Red, Yellow, Green

 

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. (Exodus 40:34-38 ESV).

 

Since I have been a licensed driver since I was fourteen years old, I have never questioned why “red” means stop, “yellow” means caution, and “green” means go when facing an intersection with a traffic light. However, I have never questioned the choice of those colors. As you might expect there is some logic to each of these colors and their meaning through the years. Red symbolizes danger in many cultures, which makes sense, considering it has the longest wavelength of any color on the visible spectrum, meaning you can see it from a greater distance than other colors. And, yellow has almost as much visibility as red, thus it was the choice for “caution.” This is also the reason so many schools universally use this color for their buses. Green's role in lights has changed dramatically over time. Its wavelength is just a bit shorter than yellow's on the visible spectrum, meaning it's still easier to see than any color other than red and yellow. Back in the early days of railway lights, green originally meant "caution," while the "all-clear" light was clear or white. Trains, of course, take an interminably long time to stop, and legend has it that several disastrous collisions happened after an engineer mistook stars in the night horizon for an all-clear. Thus, green became "go," and for a long time, railways used only green and red to signal trains.

 

Of course, there were no signal lights for the Israelites as they made decisions during their wilderness journey. They waited for a signal from God. God had instructed his people to build a tabernacle, a large tent, to serve as a portable sanctuary for worship. At the tabernacle God would dwell in their midst, and the people could worship him there. God’s glory hovered over the tent, and whenever it lifted, they would set out and follow wherever God would lead them next. The tabernacle in the wilderness pointed forward to the temple that would be built in Jerusalem many years later (cf. 1 Kings 6). What’s more, both the tabernacle and the temple pointed forward to another mark of God’s presence among his people. John 1:14 tells us that “the Word”—that is, Jesus—“became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The original Greek text there says, more literally, that “the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us, and we beheld his glory.” Jesus came to bring God’s glory in human flesh among his people, and now, through the Holy Spirit, he lives in our hearts and is present with us wherever we go. He’s our signal in life today!