Welcome back Bible students!  I hope you have followed along with our intermittent study and have the foundation of Zechariah 12 before jumping into today’s next study portion.  If not, check out the Intro, Zechariah 12:1-9 and Zechariah 12:10-14.

The prophet seems to hit the pause button in chapter 13 before moving on to describe the very last feast, the Feast of Tabernacles.  Instead, he provides details of Israel’s purification, lending further understanding to why Yom Kippur is so critical.  So, we’ll join the prophet in pausing before we launch into Zechariah 14 and the Feast of Tabernacles.  Meanwhile, read all 9 verses of Zechariah 13 and let’s dive in.

Verse 1 begins with “In that day…”  What day?  Go back to the end of chapter 12 and we find “that day” being the day of great mourning and repentance, in essence, Israel’s national salvation according to Romans 11:26.  But, like the crashing sound of broken glass bottles on a grocery store floor, there is clean up needed on aisle 6!  After millennia of stubbornness and disobedience, Israel needs to be hosed down, but Zechariah puts it a little more eloquently!  A fountain shall be opened to cleanse the house of David.

Note that the cleansing comes after their mourning. As is true of us when we sin, cleansing comes after repentance, and the fountain is open, never to be closed! I’m reminded of an old hymn sung in our church:

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
~William Cowper

The fountain is inexhaustible and, unlike cisterns in that day, is not a pool of stagnant water. It bubbles up, it flows, it is constantly open to bring cleansing.  God’s fountain is the only thing that erases sin. Our works won’t do it. Our promises to do better won’t do it.  Only the blood of Jesus, flowing like a cleansing fountain is able to cleanse the sin of Israel, as well as that of our own.

What exactly needs to be cleansed in order for Israel to be saved? The same things that plague you and me! Idolatry, pride, and sin of every kind.  Verses 2-6 make special mention of the Lord’s saving work of Israel.

First, remember this is prophetic.  The Lord hasn’t saved Israel yet.  But when He does, He will cut off the names of idols, false prophets, and unclean spirits from the land. What does that mean? Israel is filled with those things until the fountain of God is poured out upon them!

Throughout history, idolatry and false prophets have led Israel astray and Zechariah addresses that in verse 2. The effects of idolatry and false prophets are evident in Israel, even today. Ancient altars of idolatrous sacrifice have been unearthed, revealing the dark history of Israel. On Mt Carmel it is easy to visualize Elijah’s confrontation with the false prophets of Baal. Walk the streets of Tel Aviv today and you see a people group that has strayed far from the Lord. Even the supposedly sacred Church of the Holy Sepulcher is filled with trinkets and aromas meant to somehow get the attention of or appease God.  Yet, when the Lord cleans house, the former things are no longer remembered.

Verse 3 is rather grim as the Lord makes the point that false prophets will not be tolerated, at risk of being “thrust through.” Verses 4-6 go on to say that false prophets will be ashamed of their visions and prophesies and renounce them.  In the days of prophets and kings, it was not unusual for false prophets to wound themselves (1 Kings 18:28, Jeremiah 48:35, 37), but once washed in the fountain, the accused false prophet will no longer be identified as a prophet.

When Jesus cleans house, He cleans house!  That flowing fountain is capable of cleansing every sin.  On the glorious Day of Atonement when Jesus opens the fountain to cleanse all of Israel, it will be a holy house cleaning!  That is national salvation, but what about individuals?

Jewish people receive salvation the same way Gentiles do.  Remember, it was a Pharisee named Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the cover of darkness to ask what he must do to be saved, and Jesus told him he must be born again.  Nicodemus did not understand, so Jesus fully explained (John 3:1-21).  Jesus’ conversation was with a Jewish man.  If Jews were to come to Jesus by a different means, Jesus would have told him. 

Everyone comes to Jesus the exact same way: by putting their faith in the Passover Lamb (Jesus) who was pierced, bruised and beaten for our transgressions, and who was raised to life after three days in the grave.  That is the fulfillment of the first 3 feasts!  Is there any doubt Jesus will fulfill the final 3 feasts?  The one we’re talking about here is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement…the day of salvation!

Friend, whether Jew or Gentile, you don’t have to wait for Jesus to fulfill that feast following the tribulation.  You can come to Jesus right now.  It is simple: you must be born again…you must know Jesus who fulfills every feast!  Here’s how:

If you received Jesus Christ into your life, your Yom Kippur has been fulfilled!  Welcome to the family!