The Treasury of the Snow

Dusty theologians tend to distinguish between types of revelation. Special revelation involves supernatural intervention. We like this! Visions and voices, manifestations and miracles, sights and Scripture all appeal to our appetite for the amazing. But the Lord has a lower language, more like a sigh than a shout, and this we call General Revelation. In this parlance the planets make pronouncements, the mountains bring a message, the creatures a cant, and there is a whisper in every wind. As the Psalmist puts it, concerning the natural order, "Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge" (Psalm 19:2). So said the Apostle as well "His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Romans 1:20).

As I sit here on a Sunday afternoon, amidst a Winter wonderland of white, I wonder what the snowflakes are saying. These active little ambassadors from above descend with determination to articulate an announcement from their Author. Methinks the Lord hath scripted us a sermon in the snow!

1) The falling snow reminds me of The Fall of man. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). As those millions of flakes began so high and end so low, so God "made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes" (Eccl. 7:29). Leprosy, a disease often employed to declare the depravity of man, was commonly compared to snow. As it was said of Gehazi, the wicked servant of Elisha, "he went out from his presence leprous, white as snow" (2 Kings 5:27). The snow fall reminds me of the Sin Fall. It is Nature's homily intended for our humility.

2) The disappearance of snow reminds me of the brevity of life and the destiny of man. As Isaiah draws a parallel between fading grass and fading flesh (Is. 40:6), so Job appears to draw a parallel between the vanishing snow and vanishing man. "As drought and heat consume the snow waters, so the grave consumes those who have sinned." (Job 24:19) Man cannot prolong his life, but is like falling flakes upon a river "into which the snow vanishes" (Job 6:16). Snow cannot resist the radiance of the sun, so man cannot avoid his appointment with death. Man's life is but a vapor. Oh that we would be wise and consider our latter end!

3) The shining snow reminds me of the holiness of God. When Christ was transfigured upon the mount and His Holiness and Divinity dared to peek beyond the door of His flesh, it could only be compared to the whiteness of snow: "His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them" (Mark 9:3). When the Lord envelopes His earth in white, He places, as it were, the hood of His own holiness upon our planet, and we are for a moment enrobed in a borrowed splendor.

4) The whiteness of snow reminds me of the only hope for man. Of all its lofty lessons, none are so satisfying to my soul than the hope of forgiveness of which this snow so softly speaks. "Though your sins be as scarlet" saith the prophet "they shall be as white as snow" (Is. 1:18). Oh what a delightful dissertation and encouraging exhortation is this! With Scripture's light we find the message of salvation falling with the snow. And so, oh my soul, look to Christ! Have faith in Him who died for sinners like me! Here is hope indeed. I thank Thee Lord for granting ears to hear and eyes to see this "treasury of the snow" (Job 38:22).