Zechariah 13

Zechariah 13
“In that day”—the day upon which chapter 12 dwells, when the Lord shall return to this world to establish His kingdom, —there shall be fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. From this passage the Christian poet Cowper wrote the well-known hymn “There is a fountain filled with blood”, but he was mistaken; the fountain is not of blood but of water, Already those who remain of the earthly people of God, converted during the years immediately preceding the Lord’s return to establish His kingdom, will have entered into the value of the precious blood of Christ for their redemption, as verses 10-14 of chapter 12 unmistakably show.
They will have deeply felt the measure of their guilt, individually confessing their sins and seeking forgiveness. The house of David—the royal tribe, which after David’s death plunged into idolatry; the house of Nathan—standing for the line of the prophets (2 Samuel 7, etc.,); the house of Levi—the priestly tribe; and the house of Shimei—standing for the common people;— “all the families that remain”, will know the power of the blood of Christ, shed for even His Jewish murderers (Acts 2-3).
But there is something more, —communion with God, —and this can only be realized by the cleansing power of His Word (See 1 John 1:6-9; 2:3-66If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8If we say that 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. (1 John 1:6‑9)
3And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:3‑6) and Ephesians 5:2020Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Ephesians 5:20)). This is what is signified by the fountain of verse 1. Then idolatry will be completely banished, and with it the false prophets and the unclean spirits which together brought about Israel’s undoing. Verse 3: Should one venture to prophesy, —then there will be such faithfulness as in the days of Phinehas the priest (Numbers 25:7-87And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. (Numbers 25:7‑8)). The day of prophecy will be past.
Verse 5 abruptly introduces the Lord, for Zechariah’s great object is to prepare the Jews to meet Him in the coming day. “But” (or, And) “He shall say, I am no prophet; I am an husbandman” (or tiller of the ground), “for man” (as it should read) “acquired me [as bondman or slave] from my youth”. He came into the world for God, but man refused Him from the beginning, and He became in lowly grace the servant of man (See Phil. 2:6-86Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:6‑8)).
Verse 6: The Jewish conscience must be again probed: How came those wounds in the hands of the Blessed One? They are the ineffaceable marks of the cross (Luke 24:4040And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. (Luke 24:40); John 20;25-27); wounds received in the house of His friends. But His cross was more than the act of Jewish hatred of Him; it was Jehovah’s smiting His fellow, the Shepherd of Israel, without which there is no salvation for any.
Our Lord had verse 7 in His holy mind on the night of His betrayal (Matthew 26:3131Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. (Matthew 26:31)), when by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, as Peter said in Acts 2:23,23Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: (Acts 2:23) He was about to be delivered into the hands of His murderers. The true sheep were scattered, but preserved as “little ones” under God’s protecting hand. Between verses 7-8 occurs the present long period of the day of grace, with Israel nationally set aside, while the heavenly bride of Christ, composed principally of Gentiles, is being called out of the earth.