names led me into an interesting train of thought. I read in Revelation about the “seven spirits” or as is sometimes translated, “sevenfold Spirit” of the Lord. (For example, Revelation 3:1, 4:5, and 5:6) Scripture also says that God is light (1 John 1:5). There are seven colors in a rainbow. Just as God is one, but his nature is multi-faceted, light is one but we can see different facets of it in a rainbow.
We also know that a rainbow is symbolic of God’s promise. We take each of God’s redemptive names as promises. Could it be that there is some correlation between these seven aspects of God’s nature, and the seven colors of the rainbow? Revelation says that there’s a rainbow around God’s throne.
Ephesians 3:10 talks about the manifold, or multi-faceted wisdom of God. This passage becomes really interesting when we check out what Vincent’s Word Studies says about the word “manifold” as used here. (See the notes on verse 10 here)
“Manifold wisdom (πολυποίκιλος σοφία)
A very striking phrase. The adjective occurs only here, and means variegated. It is applied to pictures, flowers, garments. Ποίκιλον is used in the Septuagint of Joseph’s coat, Gen_37:3. Through the Church God’s wisdom in its infinite variety is to be displayed – the many-tinted wisdom of God – in different modes of power, different characters, methods of training, providences, forms of organization, etc.
So we could read Ephesians 3:10 as saying “His intent was that now, through the church, God’s many-colored wisdom should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” Wow!
We know that different colors have different psychological effects. It’s quite an interesting topic to read about. So I don’t think it’s a stretch to think of different colors representing different aspects of God’s nature. Of course, colors can mean different things to different people. Again, this isn’t something I treat dogmatically.
One of the most important things to understand in I Will Awaken The Dawn is that the earth is presently full of God’s glory, but it will be filled with the knowledge of his glory. We need to become aware of God’s glory which fills the earth and which all of creation proclaims. Considering what the colors around us are declaring about God can help us to become more aware of his goodness filling the earth. So here’s what I think of when I see different colors…
What Could Colors Be Declaring About God?
This is just my theory, based on what I know about color symbolism. It’s not set in stone. For example, in last week’s post, we talked about using white to declare “The God Of Peace,” but in this spectrum, it is green.
1) Red—Righteousness; Blood of Jesus: Jehovah-Tsidkenu
The Lord Our Righteousness ( Jeremiah 23:6 NRSV In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.)
2) Orange—Praise; Harvest; Warfare: Jehovah-Nissi
The Lord Our Banner (Exodus 17:8-15 NRSV vs. 15 And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner.) The story implies that we can also understand this as “The Lord is my victory.”
Note this is between righteousness and God’s presence.
3) Yellow—Presence; Council of God: Jehovah-Shammah
The Lord Is Present (Ezekiel 48:35 NRSV The circumference of the city shall be eighteen thousand cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord is There.) This name signifies God’s presence which is not only with us, but fills the whole earth. The artist Van Gogh used yellow to represent God’s presence.
4) Green—Peace; Life; Mercy: Jehovah-Shalom
The Lord Our Peace (Judges 6:24 NRSV Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace.)
The Old Testament uses the word “peace” in very practical ways, applying to every area of our lives. The meaning is close to that of the Greek word “sozo” for salvation. We understand that it includes deliverance, preservation, soundness, prosperity, happiness, rescue, and general well – being. It’s used in both the spiritual and physical senses.
Therapists use green to calm people.
Note this is between God’s presence and healing.
5) Blue—Healing: Jehovah-Rapha
The Lord Our Healer (Exodus 15:26 NRSV I am the Lord who heals you.)
I’ve heard of people seeing blue light during creative miracles when missing limbs are growing back. Some people have seen healing angels as emitting blue light. I once came back from a conference where it seemed that God sent a healing angel back with me. I experienced an increase in healing miracles after that time. A lady in the church said that when she looked at me that Sunday, she saw blue light emitting from my body.
6) Indigo—Shepherd: Jehovah-Ra-ah
The Lord Our Shepherd (Psalm 23:1 NRSV The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.) Jesus is the good shepherd, and he cares for God’s flock. Notice that it’s on the spectrum between healing and provision.
7) Violet—Wealth, Provision: Jehovah-Jireh
The Lord Our Provider Genesis 22:13,14 NRSV And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” (See our story Supernatural Multiplication of Ham)
Note the relationship of the expression of each color and how it functions out of relationship to the colors beside it. You can go in a circle with the colors in that red follows purple and the entire spectrum continues.
This article is bonus content for the second book of the Heaven Now Series, “I Will Awaken The Dawn.” If you liked this post, you may want to check out my Heaven Now book trilogy. It’s full of insight into understanding simple gospel truths and exercising heaven’s dominion on earth. It’s also filled with testimonies of what happened when I put these truths into practice. I’m sure these books will encourage you and help you learn to walk as a heavenly person. Not only that, but your purchase supports our missionary work in Brazil and in every other place we go!
