THE SCARLET THREAD
OF REDEMPTION

THE SCARLET THREAD OF REDEMPTION

From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture reveals one unfolding story of redemption—a story that ultimately leads us to Jesus Christ.

What You’ll See in This Study

The scarlet thread of redemption is woven throughout Scripture. From the covering God provided after the fall, to the blood of the Passover lamb, to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, and ultimately to the blood of Jesus Christ, God continually reveals His plan to redeem His people.

This study will follow that thread through Scripture, allowing the Bible itself to show us how God’s plan of redemption unfolds.

1.THE FIRST PROMISE OF REDEMPTION

Read: Genesis 3:15

The Promise Begins

Immediately after sin enters the world, God speaks of a coming conflict between the serpent and the woman’s offspring. The serpent would strike His heel, but the woman’s offspring would ultimately crush the serpent’s head.

This is often called the protoevangelium—“the first gospel.” Here, at the very beginning of Scripture, we see the first glimpse of God’s redemptive plan. Sin has entered the story, but God is already pointing forward to the One who will defeat the enemy.

Follow the thread → Genesis 22:8

2.GOD PROVIDES A COVERING

Read: Genesis 3:21

GOD HIMSELF PROVIDES

After Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But their own covering was inadequate. Genesis 3:21 tells us that God Himself made garments of skin for Adam and Eve and clothed them.

This passage does not explicitly explain the death of an animal or call this an atoning sacrifice, so we should be careful not to claim more than Scripture says. What it does clearly show is that after sin entered the world, God graciously provided the covering Adam and Eve could not adequately provide for themselves. As the biblical story unfolds, Scripture will reveal more fully how God Himself provides what sinful humanity needs.

Follow the thread → Genesis 4:4

3.ABEL’S OFFERING

Read: Genesis 4:4

THE FIRSTBORN OF THE FLOCK

Abel brought to God the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions, and Scripture tells us that the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering.

Later Scripture gives us important insight into Abel’s offering. Hebrews 11:4 tells us that “by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” The emphasis is not simply that Abel brought an animal while Cain brought produce; Abel’s offering was presented in faith and was acceptable to God.

As we follow the scarlet thread, Abel’s offering introduces another theme that will become increasingly clear throughout Scripture: an acceptable sacrifice offered to God in faith.

Follow the thread → Genesis 22:7–14

4.GOD WILL PROVIDE THE LAMB

Read: Genesis 22:7–14

THE LORD WILL PROVIDE

As Abraham and Isaac climbed the mountain, Isaac noticed that they had the fire and the wood, but no lamb for the offering. Abraham answered with a remarkable statement of faith: God would provide the lamb.

At the place of sacrifice, God stopped Abraham from harming Isaac and provided a ram caught in the thicket as the offering instead. Abraham named that place “The LORD Will Provide.”

This passage gives us a powerful picture of substitution and God’s provision: Isaac was spared, and another was offered in his place. As the scarlet thread continues, Scripture will reveal more clearly the Lamb God ultimately provides for sinners—Jesus Christ.

Follow the thread → Exodus 12:3–13

5.THE PASSOVER LAMB

Read: Exodus 12:3–13

THE BLOOD THAT MARKED GOD’S PEOPLE

On the night of the first Passover, each Israelite household was instructed to take a lamb without blemish, kill it, and place its blood on the doorposts and lintel of the house.

God promised that when He saw the blood, He would pass over that household. The Israelites were not delivered because of their own goodness or strength; they trusted God’s instruction and took refuge under the provision He had given them.

The Passover becomes one of Scripture’s clearest pictures of redemption through a sacrificial lamb. Later, the New Testament makes the connection to Jesus explicit: “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV).

Follow the thread → Exodus 24:6-8

6.THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT

Read: Exodus 24:6–8

THE COVENANT CONFIRMED WITH BLOOD

At Mount Sinai, after Moses read the Book of the Covenant to the people and they agreed to obey the Lord, Moses took the blood of the sacrifices and sprinkled it on the people.

He declared, “Behold the blood of the covenant”—showing that blood had a significant role in confirming the covenant God established with Israel.

These words become especially significant when we reach the New Testament. At the Last Supper, Jesus speaks of His own blood in connection with the new covenant, pointing us from the covenant at Sinai toward the greater covenant established through His sacrifice.

Follow the thread → Leviticus 17:11

1.Life IS IN THE BLOOD

Read: Leviticus 17:11

GOD’S PROVISION FOR ATONEMENT

God explains an important truth behind Israel’s sacrificial system: the life of the flesh is in the blood, and He had given the blood upon the altar to make atonement for His people.

The blood was not powerful in itself. It represented life given in connection with atonement, according to the means God established for Israel under the old covenant.

This helps prepare us to understand the significance of Christ’s sacrifice in the New Testament. The repeated sacrifices of the old covenant could never accomplish what Jesus would accomplish once for all through the offering of Himself.

Follow the thread → Joshua 2:18-21

8.THE SCARLET CORD

Read: Joshua 2:18–21

A SIGN OF DELIVERANCE

When the Israelite spies prepared to leave Jericho, they gave Rahab specific instructions for the protection of her household. She was to tie a scarlet cord in the window through which she had helped them escape and gather her family inside the house.

When judgment came upon Jericho, Rahab and those with her were spared according to the promise the spies had made to her. The scarlet cord served as the visible sign identifying the household that was to be preserved.

Within our Scarlet Thread study, this passage gives us another striking picture of deliverance and rescue. We should be careful not to claim that Joshua explicitly identifies the cord as a symbol of Christ’s blood—the text does not say that. Rather, the scarlet cord beautifully fits the developing biblical theme we are tracing, while Rahab’s faith is explicitly recognized later in Scripture in Hebrews 11:31.

Follow the thread → Psalm 22:1, 16-18

9.THE SUFFERING ONE

Read: Psalm 22:1, 16–18

SUFFERING THAT POINTS FORWARD

Psalm 22 gives us the anguished words of a righteous sufferer who feels forsaken and surrounded by enemies. The psalm describes intense suffering, the piercing of hands and feet, the dividing of garments, and the casting of lots for clothing.

Centuries later, the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion contain striking connections to this psalm. Jesus Himself cries, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), while those who crucified Him divided His garments and cast lots for them (John 19:23–24).

Here the scarlet thread becomes clearer. What we have been tracing through sacrifice, blood, covenant, and deliverance now begins to point us toward the suffering Messiah and the cross.

Follow the thread → Isaiah 1:18

10.SCARLET SINS MADE WHITE

Read: Isaiah 1:18

FROM SCARLET TO WHITE AS SNOW

Through Isaiah, God confronts His people about their rebellion and sin, yet He also extends an extraordinary invitation: “Come now, and let us reason together.” Though their sins are described as scarlet and red like crimson, God declares that they can become white as snow and as wool.

Scarlet—the color running through our study—appears here not as a symbol of salvation, but as a vivid picture of deeply stained sin. Human beings cannot simply erase that stain themselves. We need the cleansing and forgiveness that only God can provide.

As the scarlet thread continues, Scripture will show us how God makes that cleansing possible. The answer will not be found in our ability to make ourselves clean, but in the suffering and sacrifice of the One God provides.

Follow the thread → Isaiah 53:4–7

11.THE SUFFERING SERVANT

Read: Isaiah 53:4–7

WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS

Isaiah describes a Servant who would bear the griefs and sorrows of others. He would be wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities, and the punishment that brings peace would fall upon Him.

The passage emphasizes substitution. Like sheep, people have gone astray, yet the Lord lays their iniquity upon the Servant. Though oppressed and afflicted, He willingly submits and is described as a lamb brought to the slaughter.

Here the scarlet thread becomes unmistakably clearer. The lamb, sacrifice, substitution, and atonement themes we have followed through the Old Testament converge in the suffering Servant. The New Testament will explicitly identify Jesus with this passage, showing that the promised Servant is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Follow the thread → John 1:29

12.THE LAMB OF GOD

Read: John 1:29

THE ONE WHO TAKES AWAY SIN

When John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him, he makes a remarkable declaration: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

The imagery we have followed throughout the Old Testament now comes into clearer focus. The lamb provided by God, the Passover sacrifice, the blood associated with atonement, and Isaiah’s suffering Servant who was led like a lamb to the slaughter all prepare us to understand John’s announcement.

John does not merely identify Jesus as a lamb. He calls Him the Lamb of God. Jesus is the One God has provided to deal with humanity’s deepest problem—sin.

The scarlet thread has now brought us directly to Jesus Christ. From this point forward, we will see how His death and shed blood accomplish the redemption that the earlier Scriptures anticipated.

Follow the thread → Matthew 26:27-28

13.THE BLOOD OF THE NEW COVENANT

Read: Matthew 26:27–28

POURED OUT FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS

During the Last Supper, Jesus takes the cup, gives thanks, and gives it to His disciples. He then explains its meaning: His blood is the blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

The words take us back through the scarlet thread we have been following. At Sinai, Moses spoke of “the blood of the covenant” in Exodus 24:8. Now Jesus uses covenant language concerning His own blood and connects it directly with the forgiveness of sins.

What the earlier sacrifices and covenant signs anticipated is coming to fulfillment in Christ. Jesus willingly gives Himself, establishing the new covenant through His sacrificial death.

Follow the thread → John 19:16–18, 30

14.IT IS FINISHED

Read: John 19:16–18, 30

THE LAMB GIVES HIS LIFE

Jesus is taken to Golgotha and crucified between two others. The One John the Baptist identified as “the Lamb of God” now willingly gives His life on the cross.

After accomplishing the work He had come to do, Jesus declares, “It is finished.” His words announce completion—not defeat. The sacrifice toward which the scarlet thread has been leading has been accomplished.

From the first promise after the fall, through the sacrifices, Passover, covenant blood, and the suffering Servant, Scripture has been preparing us for this moment. At the cross, Jesus gives Himself as the sufficient sacrifice for sin.

The story of redemption does not end at the cross, but the price of redemption has been paid. What the old covenant sacrifices could never accomplish completely, Christ has accomplished through His own sacrifice.

Follow the thread → Hebrews 9:11–14, 22

15.CHRIST’S BLOOD SECURES REDEMPTION

Read: Hebrews 9:11–14, 22

A GREATER AND PERFECT SACRIFICE

Hebrews explains what the Old Testament sacrificial system was pointing toward. Christ entered the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, obtaining eternal redemption.

The sacrifices offered under the old covenant involved repeated cleansing, but the blood of Christ reaches far deeper. Through the eternal Spirit, Jesus offered Himself without blemish to God, cleansing the conscience so that those who belong to Him may serve the living God.

Hebrews also reminds us that under the law, purification was closely associated with blood and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. The scarlet thread we have followed through Scripture now finds its fulfillment not in another animal sacrifice, but in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

His blood does what the earlier sacrifices could never finally accomplish: it secures eternal redemption.

Follow the thread → Hebrews 10:10–14

16.ONCE FOR ALL

Read: Hebrews 10:10–14

ONE SACRIFICE—FULLY SUFFICIENT

Under the old covenant, priests repeatedly stood offering sacrifices that could never finally take away sins. Jesus, however, offered one sacrifice for sins forever and then sat down at the right hand of God.

Christ’s sacrifice does not need to be repeated. Through the offering of His body once for all, He accomplished what the repeated sacrifices of the old covenant could only anticipate.

The scarlet thread has brought us from sacrifices offered again and again to one perfect and sufficient sacrifice. Jesus’ finished work is enough. Hebrews tells us that by one offering, He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Our redemption therefore rests not in what we can repeatedly do for God, but in what Christ has already accomplished for us.

Follow the thread → 1 Peter 1:18–19

7.REDEEMED BY THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST

Read: 1 Peter 1:18–19

THE LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH

Peter reminds believers that we were not redeemed with temporary things such as silver or gold. Our redemption came at an infinitely greater cost: the precious blood of Christ.

Peter describes Jesus as “a lamb without blemish and without spot.” The language brings the scarlet thread full circle. The unblemished lambs of the Old Testament, the Passover lamb, Isaiah’s suffering Servant, and John’s declaration—“Behold the Lamb of God”—all help us understand the significance of Christ’s sacrifice.

We were not purchased by something we could earn, achieve, or provide for ourselves. God provided the Lamb, and the Lamb paid the price of our redemption.

The scarlet thread that began in Genesis has now brought us from God’s promise of redemption to the precious blood of Jesus Christ—and Revelation will show us the redeemed gathered before the Lamb.

Follow the thread → Revelation 5:9–10

18.WORTHY IS THE LAMb

Read: Revelation 5:9–10

REDEEMED BY HIS BLOOD

In John’s vision of heaven, worship rises before Jesus—the Lamb who was slain. He is declared worthy because through His sacrificial death He redeemed people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

The Lamb who gave His life at the cross is now seen in glory. His sacrifice accomplished what God’s redemptive plan had been moving toward throughout Scripture: a people purchased for God and brought into His kingdom.

The scarlet thread is no longer only a promise or a picture. Redemption has been accomplished through Christ, and people from every nation are gathered because of what the Lamb has done.

The story that began with humanity’s fall in Genesis is moving toward its glorious conclusion—a redeemed people worshiping their Redeemer.

Follow the thread → Revelation 7:9–14

19.WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB

Read: Revelation 7:9–14

A GREAT MULTITUDE BEFORE THE THRONE

John sees a great multitude that no one could number, gathered from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They are clothed in white robes and worship God for His salvation.

When John is told who they are, he learns that they have come through great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The imagery brings us back to Isaiah’s promise: though sins are scarlet, they can become white as snow. What seemed impossible has been accomplished through Christ. Those stained by sin now stand cleansed before God because of the Lamb.

The scarlet thread has carried us from humanity’s need for a covering in Genesis to a redeemed multitude clothed in white and standing in the presence of God.

Follow the thread → Revelation 12:11

20.OVERCOME BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB

Read: Revelation 12:11

THE VICTORY BELONGS TO CHRIST

Revelation describes God’s people overcoming the accuser “by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” Their victory is rooted first in what Christ has accomplished for them.

The blood of the Lamb represents the finished sacrificial work of Jesus—the same Lamb whose redemption we have followed throughout this study. The enemy’s accusations cannot overturn what Christ has accomplished for those who belong to Him.

Their testimony also bears witness to their allegiance to Christ. They remain faithful even when following Him carries a great cost, because their hope is grounded not in preserving this present life but in the victory of their Redeemer.

The scarlet thread has moved from sacrifice to redemption and now to victory. The Lamb who was slain is also the victorious Lord.

Follow the thread → Revelation 19:11–16

21.THE KING RETURNS IN VICTORY

Read: Revelation 19:11–16

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS

John sees heaven opened and Christ appearing as the righteous and victorious King. He is called Faithful and True, and He comes in righteousness to judge and make war.

The Lamb who was once led to slaughter is now revealed as the conquering King. The One who willingly shed His blood for redemption returns in power and authority, and every opposing power is ultimately subject to Him.

His identity is unmistakable: KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. The scarlet thread that has shown us Christ as sacrifice, Redeemer, and Lamb now shows us Christ as the victorious King.

Redemption is moving toward its final destination—not merely forgiveness from the past, but the complete restoration of all things under the reign of Jesus Christ.

Follow the thread → Revelation 21:1–5

22.ALL THINGS MADE NEW

Read: Revelation 21:1–5

THE REDEMPTIVE STORY COMPLETED

John sees a new heaven and a new earth and the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God. The dwelling place of God is with His people, and He will dwell with them.

The consequences of the fall that entered the story in Genesis are finally and completely overcome. God will wipe away every tear. Death, sorrow, crying, and pain will be no more.

Then the One seated upon the throne declares, “Behold, I make all things new.”

This is where the scarlet thread has been leading us. The story began with sin, separation, and the promise of a coming Redeemer. We followed the thread through sacrifice, covenant, blood, the Lamb, the cross, redemption, and victory. Now Scripture brings us to restoration—God dwelling forever with His redeemed people and all things made new through His redemptive plan in Christ.

END OF CHAIN