I think God is doing a great work in us beyond our comprehension and understanding. To turn our sins into snow and wool seems impossible to me especially when you see how stained you are. It's all God's work but we will all learn righteousness and God will be All in all as spoken by Ray below:
From: Was it better for Judas had he not been born?
CAN JUDAS BE FORGIVEN?
God inspired Isaiah to write:
"Come now, and 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" (Isaiah 1:18).
Since God told the entire nation of Judah that their scarlet and crimson sins could be forgiven, who can stand in condemnation and forbid salvation to one single man, and a man whom we are told repented?
Where is there a sin that cannot and/or will not be forgiven? Do you believe there is a sin that will "NEVER" be forgiven? Do you think there is a Scripture that states such a thing? See my commentary on "The unpardonable sin."
The atonement of Jesus covers the sins of "the WHOLE WORLD" I John 2:2.
John the Baptist said: "Behold the Lamb that takes away THE SINS OF THE WORLD" (John 1:29). Yes, it will take God's Judgments to bring about the repentance of the whole world, but this is what God has prophesied:
"For when [not now, but 'when'] Thy Judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world [how many is that?] WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Isaiah 9:26).
The forgiveness of the whole world is not as yet a fact, BUT IT WILL BE.
It seems to me that we are in a process phase of our sins being dealt with. I will let Ray best explain but another of his comments below:
As for your question on what happened to the sins that Jesus paid the penalty for? They are still alive and well on planet Earth. Jesus never "removed" the sins of the world. Rather, Jesus is "the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the whole world" (I John 2;2). Jesus DIED for our sins. But Jesus did not REMOVE the sins of the world. The salvation of humankind is a process. That's why we live our lives, and those who died ignorantly or as infants will be resurrected and live again. There is much they need to overcome.
John the Baptist said in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God, which TAKES away the sin of the world." It doesn't say he "took" away their sins, that he "will take" away their sin, but rather it is in the Greek aorist tens (indefinite--past, present, future)--"...The Lamb of God which IS TAKING away the sin of the world." "IS TAKING" is the proper translation. It is a process. As God cleanses us of our sin through His Holy spirit, our sins are BEING TAKEN away, but not so the rest of humanity which are presently either the "many called," or the NOT called.
God is perfect and is perfecting us with all of our baggage and everything else going on in our lives including our sins. Again I will let Ray take the next bit:
From LOF part 3
BECOMING PERFECT
Jesus Christ DIED FOR OUR SINS, and that accomplishes the SALVATION OF THE WHOLE WORLD, because God will eventually bring every creature in HEAVEN AND IN EARTH to repentance and humble submission to Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:9-11, Rom. 10:9, I Cor. 15:25). But forgiving sin, pardoning sin, justifying our sinful past, or even redeeming our bodies and giving us incorruptible and immortal bodies, does NOT make us perfect in deed and character!
God is PERFECT! And God wants His children to BE PERFECT! And believe it or not God WILL ... MAKE ... US ... PERFECT!
"He [God] chooses us in Him [Christ] before the disruption [foundation] of the world, we to be HOLY and FLAWLESS [PERFECT] in His sight..." (Eph. 1:4).
"You, then, shall be PERFECT as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mat. 5:48).
"I in them, and Thou in Me, that they [that’s US] may be made PERFECT in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me" (John 17:23).
"Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man PERFECT in Christ Jesus" (Col. 1:28).
People are quick to say, "Well, NOBODY is perfect." That's not true:
"For it became HIM, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many [that’s us and the rest of the world] sons unto glory, to make the CAPTAIN of their salvation PERFECT [how?] Through SUFFERING" (Heb. 2:10).
Yes, maybe no one but Christ is perfect now, but it won’t always be that way. Paul knew that it was a process and that it would be ultimately God’s achievement:
God is taking away our sins and finally dealing with them in a way that he only knows and knows is the best, and you know when God is finished with it, guess what it will look like – Snow. I would say that God is not taking our sins and getting rid of them but He is cleaning us through the suffering that we experience and when they are finally taken away then only whiteness remains. What else can be left when God has dealt with it in His perfect way.
From reading Ray's material that's how I see it. In my mind take a rotten apple and reverse back in time to a beautifully formed crisp yummy tasting apple and I guess that's what God is doing in His way.
Apologies if I am missing the mark here, it's just my contribution on how I see sins becoming snow.
God bless
Rhys