White as snow since the blood of Christ

Since about last Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast snowfall for the tri-state area where I live. To be completely honest, I love snow – I love watching the flakes as they fall to the ground and the look of the fluffy and thick white blanket that hides the ground’s imperfections. This morning I was surprised to actually see about four inches of snow on the ground, but just as I am with every snowfall, my heart turns to my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There are several things that snow can teach us about the grace that God gives all who will seek genuine forgiveness.

Behind my apartment, in my back yard, so to speak, there are dips and depressions that fill the ground. There are also old cigarette butts from previous occupants and neighbors that still rise to the surface. There are weeds, crab grass, and a few dead leaves – all unsightly things that makes the yard difficult to enjoy. If we are completely honest with ourselves, it is a good analogy to how we must appear to God without the blood of Christ. The prophet Isaiah wrote under the leading of the Holy Spirit, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6). Everyone has things in their life – sins – that are unsightly in the eyes of God. The apostle Paul wrote, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). Without the grace of God, we appear just as a neglected yard before a snowstorm. We are filled with imperfections, with flaws, and other unsightly things.

Snow covers imperfections

This morning, by the time I woke up, there was nearly five inches of snow on the ground. No longer visible were the imperfections and unsightly clutter in the yard, but a thick, white blanket of snow. Again, the prophet Isaiah wrote as was led by the Holy Spirit, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). The Lord himself invites people to come and reason with the promise that we’ll be made pure from our sins – white as snow! David similarly wrote, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities (Psalms 51:7-9).

Just as the snowfall hides the blemishes of the yard from our eyesight, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses and blots out our sins. The “reasoning together” the Lord invites everyone to take part in is simply the same question He asked of Israel during the exodus from Egypt: I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (Deuteronomy 30:19). The apostle Paul shows the importance of this reasoning with the Lord: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Romans 10:9). By choosing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we choose eternal life and he have our sins forgiven; even the Lord Jesus Christ taught, For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28).

Jesus’ blood covers our sins

The apostle John wrote, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood (Revelation 1:5) – when we accept Jesus we have become white as snow because of the shed blood of Jesus! There is no other way we can become white as snow without the blood of Christ; Paul wrote to the early Christians living in Jerusalem: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22). Even Jesus taught this very idea during his earthly ministry that all paths do not lead to God; there is only one way that man will ever be justified in the eyes of God: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

But this is where the similarity between the blood of Christ and snow ends. The blood of Christ remains pure and able to continue to cleanse us from our sins. After a few days, the snow will begin to melt, it will get dirty, and it will begin to show what is underneath it. David wrote, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:11-12). Once we have been forgiven of our sins, the blood and love of Christ forever separates them from us once we have repented. And when we do sin again, all we have to do is to confess our sins, as John wrote: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Paul wrote that when we genuinely seek forgiveness of our sins God will not remember them from the point we seek His forgiveness any more: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more… And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more (Hebrews 8:12 & Hebrews 10:17).

As I watch the snow continue to fall I am amazed at God’s grace towards me. There’s nothing special about me that God should show me such unmerited favor in His sight. He has blessed me beyond all measure and explanation. He can and will do the same for you if you will simply call upon the name of Jesus and believe that God raised Him from the dead and that He has made atonement for your sins. You, too, can have a life that appears white as snow to the Lord!