Saturday, December 16, 2017
Isaiah 1:18 Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
A WHITE CHRISTMAS
Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? For many it just doesn't seem like Christmas without at least a little snow. No wonder then that one of the best selling songs of all time is "White Christmas." Did you know, though, that God predicted a white Christmas? Joseph didn't have to shovel a path to the stable in Bethlehem and the shepherds didn't trudge through three-foot drifts to see the newborn Baby. The climate of Israel is more like Phoenix than Minneapolis. Nevertheless, it was a white Christmas. Some seven centuries before the angels sang of the Savior's birth, God spoke through Isaiah: "Come, now, let us reason together . . . Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Isaiah 1:18).
To make this miracle a reality, God sent His Son: conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus truly makes our Christmas "white." He came to calm and quiet the harsh accusations of our guilty conscience. Our conscience reminds us that we are not the people we ought to be. Self-interest all too often interferes with loving and serving God and one another as God's Law commands. Guilt ringing in our ears quickly drowns out joy. But then remember Christmas.
Jesus came to quiet guilt by taking every bit of it upon Himself. He didn't come to condemn us for our sin. He came to be sin for us. Jesus makes our Christmas white by blanketing us with the pure whiteness of His righteousness. Jesus won peace by His holy life and innocent suffering and death. His peace is our peace now by faith. In Christ all is well between you and God. He couldn't be happier with you. Things couldn't be better!
In many places in our country there won't be snowflakes in the air Christmas Eve. Yet that really won't matter. The birth of God's only-begotten Son means we'll still have a "white" Christmas in the very best possible way. That's no dream!
-- Adapted from the "Lutheran Spokesman"
