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Winter has arrived in northwest Indiana.
We had beautiful fall colors of vibrant yellow, rust orange, deep scarlet reds.
Everyone seems to love fall - the pumpkin spice and sweaters, the football and bonfires. It’s a beautiful time of gathering.
Honestly, fall is not my favorite season. The weather in the midwest is all over the place - 30 degrees in the morning, maybe 80 degrees in the afternoon. It could rain tomorrow and be sunny at night. Sometimes we have all four seasons in the same week. It’s unpredictable.
But really in the fall - everything outside is in transition to death. The trees are losing their leaves and we lose the amount sunlight in a day.
Recently though, we woke up to a blanket of snow.
The dead red, brown, orange, and yellow leaves were covered in white.
I knew that the leaves were there, but all I could see was pure snowflakes that fell from the sky to give us a fresh morning and the ground a fresh start.
It was no longer a dead, messy ground, but a clean slate. A new beginning.
The leaves could easily get swept up, tossed around. The snow laid firm on the ground.
If you had not sent the ground before this morning, you would have not known there were dead leaves everywhere.
My friends. Just as the fall is full of dead autumn leaves, we are dead on our own. Dead in sin. We lose. We fall into sin.
Isaiah 64:6
"All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away."
We are dead in our sins.
What will we do?
We cannot do anything on our own - Isaiah 64:6 says our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
We cannot cover ourselves.
He is our covering: Isaiah 1:18
"'Come now, let us settle the matter,'
says the Lord.
'Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.'"
He purifies us.
He makes us white as snow.
There is nothing like waking up in the morning and seeing all that is dead be covered in a blanket of fresh white.
That’s what He does for us.
Just as the snow comes from the sky to cover the earth,
Jesus came down from heaven and covered our dead and fallen selves.
We may know that we were dead and messy, but the new reality is that we are covered by His righteousness, His perfect life, and flawless sacrifice.
Wide to cover it all. Sometimes snow is really deep too.
He covers our dead, so that He sees us as purified.
Covered
- Psalm 32:1 "Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered."
- Proverbs 10:12 "Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs."
- 1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
Dead in sin, fallen:
- Romans 6:11 "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
He clothes us in white:
Revelation 19:6-8
"Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
'Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.'"
He clothes us in white for the Great Wedding of the Lamb and the Body of Christ - all for His glory.
