Ezekiel 34:25-30

            {Prayer}

            In 1887, A. J. Showalter composed the hymn we’ll be singing after the sermon this morning, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. The hymn’s refrain includes these famous word … “Safe and secure from all alarms.” Safe and secure from all alarms. Listen to a podcast, turn on the news, read the news online … all we hear anymore are blaring, loud-sounding, heart-breaking alarms.

            Showalter wrote the words of the of the refrain one day after reading letters from two of his former students. Both students indicated that they both had lost their wives. On top of that, they lost them on the same day. Showalter wrote letters of condolences to his former students. The Scripture that came to mind was from Deuteronomy. It was the assurance of God’s “everlasting arms” supporting us.

            Safe and secure from all alarms. That’s a message we need to hear. That’s God’s promise to us today through the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel. This morning we are going to look at God’s gift of a new covenant. Here in Ezekiel 34, God is speaking.

            He says, “I will cut.” In the Old Testament, covenants weren’t made. “Made” in our English translations of the Bible, when connected with the word covenant, misses the mark big time. The Hebrew verb is karat. Karat means to “cut.” In the Old Testament, to enter into a relationship, people didn’t sign their names on a piece of paper. There were no attorneys. There were no notary publics. There was, however, blood. That’s because in the Old Testament, to enter into an important relationship, people killed animals. They slit their throats and then poured out their blood. Covenant cutting was a messy business!

            The LORD says, “I will cut with them.” Who is them? The “them” is Israel. Fifteen times in the book, Ezekiel calls Israel “a rebellious house.” Think about it. To be a rebel doesn’t mean that you just sin or break a commandment here and there. A rebel takes up arms, they storm the castle and seek to dethrone the king, to dethrone the LORD.

            Rebel is the strongest word for sin in the Old Testament. What is it in the New Testament? That word would be “wretch.” We sing about it in Amazing Grace. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”  But the word “wretch”, it sounds so old, so unfamiliar. I mean really, who says that? No one uses that word today. Are we misguided? Sure. Are we prone to make mistakes? Absolutely. Are we people who make messes and sometimes cause a little mayhem? Without a doubt! But none of us is a wretch, right?

            Paul says in Romans 7, “What a wretched man I am” (7:24). Paul doesn’t say, “I was a wretch.” No, he says, “I am a wretch!” Right now, here today, you and I, as a believer in Christ … we are a rebel and a wretch.

            The LORD says, “I will cut with them a covenant.” A covenant is not a contract. A contract is impersonal. A contract is legally binding. Break a contract and you could get fined. You could go to jail.

            A covenant isn’t a consumer relationship. In a consumer relationship, each side says, “I’m in as long as you’re meeting my needs.” In a consumer relationship, we say, “I will be as I should be as long as, and to the degree, that you are what you should be. And if you’re not, I’m out!”

            God’s covenant isn’t a contract. God’s covenant isn’t a consumer relationship. God’s covenant is a personal relationship that is everlasting. Everlasting, meaning, it can’t be broken. God’s covenant is established through blood. In the blood, God says, “I will be what I should be, even when you’re not what you should be.”

            In Genesis 15:9-21, God cut His covenant with Abram and his descendants. To make a covenant, the participant, Abram in this case, took three animals of God’s choosing, cut them in half, and placed them opposite of each other. Then the person would walk through the middle of these animals. However, in this case, instead of Abram walking through them, God does. By doing so, God makes the covenant with Abram. It’s not Abram making the covenant with God. Later in Genesis 17, God makes sure that Abraham knows that this covenant is an everlasting covenant with him and with Abraham’s descendants.

            Contracts can go south. Consumer relationships can turn sour. God’s covenant though can never, ever be broken. God says, “Even if I must be torn to pieces and my blood splattered everywhere, I will stay in this relationship with you, no matter what!”

            The Lord says, “I will cut with them a covenant of peace.” The common English definition of peace is “the absence of conflict or war.” In Hebrew, peace means so much more. “Shalom” comes from the verb shalam, which means, “to be safe in body and soul.” Safe! Safe and secure from all alarms. God gives to you His covenant-peace.

            It was just after Benjamin Franklin’s kite flying days that some up and coming French scientist wanted to know who fast electricity moved. The Abbot of a large monastery volunteered his monks for the experiment. Being that the monks took a vow of obedience, they had no choice. Leaders lined up 200 monks in a circle with the circumference of a mile. An iron wire was carefully strung from one monk to another. The French scientist then discharged an electrical shock into the first monk in line. Guess what happened? Within about a half a second, every one of those 200 monks jumped in the air.

            We know what it’s like to be jolted and then jump! The electric or gas bill comes in the mail. The doctor diagnosis comes through. The phone rings in the middle of the night.

            Thank God for Ezekiel 34:25 and God’s covenant of peace. Here’s the results of it. “They may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods” (34:25). “They shall be secure in their land” (34:27). “They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid” (34:28). Safe and secure from all alarms. What a promise! God says, “I will cut with them a covenant of peace.”

            And what does this look like? Three times after Easter in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, in John 20:19, 21, 26, Jesus says, “Peace, shalom, be with you!” Think about that moment. Can you imagine what the disciples must have thought when Jesus said this? “Shalom? Really? So here’s the cut covenant? With us? With rebels and wretches? Here’s the one who shed blood to give us shalom, to give us peace?”

            Yes. In the Caravaggio painting depicting Jesus guiding Thomas’ finger into the gaping hole in his side, Thomas is awe struck. The risen Savior has real flesh and blood! He’s alive and standing there, holding Thomas’ hand and showing him the wounds. The risen Savior, our risen Savior, gives to us real peace.

            With this peace, there was blood. In Gethsemane, Jesus sweated dropped of blood. In Gabbatha, at Pilate’s headquarters, Jesus’ flesh was ripped and torn by the whips. At Golgotha, on the cross, Jesus shed the last of His blood. Jesus signs, seals, and delivers the everlasting covenant for you. Signed in Christ’s blood, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and delivered in the means of grace, delivered through God’s Word and His Sacraments.

            Despite the nervousness from my wife, one of my favorite things to do was to throw the kids up in the air and catch them. I also liked to lay on the floor and have them above me on my feet, from which I would drop them and flip them. Never once did my kids question me. Never once did they ask if I thought it through. Never once did they think I wasn’t going to catch them. They trusted. They felt safe and secure.

            How safe and secure do you feel? When life is up in the air, when it feels like we are flopping around and falling, how safe and secure do you feel?

            Listen to these words of Jesus, “No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hands” (John 10:28). St. Paul says in Romans 8, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (8:38-39). God says in Ezekiel this morning, “I will cut with them a covenant of peace” (34:25). We are truly safe and secure from all alarms.

            “Leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Safe and secure from all alarms!” If the Heavenly Father says He can, He can! If the Heavenly Father says He will … He will! Amen.

            The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.