Prophecies of Zachariah, chapter 13, stand if you would for the reading of the Word of the Lord. 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. And on that day, declares the Lord of Host, 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. And if anyone again prophesies his father and his 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 the mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. 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, but he will say, I am no prophet. I am a worker of the soil for a man sold me in my youth. If anyone asks him, what are these wounds on your back? He will say, the wounds I received in the house of my friends. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me, declares the Lord of Host, strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land declares the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off in perish, and one-third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire and refine, refine them as one refined silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name and I will answer them. They will say, they are my people, and they will say, they are my people, and they will say, the Lord is my God, the Word of the Lord. You may be seated. The prophet Zachariah is one of those post-exilic prophets that is he prophesied after the exile of God's people in Babylon. He came back along with several other men you're quite familiar with, Ezra, Nia Maya, Zerubbable, Joshua, Haggai. These were men who prophesied and ruled and governed and reestablished in Jerusalem that which had been destroyed two generations earlier in the Babylonian captivity. It's interesting now that we see that Zachariah is a prophet that is prophesying to God's people at the very end of the Old Testament. There will be a period of about 400 years before there will be prophecy revived in Israel. In fact, Zachariah and Malachi are the last prophets to prophesy in Israel. And it's interesting that they have that particular historical perspective in mind in their prophecies for they look toward a day that's kind of out in the future. There's a gap they see, but there's a day in the future, a final day, a day of the Lord, a day when a lot of things will happen, and over 15 times here in the latter chapters of the book of Zachariah, you have this phrase, on that day, on that day, or the day is coming, or on that day over and over and over. And Zachariah's appointing us and giving us a perspective that there is a period of time that will lapse, but then there'll be a great eschatological end time fulfillment with the coming of Christ. And this is precisely what you see in this passage. Do you see the little hints in there talking about the prophets and then talking about Christ? In fact, this particular chapter falls nicely into two parts, into prose and into poetry, into a portion that is speaking about the prophets, albeit men that potentially are false prophets, and then the coming of the true prophet. And then it speaks of Christ. I want us to take the moments we have together today and just sort of look through this passage and see what might be there. This is one of the most profound crystallological passages anywhere in the prophecies of the Old Testament. I had an interesting experience. I've been kind of down a little bit with my voice, and we had a couple of snow days, and so I've had a little more time to kind of browse through Scripture than I generally have. And I knew this morning I had free rain to preach on any subject. I decided not to preach on money. That was easy. Any subject, any passage, any top. That's just too much freedom. And so I've just literally thumbed the Bible from cover to cover, looking for something, and for the Lord to speak to me to find some. And I was stunned and amazed yet again how that every turn of the page in the Old Testament is Christ. There are crystallological passages on Deuteronomy in second kings wherever you go. Proverbs. It is so much about Christ. And this passage here is filled. You see how far along I got. I got almost to the end of the Old Testament before I found the passage that I just felt like we just had to see this morning. First of all, the Lord condemns the false prophets. The false prophets are those who were in the majority in Israel. They were the prophets. The Jeremiah complained about that said peace, peace when there was no peace. And over and over and over the prophets of Israel would shape and conform their message to tickle the itching ears of the Israelites. They would preach prosperity. They would go real light on judgment. They would preach covenant blessing and go very light on covenant curses. In fact, they would heal the hurt of my daughter slightly. Oh, there's always a certain amount of comfort in almost any message from any prophet, but it's slight compared to that which God wants to do. The surgical procedures that God wants to perform upon our souls are not done with the dull instruments of false prophecy. And so the condemnation God says, I will take care of the false prophets. I will simply eliminate them from the land. And the language here is quite graphic. He talks about removal of the idols and he talks about piercing through with the false prophets so much so that after a while a man will not even claim to be a prophet. In fact, the illusion here is to Elijah. Elijah wore a very rough garment. It says here that he'll be ashamed of his vision. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to receive, to deceive. You see the way the prophets in the Old Testament sometime would sort of beef up their credibility as they'd put on investments. They'd put on a road. They'd put on something that would give them some credibility. And what they would wear would be the camel hair, rough hairy cloak of Elijah the prophet, the great ecstatic prophet that prophesied and performed miracles in Israel that spoke to kings and that stood up to foreign powers. And the Lord said, these men that are donning these investments are false prophets. And even their mother and their father should recognize it and should give it up. And the Lord says, I'm going to eliminate prophecy in Israel. I'm going to do away with prophecy in Israel. I'm going to silence the voice of the prophet. They'd been one prophet after another since the days of Moses. One prophet, many of them overlapping serving at the same time. Several prophets in the Old Testament were prophesying and preaching at the same time. Elijah had succeeded in Elijah and old and old and old. But God said, I'm bringing a silence in the land. He had promised that there would be one day a famine in the land, a famine of hearing the word of God. And believe it or not, for 400 years there was a famine in the land, a famine of the word of God. Can you imagine that? Now the priest continued their administrations. There continued to be some kind of governor or king or some kind of political and social leadership in Israel. But there was no prophetic voice until one day there came a man wearing a hairy coat and prophesying in the wilderness of Judea and baptizing in the Jordan. And there was a revival of prophecy in the land. Now with the Lord had done, the Lord God had said, I'm going to eliminate the prophets by basically putting a death penalty upon them. That's what the language here is piercing through. Every prophet will be ashamed of his vision and say, I'm not a prophet, I'm just a farmer, but there would come a prophet one day. There would come a prophet one day who would be speaking the word of the Lord in a fresh way. A prophet who would revive the words of Moses who would revive the words of Joshua, who would revive the preaching of Noah, who would revive the preaching of Elijah so much so that they wouldn't even be able to figure out who he was. Some would say he's Elijah. Some would say he's one of the prophets, but they couldn't really tell who because he was the embodiment of true prophetic preaching. But an interesting thing would happen to this prophet. He would suffer the same sentence as a false prophet. The question would be ask of him, what are these wounds on your back? And he would say, I got these stripes, I got these wounds in the house of my friends. He would come into his own, but his own would receive him not. He would stand before the very heirs of the priesthood, the high priest, Caiaphas himself, a descendant of Aaron and would be condemned and would be delivered up for execution. To be pierced through with the sword as he hung upon a cross, it's interesting that the human hand that was involved in the execution of Christ is here prophesied. I receive these wounds in the house of my friends, but never, never forget that it pleased the Lord to bruise him. The one who struck the fatal blow upon the life of Christ was his very own father, inflicting in him in Christ the wound, the punishment, the payment, the penalty that was due to others. That's exactly what it says as he launches here, he says, this is the Lord speaking, awake my sword. Wake up sword, it's time to do your work, it's time to do some piercing, wake up my sword against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me. This is the father like Abraham of old, taking the implement of execution, the sword, the knife, the spear, the lance, and executing the one who stands next to him, his only begotten Son. God never required Abraham to do it. That's because the blood of Isaac would never tone for anyone's sins. But now the Father, because of His great love for you and for me, and knowing that the soul that sin shall die, and knowing that the life of the flesh is in the blood, and the Father knowing that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, and without the death of Christ there is no salvation for you and for me. And the Father with a love beyond description was willing with the consent and the obedience and the subservience of the man at his side, his only begotten Son was willing to lay down his life as he faced that awful morning at the foot of the mount in the garden under the olive trees. He said, not my will, but thine be done. And the will of God was to save, to save by the death of Christ. And that's exactly what happened. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. I will turn my hands against the little one. This is the picture of exactly what happened when Christ was crucified. In fact, the gospel writer quotes this very passage because when Christ was crucified, all of his followers and all of those that had been gathered to him fled and scattered and were in fear and dismay and confusion. In the whole land declares the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish and one-third shall be left alive. Do you recognize this imagery? This is used in the scripture, and especially in the book of Revelation, there's kind of a fraction given. Two-thirds of the people of the population fall under judgment, perish, but there is always this third, this one-third that is seen as the remnant, those who escape, those who survive. This is God executing his judgment. How many are sinners? Three-thirds are sinners all have sinned and come short of the glory. How many deserve the wrath of God? Three-thirds, every one of them, every one of us deserves the wrath of God, but God is gracious. And he spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all in order that he might bring salvation to his, to the one-third, the remnant, the rescued, the saved. Notice what he says, he does to that third, he doesn't say, well, I take him on to heaven and they just live in bliss for the rest of their existence. Now notice verse nine, I will put this third into the fire, you may be one of the remnant, you may be one of the rescue, you may be one of the delivered, you may be one of the third. I hope everybody in this room this morning is numbered with that group upon whom God has had mercy, but that doesn't mean your life is going to be perfect and easy and painless and nothing but bliss. God takes that third, the third that he saves from eternal destruction, eternal damnation, eternal punishment and puts them into the fire, as God put you in the fire, is the story of your life being synched a little bit around the edges or perhaps just melted all the way down if you're a believer, if you're one of the rescued, if you're one of the remnant, if you're one of the third it says that had been saved, you're in the fire.
Think it not a strange thing Peter said when the fiery trial comes upon you because this is what the Lord is doing with that third, I will refine them as one refined silver and will test them as gold is tested. That's what the Lord is doing with you in your life. Is it a disease? Is it a relationship? What is the issue? What is the problem? What's the thorn? What's the vexation? What is the burden that you bear? What's that thing that keeps you from just really having the comfort that you need, the thing that seems to always be pressing in upon your soul physically, perhaps emotionally, spiritually, it's the hand of the Lord upon you, turning you into fine silver and pure gold. He's burning out the drawers, burning out the impurities and delivering you. Why do we fight and resist and curse God when the very thing that he's doing is for our good? When no matter what happens, no matter what occurs to us in our life is from the hand of a sovereign loving God.
If you're part of the rescued, you're one of those people that's in the fire. Now listen to this last passage and tell me if this is not New Testament gospel truth. They will call upon my name, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. They will call upon my name and I will answer him. The promise of God of answered prayer. I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord is my God. I will say the Lord says, I will say they are my people. This is the electing, drawing, preserving, keeping, redeeming, saving grace of God upon your life. They are my people. I love them. I've called them. I've drawn them. I know everything about them. I'm going to keep them to the end. No man shall pluck them out of my hand. I will deliver them on the last day. I will bring them home to heaven with with me when life is or they will sit with me and rule and reign in my kingdom in the new heaven, in the new earth, forever and ever. These are my people. That's what the Lord says. I love the doctrine of election. I don't know why it's a problem to some people but all the world of the doctrine of election is says God guarantees he's going to save somebody. God is not, if there's left up to us, nobody would ever be saved. There's none that seeks after God. There is none willing to come. Jesus said you will not come to me that you might have eternal life. If it's left up to you and you're will and your decision and it's all up to you, you will never come to the Lord. But the Lord's not going to leave it at that. He's going to go after you. With cords of love, I have drawn them. He goes after you. He sets his affection upon you and neither Satan in the pit of hell, nor darkness. Nothing can separate you from that love. He will rescue you and deliver you and keep you and preserve you in all of your life. These are my people and they will say the Lord is my God. When God gets, when God gets through saying to you you're my people, when he's placed his affection upon you. He's quick and jewell and brought you from death to life. He's opened your blinded eyes that you can see, your deaf ears that you can hear.
He has put his spirit within you by regeneration and you are now born again, a child of God, a new creature. You can't help but testify. The Lord is my God. That's the profession of faith. How does this all happen? Verse 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. When the early afternoon on a dark and earthquakey day on a mountain just outside Jerusalem, an old Roman soldier doing his job, took a lance and pierced it through the one true prophet who himself was the very word of God and outflowed blood and water. A fountain opened in Jerusalem for the cleansing of sin. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood.