A FOUNTAIN OPENED
Zechariah 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
The words In that day are listed twelve time in chapters twelve through fourteen of Zechariah. They speak of the time of Messiah’s kingdom, the present age of the church.
In the previous verses the Lord has told his prophet that in the church age he will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication upon his people. And the results would be that they should look upon the Lord Jesus whom their sins had pierced. They would see the glory of the cross! And they shall be granted a true repentance to mourn over him as one mourns over the death of an only son. (12:10).
Their mourning should be as the mourning in the valley of Megiddon. For that was the great mourning over King Josiah, a glorious type of Christ, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 35:24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
Then we read in the following verses (12:12-14) that this blessed mourning (Matt. 5:4) shall extend to all kinds of peoples. But it shall not be on a group, or national basis. For even though it shall be unto every kindred, people, nation, and language, it shall be on an individual basis. For we are continually told that all in these various groups shall mourn apart! So it shall not be all men, without exception, but all kinds of men, without exclusion! But it shall be an individual faith and repentance! Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
It was a day that God’s friend, Abraham saw and rejoiced in! John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. He took his son, Isaac up on the same mountain with the wood on Isaac’s back, and the fire and knife in his own hands, to offer him as a sacrifice in the Old Testament, as the Father would the Lord Jesus Christ in New Testament. And he even saw the resurrection as he told the servants who stayed with the mules, “we will come again to you!” (Gen. 22:5).
The Lord Jesus took the wood of the cross on his back on the same mount, now called “Calvary,” and the Father’s knife of justice, and the fiery judgment of God fell upon him as he was made sin for us! For as Abraham stated by faith to Isaac, “The Lord will provide himself a sacrifice!” And so he did! For the dying Lamb was none other than God, the Son! – Blessed be his name! “It pleased the Lord to bruise him.” (Isaiah 53:10).
Our eyes are most blessed in this day of accomplished redemption! Those of us who have that redemption applied by the Holy Spirit can see the glory of the cross! And that spiritual look continues to sustain us! Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
We should rejoice more than Abraham, as we can see historically, the day has occurred. But we can also see, by the Spirit, the glory of this day, causing us to be changed into the image of the Lord, as we see into the face of our Lord Jesus Christ! Matthew 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
A Fountained Opened
We notice in our verse that it is not a well, but a flowing fountain that is opened. The full effect of this opening is not here seen in the 1611 English. Let’s look at this same Hebrew word as it is translated in Nahum 3:13. There it is given in the English as, shall be set wide open! And it is not just wide open for a short time, but it is “set” wide open! And this is said of the Sovereign One who opens and none can close! Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
You see, dear reader, the Lord Jesus does not just provide the door of entrance to God, he IS the Door! John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
In like manner, the resurrection is not just an event as Martha and most religionists of our day believe! Christ IS the Resurrection! John 11:24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Therefore we are freed from the law of ordinances concerning continual washings! Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; Praise his holy name!
Permit me to list out for you a rather lengthy passage for such a small article. But it is most blessed for your soul. Hebrews 9:8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Christ IS the Fountain!
Not only is Christ our Resurrection into life, (the first resurrection in Rev. 20 is regeneration!), and our Door of entrance to God, but he is also The Fountain! Listen to God, himself instructing us of this! Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. In both these verses the Lord refers to himself as the fountain of living waters!
Would you like to see this in the New Testament? John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) The Holy Ghost is said by our Lord to be the river of living water!
And listen to the Lord revealing himself to the Samaritan woman who had come to draw water from Jacob’s well. John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
The Lord Jesus Christ is presented to us as The Word, who is with God, and who is God! He is said to be the Word become flesh to dwell among us! (John 1:1,2,14). And as the Holy Person of the Word, we have the refreshing waters of this fountain opened to us. Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked. 16:22 Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly. (1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding,). Proverbs 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
For Sin and Uncleanness
We must not forget the reason for this fountain set wide open by God! And we see that those cleansed are said to be a specific people! They are listed as the inhabitants of Jerusalem! The Apostle Paul instructs us that those of the earthly Jerusalem are in bondage. But that Jerusalem which is above is free, and is the mother of us all. (Gal. 4:25, 26). And this is that city, the church, which John saw coming down from above in Revelation 21:2, 9, 10. He gives unto these sheep eternal life and they shall never perish!
In his great High Priestly prayer, recorded in John 17, we have the Son speaking unto the Father concerning the understanding of the GodHead concerning redemption. John 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. It was the understanding of the Trinity that all that were the Son’s to die for where those of the Father’s in eternal election! The Son was not to die for one more, or less than those given him of the Father! And the Father would have every one whom he elected in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), to be atoned for by the blood of the Lamb of God! John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
These waters would wash the Bride of Christ, the church, from sin and uncleanness! And as Christ is the word, we see this set forth in Ephesians 5:25 and 26. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
This effect of the cleansing, spiritual word flowing out from the Person of God, beginning at Pentecost, was shown to the Prophet Ezekiel as well. Consider these verses:
Ezekiel 47:1 Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. 8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. 9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.
The sea is the masses of humanity into which the gospel shall be preached, and from whom a multitude that cannot be numbered shall be spiritually cleansed. Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. The Sovereign Lord shall calm the stormy, sin-agitated waters with his word! Mark 4:39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
And the phrase, a very great multitude of fish, also gives us insight to the Sovereign’s power in the effectual call of the gospel! For he told his disciples to leave their nets and follow him. Mark 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
Let us take care as to how we hear the gospel, so as not to be cast away from it’s inclusive net. Matt. 13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.
Pastor Gene Breed
July 3, 2011
