“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
Idolatry Cut Off
2 “And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. 3 And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.
4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’ 6 And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’ he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’
The Shepherd Struck
7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land, declares the Lord,
two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
and one third shall be left alive.
9 And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” Zechariah 13 ESV
Zechariah 13
You know, the whole Old Testament talks about God’s forgiveness again and again. The whole sacrificial system is predicated on a forgiving God. In Psalm, I think it’s 103:12, I could be wrong, let me see – yes, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” I love this. “As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust.” And you can’t expect a whole lot out of dust. You’ve got to give a little. So God is a God of forgiveness. In Jeremiah, the wonderful chapter of the new covenant is 31, and in Jeremiah 31:34 it says, “And know the Lord. For they shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity” – then this great statement – “and I will remember their sin no more.” God forgets, He removes it as far as the east is from the west. In Acts chapter 3 verse 19, Peter says, “Repent therefore” – and I love this – “and be converted that your sins may be” – what? – “blotted out.” Blotted out. Totally removed. So God is a God of forgiveness. God forgets. He blots out. He throws in the depth of the sea. He removes as far as the east is from the west.
And it doesn’t really matter what Israel has done in the past. It doesn’t really matter even what they did in the time of Jesus Christ ultimately. I say it doesn’t matter. I don’t mean that in a total sense. I mean it doesn’t affect His nature. It lays nothing to bear on His nature that would change Him. And no matter what they have done, He is still a God of forgiveness and He will come to them in forgiveness. And that is the message of Zechariah chapter 13. God is a God of forgiveness. And that forgiveness is promised in the thirteenth chapter, that cleansing is promised to Israel. - J Mac
On that day - Go back to chapter 12, this is in the last days, during the time of the Great Tribulation, and remember, they will look on Him Whom they pierced and mourn for Him as an only Son. This is the confession of Isaiah 53, this is the remnant that makes it to the end of the time of Jacob's Trouble.
To cleanse them from sin and uncleanness - This is a most blessed thing, one the most difficult things to get people to understand who have grown up in church, the call to repentance, the call to holiness. Most people in church just dismiss it all together, it's a lovely thought but can't be a reality. For those that truly have a change of heart though, there comes this frustration, they desire righteousness and an internal battle ensues. This is sanctification, and it seems slow and tedious at times, embarrassing at others, but they believe that the same God Who said, come to Me, confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and thou shalt be saved, and they believe that. They also see though this call to repentance and for them this becomes the Christian walk, growth towards maturity. That same God also teaches that, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Those that dismiss righteousness, I ask, on what grounds, for this is part of the same miracle, the gospel, He is able to do what He says, to conform you to the image of His Son, so what God did you believe in?
…23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.… Romans 7: 23-25
…5For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. 6We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. 7For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.… Romans 6: 5-7
…8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.… 1 John 1: 8-10
I was talking to the Rams football team the other night and I talked to them about the concept of forgiveness in the Bible. And I said the Christian cannot stack up one sin in a row that is unforgiven because the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us. The fountain was opened at Calvary and the flow is perennial. As long as there is sin, there’s cleansing for the one who believes. And someday that perennial fountain will be opened for Israel, for the house of David, and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And when they come in repentance and that fountain opens on a national basis to them, notice the end of verse 1, it will be for sin and uncleanness. The word sin is significant. It means in the Hebrew to miss the mark, chattath, to miss the mark, to go in the wrong way. It was used in reference to sin against men and sin against God, a very common Old Testament word. But its root idea is you went wrong, you went the wrong way down the wrong path, the path of disobedience, the path of indifference, the path of rebellion. It has to do then with what a person does, going away from God, behaving in a manner inconsistent with God’s pattern. - J Mac
I will cut off the names of the idols from the land - Israel had broken away from the idols carved with hands by the time they returned from the Babylonian captivity, but they still had and have other idols. They switched from those things to materialism, to the god of armies, nationalism, fortresses. When they refused the Son of God as their Messiah, they tapped into other leaders, to prophets and priests, the religious elite, that led them astray. Remember Balaam, he couldn't curse Israel, so he sent the Moabite women to lead Israel into idolatry. There was always someone waiting in the wings to take them back to idolatry, to put their trust in someone else other than the Owner of the vineyard, they killed His messengers (the prophets), and they even killed His Son. When they did this, they refused God, and went all the way back to the darkness of building their own Tower of Babel. When they refused Jesus, it is the same as saying, "I don't need You or want You, I don't need someone to take away my sin, I just need someone to take away my enemies." They had a delusional system of works, much like the Roman Catholic Church and they felt good in themselves, they thought far too highly of themselves, they were self righteous.
…2For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge. 3Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.… Romans 10: 2-4
The prophets and the spirit of uncleanness - Who leads people astray? False prophets, and there are so many of them today that I lose count, and more beyond that, but the spirit that drives them is unclean. They will bring you a system of works, a self help program, anything that detracts from the only Way ordained by God, which is through Christ. They may use His name to sell their wares, like Christian Science, which has nothing to do with Christianity, and they will often quote from the Bible, but without the integrity of conforming to it, and without the reverence that would refuse to spin it, to twist it. They want you to look to them, to offer you another way, another gospel, another Christ, and in the end times, at the closing of the time of the Gentiles, the antichrist will deceive Israel along with most of the rest of the world.
1Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, 2influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. 3They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.… 1 Timothy 4: 1-3
His father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies - They will not tolerate a false teacher, not even one from her own womb. This has always led them to great spiritual poverty and darkness in the past, and they will no longer tolerate it.
…6If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7the gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, whether from one end of the earth or the other), 8you must not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity, and do not spare him or shield him.…
…9Instead, you must surely kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.… Deuteronomy 13: 6-11
He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive - They would try to dress like Elijah or John the Baptist, but were just wolves in sheep's clothing.
…3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’ ” 4 John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region around the Jordan.… Matthew 3: 3-5
What are these wounds on your back - So he pretends at first that he was not that guy who use to go around claiming to be a prophet, fleecing the flock, pointing to himself. I thought you were the "anointed one"? No, not me, I am just a farmer and you have me confused with someone else. It's no longer cool or permissible to lie to people about that, there is no gain anymore, you are not some sage or guru. But what about the wounds? Macarthur gives a good explanation about pagan practices below, and you can see this it different sects of Christianity even today, where ascetics try to reach God, or a god through ritual, fasting, whipping their backs with branches in an act called flagellation. They did this thinking it rid the body of evil spirits and others did it thinking that it would cause God to act, to do what they want. Many of todays false prophets would rather hit you in the pocket book, give them a gift, plant that seed, and then God will act and give you a thousand fold. Run from them. There is one more way to look at it, and that is that the man pretended to be a prophet and was whipped for it, and so he considers them friends for turning him away from this wickedness, yet sparing his life.
I want you to know something about the pagans. God says in Deuteronomy 14:1, “Now you’re the children of the Lord your God, you Israelites, so you shall not cut yourselves.” Huh? You mean it’s a sin to get your paring knife caught on your finger? No, no, no. “You are the children of the Lord your God, you shall not cut yourselves.” Do you know one things the pagans did? Guess. They cut themselves. Remember the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel? What did they do? They cut themselves. This was part of pagan ecstasy – masochism. “Neither make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” They had a ritual where somehow in praying for the dead they shaved themselves bald. Don’t do that. I wanted you to note the cut themselves part. Some of you look like you’ve been praying for the dead for years.
First Kings chapter 18 – we know you haven’t though – 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 28 says – listen, again we’re talking about on Mount Carmel. Here it is, “And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manner with swords and lances till the blood gushed out.” It was their manner to do that because that was a part of pagan worship. Jeremiah chapter 16, you find it again. I think it’s in verse 6. Yes, “Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament them nor cut themselves nor make themselves bald for them.” Again, the custom of the pagans was to cut themselves and then this crazy custom where they made themselves bald over the dead. - J Mac
7-9 Awake, O sword against My Shepherd - God the Father is talking about God the Son, and He is going to kill Him by way of Rome and the religious leaders in Israel. This is the most necessary part, this satisfies justice.
Verse 7, this is amazing text, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd and against the man who is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts,” and then comes this statement, “Smite the Shepherd.” Stop right there. Now from the false shepherds wounded in the idol houses, the Spirit of God turns to the true Shepherd. He’s just as much a part of Israel’s cleansing as anything. He is the sine qua non. He is the absolute necessity. They can’t be cleansed from the defilement of sin, they can’t be cleansed from the deception of sham prophets, unless they are cleansed through the death of the Shepherd. And so God speaks in verse 7. The Lord Jehovah is the speaker and Jesus Christ is the one spoken of. And God says, “Awake, O sword.” God is going to move in judgment. God is unsheathing His sword. And He’s going to smite the Shepherd. - J Mac
9He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. 10Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.… Isaiah 53: 9-11
54On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”… Acts 7: 54-56
And the sheep will be scattered - All over the Roman kingdom, and in seventy A.D. they no longer had a temple. Many fled but so many were killed. They were scattered, but they have been trickling back in the last two centuries.
I will turn My hand against the little ones - Scary, but history shows that they were also persecuted. It was not popular to be a Jew in Nazi Germany, of any age. During the first part of the early church it was not a California "Jesus" type movement, to be a Christian was a death sentence.
You say, what does it mean? Now listen to me. That phrase turn His hand upon is uniformly, without exception, used in the Old Testament to refer to chastening and judgment. Now you tell me. What happened to the early church? What was the first thing that happened to them once they got grounded? Chapter 8 verse 1, “Against the church Paul breathed out threatening and” – what? – “slaughter.” What was characteristic of the early church? Persecution. And God says even the little ones are going to be persecuted. The idea of placing His hand on them, as I said, is uniformly used – check it in Amos 1:8; Psalm 81:15; Isaiah 1:25 and Ezekiel 38:12 – in those places uniformly it’s used to speak of chastening. So God then is going to scatter the whole flock of Israel and even the little ones. Even the poor of the flock, the believing remnant, they’re going to hit the persecution. - J Mac
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “ For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.… Romans 8: 35-37
One third shall be left alive - This is the remnant in the end, the Jews that God has preserved.
And I will put this third into the fire - They are going to be cleansed, purged of impurities. It is the time of Jacob's trouble, a time of great testing, that no one would dare say they brought themselves through, but no, it was the Lord.
27And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. 29For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.… Romans 8: 27-29
They will call upon My name - Like Daniel in the lion's den or his three friends in the fiery furnace, they hope in the Lord. This is a repentant people, given new hearts, with new desires, a love for God's word and so they call to Him and He hears them.
…2“Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it, the LORD is His name: 3Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know. 4For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword:… Jeremiah 33: 2-4
They are My people - He acknowledges them, receives them, forgives them.
25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob. 27And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”… Romans 11: 25-27
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