Project 119: Zechariah 13
| Project 119 | Amy Hirsch
As I’ve been reading Zechariah 13, I’ve been listening to the hymn “There Is a Fountain.” I must admit that I have a sweet spot for hymns. Styles of music may change over time, but the words of so many hymns are timeless! I found this to be the case with Zechariah 13.
In the first verse, Zechariah looks forward to a day when a fountain will be opened for the children of Israel. Why is there a fountain? Its purpose is made clear at the end of verse 1: it functions as a cleansing agent, to remove their sin and uncleanness. Verses 2-6 elaborate on what kind of sin and uncleanness Zechariah is referencing: the sin of idolatry. But the Lord decrees that a day is coming when all idolatry will be removed from the land! In fact, the removal of sin will be so complete that the people will not even be able to remember the names of the idols they once worshipped. The false prophets who led them astray will be no more. Instead, Zechariah hints at the day Jeremiah prophesied, a day when all people will know God, when His law will be written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33-34).
As Zechariah continues, we begin to understand the source of this fountain is God Himself, and His shepherd. This shepherd seems to be a close ally with the Father, and yet God strikes Him with His own sword. This striking scatters the shepherd’s sheep temporarily, but a remnant is preserved and purified through the cleansing power of fire.
Was the shepherd someone who lived during the time of Zechariah? While scholars aren’t sure of the immediate fulfillment of this prophecy, Jesus attributed Zechariah’s words to Himself on the night He was betrayed, referencing the fact that, in just a few short hours, the disciples who pledged their undying allegiance to Him would scatter and desert Him (Matthew 26:30-35).
Like the Israelites, Zechariah’s immediate audience, we find ourselves in need of cleansing from our sin, a cleansing that only God can provide. We find ourselves guilty of forsaking Jesus. We find ourselves putting our hope and trust in idols, led astray by the voice of false prophets. But the good news is that the shepherd who was struck bled for you and for me, and we are invited to experience the cleansing power of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, to plunge beneath the flood and lose all of our guilty stains!
And there’s hope in the struggle, as we deal with sin’s continual presence in this decaying world, because we trust that sin no longer has power over us, that God surely is refining us by fire, that these trials and temptations perfect the impurities of our hearts, and that a day is coming when we will dwell with Him in perfect unity, when “all the ransomed church of God are safe, to sin no more!” As you close in prayer today, I would encourage you to look up the lyrics to William Cowper’s “There Is A Fountain” and to pray or sing these words of Scriptural truth. May His redeeming love indeed be your theme, now and always.
Zechariah 13 (ESV):
1 “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.’”