Filthy People and a Pure God

Since we were supposed to have a guest speaker today, I had not planned to preach this week. So, when the deacons agreed Saturday morning that we should be very careful about asking you all to walk around on potentially icy parking lots and sidewalks, I had to come up with something that was outside of my preaching plan.

Knowing my situation, Miss Lynn asked me last night what I’d decided to talk about this morning. I said I’d be talking about snow again this week. Once again, that’s what everyone’s talking about already anyway, so why not?

We’ll just pray that we get a break from weekend snowstorms next week, because I don’t think I can really stretch this mini-series on snow into a third week.

As you might expect, given the geography of the Middle East, there are a limited number of references to snow in the Bible. Most of Israel benefits from a warm, Mediterranean climate, and its neighbors to the east, west, and south have generally desert climates.

But Jerusalem and some other parts of Israel are located at relatively high elevations. The old city of Jerusalem — in other words, the Jerusalem of David’s time and Solomon’s time — sits at an elevation of about 2500 feet.

That’s why we read so much in the Bible about people going UP to Jerusalem. They weren’t going north; they were ascending the hill into the city.

Because of its elevation, it’s pretty normal for Jerusalem to get a light sprinkling of snow once a year or so, and they get enough snow to accumulate every couple or three years. In fact, they had a storm that dropped six to 10 inches of snow on the city on Thursday.

And even if they didn’t get snow in a particular year in Jerusalem or the other cities and towns of Israel, people from all over knew about Mt. Hermon in the extreme northern end of the nation in an area you may have heard referred to as the Golan Heights.

Mt. Hermon straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon and rises to more than 9,000 feet above sea level at its highest point in Syria. On the Israeli side, there is a ski resort — the only one in Israel — located at about 6,700 feet in altitude.

Because of its elevation, Mt. Hermon always has snow on its peak, much like Mt. Hood in Oregon or Mt. Rainier in Washington state. In fact, people in the region sometimes call it “snowy mountain,” the “gray-haired mountain” and the “mountain of snow” because of its snow-covered peak.

The point of all this is that snow was not unknown in the Israel of biblical times, but it was rare enough to be considered something special. And snow is significant in at least a couple of ways in Scripture.

Last week, we talked about snow as a demonstration of God’s sovereign power. This week, I want to talk about snow as a symbol of purity in Scripture.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel describes a vision in which he sees God, and God’s purity is compared to the white of snow and to pure wool. We see it in Daniel, chapter 7:

Daniel 7:9 NASB95

“I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire.

In the New Testament, we see the risen and glorified Jesus speaking to the Apostle John as John had the vision of of Christ that begins the book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:12–16 NASB95

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

In both of these passages, the reference to snow is intended to convey purity — especially moral purity.

Now, this really shouldn’t surprise us. We know that God is morally perfect. He is without sin, and He is completely righteous. We know that Jesus lived a sinless life. We know that He was perfectly obedient to His Father. And He now sits at the right hand of the Father, having been given dominion over everything in heaven and on earth.

We know that Jesus’ perfect obedience was an example for us of how we were created to live but fail to do so. He lived the life that we could not live, and He died the death that we should have died. And He did it so we can have eternal life through faith in Him.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

You see, the problem that people have had since way back at the beginning is that we’re covered in the filth of sin. And what makes that an especially big problem for us is that we were created for fellowship with this righteous and holy and morally pure God.

How can filthy, sin-covered people have fellowship with a God who is pure in every aspect? This has always been a big deal to God.

When He spoke to Moses from the burning bush, God told him to remove the sandals from his feet, because God’s presence in the burning bush had made the very GROUND where Moses was standing to be holy.

When Moses had led God’s people out of Egypt and into the wilderness, God told him that He would come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And His presence on the mountain would make the whole mountain holy. Nobody was even to touch the base of the mountain because of the holiness that it would receive from God’s presence there.

We read about this in Exodus, chapter 19, where God said:

Exodus 19:12 NASB95

“You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

God taught this concept of His holiness and purity when He gave direction to the people of Israel about how they were to deal with lepers during their travels in the wilderness. They were sent outside the camp so that their uncleanness would not defile the place where God dwelt among His people.

He taught the concept in Deut 23 in his description of where latrines should be situated.

Deuteronomy 23:12–14 NASB95

“You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement. “Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.

He taught it in his commandments regarding executions. God had declared that those who committed murder or blasphemy or idolatry or sexual relations outside of marriage or some other crimes were to be stoned to death. We see such an execution take place in Leviticus, chapter 24.

Leviticus 24:10–14 NASB95

Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the sons of Israel; and the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel struggled with each other in the camp. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) They put him in custody so that the command of the Lord might be made clear to them. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then let all the congregation stone him.

So, what we should see here is that God’s holiness — His perfect purity — is so sacred that it must never be defiled by the filth of sin.

So, how could we, who are covered in the filth of our sins, ever fulfill the purpose for which we were created — for having fellowship with God?

What we know from the New Testament is that it is the blood of Jesus that washes sins away. It is faith in Him and in His sacrificial death and supernatural resurrection that saves us. By God’s grace, through faith, we are adopted as sons and daughters of God and guaranteed eternal life — everlasting life in the presence of the Father and the Son, the way it was always meant to be.

Because of the blood Jesus shed on the cross, we can be forgiven for our sins. He paid the debt that we could not pay for our sins. The incarnate God Himself suffered death so that we could have life.

Hebrews 9:22 puts it this way:

Hebrews 9:22 NASB95

And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

You see, even back in the days of the Old Testament, God was teaching His people that sin brought death. In the Book of Romans, Paul writes that the wages of sin is death. But all the way back in the Garden of Eden, God had said much the same thing.

Genesis 2:16–17 NASB95

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

There was one commandment for Adam and Eve to obey. Don’t eat from that particular tree. If you do, you will die.

“Dying, you will die” is the literal translation from the Hebrew. And that literal translation reveals something about what God meant. There would be two kinds of death, a physical one — the “dying” part that took some time — and a spiritual one — immediate separation from God, the “you shall die” part.

But even in Old Testament times, God was teaching His people about the concept of a substitutionary sacrifice.

He taught them that in the first Passover, when the Hebrew slaves in Egypt painted their doorposts and lintels with the blood of spotless lambs so the angel of death would skip over their houses on the night when all the firstborn in Egypt were killed.

He taught them that in the commandments regarding their sacrifices for sin. Bulls and rams and sheep would have to give their lives to pay for the sins of the people of Israel. These innocent animals would give their lives for the guilty people.

And, since God’s presence dwelt in the tabernacle and, later, the temple, the priests themselves and even the furniture and instruments used within those places had to be sprinkled with the atoning blood of sacrificed animals.

The presence of God is defiled by sin, which is why the priests are directed to sprinkle blood on the tabernacle when they commit sin. Their sin defiled GOD.

And so, the people of Israel were taught to understand the concept of this substitutionary sacrifice, an innocent one who would die to atone for the sins of the guilty ones.

But this teaching was always intended to point forward to Jesus, the true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

This teaching was always intended to help them be prepared for the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, who would come not as a conquering king but as a suffering servant. The one who would come as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.

Jesus is God’s own answer to the problems of sin and death. He is the one who brings freedom to we who are slaves of sin. And, as He said, “if the Son makes you free you free, you will be free indeed.”

At the cross, the sinless Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of mankind and suffered the just punishment of God for them.

Jesus paid the price for your sins and mine so that all who put their faith in Him and the sufficiency of His sacrifice can now, as the writer of Hebrews puts it, “enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.”

We who have followed Jesus in faith can stand before God not covered in the filth of our sins, but rather covered by the blood of Christ.

Our sins have been forgiven. He bore our guilt. The innocent one died for the guilty ones. And in doing so, He took care of our sin problem, once and for all, at the cross.

But He also took care of our death problem, because the cross was not the end of the story for Jesus.

He is the resurrection and the life, and He said, “he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

Jesus could call Himself the resurrection and the life, because His Father had given Him the authority both to lay down His life and to take it up again.

On the third day after His crucifixion, He arose, conquering death itself and demonstrating that He truly is the resurrection and the life.

And because of His resurrection, we who have followed Him in faith can have confidence in His promise that all who believe in Him will have eternal life.

The promise for us is that even if our physical bodies die, we will live forever in fellowship with God. And if we live in eternal fellowship with God, then our bodies will one day be raised from the dead, just as Jesus’ own body was raised.

And on that day, God will look at we who should be seen as filth-covered sinners, and He will instead see adopted sons and daughters who are clothed in the righteousness of His perfect Son.

Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God said:

Isaiah 1:18 NASB95

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

Have you been washed by the blood of the Lamb? Will you stand before God with your sins as scarlet, red like crimson? Or will you stand before him white as snow, clothed in garments like wool, the very righteousness of Jesus?

Will you choose to stand before a perfectly holy, righteous, and morally pure God on your own supposed virtue? Not even the priests of Israel could do that. Not even Moses could do that. In fact, God says, through the Apostle Paul, that nobody can do that:

Romans 3:10–12 NASB95

as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

If you’re thinking you can stand on your record before a perfectly pure God, then the truth is that you’re still so covered in filth that you can’t smell the filth on you.

But the good news is that, if you will repent of your sins and turn to Jesus in faith, God promises to clean you up.

As King David wrote:

Psalm 51:7 NASB95

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

We have a problem. Jesus is the solution. Won’t you come to Him?