There is a Fountain...

Background:

Background:

The advance party out of Babylon is now settled in to what God has called them to do (albeit 20 some years later), but they are progressing on the work of rebuilding the temple and God has used Haggai and Zechariah to spur Zerubbabel the governor and the people on to finish what God had called them to do.

In the first half of Zechariah (chapters 1-8) God focuses on the present, and in Chapter 9, there begins a change of focus. The last half of Zechariah deals with future events and what awaits God’s chosen people for the future, and is used to give them hope.

The last half of Zechariah can actually be divided into two sections as well. Chapters 9-11 deal more with the first coming of the Messiah and chapters 12-14 seem to deal with the act of salvation through the Messiah and the second coming of God and resettling His eternal kingdom.

Zechariah is second only to Isaiah on amount of prophecies regarding the messiah, and some of the prophecies are blatantly obvious in light of the New Testament.

Zechariah 9:9 ESV

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Sound familiar? This was fulfilled in Matthew chapter 21 where we read the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem just days before His crucifixion.

Zechariah 10:4 ESV

4 From him shall come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler—all of them together.

Jesus is the cornerstone that was referenced in and in Acts chapter 4 when Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin in defence of their faith.

Zechariah 11:12–13 ESV

12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.

This is a direct reference to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas and we see that story in .

Zechariah 12:10 ESV

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

This is quoted during Jesus’ crucifixion after the Roman soldier pierced Him with his spear.

Chapters 13 & 14

The last two chapters deal with some very explicit Messianic issues. Chapter thirteen deals with the first coming of the Messiah and chapter fourteen deal with the return of Jesus.

Chapter 13 open with the promise of salvation. Verse one says:

Zechariah 13:1 ESV

1 “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

Zechariah 13.1

The day spoken of here is in reference to the often spoke of “Day of the Lord.” We must remember that the day of the Lord is not just a day of judgment. It has a twofold purpose (1) salvation and (2) ultimate judgment from God. In this particular reference, it is speaking of salvation, because we see that a fountain is opened. The fountain is a fountain of cleansing. This is a picture of a day of grace. The fountain will cleanse people from their sins and is a picture of :

Jeremiah 2:13 ESV

13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Jere miah 2.13

God refers to Himself as the fountain of living waters here, and this is a fountain that provides salvation for God’s creation. One other thing we must also note here is that the fountain cleanses not only from sin (in the Hebrew, it gives us a picture of missing the mark), but the consequences of that sin.

Verses two through six paint a picture of what is going to happen when God brings salvation to His people: idolatry will be cut off, and all of the false idols will be forgotten, false prophets will be dealt with, and truth will rule the day. God promises here to deal with those that spread false teachings in His time, and they will be dealt with publicly because even their parents will know that they are spreading falsehoods.

Zechariah 13:7 ESV

7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.

Verse seven is another Messainic picture here, and it finds its fulfillment in :

Matthew 26:31 ESV

31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

On the night Jesus was arrested, all of His disciples scattered in fear and Jesus was left to endure His trials on His own.

Verses eight and nine present a picture of what many call the “faithful remnant.” It says that two-third of the people will perish and the remaining one-third will be refined by fire, and as we understand the refining process, a metal is put in the fire, and as the metal melts and changes to its liquid state, all of the impurities are burned off, and when it comes out of the fire, it comes out purer than it was before the fire.

Chapter fourteen then gives us a picture of what is going to happen after the Messiah has come the first time. This is a picture of the second coming of Jesus. The chapter opens very similar to chapter thirteen in that it says, “a day is coming.” This is the second purpose of the day of the Lord. This is the final judgment. In fact, verses three and four paint a very vivid picture of what is going to happen:

Zechariah 14:3–4 ESV

3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.

Zechariah 14.3

I believe this is a direct reference to the final battle at Armageddon when Jesus returns with all of His saints in order to vanquish all those that sit in opposition to Him.

Verse nine becomes the important verse in this chapter and is a direct reference to a return of the King of Kings:

Zechariah 14:9 ESV

9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

God is sovereign of all the universe, and Jesus will return as the King of all Creation in that day of the Lord.

If we read through chapter fourteen, it paints a pretty dark picture of what God’s ultimate judgment over the physical bodies of those that stand opposed to Him will look like. He will cast a plague on them that will cause their flesh to rot where they stand, their eyes will rot in there heads, and their tongues will rot in their mouths (14.12). This is not a pretty sight to even think about, but I think it should create an urgency inside us to share the good news of how people can escape the coming destruction.

What does all this mean?

There is a fountain (13.1)

The opening of chapter thirteen is one of promise. It says there will be a fountain opened. This fountain isn’t just a trickling stream, it is a flowing river.

Zechariah 14:8 ESV

8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

Zechariah 14.8

This is a torrent of living water, and this is the same living water that Jesus often spoke of.

Falsehood is Exposed and Extinguished (13.2-6)

We live in a world of false teachings, and we must use discernment to identify those false teachings. There will come a day when all of that will be exposed. Those that teach the false teachings and those that follow the false teachings will all be dealt with. I have to keep reminding myself of this when I browse Facebook. There is a plethora of false teachings out there, and they will be put on public display in the future for all the world to see, and they will be shamed because of their teachings, and God will eventually wipe them from the face of the earth.

How the Cleansing will happen (13.7-9)

We see in this passage the method of cleansing. The place where this fountain will open up. Look at verse 7 for a moment. God calls the sword to wake up against His shepherd. Who is the shepherd? The answer is found in verse seven again: “the man who stands next to me.” This is none other than Jesus Himself. God called the sword to action against His shepherd, and He was pleased to allow that to happen.

Isaiah 53:10 ESV

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

It is God’s will that Jesus died for us. This is what pleased God that we may be cleansed and held righteous because His Shepherd was struck down.

What’s the point?

All of this boils down to one important point here:

Because of God’s provision for sin, repentant sinners can experience His cleansing and enjoy His fellowship.

Just as the old hymn says: There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stains. This is the cleansing we can experience in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone. God provided the way for us in Jesus, and that pleased Him to do that so that we can rejoice in our salvation, and we can truly know what it is like to experience the life we were meant to experience, and that includes an intimate fellowship with Him.

Application:

Come to the fountain and be cleansed

This is a deeply personal response. Jesus called people to repent. We are all called to repent. This is not a one-time thing, repentance should be a constant thing for each of us. the word repent occurs at least twenty-four times in the New Testament and it always speaks about turning from sin to God. Without repentance, our faith is moot, and this is the sign of a dead faith. When we repent, we turn to God and leave the old ways behind and we can truly learn what it means to be forgiven our sins.

John 7:37–38 ESV

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

John 7.37-

This is our fountain. The fountain of living water. It’s not just a water fountain that we can take a sip from, but a river that we can take gulps from and learn what it means to be truly cleansed from our iniquities.

Stand in awe of God’s commitment

God has commited to see His plan through until the very end. Even in light of certain death, He was commited to see His plan play out on our behalf. Why? Because He loves His creation and desires to have a relationship with His people. Once we realize that God was pleased to allow His Son to be executed for us even though we weren’t worthy of His affection, that changes the scope of our relationship with Him as Lord of all creation, and once we truly grasp the magnitude of the depth of His love, that should bring us to a point of being awestruck, and once we can do that, we can then exalt Christ.

Exalt the Christ who died on your behalf

Philippians 2:9–11 ESV

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

We are going to do it for all eternity, so why not start now? Once we realize who truly holds our future, that should give us cause to raise high the name of Jesus. Jesus is central to our faith, and should be central to our lives. Once we accept the Lordship of Jesus in our lives, that is what changes us. Once we take on the mind of Christ, we can truly learn what it means to exalt Jesus in everything we do, and live for Him and His glory.

Conclusion:

God is good. Life may not be, but God is. He has opened a fountain of living water for each of us, and that fountain is found only in Jesus Christ. When we come to faith in Jesus, that He died for our sins, we can just begin to understand the depth of God’s love and commitment to His people and the lengths that love will go in order for us to have fellowship with Him for all eternity, and when life gets really rough, we have a hope that one day, He will return for His people and settle all debts against Him.

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 220: Fire

On the prairies of the Midwest, a grass fire can be a good thing.

“To ask whether a prairie needs fire is to wonder whether it needs water,” says writer Cindy Schreuder. “Burns stimulate the growth of grasses and forbs, return nutrients to the soil, expose seed beds to the sun and suppress invading trees and shrubs.”

During the 1960s, as people in the prairie restoration movement saw the benefits of a regular prairie fire, the practice of intentionally setting such fires became widespread. Schreuder describes one such fire:

Pushed forward by the wind, the flames raced across the prairie. Thick, dead grass stalks wavered for just a moment before buckling and falling into flames.…

Nineteenth-century settlers spoke of the violence of the burns, their noise, heat, power and attraction. They are reactions modern-day scientists share. “A prairie burning is something like a great thunderstorm—you experience the raw power of nature,” said [Stephen Packard, science director for the Nature Conservancy, Illinois]. “After you’ve burned it off, nothing is left. It’s so pure. Every leaf that emerges is new and shiny and wet. Every flower petal is perfect. It reminds you of being young.”

In the same way, God’s consuming fire brings new life when we willingly let him burn the fields of our hearts.