“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” ~ Ephesians 2:4-5
“I cannot live without seeing Snow White. I will honor and prize her as my dearest possession.” ~ the Prince to the Dwarves[1]
This will be my last post in the “Whiter than Snow” series. We’ve covered the ancient stories of Inanna and Psyche all the way up to the 1790 rendition of Richilda and Blanca. We’ve mourned over the horrors our heroines have undergone, as well as rejoiced with them in their ultimate victories.
We’ve seen how the Enemy seeks to destroy….oh how he destroys…
And yet it’s the little “happenstances” of life where we see God working behind the scenes, working tirelessly to bring us triumph in the end. The Enemy can be overwhelming, but God wins in the end, and that is where our hope is.
That truth is better than a fairy tale.
A Thought from the Grimm’s Snow White
I want to leave you with one parting thought from the Grimm’s Brothers’ rendition of Snow White. It is very similar to the story Musaeus wrote about Blanca, and very similar to Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” so I shan’t spend too much time explaining.
After Snow White’s three ordeals with her stepmother, the dwarves put her in a glass coffin where she stays for “a long, long time.”[2] One day, a handsome prince finds this strange spectacle, and begs the dwarves to give him the coffin and the girl. “But the dwarfs answered, ‘We will not part with it for all the gold in the world.’” The prince begs them again, finally saying “I cannot live without seeing Snow White. I will honor and prize her as my dearest possession.” The dwarves “took pity upon him, and gave him the coffin.”[3]
Before I get started, I want you to know that I’m foregoing all negative thoughts concerning the prince’s declaration, and looking at this story only through the pure light of the gospel.
The Snow White Analogy
“Dead in our trespasses” is a very similar state to our Snow White. Snow White is dead…and yet alive, for she does not decay. You could say her body is alive, but her spirit was dead…which is the case with us.
Yet we were made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27), and we are beautiful and valuable to Him. I love what the prince says – that Snow White, although dead, would be his “dearest possession.” Although dead, we were God’s “dearest possession.” Like the prince, He was willing to pay any price for us.
The prince did not have to pay for Snow White, but our God did have to pay for us. Our lives were the payment for our sin, but God chose to give His Son’s life as payment instead. Thus, “because of His great love,” God was willing to make us “alive with the Messiah.”
We should have been worthless! But we weren’t. Just like Snow White, our Royal Lover saw something worth redeeming.
Christ: Better than the Prince
The analogy ends in that the prince could not awaken Snow White. He had his servants carry the coffin, and while they were doing so they stumbled…and out popped the piece of poisonous apple. Snow White awoke, and agreed to marry the prince.
And the Evil Queen? She is invited to the wedding, given iron shoes, and forced to dance to death in them.
We are awake by the grace of God, and one day, by the grace of God, our Enemy will be destroyed forever. We’re in the waiting gap right now. But that should not diminish our joy. After all, Snow White joyfully prepared for her wedding before her enemy was dead; we, too, should joyfully prepare for our Heavenly Bridegroom.
I pray you take these Snow White lessons to heart. I am an imperfect teller of these tales from God’s point of view – for who can speak for God? But He has shown me so much of His love through these tales, and I hope you have seen it, too.
Sources
[1] Ann Heiner, Sleeping Beauties, 63.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
