February 11 of this year saw record snowfall in the Dallas area.  As a native Texan who has spent all but six years of my life in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I must say that it was quite the experience.  It literally snowed all day, from several hours before I awoke to the time I fell asleep.  It has become impossible for me to look at freshly-laid snow and not think of my sins being made “white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).  When it is fresh, it is so spotless and pure.  I don’t know of anything in nature that just looks so clean.

There is something so beautiful about purity.  We are naturally drawn to that which is without blemish.  It’s humbling to think that this naturally-occuring picture of purity is God’s metaphor to describe his people and what he will do with them.  The distance between us and our sins is said to be as far as the east is from the west, indicating utter separation (Psalm 103:12).  The Bride of Christ, the Church, is said “‘to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure’” and that “the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” (Revelation 19:8)  We must remember how such purity comes to be.  We are not in this final, unblemished state yet.  We will be, but even now the best people you and I know still sin.  But what every believer in Christ must constantly remember is that God counts them as spotless.  The most pure, spotless, and therefore beautiful human being to ever walk this earth was Jesus Christ.  And through his sacrifice on our behalf, everything he is is now ours.  God looks at us and sees Christ.  There is nothing to damn in us, because there is nothing to damn in Jesus.  We are credited with being as righteous as he is.  Every blessing in Scripture that is conditioned upon righteousness is a blessing we now possess as a result of being joined to Christ.

Christ, our spotless Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7, cf. Exodus 12:5), is our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).  So to say that our sins have been made white as snow is to testify that Jesus is white as snow; totally pure, and thus uniquely able to die in our place and make us right with God (Romans 5:1).  When we look on the snow that covers the ground, may we be reminded not only of the peace we now have with God because our sins have been removed from us, but let us pursue that thought further and be reminded of the perfect man who loved us at great cost to himself in order to secure for us a place in the coming new earth which will be without blemish, defined by purity and perfection.

Finally, let’s consider one other thought.  In the same breath in which he says that the distance between our sins is the distance between the east and the west, David says that the distance between heaven and earth is equivalent to the vastness of God’s love toward us.  Love shines brightest in the most inconvenient circumstances.  It is an act of love to go a few miles across town for someone.  But that act is magnified if I were to travel half-way across the country for them.  It is an act of love to sit down with someone and spend time with them, but that same love can be made more visible if I were to clear everything off my schedule for that person and sacrifice many things in order to be with them.  Similarly, the distance between us and our God is vast and far beyond our ability to comprehend, and it is precisely the immensity of this distance which should demonstrate to us the immensity of his love for us.  True love inconveniences itself for the sake of the beloved.  It goes great distances out of great love for great reward, and our great King is not only no exception to this rule, he is the pinnacle reality of it from which every other act of love is but an exemplary shadow.  He emptied himself (Philippians 2:1-11), eyeing the prize (Hebrews 12:2) which is you and me (Isaiah 53:11, Romans 8:28-30, Leviticus 20:26, 1 Peter 2:9), so that in our rescue God would be glorified (John 15:8, Ephesians 1:6,12,14).  Even in human relationships, we don’t doubt the love of those who have sacrificed much for us.  How much more should we then rest in the love of God, who has traveled the farthest possible distance to make us his own?  He has fallen upon this earth from above and has left fields of purity in his wake.

Snow likewise comes from above and falls to earth, and newness is what it leaves behind. It is purity from above.  As we observe fields of white and marvel at them, let us be reminded to marvel more intensely at the even more beautiful sight of sinners made clean by the grace of God.  May we look around and see in each other reason to praise our great God. In settings we find ourselves in with other believers, may we look upon them and see something more beautiful than freshly-laid snow. And for those we know who do not know the beautiful news of Jesus, may we pray diligently for snow to fall on them as it has on us.

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
-Psalm 51:7

“‘For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.’”
-Isaiah 55:10-11