It is late Friday morning, and I am sitting in my living room
with a mug of hot chocolate next to me, a blanket over my lap, and the blinds
pulled all the way up to reveal the beauty of snow as it falls through the sky
to the ground where it is piling up. The kids have played outside and are now
warming themselves up with their own cups of creamy hot chocolate. What a
pleasant and peaceful day.
Our God is the Creator of all things
including the snow that is descending silently to the earth. I am currently
reading a book entitled God of All Things in which the author shows how thirty
ordinary objects or elements of nature mentioned in Scripture, such as
mountains, honey, livestock, and trees, teach profound truths about God. While
this book does not cover snow in its list of material things, snow shows up twenty-four
times in the Bible. Might snow have been created not just to be beautiful but
also to teach us truths that we can be reminded of every time we see it? As
Andrew Wilson says in his book:
“Things take the form they do because they are created to
reveal God. We describe God as ‘the Rock’ not just because rocks exist and they
provide a good picture of safety and stability. Rocks exist because God is a
Rock: the Rock of our salvation, the Rock who provides water in the desert, the
Rock whose work is perfect and all his ways are just. When we flip things
around like this, we get a very different picture of the purpose of creation,
of physical stuff, of things. Ever since the beginning, the surface of this
planet has been covered with rocks, and every one of them has been preaching a
message of the faithfulness, security, and steadfastness of God.”
With this in
mind, what is the falling snow telling us about God? Here are three truths
though I’m sure there are more.
1. Snow speaks of the sovereignty of
God over all His creation.
“He sends out his command to the
earth; his word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like
ashes. He hurls down crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his
cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes the wind blow and the
waters flow
(Psalm 147:15-17).
Snow reminds
us that God is in control of all things, and that as he controls the elements
of nature, so His Word will stand in every aspect of life. None can upend it.
He will accomplish His plans. (See also Psalm 148: 7-8 and Job 37:5-7.)
In Isaiah
55:9-11, God makes this point in a slightly different way: “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.” Next time you see the snow fall,
remember that God is sending it, and His purposes, His very words, will
prevail.
2. Snow
is a picture of the purity of God.
Daniel had a
vision that he described in Daniel chapter 7. He saw the Ancient of Days, God
Himself, sitting on a throne. Daniel’s description of God includes this
statement: “His clothing was white as snow” (verse 9). This is the exact
same metaphor given for Jesus’s clothing in Matthew 28:3 after His
resurrection, “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as
snow.” What is the significance of the clothing of both God and Jesus being
described in this way? Part of the beauty of snow is its absolute whiteness,
its purity in color, as it falls from the sky and blankets the earth. In Mark
9:3, Jesus’s clothing at the Transfiguration is reported to be “radiant,
intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.” The point is that
the pure white, such as we see in snow, displays the radiance, beauty, purity,
and absolute holiness of God the Father and of Christ as seen in His glorified
body. As I look now out my window and see the white brilliance, may it move me
to worship God.
3. Snow
tells the gospel story.
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7)
“’Come now, let us reason together,’
says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’”
(Isaiah 1:18)
What an
amazing thought... that the purity of the clothing of Jesus Himself can be mine
as I trade my dirty rags for the robe of His righteousness. We, too, through
Christ’s death on our behalf, can have our sins removed and be made clean. In
God’s grace and unmerited favor toward us, the snow need not only remind us of
the purity of His clothing, but also of the garments we will wear in our purity
as we one day stand around the throne.
“After this I looked, and behold, a
great multitude that no one could
number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes,
with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud
voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the
Lamb!” (Rev.7:9-10)
Snow is telling the story of the glory
of God (Ps. 19:1). Are you listening?
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