Anyone Notice The Snow Outside?

Editor’s Note: The image used for the feature photo appeared on Pixabay. CSG Kids Gloves has claimed ownership of the image.

 

Snow is polarizing. People either hate it, or they love it. “I hate driving in the stuff!” “I can’t wait to get outside and build a snowman!” You get my drift (pun intended).

Here in my neck of the woods, it snowed from last Wednesday afternoon till about midnight Thursday night. People started emerging from their homes on Friday. Julie and I waited until Saturday.

Friday, while I was looking out the window, I wondered what the Bible says about snow?

Getting past the handful of verses describing skin with leprosy “as white as snow,” it gets interesting.

Job 37:6 tells us that God sends the snow. “For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.”

This verse brings me to a pet peeve of mine. The use of the term “mother nature.” Sorry people, but mother nature does not exist. God is in charge of the weather, the climate, and all things related to the beauty and devastation of nature. When we complain about the weather, we complain about God’s actions.

Back to the snow – Isaiah 55:10 explains how the snow helps the farmer and brings us bread to eat. “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.”

The wisdom of Solomon explains that the absence of snow in the summertime is an example of the lack of honor a fool receives (Proverbs 26:1).

The following example of snow in the Bible reminds me of when I was in the Army. Two of us were riding in a jeep, and the windshield wipers stopped working. It was not raining, but there had been recent snow, and the roads were wet. Gook would fly onto the windshield from passing vehicles, and every so often, we would pull over grab some clean snow from the side of the road to wash the windshield. Snow is an excellent cleanser. Job 9:30, “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean.”

The next verse we will look at is 2 Samuel 23:20, which speaks of Benaiah, who “slew a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow.” The verse does not mention blood, but can you imagine all that red blood in the white snow?

Benaiah’s slaughter of the lion brings us to a transition. The Bible uses snow as an example of the cleansing made by blood.

Isaiah 1:18, “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.”

God can take our sins and make them as white as snow. I mentioned the cleansing by blood earlier, so how is this possible?

Revelation 1:5. “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.”

We are all sinners; therefore, we are guilty.

The Bible explains that forgiveness of sins and salvation is tied tightly to the blood. Hebrews 9:22, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Leviticus 17:11 “… it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

Tie it all together – our sins can be washed whiter than snow – the purging of sin and atonement is by the blood – it is Jesus’s blood that washes our sins away.

Sin cleansing only through the blood of Christ is why Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth,and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Ever tell a lie? Ever had a bad thought? Ever hate someone? The list goes on; we have all transgressed God’s law. God knows we cannot keep the law. That is why the law provided a way of salvation through the blood of the sinless sacrifice – Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Once we place our faith in the blood of Christ for the washing away of our sins and the salvation of our souls, the Holy Spirit moves into our heart, and salvation is ours.

We cannot do enough good to get right with God. Romans 3:28, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

Place your faith in Jesus Christ, not on your good works or religion.

Just as the snow melts, we will all pass away (Job 24:19). When you die, will you pass from this life justified, cleansed, washed by the blood of the Lamb? The choice is yours.

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With houses of worship still under restrictions across much of the nation, the editors of the Baltimore Post-Examiner are inviting an array of spiritual teachers to share insights from the ages along with words of comfort and encouragement. These timely messages are not exclusive to any particular faith walk and will be included in our ongoing Spirituality series.