In ancient Bible-times, purple dye was as valuable as gold and silver. To produce purple dye it required THOUSANDS of tiny snails removed from their shells and a tiny gland after soaking them was extracted to produce this color which could lead to an almost exact color of dried blood. Mountains of empty shells have been found at the ancient sites of Sidon and Tyre, famous for producing purple dye. The RARE AND EXPENSIVE DYE was produced by the CRUSHING of the snails an expert said: “twelve thousand snails of Murex brandarisyield no more than 1.4 gram of pure dye, enough to colour only the trim of a single garment.”
This is clearly the reason ancient purple garments signified great wealth–only incredibly wealthy could be found with purple clothes…In the Song of Songs the parallel between King Solomon and KING JESUS is seen when King Solomon who met his bride as a shepherd come backs to get her later as the King of Israel in his royal chariot made of the finest gold, silver, and purple cloth: Song of Solomon 3:10: He made the pillars thereof of SILVER, the bottom thereof of GOLD, the covering of it of PURPLE, the midst thereof being paved with LOVE, for the daughters of Jerusalem. He is even surrounded by his fighting soldiers when coming for his bride. This is a pure portrait of KING JESUS our SHEPHERD on earth WHO returns in the rapture for HIS bride in ALL HIS GLORY surrounded by HIS angel army!
If we go to Acts 2, we can see the fascinating scripture about a woman named Lydia: Acts 16:14: And a certain woman named Lydia, a SELLER OF PURPLE, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped GOD, heard us: WHOSE HEART THE LORD OPENED, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
We can see that Lydia didn’t just sell something that was insignificant as a seller of PURPLE–she sold something that would have been as valuable and rare as GOLD AND SILVER… We can also see that although she sold something quite rare–she received from GOD something way more valuable than the color purple she sold: she had received AN OPENED HEART FROM THE LORD.
Who else do we know who had an OPENED HEART? David–the man after GOD’s own Heart! David writes of GOD in Psalm 119:32 (KJV): I will run the way of THY Commandments, when THOU SHALT ENLARGE MY HEART! Just like David, Lydia would have LOVED GOD AND RAN TO THE WAY OF GOD’S COMMANDMENTS from having her heart enlarged like David.
But let’s go deeper into this revelation: WHO ELSE WORE PURPLE? CHRIST!
Mark 15:17: And they CLOTHED HIM WITH PURPLE, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about HIS Head,
Mark 15:20: And when they had mocked HIM, THEY TOOK OFF THE PURPLE FROM HIM, and put HIS Own clothes on HIM, and led HIM out to crucify HIM.
John 19:5: Then came JESUS forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and THE PURPLE ROBE. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the MAN!
But here, we can see that CHRIST wore a PURPLE ROBE along with a crown of thorns as a form of mocking HIM and making a spectacle of HIS statement that HE thought HE was the SON of GOD…The famous PURPLE ROBE that CHRIST wore worth the CRUSHING of untold thousands of CRUSHED snails–was worn by CHRIST WHO HIMSELF WAS CRUSHED FOR LOVE… Psalm 22:6 (KJV): But I am a WORM, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
CHRIST WHO WAS CRUSHED like the snails that produced the rare commodity PURPLE DYE: gave us the ability to have our HEARTS OPENED by GOD to pursue HIS Commandments in LOVE which moved them from stone tablets to the HEART…. 2 Corinthians 3:3 (KJV): Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of CHRIST ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the SPIRIT of the Living GOD; NOT IN TABLES OF STONE, BUT IN FLESHLY TABLES OF THE HEART.
CHRIST was mocked and made to wear the PURPLE ROBE–still, HE will have the last word: Isaiah 51:8 (KJV): For the moth shall eat them up like a GARMENT, and the WORM shall eat them like wool: but MY righteousness shall be forever, and MY salvation from generation to generation.
