ZECHARIAH 13: 1-6
THE FATHER’S PROVISION FOR PURIFICATION
Following the great outpouring of the Spirit who brings spiritual illumination, recognition of the Crucified One, and the resulting sorrow of repentance (12:10-14), the Spirit then brings cleansing. Sorrow over sin is not an end in itself. Those who repent and follow God find He ‘revives the heart of the contrite’ (Isa. 57:15) and blots out their sins (Acts 3:19). In response to Israel’s repentance and faith in Jesus, God will wash them clean both inside and out (CIT).
The inseparable connection with the preceding chapter is understood because it is all part of the continuing process of God’s plan of salvation. The Spirit brings realization of the truth concerning Jesus Christ and the conviction of sin, which should result in repentance. Upon acceptance of the Lord Jesus the saved sinner has his heart and conscience cleansed by the shed blood of Christ and begins cleaning up his life and relationships. God then tests the disciple to refine and purify him and conform him into the image of Jesus. This process of sanctification is all part of "The Father’s Provision for Purification."
[The chapters are also united in that the period is designated by the same term "in that day" as well as the same terminology indicating the same people "the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (13:1; 12:9). Thus this section is the continuation of the subject of Judah’s true victory, after her true repentance, that results in her true sanctification.]
I. INNER CLEANSING BY THE BLOOD - 13:1.
II. OUTER CLEANSING FROM SIN & SINNERS - 13:2-6.
The supreme need of the Jew, or any lost person, has been spiritual regeneration and cleansing. Since they rejected and crucified the Savior-Messiah, they have been under a heavy load of guilt and defilement and kept from God’s salvation by hardness of heart and stubborn unbelief (Rom. 10:3). Here the Jewish remnant puts "an end to the law for righteousness" and places faith in the Pierced One for salvation and cleansing.
I. INNER [Spiritual and Moral] CLEANSING BY THE BLOOD, 1.
Zechariah is shown two aspects of the process by which the people are purified from sin. First in verse 1 is the inner spiritual cleansing by which they are freed from the polluting influences of sin within. "In that day a fountain will be opened"
The fountain that would cleanse Israel from her sin began flowing when a soldier thrust a spear into Jesus’ side as He hung on the Cross of Calvary [Jon Courson’s Application Com. OT V. 2, Nelson, p908]. The picture of a cleansing fountain portrays beautifully the cleansing that pours out from the Messiah-Redeemer’s sacrifice for sinners on the Cross. They have received the blessing of God’s Spirit poured on them and come to true repentance. But no amount of weeping will solve the problem of their sin. So this fountain was provided (Joel 3:18).
The word "fountain" ( - magor from gur) etymologically was used of a well that was dug, but came to mean a natural spring or fountain of water (Ps. 36:9, Prov. 10:11, 13:14, 14:27, Jer. 2:13, 17:13). It is an overflowing fountain (unlike the constantly refilled laver of the tabernacle temple). In Hosea 13:15 the word is used figuratively of the source of life and vigor, and in Lev. 20:18 of the source of menstrual blood and in Lev. 12:7 of the flow of blood after child birth. Here the word is fountain or spring used figuratively of the blood’s abundant cleansing from sin. (Ezek. 36:5, 39:29; Rom. 11:26-27; Isa. 33:24, 59:20-21, 65:19).
This fountain of cleansing by the blood of Christ "will be opened," opened by the sorrow of repentance and the turning in faith to the pierced One, Jesus Christ, whom they by their sins put to death. While Israel continued in unbelief and rejection of Christ, the cleansing fountain opened by Christ’s death on Calvary, was closed to them. For the only place that cleansing flows is at the cross of Calvary (Heb. 9:13). At the cross of Christ there is cleansing free and abundant enough to purify the whole world but only effective for those who will come to its single source; faith in Jesus Christ’s substitutionary, sacrificial death for sin, and in confess and repentance of their sin.
William Cowper hymn "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood" is based on this verse. It is the sacrifice of Christ that atones for and cleanses sin.
The fact that this cleansing is for the Jews and Jerusalem is stated in the second half of verse one (1b). "For the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity."
Those for whom the fountain has been opened are the remnant that will follow the Davidic King, Jesus Christ, and live as citizens of His kingdom.
Though the time designated here "in that day" is the tribulation period, it’s applied meaning also can be in that day of faith in Jesus Christ’s atoning death for the individual’s sin that brings repentance which changes the way and walk, or the direction and manner of everyday life.
Notice that the fountain’s cleansing is "for sin and impurity." The word sin (hatta’th from hatamiss) means to go wrong, miss the goal or way, miss the right path or target. Sin is missing the target God set for life or walking down the wrong road of life that leads to the wrong end, the wrong destination. The word impurity (niddah from nadad, "flee, run away") means "that which is to be fled from or shunned," indicating all that renders man defiled in God’s eyes. God cleans us from sin’s penalty and sins power. God’s shed blood cleans the condemnation of sin and provides progressive cleansing from the power of sin in our lives. May He be praised for ever and ever!
II. OUTER CLEANSING FROM SIN AND SINNERS, 13:2-6. [Relationships with Sin and Sinners Severed]
After justification and pardon comes sanctification. Once a person is morally and spiritually cleansed he desires his external life to be cleansed also. So not only will their hearts be purged but the land will be cleansed of all that is deceitful and defiling as is stated in verse 2. "And it will come about in that day, "declares the Lord of Hosts, "that I will cut off the names of idols from the land, and they will not longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land."
When a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ and has his life cleansed, God can clean up through that person the sphere that he has influence in or over. If many people on the same block get saved the whole environment of the block changes. [What took place through pastor E.V. Hill’s church in the Watts district of LA is a great example.] If the majority of people in a city get saved that city changes.
GREAT AWAKENING historian J. Edwin Orr tells of a city in WALES that had such a sweeping revival that the jails and bar rooms were empty. When a reporter asked the police what they did now that there were no more crimes, they said that they formed quartets and the churches would invite them to sing at their meetings. But there was a temporary bad side effect. The work at the mines slowed down, for the donkeys had to learn new words, for the workers were now only using the language of Canaan in the place of their prior vile speech and attitude.
This is what happens here. All the idols are removed. Ezekiel in 14:7 defines an idol as anything that separates one from God. All such idols will be destroyed and all the activities that go along with them will be ended. The prophet’s indication here is for idolatrous seers, the spiritualists, sorcerers, divinationist that talk to the dead, and diviners that predict the future, give a mystical message, or interprets the events of the day.
Since the wicked spirits who energize these false prophets are unclean, they are called "the spirit of uncleanness." Idolatry, false prophets and the spirit of uncleanness always exist together. Idol worship calls for its prophets who teach it’s cults and the spirit of uncleanness gives them their power.
Remember this occurs during the tribulation period which is marked by a prolific demonic activity outburst (Rev. 9:20, 21). Praise God that His disciples can take authority over unclean spirits by submitting to the authority of Christ (Jas 4:7).
False teachers or leaders corrupt the life of any nation, and thus represent all types of ungodly and immoral behaviors. Those renewed by God’s grace will strive to have all that is offensive to God eradicated. The task of removing false worship will not be easy as is seen in verse 3. "And it will come about that if anyone still prophecies then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, "you shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the Lord;" and his father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies."
Judah’s future national conversion will be real and deep. So real and deep that any attempted revival of idolatrous practices will be attended to with the most uncompromising severity. False prophets and prophesying gain such a hold on individuals that it can not be easily stamped out and the threat of falling back into idolatry for the insecure is a grave danger (Mt. 24:24, 2 Thess. 2:7-12).
So as in chapter 12 when Israel was warring against the enemies that were sieging them from without, so they will now purify themselves from their enemies within; those wolves in sheep’s clothing. The love of God and jealousy for His glory will overrule all human ties and loyalties. And as under the old Covenant, diviners will be put to death. See Deut. 13:6-10; 18:20 (2 Sam. 16:11).
Jews still follow this practice of the law today. When a member of an orthodox Jewish family leaves the Jewish religion for the Christian faith the family has a funeral for their son or daughter and treat them as if they are dead.
So total will the revulsion be among God’s people against those who speak falsely in the LORD’s name, that the apostate prophets, who are often motivated solely by the desire to be popular and say what people want to hear (Isa. 30:10-11; Mic. 2:11), will repudiate their former activities and pretend that they never happened at all as we see in verse 4. "Also it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive."
Today brazen false prophets proudly fill the land with deception and people approvingly listen. "In that day" false prophets will not only receive verification from others that what they are involved with is evil and not of God, but their own consciences will tell them. The prophets will be ashamed because of their wicked visions.
The followers of Jesus Christ will make up such a large percentage of the population of Israel that the spiritual illumination and saltiness of the environment will cause the diviners to realize that the visions they are seeing is by demonic inspiration and not by God’s Spirit. And so the false prophet will be deeply convicted of his deceptive prophecies.
A hairy robe was often the garment of a prophet of God (2 Kings 1:8; Mt. 3:4). Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing the prophets would put on the disguise of a genuine prophet "in order to deceive."
Verse 5 indicates that when God’s truth is clearly seen those who once claimed to be authorized spokesmen of God will be acutely embarrassment of the false message they had once proudly taught. "But he will say, "I am not a prophet; I am a tiller of the ground, for a man sold me as a slave in my youth."
The false prophet will not only no longer deceive others, he will even stop deluding himself that he is a prophet or ever had any qualification to be a prophet. He will use any means to free himself from suspicion like, "How could he exercise the prophetic office when he has not been free to do so because he was a slave since his youth."
He will realize that his former life’s occupation had nothing to do with prophesying truth. He thus feels force to make this statement because of general public sentiment against prophets of the unclean spirit who so deceived them. Therefore he will seek by all means to free himself of any suspicion being connection with false teaching.
If suspicions are aroused because of the lacerations that had been made as part of the ecstatic performance, verse 6 relays their answer. "And one will say to him, "what are these wounds between your arms?" Then he will say, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."
Worship of idols often includes self inflicted cutting to draw blood for idolatrous rites or to excite worship frenzy as in 1 Kings 18:28 (Lev. 19:28; 21:5, Deut. 14:1, Jer. 16:6, 41:5, 48:37). Such scars are tell tale evidence of cultic involvement. When confronted with the fact that he has these wounds, he says he received them in the house of friends, or from people whom he loved and trusted. The implication is that the scars came from the hands of friends or relatives who trapped him unsuspectingly, caught him while he was asleep.
[This has also been interpreted of the Messiah who received the nail wounds in His hands in the house of those who claimed to be friends, or lovers of God. Christ’s wounds were given Him by soldiers who never claimed to be friends, while on a cross, not in a house. His wounds were not between His arms.]
CONCLUSION
Thus the story of Judah’s external and internal victory is brought to a close. We too have known the fountain opened at Calvary for our cleansing from sin and it’s defiling power. In our day has our personal environment been affected by God’s cleansing power working in our life as it will be in that day? Do we continue unconcerned with the idols that are taking God’s place in our life and in our land? Do we follow false teachers and teachings? Do we not need the power of the blood applied till everything that robs God’s place and perverts God’s Word is cast down and out?
The growth of the defilement in our land is not because the blood has lost it’s power, but because we do not want to apply it to our life and be cleansed of sin’s defiling power over us and then over our environment.
Will you once again seek the purifying power of the blood’s cleansing? Will you let it’s purifying power your life and change your world?
