The Fountain

Daily Reading: Zechariah 12-13

Scripture Focus: 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. (Zechariah 13.1)

Devotional Thought: "I will pour out on the ... inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him" (Zechariah 12.10). Jesus, the One who was "pierced for our transgressions," has become for us a fountain of hope! Let's look closer at Zechariah 13.1:

• On that day. Though Zechariah's day was marked by sin, there was a day to come when God would reverse the devastation of sin. That day has come and gone! "It is finished!"

• There shall be. Not might be, but shall be. God had ordained from the foundation of the world, that the Lamb would be slain. Jesus' death on the cross was not a historical accident, but the grand conclusion of God's glorious plan!

• A fountain. "Not a cistern nor a reservoir, but a fountain. A fountain continues still to bubble up, and is as full after fifty years as at the first” (Spurgeon).

• Opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Neither David nor anybody else could open this spring of life. It was opened by the hand of God when Jesus died on the cross, when the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom.

• To cleanse them. The blood of Jesus does not cover the eyes of God so that he cannot see our sin. It cleanses us! We don't live in that filthy condition any longer.

• From sin and uncleanness. Both the sinful acts that we have done and the uncleanness of our hearts that caused us to do them are cleansed by the blood of Jesus!

Prayer: “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.” I praise you, O Lord, for that fountain. Amen. (William Cowper)

Psalm of the Day: 1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!" 2 Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! 3 Jerusalem--built as a city that is bound firmly together, 4 to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. 5 There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. (Psalms 122:1-5)