Baptized in Snow

Yep, I’m one of those who thinks an all-encompassing white blanket of pure snow is beautiful. So as I proceed to defend it, I must confess that I am a bit biased. I like snow. Not year round, mind you; but a month or two (maybe even three?), I’m fine with that. But someone may wonder, "Why? Why snow? What good possibly comes from it? And don’t say that spring comes from it, as if banging your head on a brick wall is justified by how good it feels to stop."

Well, I would like to contend that God offers snow as an annual baptism – a re-telling of the need for the old to die, for the dead to be buried, and for new life to spring forth afresh. In the fall, things do just that: they fall. They fall down and die. They get raked, burned, or composted. That from which they fell looks lifeless. In the winter, these lifeless forms and their detachments are buried, in some places six inches under, in others six feed under. In the spring, things do just that: they spring. They spring forth, up, and out. They become green and look happy to be alive.

Still skeptical?

What is snow? It’s frozen water, it’s white, and it’s cold. God has shown in numerous times and ways that He brings new life and new creations out of water. "In the beginning … the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). "And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:’ and it was so" (Gen. 1:9). Then God started over with Noah and his family after covering the entire earth with water (Gen. 6-9). Then God gave Israel a new start by leading them with a cloud and bringing them through the Red Sea (I Cor. 10:1-2). Then John the Baptist, Christ Himself, and the apostles called people to signify their testimony of new life in Christ by being baptized in water. And, of course, babies announce to the world that a new life has arrived not very long after "the water breaks." So there should be no surprise that particular parts of our world look freshly new and alive after the frozen water of winter has receded.

So perhaps the symbolism is beginning to make snow more attractive to you, until you wonder, "But why cold? Why so cold? What beauty is there in coldness?" Again, I think the coldness represents death or at least the confirmation of death. When a body dies, it becomes cold; and vice versa: when things become very cold, they die. At absolute zero (which is probably pretty cold), things become inanimate, they stop moving. We bury things that are dead. And if they weren’t completely dead when we buried them, they will be. Death is essential. Why?

Enter white. If whiteness symbolizes purity, then why is something so deadly so white? Well, sometimes to rid the impurities from an object of desire, you have to destroy those impurities. Chemotherapy and radiation are attempts to kill cancerous cells. The problem with this is that chemotherapy and radiation do not simultaneously (or even eventually) replace those corrupt cells with fresh healthy ones. Replenishment must come via some other means. If that does not happen, then the entire body may die. – This is, of course, another way of achieving purification: rather than attack the particular impurities within the desired object, destroy the entire object itself – purification by death. When a field is covered with snow, no impurities are visible: no weeds, no bugs, nut’in’.

"But, but, -," you say, "but there’s nothing alive either! Yeah, there may not be any impurities visible, but neither are there any signs of life visible … in a field covered with snow or in a man consumed by chemotherapy. It may be pure now, but it’s dead. What good is that?"

Granted. But my point still stands. Purification, even if it’s by death, is still purification and can thus be symbolized by whiteness. But, given the overall picture, your point is still valid. "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. … For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." – 1 Cor. 15:13-19

But baptism with snow in winter happens at the beginning of the year. There is yet a resurrection in spring which we eagerly anticipate and plan to celebrate. But first, the dirty old man must die and become cold. And if he still twitches now and then after death, the coldness of burial will ensure that he completely dies. The world is now a bit purer, being cleansed from all unrighteousness. But remember: that is not the end of the story; it is only the beginning.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

And God graciously heaps upon us His reminder of this every year.

A Kingdom Metaphor

Christ Jesus is Lord of all. The Christian church is His bride.

Imagine, if you will, a benevolent king over all the known world, in the process of ridding such world of all the putrescent effects of a rapacious tyrannical adversary. If the compassionate conqueror is such the good king that he graciously bestows many good things on all his subjects, and especially on those who serve him wholeheartedly, then many would have no problem submitting to such a king. If his wife the queen were to pass through town, many would wish to behold her glorious beauty, the abundance of dazzling adornments with which she and her immediate surroundings are adorned, and the mass of entourage which accompany her to serve her. Now suppose she were to pass through every town and village within the kingdom, led by her husband with the best of his army, and preceded by heralds who announce to all peoples: "The king is coming with his queen! All those whose hearts are so inclined are offered a place and position of service. Loyalty to their majesty, as best expressed by extending grace to his other servants and subjects, will be highly rewarded. Refusal to submit to his gracious lordship or failure to respect his beautiful bride will be answered by severe punishment. All are invited and encouraged to accept his offer, no matter your current social status or physical condition. Poor and rich, sick and healthy, old and young, weak and strong, friendless and famous, – come one, come all!"

Now who wouldn’t want to serve such a king and queen, especially someone who recognizes that the only alternative is continued slavery to the aforesaid dictatorial foe, the final state of which is destruction?

Communion Is So Much More

How often have we been expected, upon receiving the bread and grape beverage, to close our eyes and meditate somberly upon the painful process of death through which Jesus Christ went because of His love for each one of us? How hard does the pastor or administering speaker have to work to inspire an emotional response in the participating audience? I wonder if this is one of the big reasons why many churches do not practice communion more frequently. Imagine if you had to think of something new to say every week in order to help people understand the significance of eating a piece of bread, explaining it to be Christ's body, and of drinking a shot-glass full of grape juice or wine, representing Christ's blood.

I remember a story that Ravi Zacharias told of a minister explaining to him that the reason they didn't practice a particular event (such as communion) more frequently in church was because they didn't want people to lose the sacredness of it or to treat it too lightly. To which Ravi aptly responded, "Do you take the same approach toward collecting the offering?"

If you had to come up with a communion exhortation every week and if you're pretty sure that you would find it challenging to come up with something new after about the third week, then check these out. There are well over four hundred exhortations from the pen and lips of Pastor Wilson regarding "The Lord's Table." Perhaps if you do ever have to come up with something new, you can just steal one from there.

God of the Means and the End

The following was submitted by Pastor Douglas Wilson (to his church via their email system and also on his blog) September 15, 2009:

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"Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself" (2 Tim. 2:10-13).

Paul is a thorough-going predestinarian -- all the elect are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. But he is no fatalist. Note what he is willing to do for the sake of the elect. He endures everything, he says, for the sake of the elect, so that they might obtain . . . what? What Paul believes them to be predestined to obtain is the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, along with eternal glory. Lesser hearts than Paul's reason fallaciously in one of two ways. They either say that enduring everything matters, so the elect must not really be elect. Or they say that election is real and that it matters, and that it is therefore not necessary to endure anything. Que sera sera. But Paul knows that God ordains everything, including the means that He has ordained to accomplish His intended ends.

Paul knows that the ordained destination is reached by the ordained road. And if the destination is reigning with him, then that is reached by enduring. If the destination is living with Him, the road is dying with Him. The saying is trustworthy. The God who ordained the harvest also ordained the planting. The God who ordained the pregnancy also ordained the sexual union. The God who ordained that a man reaps what he sows also ordained that a man sows what he reaps. Predestination does not make Paul shrug his shoulders whatever. It makes him roll up his sleeves, and any other response betrays a misunderstanding of what God has revealed.

There is a flip side, with an interesting twist. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. But if we are faithless (merely), He remains faithful. To be faithless to struggling sinners would not be to deny them; it would be to deny Himself. He will never leave us or forsake us -- despite our faithlessness.

Cordially in Christ,
Douglas Wilson