_The fountain against sin and uncleanness opened--Idols and false
prophets destroyed--The smitten Shepherd and the sheep scattered--The
Remnant saved--Two-thirds cut off and a third part refined by fire._
As mentioned in the closing sentence of the exposition of the last
chapter, the first verse of the 13th chapter belongs to the 12th
chapter. The division of the Bible into chapters is very often at
fault and helps much to obscure the real meaning. "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." That day will
be the day when they have looked upon Him, Jehovah, the pierced One,
and the fountain which is opened is the same blessed fountain of
which the saints now sing:
"There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains."
The fountain was indeed in existence throughout all the long
centuries of Israel's dispersion. But Israel in blindness did not see
it, only the remnant according to the election of grace did realize
the precious blood of the Lamb of God, which has taken away the sins
of the world. Now all is changed. Upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and the house of David the Spirit is poured out. They have seen Him
who is the first-born among many brethren, the second Adam, the One
who is the Head of a new creation, and the blood of Him, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is now cleansing them from all sin and uncleanness.
Their guilt is pardoned and all unrighteousness and impurity is
completely removed. This great event is everywhere spoken of in the
Old Testament. We had it under consideration in the third chapter,
containing the night vision of the cleansing of Joshua, the High
priest. In that vision the blood which cleanses was not mentioned.
Now, however, it is seen, that the cleansing is by the blood of the
Lamb. It is the same precious blood which cleansed and washed the
glorified saints. The great multitude, which no man can number, out
of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues; the saints
arrayed in white robes with palms in their hands, who washed their
robes in the blood of the Lamb, and who appear with Him. And while
they sing their song of praise, Salvation unto our God which sitteth
on the throne and unto the Lamb, Israel will be washed by the same
blood and join into the song of worship heard from the glorified lips
of the saints of God. In the 103d Psalm we have a prophetic
expression of what Israel will rejoice in when that fountain is
opened. The cleansed nation will break forth and sing:
"Bless Jehovah, oh my soul,
And all that is within me bless His holy name;
Bless Jehovah, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
Who healeth all thy diseases,
Who reedeemeth thy life from destruction,
Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies."
The cleansing and healing of Israel in that day will be complete and
final. No more going back to sin and apostasy after that. Now they
are indeed a holy people, a kingdom of priests. Perfect healing is
theirs, not alone in spiritual things, but also healing from their
diseases. Jehovah is their healer the moment He, as the Sun of
Righteousness with healing under His wings, has risen upon them. "And
the inhabitant shall not say I am sick; the people that dwell therein
shall be forgiven their iniquity" (Isa. xxxiii: 34). "Neither will I
hide My face any more from them; for I have poured out My Spirit upon
the house of Israel, saith the Lord God" (Ezekiel xxxix: 29). "And
the Redeemer shall come out of Zion, and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. And as for Me, this is My
covenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and
My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy
mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy
seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever" (Isa. lix:
20, 21). "For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a
joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people, and the
voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of
crying" (Isa. lxv: 19).
The cleansing of His people is followed by the cutting off of the
names of the idols from the land of Israel. The false prophets who
were indwelt by the spirit of uncleanness are destroyed. It is the
consequence of the outpouring of the Spirit upon Israel. The entire
paragraph beginning the 13th chapter speaks of this:
"And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts,
I will cut off the names of the idols from the land,
And they shall no more be remembered;
And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirits
To pass out of the land.
And it shall be if a man still prophesy,
His father and his mother who begat him shall say to him,
Thou shalt not live,
For thou hast spoken a lie in the name of Jehovah;
And his father and his mother who begat him
Shall pierce him through when he prophesieth.
And it shall be in that day the prophets shall be ashamed
Each of his vision when he prophesies;
And shall no more put on a hairy mantle to lie,
And shall say I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground,
For a man has sold me from my youth.
And one shall say to him
What are these wounds between thine hands?
And he shall answer, those with which I was wounded
In the house of my lovers" (verses 2 to 6).
We have seen before in the 10th chapter that Israel will return to
idolatry in the last days. The unclean spirit of idolatry which was
cast out will at last return with seven others and will find the
house empty, swept and garnished. And the evil spirit, with the seven
others more evil than himself; will enter in and dwell there, so that
the last state of Israel becometh worse than the first. This will
happen to this evil generation. This section of the 13th chapter
makes it very clear that when the fountain is opened against sin and
uncleanness, that idols will have been in the land, and false
prophets prophesy there immediately before the manifestation of the
Lord from heaven; for how could the names of the idols be cut off
from the land if there were none there? Palestine may well be put
down now as the great centre of false worship. Greek and Latin
crosses are seen on all sides in Jerusalem and other places, while
saints, holy houses and places are worshipped and adored. On the spot
where the Lord's house stood, there stands to-day the mosque of the
false prophet. All is idolatry. Of course when the Lord returns these
false temples will be destroyed, and the Greek and Latin idolatries,
as well as Islam, will forever pass out of existence. There will be a
purging of the land from these abominations. This may be included in
the prophecy here. Still, it is the people of Israel who are
especially concerned in the prophecy before us. The land has often
been the scene of idol worship, and the people engaged in that which
Jehovah despises. It will be so again, only in a much worse form,
when false prophets who are inspired by the unclean spirit, and
demons themselves will be their guides.
We must look to Revelation for a key. It is well known to all
students of the prophetic word that all which comes after the third
chapter in the last book of the Bible is future still. We are yet in
the things which are present. When the Lord has taken the Church to
Himself then the great visions, tribulations, wrath and judgment will
be fulfilled. Aside from the scenes in heaven we learn from
Revelation the events in the earth during the great tribulation which
ends with the wrath from heaven.
Now in the 9th chapter and the 20th verse of Revelation we read, And
the rest of mankind which were not killed with these plagues repented
not of the works of their hands that they should not worship demons
and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and
of wood; which can neither see nor hear nor walk. Scripture is to be
explained by scripture. The Holy Spirit declares through Paul the
very same when he writes in 1 Timothy iv: 1, "But the Spirit says
expressly that in the latter times some shall fall away from the
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils
through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies branded in their own
conscience as with a hot iron." For this cause God shall send them
strong delusions that they should believe a lie, that they all might
be damned which believed not the truth, but have pleasure in
unrighteousness (2 Thess. ii: 11, 12).
These words have not yet been fulfilled, nor has the time come. Truly
there are many indications around us. Doctrines of demons are seen in
more than one respect. Mysterious influences are felt in the earth.
The hindering power, the Holy Spirit, is still present, and He is
keeping back the full manifestation of evil (2 Thess. ii: 7). But
when at last He has gone, in the removal of the body, then darkness
indeed will cover the earth. The unclean spirits, and who can count
their numbers, will be thrown out of heaven into the earth and take
possession of mankind. The voice from heaven declares, Woe for the
earth and for the sea, because the devil is gone down unto you,
having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time (Rev. xii).
When our Lord was in the earth preaching the kingdom of heaven He
found many persons in the possession of demons, evil spirits, who had
complete control of them, and He cast them out. Some cried out in
terror, demanding to know if He had come to torment them before the
time. They knew Him as the One who would at last send them to their
final doom. But when He comes again in His glory from heaven,
conditions will be a great deal worse. Satan and his hosts will be in
the earth, having deceived the inhabitants of the earth, and seducing
with lying wonders and strong delusions those who would not believe
the truth, and lead them back to idol worship and to the carnal
abominations connected with such a worship. Spiritualism, Christian
Science, Buddhism in the very midst of Christendom, as well as the
sect of devil worshipers in Paris, London, and Berlin, are but faint
samples of the gross darkness which will be when the Church has been
removed. There is no human mind which can imagine the condition of
things during that time of tribulation, nor is there a pen which
could describe the delusions and wickedness which will then flourish
for a short time in this world.
What praises, then, should be in the hearts of the Saints for having
escaped that tribulation and the wrath to come. No, the Lord will
never leave His Church in the earth when Satan and his demons have
control. The presence of the Church in the earth makes it impossible
that these days can come. But while this will be true in the earth
generally, the land of Israel will be the center of that great storm,
and there the false worship, idolatry, will be established. It is to
be remembered that a part of the nation will have been restored to
the land in unbelief, and will rebuild a temple, which is the fourth
temple. Sacrifices are brought again, but they are an abomination,
and the Lord hates them. The 66th chapter of Isaiah in its beginning
speaks of this fact. We have to turn once more to the book of
Revelation to find there a commentary. In the first quotation from
the book we learned of the conditions in the earth in a general
sense, but when we read the 13th chapter we find ourselves on Jewish
ground, in Jerusalem. In that chapter we read of the worship of one
who is termed the dragon, and this dragon gives power to a beast, who
is likewise worshiped. And there was given him a mouth speaking great
things and blasphemies; and there was given him authority to continue
forty and two months (verse 5). . . And all that dwell on the earth
shall worship him, everyone whose name hath not been written in the
book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of
the world . . . (8th verse). After this we read in the 11th verse of
a second beast. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And
he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight, and
he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first
beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great signs, that
he should even make fire come down out of heaven upon the earth in
sight of men. An image of the beast is made. And he deceiveth them
that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him
to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the
earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which hath the
stroke of the _sword_ and lived. And it was given unto him to give
breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the
beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship
the image of the beast should be killed (14th and 15th verses). We
see here a trinity revealed. The first is the dragon, the second the
beast, and after that beast, which is called the first beast, the
other, or the second beast. The dragon is the father of lies, the
devil, the first beast is his son, the Antichrist, and the second
beast is the evil spirit, which causes the dwellers in the earth to
worship the beast. It is the trinity of evil as it is yet to be seen
in the earth, and worshipped by those who rejected the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. This beast is the false Messiah. The one of
whom we read in 2 Thes. ii. The son of perdition, he that upholdeth
and exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself
forth as God. Now this is the great abomination of the great
tribulation. The 13th chapter of Revelation speaks, as we have seen,
of Antichrist having received a deadly wound by a sword, but he
lived. It was a miracle that he lived. The dragon gave him power to
overcome it. But not alone does he raise up the beast again from
death, but he imparts life to the image of Antichrist, which is to be
worshipped, so that it could speak, and all who refuse to worship the
image are to be killed. Antichrist is a perfect counterfeit of the
true Christ. The devil will then place him before the world as a
substitute of Christ. The wound of the beast was made perhaps by
those who pretended to love him. With the light from Rev. xiii, Zech.
xiii becomes very plain, for the false prophets and idols mentioned
in our chapter are connected with the winding up of this
dispensation. The sixth verse does not speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is generally taken to be a Messianic prophecy and often
quoted as such. The context, however, shows beyond a doubt that the
person mentioned is the false prophet. And one shall say to him--the
false prophet--What then are these wounds between thy hands? And he
shall say, Those for which I was wounded in the house of my lovers.
Nowhere is this prophecy quoted in the New Testament as being
Messianic. Surely if it had any reference to the Lord, the Holy
Spirit would have quoted it somewhere in the New Testament. We have
here the description of the false shepherd, the Antichrist, the beast
with the deadly wound. Of course there will be many false Messiahs in
that day when Antichrist reigns. False messengers, lying prophets,
with their delusions will go throughout the land and to the nations
likewise. But when He appears whose right it is, Antichrist, all
false prophets, and all the idols will be forever cut off and the
land will be thoroughly cleansed of all these abominations. If it
were possible that a man after this manifestation should still
prophesy (speaking falsely, a lie in the name of Jehovah), his own
father and mother would slay him for it. The true Shepherd is now
seen once more in the closing of this chapter, and with him mention
is made of the remnant.
"Awake, O sword, against My shepherd,
And against a man, My fellow, saith Jehovah of Hosts;
Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered,
And I will bring back My hand upon the little ones.
And it shall be in all the land, saith Jehovah,
Two parts therein shall be cut off and die,
And the third shall be left therein.
And I will bring the third part through the fire,
And I will refine them as silver is refined,
And will try them as gold is tried;
He shall call upon My name and I will answer;
I will say, It is My people,
And he shall say, Jehovah is my God."
The question comes to every student of the word, why is here an
interruption in the events which we have followed and which are given
chronologically? Why is there no continuation bringing out other
phases of Israel's salvation and the coming of the Lord? The change
is very abrupt, and there is a going back to events which are the
events of His first coming and His rejection. The solution of the
difficulty would be almost impossible if we would interpret the sixth
verse of the wounded one as referring to the Lord, the Messiah. But
the fact that in the sixth verse we have the person of Antichrist
answers the question which we have asked. The change and the
interruption is made to show the contrast between the Good Shepherd
and the false shepherd. The devil's masterpiece had been in the
earth; perhaps he pointed to his wounds in his hands and to the fact
that he was dead and became alive again, and mockingly he spoke of
Jesus of Nazareth and His claim of having been dead and now living.
The true Shepherd has appeared. He too is pierced, but He was pierced
for their sins, and to make the whole complete a new thought is
brought out which has not been seen so far in Zechariah. It is the
same as in Isaiah liii, the suffering One, who is a man, and called
My fellow, the fellow of Jehovah of Hosts, Jehovah Himself; who
speaks here, and what does He speak? The sword is to work against His
Shepherd and against His own Fellow. The blessed mystery of the
atonement is thus brought out. Indeed it is the heart of the Gospel
here. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have life
eternal. The Lord, laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It speaks of
Him, the forsaken One, the Son of God, forsaken in the hour of His
agony, the sword upon Him and against Him. In the New Testament we
find the passage quoted in the Gospel of Matthew, 26th chapter and
13th verse: Then 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. In the
last verses of the 13th chapter we have once more teachings
concerning the remnant. These verses are not alone applicable to the
remnant and the sheep in the time when our Lord was in the earth and
immediately after he had suffered, they are not alone applicable to
the remnant, which was in Jerusalem when the Roman armies came for
destruction, but the application is to be made in connection with the
people living in the land when Antichrist will reign, and the
suffering of the remnant, the one-third, and the glorious privileges
of that remnant are likewise future.