December 8, 2019: Day 85 – Zechariah 13

We are given another image, and that of a fountain.  The purpose of this fountain is for cleansing of sin and impurity.  An image that I have ingrained in my mind is outside the blue mosque in Istanbul there are rows and rows of spigots where men are lined up to wash their feet and their arms before they are allowed to enter the mosque.  In Islam there is a real understanding that if you are going to be before the Lord you are not to come as you are, you are to make sure that you are cleansed from all  sin and impurity, and the ritual to do that is literally water cleansing.  It is a neat ritual which a part of me wishes we had.

The chapter goes on further to describe the one who was pierced for our sake.  Those are my words, or at least Scripture’s words in Isaiah and in the Gospels, but we can almost see them here as well if you look at vs.6.  These wounds depicted are prophetic wound which we see also mentioned in I Kings 18:28 where the prophets cut themselves with swords.

But in this chapter we see that the prophets are no longer, they are no longer speaking the word of the Lord.  They are all put to shame and they all are silenced.  What a sad day that would be.  But I wonder who is speaking out today about certain things that we do understand to not be in the will of God.  Are not the shepherds supporting that which is not of God?  This prophecy is not far from where we are today.