Well, there’s snow on the ground just in time for me to write my December column! I took a longish drive yesterday and was really struck by how uniformly the snow had covered everything during a good stretch of it. For miles, I couldn’t tell what was under the snow. Concrete? Dirt? Grass? Driveways were invisible. So were ditches and ruts. There was only one word you could use to accurately describe the view: white.
Everything was white, because it was covered in snow, but I know that under that snow there were still things of all kinds of different colors and textures. There were still ruts and flaws in the ground; there was still dirt.
So let me ask you something. The blood of Christ, does it cover us or cleanse us? Does it cover up the sin, or does it wash the sin away? The Bible clearly tells us that the blood of Christ makes us clean (1 John 1:7). That’s good news! But of course, we still struggle against sin, and of course, we still succumb to temptation. Does that mean we are not clean? Good news again: no. Because there is a covering aspect to the cleansing work of the blood.
God, on purpose, places us in Christ. To be in Christ is to be under the blood. Picture the blood for a moment like a blanket. A blanket of snow, maybe. The blanket covers us, so that when God sees us, He sees that covering, the blood, and declares us righteous. Meanwhile, the Spirit of God is at work, undercover, transforming us by the renewing of our minds. Outside of that covering, we all look mighty different. The baggage we bring to Christ is visible and often ugly. But when we’re all under the cover, there is no difference. As Galatians 3 tells us, there is no more Jew vs Greek, no more slave vs free, no more male vs female. I might add there is no cop vs criminal, no pervert vs preacher, no victim vs bully. The ONLY thing that counts, in terms of being righteous before God, is what’s covering us.
But remember, that cover is not merely concealing our sin from God. That same blood is actually making us righteous; it IS our righteousness! Surely, surely, there is an element of mystery to it, but just as surely, it is a trustworthy statement. God has made us clean. And He did this by the blood of His son. Never forget, especially this time of year, when we celebrate the incarnation, that this was His purpose all along. The teachings of Christ are true and good. But His teachings were never meant to save us. We cannot be clean simply by trying our best to follow His teachings. He was given to the world – he was born – for the purpose of dying and rising from the dead..
I said earlier that the only word to describe the snow-covered countryside was “white.” But I thought of a better one. When the snow is new, and heavy enough to cover, the world around looks clean. And oh, the blood of Jesus; it washes white as snow.
