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.
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
Most people have a special day they look forward to. For some it is their birthday. For others it is their anniversary. Some children look forward to graduation day. Some look forward to that first full time job. A few may even look forward to Sunday (the Lord’s Day). Those few will also remember the day they were saved. Those few will also look forward to the day they will be with the Lord in glory.
God often spoke in prophecy of a particular day. God has great plans for mankind. He created Adam and Eve and placed them in a beautiful Garden. Adam and Eve did not take the time to grasp what they had and they looked outside of God’s place of blessings. Adam chose to believe a lie and he plunged humanity into sin. We cannot point our fingers at Adam and suggest that we would have done a better job. We do know we are born as lost sinners. In fact, we are conceived in sin.
There were people in Bible times who looked forward to the promised day of the coming of the Messiah. We know that Simeon and Anna looked for that day and they lived to see that day.
God also promised a day of peace on earth that surpasses all that man has known in the past. That day has not arrived yet. The day of the LORD is an important day. It can refer to a 24 hour period and it can also refer to a longer period of time. In our text God is referring to that time when Jesus Christ will rule on this earth and the nations will begin to know His blessings in a way never before known. Individual Christians can know the blessings of the LORD from the moment of salvation, but we tend to neglect the promises of God too often. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes and sets up His earthly kingdom, it will be a blessed day!
We read in verse 1 of our text that there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David. A fountain is generally thought of as a place of abundance of water. There are fountains in some cities that seem to always be pumping water. Most of them have a reservoir under them where the water flows into and is pumped back up into the fountain. Every so often the water needs to be cleaned. Most probably have some type of filtration system to help with that. In colder climates like Manitoba, the fountains are shut down in the winter because they would just freeze up otherwise.
God is speaking here of a fountain that will be open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. This fountain will obviously never be shut down. It will never become unusable. It will be there for cleansing. This fountain will flow with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that water cannot wash away sin. Water cannot remove uncleanness from the soul and body of man. Only the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can set us free from sin. That will be such a blessing for those who enter into that time.
This will be of particular blessing to the house of David. Israel has been living under the burden of sin for many centuries. They have chosen to believe a lie and they have been struggling for so long, generation after generation and not finding the hope and help they need. It is not because that hope and help has not been available to them. It is that they have not wanted to humble themselves and accept that hope and help.
In verse 2 we see that idolatry will not be allowed at that time. There are reports that just prior to the October 7 invasion of Israel by Hamas, a large number of Jews were at an outdoor party and at that party they had a large image of Buddha on display. What were those people thinking? Why would they have this large image of Buddha on display? Were they openly taunting the LORD to do something to them? Idolatry has been a problem for Israel for a long time.
God stated that in that day, the LORD of hosts will cut off the names of the idols out of the land. This cutting off means they will no more be remembered. There will be no more going back to those idols. We can look back in the history of the nation of Israel and we can read of how often they complained to Moses that they wanted to go back to Egypt. That generation of people never forgot about Egypt. The problem for many of them was that they saw Egypt in a good light. They did not see the evil that was in that place. They soon forgot the bondage they suffered in Egypt and they chose to remember the leeks and the onions.
God had done so much for them by that time, but they dismissed that and looked back to Egypt. Egypt was a real place, but Egypt is also a symbol of the world. Israel wanted to be in the world.
In the Gentile world today, we see that most religious groups are going back to the world. Many of them never left the world. There are some churches that seem to have had the truth at one time. Some of them suffered persecution because they chose to obey the Lord. Yet over time, they lost sight of the promises of God and chose to draw from the sins of Egypt. They love the secular music and the immodesty and the mythology that comes from the many unsanctioned perversions of the Word of God. They love this stuff. They take offence to anyone who would declare that God has One Bible.
The phrase: “thus saith the Lord” is found 415 times in 413 verses. That is just one phrase that clearly states that the Lord said something. If the Lord said something, it would be sure. It would not be changed over time. There are many other phrases that speak of the inspiration of the Word of God. God not only gave all of the Word of God, but He also preserved It. He has made sure that every generation has had access to all of His Word.
Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Deuteronomy 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Jeremiah 26:2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:
The Hebrew word translated as “diminish” is found 22 times in 21 verses. It means “to scrape off, to shave, to lessen, to withhold.” God’s Word is not to be tampered with. God has made sure that His Word has been available to every generation and He warns us not to tamper with it.
Back in our text, in verse 2 we are told that the LORD will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. God will do His part. He will remove the false teachers. He will remove the unclean spirit. No false prophet will enter the Millennium. No unclean spirit will enter the Millennium. The people alive in the Millennium will have much greater opportunity to follow the LORD than any other generation. Satan will be bound for 1,000 years. Man will still be born with a sin nature, but the Lord Jesus Christ will rule that entire time. He will have saints working under Him. The environment will be different.
Yet we find that at the end of that time, a majority of humanity will follow after the devil when he is released from that bottomless pit.
The sin nature is such a powerful part of man. It takes the divine power of God to break that clutch on man. If a person does not want that power applied to their heart and life, they will follow their sinful lusts at every opportunity they have. We cannot live the Christian life in the flesh.
There are so many people who have demonstrated this fact over and over again. It is impossible to please God in the flesh. People can talk of trusting in Jesus, but then you see them carrying on in their old ways. They cannot trust in God/Jesus in the flesh. They cannot do it. Jesus told Nicodemus: “ye must be born again”. There is no other hope for man.
Many are rejecting God’s Word and God’s way and substituting that for their own distorted way. They insist on having their way and they separate from the truth and yet claim to be living in the truth. Don’t be fooled. Trust in the Lord and know His peace and blessing.
Pastor Bartel
