Cutting to the Heart of It All :: Ezekiel 36:22-28
How many of you have heard someone you know say something like “the Old Testament is law and the New Testament is gospel.” ... Or maybe that “Jesus did a new thing, and that by doing the new, he replaced the old; therefore the old is null and void”?
I’ve been hearing people say things like these all my life. But you need to know, none of them are true. I’m not exactly sure where those ideas came from. Maybe it’s because some think the Old Testament contains the most concise and explicit summary of the Law, the Ten Commandments, and the New Testament reveals with such clarity and simplicity the Gospel: that Jesus lived, died, and rose again.
To be honest, there is more Gospel woven through the Old Testament ... and the Law is just as prominent in the New Testament. The first Gospel promise is in Genesis 3, and the final Law is in two of the final four verses of the Revelation of Saint John. Some of the richest Gospel in the Bible comes to us in Leviticus, and one of the longest discourses on the Law is in Matthew. When you add it all up, the entire Scripture reveals both Law and Gospel.
Our text from Ezekiel 36 is a great example. Today’s reading is only seven verses, but it not only has clear and cutting Law, it has some of the sweetest Gospel we will hear this year. It speaks a harsh truth about the nature of man, and then delivers some of the best promises in scripture, unconditional promises that require nothing of God’s people. They show us how God works for you. These words weren’t written only for the people of Israel. They were written so that when you hear the Gospel, and believe in Christ. Our Lord speaks about Holy Baptism, and about conversion. He describes the Day of Pentecost, which we’ll celebrate next Sunday ... and of how God delivers and nurtures saving faith in Christ, who comes to us in means of grace.
WHEN WE ADD IT UP, GOD CUTS TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER TO GIVE US LIFE
I. First, you need to hear that Ezekiel’s proclamation stays true to the Old and New.
The Prophet Ezekiel had the unenviable task of being a priest without a temple ... a priest called to criticize the improper worship that the Israelites had developed and embraced before and during the exile. Take the people to task, the Lord told Ezekiel: Show them how the house of Israel defiled [God’s name] by their own ways and deeds (36:16). Show them their idolatry, show them their sin; otherwise, the world might think Yahweh is just like every other god.
When you add up the truth Ezekiel unpacks, it cuts right to our cold, dead hearts. The priests were refusing to lead the people away from themselves back to God’s pastures which really are greener. They profited by proclaiming messages of works-righteousness. They failed to administer the sacraments that nourish and nurture. They embraced contemporary worship that promoted individualism. They stopped calling people to repentance.
The people weren’t any better than the shepherds. As they embraced the religions of the world around them, they began dominating each other, setting the rich against the poor, the strong over the weak, the aggressive and powerful over the timid and mild. They began taking advantage of one another ... manipulating one another ... imposing what they wanted out of their religion above everyone else.
Are we any different?
How often do we declare that we don’t need the forgiveness of sins every day?
How often do we act as if our religion is all about us?
II. When you add it up, we need to listen to the prophets: Ezekiel cuts to the heart of the matter with a call to repentance.
Thus, says the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake ... or your purpose ... O house of Israel. I’m not doing this because you’re special people. Instead, [I am doing this] for my holy name’s sake.
Because of Israel’s behavior, because of Israel’s lack of religiousness, because of Israel’s lack of faithfulness, the name of God was being profaned. The people idolized themselves ... bringing God down. They sought new ways to worship, putting themselves first in all things, acting as if worship was their offering to lift God up. These actions profane the name of the Lord.
God’s name and reputation are precious to him. He will not allow us to minimize our sin by writing it off as nothing more than an insignificant infraction against an impersonal rule. So in accordance with his justice, because of their unfaithfulness and lack of sincere religion, God destroyed Israel, leveled their temple, and drove them into exile under Nebuchadnezzar.
I shudder to draw comparisons. Christians today are mocked and our God is ridiculed because of what we say and do ... because of the sin we ignore in our lives ... the sin we fail to confess ... because we act like worship isn’t important ... because we spurn Bible study ... because we act like we neither trust God nor appreciate the faith ... that is, the confidence in Christ that he has given us.
Our world urges us to sacrifice our babies and embrace unholiness. Don’t do it! It profanes the name of the Lord. Our world urges us to embrace individualism. Don’t do it! It’s idolatry. Our world urges us to embrace open communion, acting as if our confession isn’t important. Don’t do it! Our world tries to convince us that the treasures of the Sacraments are optional and meaningless and merely human acts with no real power or significance. The sacraments are priceless!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we desperately need a new heart ... a heart for true worship ... God’s divine service. True Christians yearn to hear God’s word proclaimed. They yearn to receive the sacraments he provides. And the good news is ...
II. When you add it all up: God takes action to deliver that.
Thus says the Lord, I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes (v. 23 ESV).
That is to say God loved the world in this way: He sent his only begotten son to live for you ... obeying all of the Law ... moral, civil, and ceremonial law ... for you. In righteousness, he then went to the cross to die for you. He who knew no sin became sin for you. He ensured your sin died with Jesus. And then to vindicate his holiness ... our Lord Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God. From there, he sanctifies his great name ... he washes away all of our profanities.
Ezekiel declares it this way: I will take you from the nations and gather you from all countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean ... I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and make it that in my statutes you will walk, and my justice you will keep (vv 23-27).
This is one of those many pure Gospel moments in the Old Testament. The entire Gospel is summarized in this one passage.
First, and most notably, the Lord gathers his people, cleanses them with his water and word and creates a new heart within them. He pours out His Spirit upon his people and gives them a land to live in. There, he feeds them the bread of heaven. All of this he does only out of his fatherly goodness and mercy ... despite his people. He didn’t do it because you were special. ... He didn’t do it on your account. ... He didn't do it because you deserved it or merited it. ... He did it for his name’s sake to fulfill all of his old promises.
When God calls us by the Gospel and enlightens us with His gifts and makes us His people, that is, when He gives us the new heart, taking our sinful hearts and giving us the hearts of tender flesh ... hearts that can love ... and forgive, one another ... he pours out his Spirit through Word and Sacrament. He teaches us to receive these gifts whenever we can ... with joy. He encourages us to lift our eyes to Jesus, precisely because it is good for us.
The gathering of God’s people is the church, the bride of Christ. The sprinkling with clean water is Baptism. The cleansing is the forgiveness of sins purchased on the cross at the price of the innocent suffering and death of Christ. And the promise that you will live in a land that God gave to your fathers is the hope of the resurrection. In that land ... God’s promised land ... he continues to call us back to the greenest pastures of paradise, a land of milk and honey, where the feast of forgiveness has no end.
Therefore, heed Saint Peter’s proclamation. Be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling (1 Pt 4:7). You can do these things now. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: when you add it all up, you know now you can do this. You have a new heart and new spirit ... and God is restoring right worship because he would have us known less for what we do, and more for what He does for us. He has fulfilled the old to make all things new ... to him belongs glory and dominion forever and ever (1 Pt 4:11) ... in Jesus’ name.