GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
ZECHARIAH 13:1
13 “On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
To open a fountain in ancient times was not like turning on a faucet for one of our modern pressure-fed poured-concrete marvels of beauty and symmetry. It was a violent act with a pick or shovel, to listen for the gurgling rush of underground water, and to attack the stones or soil above to force an opening so that the water would flow out, gushing forth to irrigate the soil and perhaps fill a pond or pool for the refreshment of people and animals. God opened one such fountain for Samson after he fought fifty score Philistines (Judges 15:19). It began a continuous flow, not a momentary gush, but a permanent source of water, delight, and life.
The ancient Israelites knew that their priests performed ceremonial washings, baptisms of heads, hands, and feet, in the tabernacle. There was a large water tank known as the bronze basin (Exodus 30:18) or the bronze sea (Jeremiah 52:17). From it, the priests would wash and draw water. Now there would be a new water source for a new kind of washing. This was not only for the priests, but for everyone, “for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” This new washing would be “to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.”
Since these chapters of the prophet are all about the New Testament Church, we could take this verse to be about baptism. After all, baptism is not just plain water, but with the Word of God it is “a gracious water of life and a washing of rebirth by the Holy Spirit” (Small Catechism). But the devil has worked hard and laid a minefield around baptism among Christians, so that where a Lutheran or a Catholic would easily see a foreshadowing of baptism in the Old Testament, the Reformed churches do not, and they become enraged that we would dare to speak of baptism as saving souls, or that we look to passages like Acts 22:16 that teaches us that baptism washes sins away, and Acts 2:38 that baptism is for “the forgiveness of your sins.” But the devil sows his weeds everywhere (Matthew 13:25), or as the German proverb goes: “Wherever God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel nearby.” So the Reformed miss out on some of the gospel God gives, like a man whose neighbors all have hot and cold running water, but he only has cold, and grumbles to himself that he can live without hot showers or baths.
But God gives other fountains of water to us. The church adores Christ, calling him “a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down” (Song of Solomon 4:15), and he responds: “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life” (Revelation 21:6). Also, the Holy Spirit is a spring of water welling up in us to eternal life (John 4:14; John 7:38). And the gospel is described as a fountain that brings life and renewal: “A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house and will water the valley” (Joel 3:17).
The gospel of the forgiveness of sins is God’s gracious promise from the very beginning of the Scriptures. It was displayed already in the perfection and sinless state of the world before the fall, when God saw that everything, including the man and woman he had created, were good, even very good, in his eyes (Genesis 1:31), which means according to his perfect judgment. We will have this same perfection in Paradise when he calls us home. After the fall, he promised a Savior from this sin, when the Messiah would trample the devil underfoot and his power would be destroyed by the descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15). This Messiah would be similar to Moses, but also like a star rising from the family of Jacob, the one everyone would need to listen to with faith (Numbers 24:17; Deuteronomy 18:18-19).
This Son of God promised through his prophets would have a true human nature according to his descent from the line of David as well as Eve (2 Samuel 7:1-17; 1 Chronicles 22), and he is depicted by the Holy Spirit throughout the Psalms (Psalm 2, 8, 22, 45, 68, 89, 110). This Messiah would be both human and also God, “Immanuel,” God with us (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). He would be sacrificed for the sins of the world on the cross. He said: “You burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses” (Isaiah 43:24), and the prophet was shown what this meant: “The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). This sacrifice brought about our justification: “After the suffering of his soul… my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11). This is also described by Jeremiah (Jer. 23:5-6) and Daniel (Dan. 9:24). So death and hell are overcome by the death of the Messiah (Hosea 13:14); who would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); and through him “our sins will be thrown into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). The Messiah, the “desire of the nations” (Haggai 2:8), is our righteous Savior (Zechariah 9:9), and the Mediator of the New Testament (Malachi 3:1) who brings healing in his wings (Malachi 4:2).
Zechariah also says that he will cleanse us “from sin and uncleanness.” Here is a reminder that the sins Christ paid for include all of our actual sins, the things we do or fail to do that violate God’s holy law, but also for our uncleanness, the original sin we are born with, inherited from Adam and Eve through our parents and passed down through us to our children. All sin is covered by Jesus’ blood on the cross. All sin is atoned for! This is the summary of the gospel. In Jesus we are forgiven, and in Jesus we have the promise of everlasting life. What sin troubles you most just now? Something in your past? Something from today? Something that gnaws and grinds at your conscience so that you are kept from smiling or daring even to look to God to say you are sorry on account of your embarrassment and shame? It is forgiven by Jesus. Remember the words of the sacrament. The blessing we receive through the eating and drinking is shown us by the words ‘given’ and ‘poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ “Through these words we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation in the sacrament. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation” (Small Catechism). Be at peace. You are a forgiven child of God.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Zechariah 13:1 A fountain will be opened