Questions & Answers
The colors of the rainbow
First posted: September 25, 2006
Question
I heard it preached that there was a correlation between the colors of the rainbow and spiritual gifts (and/or fruit of the Spirit). What would that be?
Answer
There are 7 colors in the rainbow. Therefore, the correlation can be established through the 7 Spirits of God. According to wikipedia.org, some argue that the rainbow only has 6 colors, because the last 2 colors, indigo and violet, are almost indistinguishable by the human eye (the natural eye is not very good at perceiving differences in tones of blue). However, I believe there are 7, and I believe that there is a spiritual reason why there is a tendency to reject the 7th color.
Officially, the 7 colors of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. They comprise a nearly continuous spectrum, meaning that each color transitions into the next. Therefore, the 7 colors represent a spiritual transition from one Spirit of God into the next.
The rainbow colors can be correlated with the 7 Spirits of God in the following way:
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As we have shared before, the color "red" is most directly linked to the Spirit of Perfection (i.e.- the Spirit of Sardis), which is connected to the teaching ministry.
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As we have shared before, there is a connection between the color "orange" and "gates of judgment", which points to the apostolic ministry of judgments and to the Spirit of Judgments (i.e.- the Spirit of Ephesus). As we have also said before, the color orange is obtained on computer screens by mixing the colors "red" and "green" at 50% intensity. This speaks of how an apostle must have an appreciation for "red" methods and principles while at the same time moving in "green" prophetic freedom. Apostolic wisdom revelation is impossible without a "green streak".
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As we have studied before, the color "yellow" is related to "weakness and vulnerability", which correlates most directly with the Spirit of Dreams and Visions (i.e.- the Spirit of Philadelphia), since "Philadelphia" believers are people who have little strength but who remain faithful in the midst of persecution (Revelation 3:8).
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As we have shared many times, the color "green" is most directly related to the prophetic ministry, which is in turn related to the Spirit of Sacrifice (i.e.- the Spirit of Smyrna).
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As we have shared before, the color "blue" is most directly related to the evangelistic ministry of "sky conquest", which is in turn related to the Spirit of Head Authority (i.e.- the Spirit of Pergamos).
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According to etymonline.com, the word "indigo" is derived from the Greek word indikon, which literally means "Indian" and was used to refer to a "blue dye from India". As we have shared before, India is a stronghold of the Canaanite spirit that is willing to sacrifice righteousness for the sake of "peace and harmony" (à la Kofi Annan, that hideous frog). As we have said before, the ministry most spiritually related to the Canaanite spirit is the pastoral ministry. In other words, when pastors stray from God's will, they turn into Canaanites. The pastoral ministry, is, in turn, related to the Spirit of Service (i.e.- the Spirit of Thyatira).
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According to wikipedia.org, the color "violet" is a shade of purple. Violet is very similar to "Tyrian purple" and "Royal purple", both of which were very rare and expensive dyes in ancient times, meaning that they were colors that could only be worn by very prosperous people. Even though both "violet" and "indigo" are very similar to "royal purple", "violet" is the one most similar. Therefore, we can say that "violet" is a color of prosperity, which points to the Spirit of Prosperity (i.e.- the Spirit of Laodicea).
We can summarize the above in the following table:
If you revisit the triangle of ministries, you will notice that the first 3 Spirits listed in the table above are the 3 Spirits that are strictly on the right side of the triangle. That speaks of a "right-handed foundation". After that, the 2 grace-ministry Spirits appear (prophet and evangelist), and, then, the other 2 Spirits on the left-hand side of the triangle are covered, with the Spirit of Shalom Peace and Prosperity (the Spirit of Laodicea) being last.
If you focus solely on the order that the ministries appear in the table above, you will notice that it starts with the "weakest" ministry, teacher, and it then loops around to cover the other 4 ministries in the order given in Ephesians 4:11 (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher). Thus, the last and weakest ministry in Ephesians 4:11 is the first ministry in the rainbow, and the last ministry in the rainbow is pastor, because the first shall be last. The ministry that man sees as the foundational and pre-eminent ministry of the Church is placed as a support ministry at the end in God's rainbow.
Notice also how, in the rainbow, the 2 "female" ministries (teacher and pastor) serve as a wrapping for the 3 "male" ministries (apostle, prophet and evangelist). This is a figure of how the female ministries are designed to provide a "comforting embrace" for those who walk under the duress of the 3 male-ministry anointings. The "female" ministries are called to be R & R "foot washers", whether pastors want to accept it or not. There is nothing dishonorable in being a "foot washer", because Yeshua Himself was one (John 13:13-17, 1 Timothy 5:9-10).
In the rainbow, the teacher and pastor ministries are not wrapping the male ministries in order to "hide" them or prevent them from being manifested (as is the case in the matriarchal Church). Why? Because, in the rainbow, both "female" ministries act in roles that destroy their own pre-eminence. Red-horse teachers come to destroy blind faith in human teachings revered by men, and green-horse pastors come to give their lives for the sheep (John 10:14-15), which causes the end the pastoral matriarchy altogether, thus allowing the "sheep" to blossom into the fullness of their God-given potential, free from the oppression of human pastors (Ezekiel 34:1-31, Zechariah 11:1-17).
As we have studied before, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each represent 3 of the 7 Spirits of God. In God the Son, the Spirits of Perfection, Judgments, and Sacrifice are combined. In God the Holy Spirit, the Spirits of Sacrifice, Head Authority, and Service are combined. In God the Father, the Spirits of Head Authority along with the "closeness" Spirits of Philadelphia and Laodicea are combined. Visualized in terms of the 5 ministries, each Person of the Trinity combines the following ministries:
If you compare the above list with the order in which the ministries appear in the rainbow, you will notice how the spectrum of the Son is formed within the bands 1 through 4 (red, orange, yellow, and green), since those are the bands related to the teacher, apostle, and prophet ministries. The spectrum of the Holy Spirit is formed within bands 4 through 6 (green, blue, and indigo), since those are the bands related to the prophet, evangelist, and pastor ministries. The spectrum of the Father is completed when band 7 (violet) appears, since the first two Spirits of God that comprise the Father's spectrum are already present before band #7; the Spirit of Philadelphia is hidden inside the Son's Spectrum in the yellow band, band #3, and the Spirit of Head Authority is manifested inside the Holy Spirit's spectrum in the blue band, band #6.
All of the above means that, as the rainbow bands appear, the Spectrum of each Person of the Trinity is exposed. The Son and the Holy Spirit set up the stage for the manifestation of the Father in Peace & Prosperity at the end.
As we have shared before, the 3 horses of the Apocalypse after the white horse are related to the following pairs of ministries:
| Horse | Ministries |
| Red | Teacher-Apostle |
| Black | Apostle-Prophet |
| Green | Prophet-Pastor |
Notice that, as the horses gallop across the Earth, the ministries appear in the following sequence: <Teacher, Apostle, Prophet, Pastor>. If we exclude the blue color for a moment, you will notice that this is the exact order in which the ministries appear in the rainbow. In other words, the rainbow portrays the manifestation of the horses of the Apocalypse on Earth. The red and orange colors (the teacher and apostle colors) point to the appearance of red-horse teacher-apostles. The colors between orange and green (the apostle and prophet colors) point to the appearance of black-horse apostle-prophets. The colors between green and indigo (the prophet and pastor colors) point to the appearance of green-horse prophet-pastors.
The white horse is most directly related to the evangelistic ministry, because it is a conquering horse (Revelation 6:2). Therefore, the fact that the "evangelistic" color in the rainbow (blue) appears in the middle of the green-horse colors means that, as the green-horse rider is willing to be wrapped in the "blue prayer shawl", he or she is sealing the obliterating conquest over the enemy that is initiated by the white horse.
Notice also the colors covered by each horse:
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The red horse covers 1.5 bands: All of the red band and half of the orange band. |
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The black horse covers 2.0 bands: Half of the orange band, all of the yellow band, and half of the green band. |
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The green horse covers 2.5 bands: Half of the green band, all of the blue band, and all of the indigo band.
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Expressed in terms of half-bands, the red horse covers 3 half-bands (3/2=1.5), the black horse 4 half-bands (4/2=2.0), and the green horse 5 half-bands (5/2=2.5). This points to the progression from 3 to 5 that we have studied before. In other words, the horses of the Apocalypse come to force the Church into a transition from the conformity of "3" to the Promised Land of "5".
Once we have galloped in the anointings of the horses of the Apocalypse, we reach the Promised Land, represented by the color "Violet" in the rainbow. Once in the "Violet" Promised Land, we flow in the Spirit of True Peace and Prosperity.
The Lord told Noah that the rainbow was a covenant sign certifying that He would not literally flood the Earth again (Genesis 9:12-17). Since the rainbow portrays the gallop of the 4 horses of the Apocalypse, the Lord was saying to Noah that the next time around, He would send His horses of the Apocalypse rather than a literal flood. These horses would spiritually regenerate the Earth in the same way that the flood regenerated it in a literal way. The horses of the Apocalypse, therefore, are a fulfillment of God's promise to Noah.
As we have briefly commented before, a close study of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 along with Jeremiah 46-51 reveals the following connection between the gifts of the Spirit and the Spirits of God:
The basic explanation for the table above is as follows:
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As we have shared before, the apostolic ministry imparts wisdom.
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The prophetic ministry imparts the gift of prophecy (for obvious reasons).
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The evangelistic ministry imparts the gifts of healing, since that is the gift that conquers disease, and evangelists are conquerors by nature (because of this, many evangelists are endowed with a strong impartation of the healing gifts; this gift draws many people unto the Lord).
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The pastoral ministry imparts the gifts that are related with tongues, since, as we have said before, tongues are used for human soul communication, and the pastoral ministry is designed to cause people to rejoice in soul communion.
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The teaching ministry is related to 3 gifts:
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The word of knowledge is probably the most misinterpreted gift in Scripture. The phrase "word of knowledge" was translated from the Greek words logos and gnosis. As we have said before, the word logos speaks of God's judgment word, and the word gnosis speaks of "intimate, heart knowledge"; the verb form for gnosis is ginosko, which can be used to refer to physical intimacy between a man and a woman. Therefore, gnosis speaks of knowing someone's heart as the other person allows you to get close to him or her; gnosis is gained through close proximity. Thus, the phrase "word of knowledge" ("logos of gnosis") speaks of word of judgment that is revealed to us as we walk in closeness with God, seeking after the will in His heart.
If you read Genesis 18:16-22, you will notice that God disclosed a secret to Abraham about the judgment that was in His heart against Sodom and Gomorrah. God considered Abraham His friend (James 2:23), so the disclosure of His logos judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah was a result of the intimate gnosis relationship that Abraham had developed with God by constantly trying to fulfill God's will on Earth. Thus, Genesis 18:16-22 is actually an example of "word of knowledge" (logos of gnosis). The same happened with Noah, who received a word of knowledge about a coming judgment because he was a man seeking after God's heart. The rainbow itself is a word of knowledge to Noah, telling him that, in God's judgment, the Earth did not need to be literally flooded again (Genesis 9:12-17).
The "word of knowledge" gift is related to the Spirits of Dreams & Visions (Philadelphia) and Peace & Prosperity (Laodicea) because these are the Spirits of "intimate closeness". As we have briefly shared before, these two endowments are distorted into the Perizzite and Hivite spirits respectively, which are the two "village" spirits, since they cause people to live within an enclosed and limited negative environment. As revealed by Revelation 3:7-13, the Spirit of Dreams & Visions is one of "intimate closeness" because this is the Spirit that declares that "overcomers" shall be "pillars in God's Temple" who shall "go no more out" (v12). A pillar speaks of essential internal structures, which points to the inner workings of a person's heart. Those with the Spirit of Philadelphia are those who walk in closeness with God, even when they are reviled by their brethren (v9), meaning that their close relationship with God allows them to resist the contradicting judgments of others, even when those others have the name of "God's people" on the outside. Philadelphia believers stick to their convictions even when everyone else says that they are acting misguidedly because they have heard the word of God in the intimacy of their hearts, and that word weighs more than the words of any human on Earth.
The Spirit of Laodicea is also a spirit of "intimate closeness", since this is the Spirit of Prosperity. When you are prosperous in the natural, you can afford to rest and live in secluded places where you can sit down and rejoice in your surrounding prosperity. The same applies in the spiritual. Those who walk in the Spirit of Laodicea can have moments of intimate seclusion with God and rejoice as they are enveloped in Him, because He is our inheritance, He is our prosperity (Romans 8:32). This is why the Spirit of Laodicea is the one that calls believers to open the doors of their heart so that God may sup with them and they with God (Revelation 3:20); in Scripture, to "sup" with someone speaks of communion and intimacy.
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From all of the above, we can now link the gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 with the colors of the rainbow:
The galloping of impartation along the rainbow
From the table above, we can discern the following connection between the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, the horses of the Apocalypse, and the bands of the rainbow:
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As the red horse gallops across the Earth, the rainbow's "red" band and the first half of the "orange" band are formed, and (receptive) believers get imparted with the gifts of wisdom, faith, discernment of spirits, and the working of miracles. These gifts enable them to part the "Red Sea" and escape the stranglehold of the "Egyptian" Church in order to go out to the lonely black-horse wilderness of direct God-to-man impartation. Why? Because, as believers begin to hear the wisdom of God, their hearts begin to discern the subtle deceit in man's ways, and they begin to place their faith in spiritual principles that are not visible to the natural eye; this gives them the fortitude not to depend on human structures but on the invisible commands of God. They then gain the courage to leave Egypt, and God enables them to work the miracle of parting the Red Sea and escape from Pharaoh's hold.
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As the black horse gallops across the Earth, the second half of the "orange" band, the "yellow" band, and the first half of the "green" band are formed, and believers get a steady, more intense diet of God's apostolic wisdom logos and prophetic rhema, and they begin to hear intimate knowledge logos regarding the logos judgments lodged in God's heart. As this happens, the believer becomes a person who produces apostolic judgments and prophetic word, which leads to judgments being launched into the human structures they left behind. At the black-horse stage, believers are made privy to the harsh black-horse judgments that God wants to unleash upon the Earth, and they become the very agents of those judgments.
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As the green horse gallops across the Earth, the second half of the "green" band, along with the "blue" and "indigo" bands, are formed. As this happens, believers get a deeper impartation of the prophetic gift, along with the gifts of healings, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. The deeper prophetic impartation (the second half of the green band) means that the believer will no longer utter prophetic rhema but be a prophetic rhema him or herself. You enter into the fullness of the prophetic gift as you give yourself in green-horse sacrifice for the sake of God's purposes on Earth. It is one thing to utter a prophetic word; it is another to die so that that word is fulfilled. A true prophet guarantees his or her word with his or her very life.
As you shed your entire life in prophetic sacrifice, you become a healer. That is why the green-horse chapter of Isaiah 53 says, "The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (v5). As you volunteer to descend to Sheol, you become a "spiritual injection" that reaches deep into the Earth and heals the Earth's issues at the root. This healing anointing will manifest itself in literal, physical healings as well. Physical diseases are eradicated from the Earth as their spiritual roots are dealt with in the spirit realm above.
As we go deeper into the green-horse anointing, we begin to speak in "tongues" because we will begin to utter mysteries that will sound like "balderdash" to most believers (Jeremiah 5:15-17), even those who are supposedly "spiritual". Green-horse believers speak in a fractal language that other believers will not understand and most likely reject, even those believers who have reached their black-horse stage but who have overstayed it. Because we will be operating in God's eternal language, we will not only speak it, but we will also understand the mysteries uttered by other believers under the green-horse anointing; in other words, we will begin to "interpret the tongues" of others, even the incomprehensible "tongues" uttered by ourselves. As more and more believers operate in the green-horse anointing, they also unleash the literal manifestations of the gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues upon the Earth.
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As green-horse riders finish their course by dying, they can say "It is finished", just as the Lord did at Golgotha (John 19:30). After enduring the terrors of Sheol, they are sent to Paradise as they wait for God's vindicating vengeance. This correlates with the 5th seal of the Apocalypse (Revelation 6:9-11), the seal that comes after the green-horse seal. Here is where believers get a "prospering" word of knowledge regarding the obliterating vengeance that God will release as a result of their sacrificial death. God's vindicating vengeance is unleashed when the 6th seal is opened (Revelation 6:12:7-17). As the 5th and 6th seals are opened, God's green-horse riders enter into a period of relative peace and prosperity. This is when the "violet" band of the rainbow begins to be formed. Once that band is completed, the heavens enter into the rest of the 7th seal of the Apocalypse (Revelation 8:1). That is when believers can rejoice in the full abundance of their works. There is indeed a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, as the (green-horse) Irish would say! |