Words of Grace – Aug. 25, 2016

The book of Genesis gives to us an account of the history of the heavens and the earth that we are now a part of.  “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens” (2:4).

Because God was the only one who was there in the beginning, only God himself could give us this information.  Hebrews 11:3 states that we take God at his word that all this is true.  He has spoken:

“Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth” (Deuteronomy 32:1).  God is the creator of the heavens and the earth.  He has a message for all the creation to hear.

The prophet Isaiah delivered God’s message to a sinful nation:  “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken” (1:2).  And what he speaks is an offer of forgiveness to sinners:

“Come now, let us reason together,” saith the Lord, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (1:18).

Even though our sin, as Elvina Hall puts it, “had left a crimson stain,” Jesus “washed it white as snow.”

James Nicholson, in his beloved hymn, prays:  “Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”