{"id":675,"date":"2017-12-31T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=675"},"modified":"2017-12-31T00:15:36","modified_gmt":"2017-12-31T05:15:36","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2017\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-snow\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about snow?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cWash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. \u2018Come now, and let us reason together,\u2019 says the Lord, \u2018Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.\u2019\u201d Isaiah\u00a01:16\u201318<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nicknames were rife in my childhood. It seemed everyone had a nickname and very few escaped attributions from their friends and disdain from their enemies conferred on each other in the form of a nickname. Some nicknames stick for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

One of my friends had a quirky personality. His observations of life usually came out of left field, even in the depths of a serious discussion. The general feeling among most of my friends was that his comments were regularly light-weight and of not much practical use. It was not long before his nickname stuck like a heavy snow in winter. \u201cFlake\u201d earned his nickname with ease, especially as a sophomore. As far as my group of friends were concerned, Flake was fully accepted, nickname or no!<\/p>\n

Today we hear the term snowflake describing some in the rising generation of masculine-challenged behavioral anomalies. As hard as it is to believe, some have even posited that labeling someone a snowflake may trigger \u201cnegative emotional effect on a person.\u201d Oh, my dear child! There is a safe space available to you in a rubber room. \u201cHelicopter\u201d should no longer be solely a nickname of overly-present, protective parents; it can now be applied to entire college administrations across this great land.<\/p>\n

Scripturally speaking, there is a surprising collection of references to snow. I know the pictures that come into my mind when thinking about the judgment of Miriam or the leprosy of Naaman. The disease was described as appearing as white as snow. So, in some instances the use of snow as a description has negative overtones.<\/p>\n

For the most part, when snow appears in the Bible, it carries other significant meanings. The oldest book written in the Bible is the book of Job. More snow is mentioned in Job than any other kind of weather, so the ice age following Noah\u2019s flood must have been more the rule rather than the exception by my guess.<\/p>\n

Job\u00a06:15f states, \u201cLike the streams of the brooks that pass away, which are dark because of the ice, and into which the snow vanishes.\u201d Job\u00a024:19 states, \u201cAs drought and heat consume the snow waters, so the grave consumes those who have sinned.\u201d Job\u00a037:5f states, \u201cGod thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For He says to the snow, \u2018Fall on the earth.\u2019 Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.\u201d Job\u00a037: 10 states \u201cBy the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Job was challenged to consider the marvels of creation in Job 38. Verse 22f reads, \u201cHave you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble\u2026?\u201d Job\u00a038:28ff states, \u201cHas the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? The waters harden like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.\u201d Applying his knowledge of God\u2019s creation to spiritual matters, Job\u00a09:29f observes, \u201cIf I am condemned, why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, and cleanse my hands with soap, yet You plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.\u201d Job informs us that no amount of self-effort can wash us of sin, even if it is with the most pure, refreshing water.<\/p>\n

I think it is interesting that in many places in the Word, the exuberant brightness of new fallen snow on a \u201csevere-clear\u201d day is used to describe eye-watering brilliance, painful brightness, and holy purity. Daniel\u00a07:9 describes the Ancient of Days: \u201cHis garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire.\u201d Similar words are used of the appearance of our Lord in His transfiguration (Mark\u00a09:2\u20134). Also, concerning resurrected and glorified Christ, Revelation\u00a01:14 describes Him as, \u201cHis head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace\u2026.\u201d I would like to see an artist attempt to paint this picture accurately! This is the Savior through whom we have access into the presence of the Father.<\/p>\n

David sounds like Job in Psalm\u00a0147:16f, using snow storms to describe God\u2019s Almighty power. And in Psalm\u00a051:6f he sounds like Isaiah when he begs for cleansing by God\u2019s grace, \u201cPurge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.\u201d David was deeply repentant and confessing his guilt before God.<\/p>\n

Isaiah, in a similar vein, challenges unfaithful Israel to repent of their evil and replace evil with obedience. Scarlet and crimson bespeak guilt and extreme wickedness that can only be spotlessly removed by the effectiveness of God\u2019s forgiveness. Only then will they appear as naturally white, in all its brilliance. Are you cleansed through the blood of the Lamb of God (Daniel\u00a012:3; Proverbs\u00a04:18; Revelation\u00a019:8)? Trust and obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. \u2018Come now, and let us reason together,\u2019 says the Lord, \u2018Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}