Let us turn again to that portion
of Holy Scripture that we read in the book of the Prophet Zechariah. Our text is found in chapter
13 and the first verse. Zechariah chapter 13 and verse
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. Here then is the text that I
want us to consider with the Lord's help this morning. And
the subject matter is quite plain in the words that we've read.
Here we have the fountain that is opened for sin. 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. And what we have
in the text is yet again one of those great promises of the
words of God. In that day When we find such
a statement in the books of the prophets, that day or the last
day, the reference is clearly to the Gospel day, that great
period that was brought in with the appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ, this Gospel dispensation. However, As I said before, when
we come to consider these prophets and their ministry in the Old
Testament, we must also take account of the historical context
in which this word was first given. If we're going to do justice
to the word of God, we're not to tear it out of its context,
but we do well to consider how it was that the words first came. And the context here in Zachariah
has to do with the return of those who had been in captivity
in Babylon, the return of those exiles and the rebuilding of
the temple of the Lord. It was after the overthrow of
that empire of the Babylonians the Medes and the Persians came
and were victorious and so eventually Cyrus is established as the emperor
and Cyrus issues his decree permitting those who had been taken into
Babylon to return into the land of promise and I'm sure you're
aware, many of you at least, that It's in the historic books
of Ezra and of Nehemiah that we read of the events associated
with that restoration. The opening words of the book
of Ezra, for example, now in the first year of Cyrus, king
of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah
might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus,
king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all
his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith
Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven, hath given me
all the kingdom of the earth, and he hath charged me to build
him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. who is there among
you of all his people. His God be with him and let him
go to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord
God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. So it's in the days of Ezra. Ezra is the man who returns with
that remnant and they commence the rebuilding of the temple
of the Lord. And it was to that remnant that
this man Zechariah the prophet together with Haggai was called
to minister as we see there in chapter 5 of Ezra. We read of
the prophet Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo
prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in
the name of the God of Israel even unto them. Then rose up
Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshu the son of Josedach
and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem
and with them were the prophets of God helping them. Here we
have something then of the historical context in that day. What is
the day? It is a great day of the rebuilding
of the temple of the Lord and previously in chapter 3 We read of these
things, verse 9, Behold, the stone which I have laid before
Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will
engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and
I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that
day, same expression, "...in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the
fig tree." In that day, the day when they are there engaged in
this great work of the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord. And
so it continues in the fourth chapter, verse 9, we read, "...the
hands of the rubber bull have laid the foundation of this house.
His hands also shall finish it and they shall know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you." Zechariah was God's servant.
He is there ministering to this remnant, encouraging them in
all this great work of the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord after
it had lain there in ruins for those 70 years of the exile. Look at the language there in
verse 7 of chapter 41, "...thou, O great mountain, before the
rubble thou shalt become a plain and he shall bring forth a headstone
thereof with shoutings crying grace, grace unto it." The great
headstone in the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord. And what
is the significance of this? Well, remember, previous to the
captivity, the temple was the center of the worship of Jehovah
amongst the children of Israel. When they came out of the land
of Egypt, when they were brought through the wilderness and entered
into the promised land, they set up the tabernacle first at
Shiloh and it was there that God was to be worshipped. And
then in the days of David, the tabernacle was removed to Jerusalem
and set up there upon Mount Zion. And David desired to build a
more permanent structure, a temple, but David was not the man to
do that work. It was to be his son Solomon.
But in Solomon's day there was that building of the Temple of
the Lord. And it was there that God would be worshipped. It was
there that God said He would appear. when God gave all those
instructions in the days of Moses back in the book of Exodus. There
in Exodus chapter 25 instruction is given concerning the furnishings
of the Holy of Holies, the most holy place, the place where they
were to house the Ark of the Covenant. And in Exodus 25, God
tells them concerning the manner in which they had to construct
that ark which would contain the two tables of the Lord of
God, the covenant that God had made with the children of Israel.
And upon the ark was to be the mercy seat, and the cherubims
on each end of the mercy seat. And what did God say? He promised
that there He would meet with them. Or there He would meet
with them and commune with them. from between the cherubims upon
that mercy seat. But all that had been destroyed.
But you see now God is promising that once more He will come and
He will dwell in the midst of His people. Look at the language
of the prophet. Back in the second chapter and
verse 10, he says, Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I
come. I will dwell in the midst of
thee saith the Lord and many nations shall be joined to the
Lord in that day again we have the expression in that day many
nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be
my people and I will dwell in the midst of them and they shall
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto them God is promising
that again He will come and dwell in the midst of his people. There will be a true restoration.
The temple rebuilds and God's again there in the midst of Israel. That is something of the historical
context, the setting, the circumstances in which Zechariah is first ministering
this world. But there is a greater fulfillment
This promise that we have in this text is really a gospel
promise. All of these things are ultimately
to be fulfilled and have been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't the Lord Jesus that temple
made without hands? He is the fulfillment of the
tabernacle. In Hebrews chapter 8 we read
of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man
What is that true tabernacle? It's the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ as he comes into this world. He is that one who is
the tabernacle, he is the temple. Remember how he says as much
to the Jews and they fail to understand the significance of
the words that the Lord is speaking? There in the second chapter of
John's Gospel Jesus answered and said unto
them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple
in building, and they will rear it up in three days. But he spake
of the temple of his body." As in Christ's body we have that
true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, So in Christ's
body we also have the fulfillment of what the temple of the Lord
was. And there's that remarkable little
book by John Bunyan on Solomon's temple spiritualized. And he shows there how that the
temple, the tabernacle, all of this is a wonderful type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All this prophecy of Zechariah
is full of gospel truths. The Lord Jesus is that one, you
see, who is the true tabernacle, the true temple of the Lord. And when the Lord utters those
words that we just made reference to at the end of John chapter
2, destroy this temple and in three days I will build it again. He's clearly speaking of His
death and also of His rising again from the dead. And here
in this chapter we have the death of the Lord Jesus Christ spoken
of quite clearly. Look at the language that we
have at the end in verse 7, "...awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.
Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will
turn mine hand upon the little ones." Oh, the Lord Jesus is that one
who was to be killed, slaughtered, destroyed, so they thought. And it was all to be in that
day that's spoken of here. Time and again, as we read through
the previous chapter so many times, we have the expression,
in that day. Look back into that 12th chapter,
we have it there in verse 3, again in verses 4 and 6 and 8
and 9 and 11, time and again, in that day, in that day. and
the reference I say is to the gospel day. Ultimately, we're
to come out of the historical context and we're to see the
spiritual significance of all the words that are being uttered
in this book and it's a book not easy to understand, it's
a book full of strange visions, difficult parts. but we understand
it ultimately in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel
that day. Oh, the great day of grace, as
we have it in the New Testament there in 2 Corinthians chapter
6, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation
have I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Oh how God is pleased to hear,
hear the cry, the prayer of those who would beseek us after Him.
Now we have here in chapter 12 and verse 10 that promise of
the ministry of the Spirit. God says, I will pour upon the
house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace
and of supplications and they shall look upon me whom they
have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourner for his
only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn. All that spirit of true prayer,
that ministry of the Holy Ghost Himself, inditing prayers, but
not only the spirit of grace and of supplications, but there
surely we also see something of that spirit of true repentance,
that mourning. "'Or they shall look upon me,'
he says, "'whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.'" That godly sorrow that worketh
repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. So different
to the sorrow of the world. And the Lord Jesus Christ, you
see, is the one that we are repeatedly directed to Him. Him hath God
exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to
give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. It is
Christ who bestows that Spirit that's spoken of there in verse
10 of chapter 12. Now we have to look to the Lord
to grant to us that ministry of the Spirit even as we come
under the sound of His Word. Oh, what is it to us? as we come
to consider these things, as we think of the historical setting,
the context, and we take account of those things. What is all
that? It's interesting, yes, but we want more than that. We
want a gracious application to our own souls, and it must be
the Spirit who comes to open our eyes and our hearts to those
great truths of the Gospel that are found even here in the Old
Testament Scriptures. What we have then is promise. In that day it is the promise
of the gospel that we have here in the opening verse of this
13th chapter. In that day there shall be a
fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. Now what is the
subject? The subject of the promise that
we have in the words of our text. The promise centers in that fountain
opened. The promise is the the pardon
of sins, the cleansing of wine, of all iniquity. It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself
who is being spoken of as the The fountain opened for sin and
uncleanness. It is all that fullness of salvation
that is in the Lord Jesus that is set before us. Here we have
a fountain. Think of the language of another
of the prophets. Isaiah says, With joy shall ye draw water
out of the wells of salvation. The fountain opened for sin Why? It's the wells of salvation,
they're one and the same thing. It's the Lord Jesus. It has been
observed that the fountain here is the death of Christ. It's
by that death of the Lord Jesus Christ that the fountain was
opened. When that precious blood was
shed from those gaping wounds upon the cross at Calvary, Oh,
a man there is, a real man with wounds still gaping wide from
which rich streams of blood once ran in hands and feet and side. It's all the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this fountain that he's spoken of is not some hidden
away spring of water. No, the interesting thing is
that the word that we have here for fountain is from the verb
to bore out or to dig out. It's not just a spring of water,
it's more than that, it's a spring that has been dug out. Now, we're not to confuse that
with those cisterns that are spoken of in Jeremiah the prophet. Remember how God speaks of the
children of Israel committing two evils. He says, They have
forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and you and them,
cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water. We're not
to think that because this is a fountain that's been dug out
that it's the work of men. There in Jeremiah chapter 2 the
Lord God is rebuking them because they are forsaking Him. They're
not looking to God himself who is the only fountain of living
waters. They're looking to their own
efforts, their own endeavors. They're preparing cisterns themselves
to catch the rainwater. But these cisterns can hold no
water, they're broken cisterns. But we're not to confuse the
idea, you see, of a fountain being dug out. with the endeavors
of men that the Prophet Jeremiah is there rebuking. This is that
that has been dug out by God Himself. It's a spring, a spring
of water that God has exposed. And this was the great purpose
of God. This is that that God had provided
in His eternal purpose from all time, from the beginning of time. God had ordained these things,
and so it was in the fullness of the time, of course, that
the Lord Jesus Christ appeared, when the fullness of the time
was come. In that time, God sends forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law. Oh, it is God who has ordained
His coming, and the great miracle of the incarnation, how He is
to be born of a virgin conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit
Himself, and that human nature referred to by the angel as that
holy thing, that human nature joined to the eternal, Son of
God, joined to the second person in the Trinity. And so that child
shall be called the Son of God. He is the Son of God. He is God's
manifest in the flesh. And we see God's work in the
way in which the Apostle speaks of these things in Hebrews, in
Hebrews chapter 10. The Apostle is quoting from the
Old Testament, from the Book of Psalms, from Psalm 14, concerning
the coming of the Lord Jesus. He says, Wherefore when he cometh
into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. in burnt offering and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure then said I know I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will O God."
It is written in the volume of the book of God's eternal decree
and here we have the fulfillment of that words that prophetic
word that was spoken in the 40th Psalm when he cometh into the world.
He said sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body
hast thou prepared me. Now it's interesting if you turn
back and compare what it says there in Hebrews chapter 10 with
what is actually written in Psalm 14. There is a slight difference.
Whereas in the epistle to the Hebrews it says a body hast thou
prepared me. the words in the psalm are actually
mine ears hast thou opened mine ears hast thou opened or as the
margin says mine ears hast thou digged now I might mention of that because
as I've said here we have a fountain opened a fountain that has been
digged a bore a borehole and as the psalmist speaking that
prophetic word concerning the Lord Jesus and the preparation
of his body actually has that expression mine ears hast thou
opened or digged or bored it refers us back to the way in
which that person who was a servant who in the year of release instead
of desiring his release, instead wants to become a permanent servant
to his master, his ear was to be bought. You turn back to Exodus
chapter 21 and we're told there quite plainly what the procedure
was to be. Exodus 21 He's dealing with this matter
of the servant, and now the year of release comes. But then, verse
5, it says, If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master,
my wife and my children, I will not go through, then his master
shall bring him unto the judges, He shall also bring him to the
door, or unto the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever. He becomes
a permanent, a perpetual servant. And this is the Lord Jesus Christ,
this is not. In the eternal covenant he becomes God's servant. Behold my servant, Whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. And so when he comes into the
world, though he comes to serve the will of the Father, though
when we think in terms of the Godhead, he is equal to the Father. When we think of God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, there's no servitude between
the persons that are co-equal, that are co-eternal. But in that
eternal covenant, our God, the Son, has willingly become the
servant of the Father, and He comes into this world, and He
says His mate is to do the will of Him who has sent Him, and
to finish His work, He must be about His Father's business.
He has a work to do. When he comes to the end, in
that great prayer of John 17, he can say, I have glorified
thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. Oh, how that fountain has been
opened by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, by his willing
submission to the will of the Father, by his obedience and
obedient not only in His living but also in His dying, obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. All this is that sacred
fountain, you see, that has been opened up by the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. What sacred fountain Yondus brings
up from the throne of God and all new covenant blessing brings
to Jesus. Precious blood. here we have
the promise and the promise is fulfilled in the person and in
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and that great sacrifice that
He makes by His obedience even to death not only pleasing the
Father by the obedience to every one of the commandments of God
not only fulfilling all righteousness by magnifying the the precepts
of the holy law of God a holy life lived but also pleasing
the Father in his dying as he bears in his own person that
penalty that was due to the transgressors he was not the transgressor he
was the fulfiller of the law all but there in dying it's not
for his own sins that he dies or there was no cause of death
in him though he dies to atone for sins not his own this is
that fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness we have then the promise it's
a gospel promise It's a promise for that day, the Gospel day.
And the promise centers in Christ, that here is one of the names
of Christ. He is a fountain opened to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And what of those, what of those
who have an interest in that great work of the Lord Jesus?
They are those who have been brought to feel something of
the pollution of their sins. All the objects of the promise.
Look at how they are described here in the text. They are spoken
of as the house of David and they are spoken of as the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. These are significant names again.
The house of David. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ
himself was born of the house of David. Why, at the end of
Scripture, the very last chapter of Revelation, he is referred
to as the root and offspring of David. He is the root of David. He's David's Lord. As David says
in the psalm, the Lord said unto my Lord, said thou at my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool he is David's Lord
but he is also David's son he's the root of David but he's the offspring of David
with regards to his human nature because his mother Mary comes
of that line of the kingly life, the Davidic life. Christ then is himself of the
house of David. But how significant is this description
of those who have an interest in this fountain? It's open to
the house of David. Now remember what David says
when he comes to the end of his days. There in 2 Samuel 23. the last words of David, or David
the sweet psalmist of Israel, David the dying man, what does
he say? Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, this is all my salvation and all my
desire, though he make it not to grow. David's confession on
his dying bed. All David's trust, all David's
confidence is placed in that covenant. All of that covenant is referred
to by the prophets in Isaiah 55 as the sure mercies of David. The sure mercies of David. he
hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things
and sure says David this is all my salvation and all my desire
but how his confidence there in the covenant is couched in
language concerning his house although my house be not so with
God Although he make it not to grow
when he looks back over his life and thinks of his children. Why the matter of Absalom? How Absalom had rebelled against
his father. Do you remember something of
the history previous to that? How it was Amnon, another of
David's sons, who had looked so wantonly upon his sister Tamar. Tamar was the full sister of
Absalom, half-sister to Amnon. And we have the sad record there
in the book of Samuel concerning how Amnon forces himself upon
Tamar. And when he's satisfied his own
loss, he rejects her. And how Absalom is so incensed
for the honor of his sister and it's Absalom who really arranges
the death of Amnon although my house be not so with God and
then Absalom that beloved son now he rebels against his father
and David has to flee from Jerusalem and then Absalom is eventually
defeated by Joab and his lush hair is caught in the tree and
he is hanging in the tree and Joab smites him to death. And
yet David so loved his son, O my son Absalom, Absalom my son,
would to God I have died for thee. He mourns over his son
Absalom who rebelled against him. And then even at the end
when David dies, we have the rebellion of another of his sons,
Adonijah, seeks to seize the kingdom, but it was Solomon that
was to be king. You see, then, the sort of house
that David had, the confusion, the sin, in the midst there of
the royal family, and yet, here's the wonderful thing, you see,
that the fountain The fountain is open to the house of David.
Why? The fountain is open to the greatest
of sinners. That's the wonder of it. That's
the wonder of it. Even David's house. So much confusion,
so much sin, so much rebellion. And yet, here is the provision,
you see, for the greatest of sinners. But not only the house
of David, it says also here that this fountain is opened to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now, what of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem? Well, think of Jerusalem. This was the very
place where the Lord Jesus Christ would be rejected. He would there
die without the city walls. When Peter makes his great confession
at Caesarea Philippi, that the Christ, the Son of the Living
God, Remember how the Lord from that time begins to speak more
plainly to his disciples concerning the purpose of his coming. We
are told from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his
disciples how he must go unto Jerusalem. He must go unto Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes and be killed. and be raised again the third
day. He must go to Jerusalem. When
the time was come that He should be received up, He set His face,
it says in Luke 9, He set His face to go to Jerusalem. All
Jerusalem was to be the place where they would reject Him.
Away with Him! Away with Him, they cried. Crucify
Him! Crucify Him! And then what else? Why? It gets worse. His blood
be on us and on our children. All the greatest of sinners,
you see. The greatest of sinners. The inhabitants of Jerusalem. And yet it's to these very people
that this Good News of the Gospel is sent. the Lord Jesus Himself at the
end of Luke's Gospel, that repentance and remission of sins be preached
unto all nations beginning at Jerusalem. This is where the
Gospel is first proclaimed, in the very place where they crucified
the Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. Oh, we see then that this Fountain
is for sinners, it's for the worst of sinners, the greatest
of sinners. They that are whole have no need
of a position but they that are sick. The Lord Jesus says He
came not to call the righteous but sinners. There's a blessed
hope for the greatest of sinners. We'll sing just now that lovely
hymn of Cupid's. The dying thief rejoiced to say
that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as her,
wash all my sins away." Oh, friends, are we those who feel that we
are sinners? If we feel that we are sinners, here is the provision
that God has made, the great promise of the Gospel, in that
day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and four, uncleanness,
the provision of salvation. We read of one, her sins, says
the Lord Jesus, which are many, are all forgiven. Oh, what a
wonder it is. The hymn writer says, greatest
sinners, greatest bad, love much and themselves abase. Minds of
paradox, two hearts, rich of mercy, poor of grace, or the
mercy of God, how rich it is, and what poor sinners we are. Here's the provisioning. The
fountain opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and opened to wash away to purge all their sin and
all their uncleanness. But not only salvation, there's
sanctification also in this same precious blood. Look at the previous
chapter. God says there in verse 2, Behold, I will make Jerusalem
a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when thou
shalt be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
Again in verse 9, it shall come to pass in that day that I will
seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
We are to spiritualize these words as well. We are not to
think just in terms of a literal Jerusalem. We are to think in
terms of that spiritual Jerusalem. The spiritual Zion, the people
of God. Thou God's people so often feel
themselves to be under siege. Oh, we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world. Oh, there are those who come
and seek to destroy all of those forces of darkness, all the powers
of Satan. But not only that, there are
also those fears within, there's that old nature. There's that
whole nature, there's a conflict. How is the believer to overcome
himself, to overcome his sins? Well, we sang it, did we not,
in our opening hymn? Plunge me in that crimson ocean,
thy atonement made for sin, freed from trusting empty notion, may
we feel the power. within or how we need to feel
the power of the Holy Spirit that constant ministry of the
Spirit himself applying the work of the Lord Jesus who of God
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
that as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the
Lord or it is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is to have
all the glory he is that one who is set before us Even in
this text, buried away here in the latter part of the Old Testament, the ministry of this man, one
of the minor prophets as we call them, Zachariah, not because
he was any less inspired, as were those greater prophets
whose writings are more extensive, Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel. We speak of the minor prophets
because their writings are not so extensive, not so lengthy.
But here at the end of the Old Testament again we find the Lord
Jesus Christ set before us in that blessed fountain that's been opened and opened
to the house of David, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to
all the worst of sinners And it's all open for sin and for
uncleanness. O God, grant that we might be
those who know what it is then to be plunged in that crimson
fountain, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, cleansing
from every sin. O God, grant that we might have
a true interest in these things by the grace of God. The Lord
then bless this word to us today. Amen.