The Fountain of Grace: Purity through the Blood
Notes
Transcript
Chapter 12 and this chapter is close enough that a chapter division is really not necessary. In both chapters the same people, the same subject, and the same time are in view. Their relationship is not only logical but also chronological. Israel is brought to a condition of repentance, having been brought face to face with Messiah, Now God’s provision for purification/cleansing will be addressed.
Big Idea: True spiritual cleansing and renewal can only be found in Christ, the fountain of grace, who purifies us from all iniquity and restores us to a right relationship with God.
1. Purifying Power of the Fountain, v.1.
1. Purifying Power of the Fountain, v.1.
Zechariah 13:1
"on that day” connects this chapter to chapter 12. It occurs three times in this chapter.
In this future day God will open a fountain for the complete purification of the Israelites, both for their moral sins and for ritual uncleaness.
This is a fountain opened up by God for blessing. The figure points to the abundant cleansing made available by God that would continue indefinitely, Num. 8:7
“Thus you shall do to them, for their cleansing: sprinkle purifying water on them, and let them use a razor over their whole body and wash their clothes, and they will be clean.
This is God’s promise to forgive His people in the New Covenant, Jer 31:34
“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
in the NT, Rom. 11:26-27
and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
“This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
and 1 John 1:7
but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
WE who know Christ have that cleansing available now, but multitudes of Israelites will be cleansed by God after the turn to their Messiah by faith.
2. Purging of Idols and Illusions, vs. 2-3.
2. Purging of Idols and Illusions, vs. 2-3.
Zechariah 13:2-3
The LORD of hosts promises to remove idolatry, false prophets, and unclean spirits from Israel.
The Cutting off the names of the idols is to remove their reputations and the memory of them. When God cleans, He cleanses both the inside and outside.
The people will no longer ascribe to man-made idols the powers that God alone possesses or worship them.
The false prophets will no longer mislead the people, Matt. 24:4-5
And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.
“For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.
also 2 Thess. 2:2-4
that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
The “unclean spirit of false prophets” probably refers to all the diviners, mediums, and demons who had actively confused and afflicted the people in the past.
The radical treatment of those who would try to play the part of a false prophet by their parents illustrates the real commitment of the Jews to follow the LORD “in that day.”
Where they had formerly “pierced” the true Messiah fatally, now their own parents will “pierce” the false prophet in their family fatally.
3. Penitence and Prophetic Truth, vs. 4-6.
3. Penitence and Prophetic Truth, vs. 4-6.
Zechariah 13:4-6
The false prophets would be living in a very different , very dangerous situation. They will try to hide their identity as prophets, seeking to wear clothes that do not identify himself as such and thereby avoid punishment. They will lie, claiming to have been sold into slavery as field hands when they were only boys, so they could not possibly be prophets.
Someone might see the “wounds between your arms” and question how they happened to receive them. This was something that false prophets did at times in attempts to arouse prophetic ecstacy, increase ritual potency, or to identify with one of the false gods. God did not permit this, Lev 19:28
‘You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.
Also Deut. 14:1
“You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead.
The phrase “between your arms” suggests wounds in the chest or back.
Some expositors believed that this verse describes Messiah and His wounds, but the preceeding context and the lack of any NT citation of this verse in relation to Messiah would argue against this view.
It is best to understand this as an evasive reply by a false prophet in the last days.
“As is always the case with genuine conversion, there are both negative and positive aspects. The positive consists of the restoration to fellowship that takes place when sin has been forgiven (v. 1).
The negative involves the removal of those habits and attitudes that occasioned the interruption of fellowship between God and His people in the first place (vv. 2–6).” — Eugene H. Merrill.
4. Purification through Trials, vs. 7-9.
4. Purification through Trials, vs. 7-9.
Zechariah 13:7-9
In these last three verses we have a poem Zechariah wrote with the subject of the Good Shepherd and the time when Israel would once again be scattered amon the nations because of their rejection of this Shepherd.
A sword is a figure of personification, representing violent death. Here we see that the LORD commands the sword to strike His Shepherd, described in Zechariah 11:4-14 as the royal Good Shepherd.
The Shepherd is further described as the Man who was very close to Him: “My Associate.” He is the One who dwells side by side with the LORD Himself.
Dr Charles Feinberg writes:
“ There is no stronger statement in the OT regarding the unimpeachable deity of Israel’s Messiah, the Son of God.”
The One doing the striking is God Himself. Zechariah presents Messiah;s death as God’s activity (He is the ultimate cause), Isa 53:10
But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
… as well as Israel’s (the instrumental cause), Zechariah 12:10-14
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
“In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
“The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves;
the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves;
all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.
When this Shepherd is struck, the sheep will be scattered. The Lord Jesus Himself alluded to this verse as He claimed the role of the shepherd, anticipating the scattering of His disciples following His death, Mark 14:27
And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’
And they all left Him and fled.
So God would both scatter the little sheep and extend mercy to them.
That scattering would result in two-thirds of the flock dying, and one third remaining alive, refined in the fires of affliction. This remnant is probably the same ones who will return to God in repentance.
I believe this will include the 144,000 Israelite witnesses described in Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-5. When this last third calls on the LORD in prayer for forgiveness, He will respond by affirming His New Covenant relationship with them, to which they will respond positively, Ezekiel 20:37
“I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;
God will bring about His purposes and His plans will not be thwarted.
