Whiter Than Snow
“though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Throughout my life one of those things that I have most struggled with is my own sense of failure and guilt. This becomes even more prevalent when facing a trial. What did I do this time to deserve this punishment? Guilt and self-disdain quickly become utter despair. Then that despair can lead to a paralyzing depression which blocks my ability to accomplish anything or to feel love. In the center of this disdaining despair, I have found that I cannot seem to feel God’s presence. Everything appears as though the world is crashing in around me and I am certain in that moment it must be my fault. In those moments I become acutely aware of the fact that I will never be good enough to earn God’s love by my own efforts. Though this is a struggle I battle with each valley moment; yet, I have learned that guilt is Satan’s trap. Momentarily my testimony for Christ becomes nonexistent. In fact, anger builds within as I battle against this guilt and hatred of myself. In those moments I have found myself plummeting downward farther and farther. That anger results in my snapping wrong words to those around me which then drives me ever deeper into despair. There are some direct consequences of sin which result in trials. For example, if I were to steal; then I might be in jail or if I decide to be promiscuous; then HIV may be a direct consequence of that decision. Yet, because Christ has covered my sins from the moment I accepted Him as my Savior; He can and will make something beautiful from even my failures when I bring them to the cross. Salvation is available by Grace and Grace alone. Although God may allow the consequences of my sin to occur; He is not standing up in heaven looking down waiting to swat us. Instead, He looks down with great sorrow and tears over my failure to understand that His plan for me is the best. He knows that my failures are a result of my inability to fully comprehend His love and the price He paid for me.
My struggle with guilt and self-disdain has been my greatest thorn in the flesh. Even in childhood, I worked constantly striving toward perfection in hopes to be liked by those around me. I was an overweight little girl with a speech impediment; so, I worked hard toward pleasing the teachers and being a good student. I remember an incident in first grade. There was a little boy that I admired and he had used his crayons to color inside his desk. Since I thought his desk was so pretty, I decided to color inside mine. When the teacher angrily asked me who had colored my desk, I became frightened and said, “I don’t know.” Consequently, she paddled me and made me stay in during recess to clean my desk. This should have been the end of the story; but I carried around the guilt for years. The remainder of that year, my eyes faced the floor whenever I had to go up front to answer a question or talk to the teacher. Inside, I felt I was a failure; despite my graduating first grade as #1 in my class. Three years later, I remember some adult just as conversation said, “You gotten spanked at school, yet?” Then quickly my little voice said “No.” I was too ashamed to tell the truth; yet, I worried over that lie for many years to come. I somehow believed that God was going to reach down and strike me with a bolt of lightning. I have struggled with that same sense of fear and guilt throughout my life and even more so when a valley comes. Remember God’s answer to Paul regarding his thorn in the flesh? God said, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12:9. His Grace is sufficient to cover my failures, my sins and my guilt. He has gently reminded me of this truth each step of my journey. So, if you find yourself as a Christian burdened down by guilt; please take this journey with me. If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, then also take this journey so as to find the only way to have your sin guilt removed.
When I first began my Master’s program in late 1997, I would stay with my 104 year old Grandfather. He was essentially blind from macular degeneration and nearly deaf; yet, he lived alone and cared for himself. This patriarch of the faith spent every day in prayer and Bible study. He had special earphones and a taped Bible that he continued to study daily. I often joked that if I needed anything of God- I just needed to ask my Grandfather because I was certain he had a telephone to God, a direct hotline that never had any static. One of the times I was there he began to expound on Isaiah 1:18 “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” He would tell me, as a reminder, that after accepting Christ, one’s soul could no longer sin. The soul is made Whiter than snow. He would explain that our flesh could sin, but our soul could not sin. Our soul had been washed in the blood of Christ and would remain sinless from the moment we accepted Christ and throughout eternity.
Though I understood what this great Christian patriarch was saying, I failed to fully grasp the depth of those words or to accept the full gravity of the meanings. I understood with my intellect; yet, my own guilt would at times block this truth from my heart. The truth that we are made “whiter than snow” has such a depth of meaning and is the true expression of Grace demonstrated by God. Why do I fail to be able to claim this truth? It is in those dark hours of despair that He has led me to look once more at this truth. I began to search the scripture about “white as snow”. That review led me to find the other uses of “whiter than snow” or white as wool.” That search led me to discover that the most frequent uses of those words were found to be in reference to Christ or God himself.
In Daniel 7:9 it is written “And the Ancient of days did sit whose garment was white as snow and hair of his head like the pure wool.” Again in Matthew 28:3 when speaking of Jesus as he ascended from the grave “ His countenance was like lightening and his raiment white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.” Furthermore it is found in Matthew 28:3 when speaking of Jesus as he ascended from the grave “His countenance was like lightening and his raiment white as snow.” It is amazing to me that the main references to “white as snow or in reference to wool, refers to the countenance of Christ, which represents the significance of these words, whiter than snow when referring to the believer. That though our sins are like “scarlet” when washed in the blood of Christ our souls take on “His image” and we become, as He is – sinless and blameless before God.
I also found this reference in Mark 9:3 as Peter, James and John transcended a high mountain “He was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them.” Christ’s raiment was “whiter than snow” is also referred to in Revelations 1: 13-14 “ And in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of man his head and his hair were while like wool, as white as snow.”
Wow, when He says, “though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow” He is referring to a transformation of our sins to being spotless like Jesus. Covered in His blood we are accounted as having perfection. This is through faith and grace. Paul refers to Abraham in Romans 4:3, by saying “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Our faith and belief are counted for righteousness. “Though your sins be as scarlet”- refers to blood guiltiness. There are some who would try to say, “But I try to live a good life-I haven’t done anything that bad.” But as is noted in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” None of us through works of our own can find righteousness or wash away our sin nature- we remain red as scarlet. Only the blood of Christ can make our garments “white as snow” “But we are 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 63:
Now Crimson is a red colorfast dye of the scarlet worm-it is a stain very difficult to eradicate. Therefore, the symbolic removal of this stain and turning it to white as wool represents something so difficult that man could not himself remove. It is a picture of the life changing Grace of God that delivers us from our sins. Our sins a deep stain impossible to remove is made white as wool by the precious blood of Christ.
This is truly of Grace and grace alone. “For by Grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the Gift of God-Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Romans 5:1 It is through faith that grace abounds unto righteousness. “even so by the righteousness of one (Jesus Christ) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” Romans 5: 19-20
This righteousness that is accounted to each who believe in Jesus Christ by faith is not based on works. Therefore, it cannot be a source of neither pride nor guilt. Our works cannot alter it. The soul is free from all sin-past, present and future. The soul can no longer sin. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” I John 3:9. This perfection of the soul, this covering of our sins is forever due to the sacrifice of Christ. “But this man, after he had offered the one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10: 12-14
It is difficult for us to recognize the magnitude of His Grace; but truly He has taken our scarlet stains of sin and washed them whiter than snow. He has made us sons-joint heirs of His kingdom. “In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”Galatians 4:4-7 Being covered by the blood of Christ, we are seen by the Father as “whiter than snow-like wool” just as He has described His Son. He is about the business of perfecting that transformation; yet, God always sees the finished product. “For whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son” Romans 8:29
At the point of accepting Christ as our Savior, we are forgiven of our sins. Additionally we are given Christ’s righteousness-placed in our account. Being accounted righteous means we are no longer captives of neither guilt nor sin’s hold. It has been my experience that when I get buried in my own guilt, I am more likely to keep falling into the same sin. Therefore, guilt does not release me from sin’s hold on my life. Only grace and faith can do that. Besides, guilt is a very prideful thing when confronted with scripture. It is saying, “God, Christ may have died for my sin; but my sin is too big for You to forgive.” When we are guilt-laden we are focused on our self and our sin rather than the blood of Christ. We do not become justified by wallowing in our guilt; we are justified by Christ. The truth of that sets you free from both sin and the guilt thereof. When you are condemning yourself, you are focused on you, not on God. 2 Corinthians 3: 17-18 says, “17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” So I urge you and myself to take your eyes off of our failures and look deep into the face of Christ.
Many fear to teach the truth concerning Grace. They fear that people will utilize this as a license to sin more. The truth gives too much liberty they think. Despite the inability of our soul to sin once saved- our flesh remains filled with the sin nature as is so clearly stated by Paul the apostle. “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not, for that which I would, that do I not, what I hate that I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not, that I do. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil, is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the in ward man But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into the captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7: 15-25.
Our flesh, our sinful nature still sins: however the Holy Spirit which dwells in us draws us toward the likeness of Christ. “There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4 Once we take our focus off of our guilt and ourselves to place that focus on Jesus; we actually sin less. The reason being when we are focused on Christ, we see sin for what it really is-a barrier to demonstrating the praise to Christ that would bring Him the Glory we want. The more we focus on Christ, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we want to bring smiles to His face rather than tears of sorrow. We become compelled by love to please Him, not out of fear.
My belated husband suffered greatly from a bipolar disorder which tormented him day and night. That spilled over at times to his becoming very abusive. The early years of my marriage led me to obey him out of fear. I remained frustrated, victimized, and doomed to fail over and over. There came a moment in which the eyes of my heart began to see him clearly as this tormented soul. Suddenly, my reason for trying to please him came out of love instead of fear. I wanted to ease his discomfort. No longer was I a victim. I was now empowered to love. I know in some ways this may be a poor illustration; yet, God used those years to teach me about unconditional love. He allowed me, this imperfect human, to demonstrate unconditional love. There I began to understand God’s unconditional love for me which was greater than anything I could display. God does not have a bipolar abusive personality; but when we walk around with guilt and fear of His punishment, we are acting as though He does. Instead, He is looking at us with unconditional love which only wants the best for us.
What possibly can all this really mean to us? It means we have liberty and freedom from both guilt and worry concerning our Christian walk. It means that when I fall face down into the mud, God does not gleefully look down and rub my face in it. There in that pit of mud I may keep my head down as I pitifully cry out to God of my failure. At that very moment, God reaches down, takes my hand, and with gentle voice says as He looks through the blood of Christ; “What sin my child? I don’t see any. Come. Take my hand. We have work that needs to be done. The fields are white with harvest.” He gently pulls me up, dusts me off, kisses my cheek and off we go together. Such love and grace He displays. Remember this salvation and this walk with God are dependent on faith and faith only. We are free from the bondage of the law. Let loose the chains that weigh you down. Accept God’s full grace—knowing that once saved—your soul has been washed “whiter than snow”. Let go of your chains of guilt and worry—allow the Holy Spirit to perform His work through you. Allow God’s righteous work to be performed in your body by the Spirit. Take that deep breath of fresh air that fills your body and soul, that breath that comes from the freedom of walking in Grace. Oh, what Amazing and magnificent Grace that God hath poured forth on us.
Let us Pray
“Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for your Grace that has covered all my sins. Thank you for the sacrifice of your Son that I might be freed forever from the bondage of sin, guilt and worry—that my soul might be “whiter than snow”. My God thou art truly an awesome God, full of Mercy and Grace. Guide me with thy Spirit, direct my life. Let your righteousness Shine forth through me. Help me when I am weak and fail to claim this truth in my own life. Be my faith when I can no longer believe. Thank you for this love you have so freely given and thank you for your unconditional love even when I fail to love myself. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.