"What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
Refrain:
"Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
"Nothing but the Blood" has become a common hymn that is familiar to many. The hymn was written and composed by Robert Lowry in 1876, and reminds us that through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ our sins were forgiven. Through the blood of Jesus we find salvation, we get to experience eternal life, and we receive healing. This can be found in Isaiah 53:5: "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."
I know we are all tired of the snow and cold temperatures, but seeing the fresh falling snow always causes me to think of this hymn and remember how the blood of Jesus has washed away my sins, indeed all of our sins, and made me pure and white as snow. When I was a young boy, we had some exchange students from an African country visit our church. I think they were from Kenya. After church that Sunday, a couple of these young people came to our house for dinner. My dad asked them if they had any questions about our church or Christianity in America. They wanted to know just one thing, "What did this hymn mean?" My dad did his best to explain the crucifixion, atonement, and remission of sin. Of course they knew about all of that. What they did not understand was the "white as snow" part. They had never seen snow and did not understand the point that was being made in the hymn.
We have certainly seen our share of snow and can understand what Robert Lowry was talking about. Through Christ the dinginess and uncleanliness of our sins has been made pure and clean like new fallen snow.
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Editor's note: Brian Timmons is the pastor of Pea Ridge and Brightwater Methodist Churches. He can be contacted at 925-0167 or by e-mail at [email protected].
Religion on 02/12/2014