The Fountain is Open - Zechariah 13

“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.” Zechariah 13:1

Jesus Messiah is the fountain who washes sins away and pours forth His Spirit into the hearts of those who come to Him. Revelation 1:5 says that Jesus loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. 1 John 1:7 says that the blood of Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 5:6 says that Christ came by water and blood. The Spirit bears witness to Him because the Spirit is truth. In John 7:38-39, Jesus said, “He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spoke He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive...”

“It shall be in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the Name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies. And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. They will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive. But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer. For a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’” Zechariah 13:2-6

The Holy Spirit makes a noticeable difference when He is at work in a community. Those who used to pose as prophets will acknowledge that they are not prophets. They will go back to productive work such as tending cattle. They will say to those who see that they have the wounds of a false prophet in their bodies that their friends wounded them. That was grace! For the penalty for prophesying falsely was death.

How are idols and uncleaned spirit dethroned from one’s life? They are dethroned when a greater King comes to reign in one’s life, namely, Jesus Christ. The key to victory over past guilt is to be washed in the blood of Christ. This cleansing happens when one believes in Christ and professes Him as their Lord and Savior. The key to victory over current and future temptations to sin is to be filled with and led by the Holy Spirit. Abide in Christ!

The Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary explains the false prophet’s wounds this way, “If you have never pretended to be a prophet, how did you get those wounds?” The Hebrew is literally, “between your hands.” Hands were held up to protect against punches. Stoning was the usual punishment for false prophets, but “thrusting through” was also a fit retribution on one who tried to “thrust Israel away” from the Lord. Jesus Messiah was condemned as a false prophet and pierced with “wounds between His hands.” Thus, this becomes a prophecy about Him.

His friends, His own people, the Jews, wounded Him for His claims to be Messiah. John 1:11 says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion, says the Lord of hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.” Zechariah 13:7

Jesus quoted the above passage in Matthew 26:31-32 as being fulfilled in His betrayal by the Jews, also in the Jews being subsequently scattered by the Romans afterwards.

God calls the sword of justice to awake and strike His Shepherd, the Man who is His Companion, His Son. God so loved the world that He gave up His perfect Son to be slain as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. This is the wonderful exchange that Martin Luther wrote about. Christ received the worst of humanity’s sin placed on Him. Humanity received the perfect righteousness of Christ placed on us, that is, those of us who receive Him.

The scattering of Christ’s disciples when Jesus was arrested fulfilled the “Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” prophecy.

After the Shepherd is struck, the little ones, His flock, are struck. In Luke 24:14-24, two disciples are walking, and Jesus comes up alongside of them. They did not know it was Him. He asks them why they are sad. They said to Him, “Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him. We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. Beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Certain women of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre, and found that His body was not there.” These ones of little faith were struck with unbelief. Jesus had told them that He would die and resurrect on the third day. Credible witnesses had testified that His body was no longer in the tomb. In Luke 24:25, Jesus said to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” Later, Jesus revealed to them that it was He.

“And it shall come to pass in all the land, says the Lord, that two thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one third shall be left in it. I will bring the third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My Name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people.’ And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” Zechariah 13:8-9

Two-thirds of the Jewish nation perished in the Roman wars, and a third survived. This happened in accordance with the Lord’s Word to Zechariah.

The Lord refined the survivors, the remnant, as a goldsmith refines gold. He removed the dross from within them that made them dull. Amidst the Refiner’s fire, this remnant people developed a prayer language. God gave them a voice with which they could speak to Him.

Pure gold is reflective. The refiner can see His reflection in it. The Lord looked at this remnant and said, “This is My people.” The remnant looked at God and said, “This is my God.” Both God and the people wanted to be with each other. No one had to coerce it. They enjoyed and loved one another.

In John 3:1-16, we learn of a Pharisee named Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night. He listened to Jesus. Jesus told him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Just as a person is born physically from below by a mother, a person must be born from above by God. The conversion must be done by God.

How does conversion happen? It happens when someone hears the Gospel and is convicted by the Holy Spirit that it is true, and they profess faith in Jesus Christ.

The most well-known and beloved passage in all of the Bible is John 3:16. Who was Jesus speaking with when He spoke John 3:16? He was speaking with a man who was steeped in the knowledge of the Scriptures. He was a religious leader in the capital of the Jewish faith... Jerusalem. He had the Word of God, but not the God of the Word, that is, until he met Jesus. Jesus told Nicodemus, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

I believe Nicodemus was converted. In John 7:47-51, when the Pharisees were saying that Jesus was a deceiver, Nicodemus said to them, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” They asked him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” In John 19:39-42, Nicodemus brought 100 pounds of expensive myrrh and aloes and took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with the spices. He placed the body of Jesus in a new tomb that was surrounded by a garden. The word “repent” in Greek means to “change one’s mind.” Nicodemus had a change of mind about Jesus. He was no longer thinking as a Pharisee thinks.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.” Such a one knows and professes that Jesus is Messiah. He or she has received the Holy Spirit. They have been born again. Each conversion is a miracle of God! A demonstration of God’s love! Glory to God!