Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Dec 3 2019 - Zechariah 13 – Cleansing from sin

We are approaching the end of the Book of Zechariah. It has not always proved easy reading, but I hope that you have found it rewarding. Zechariah points us forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest greater than Joshua and the one who is not just the builder of the temple like Zerubbabel but the temple of God himself.

In the last chapter we saw that the captain of his people's salvation was slain in battle even as he gained the victory. Nevertheless, he is the one who will draw people of all nations to come and bow down in worship before him – a prophecy of the death, resurrection and extending reign of the triumphant Lord Jesus.

Today we read of "a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity" (13:1). This comes as an answer to the fountain of tears in the previous chapter; those who have mourned over the piercing of their Saviour now find that his shed blood is the source of cleansing for all their sins.

The picture of a fountain is used in the Old Testament of an "overflowing, never-failing, inexhaustible supply" (Barry Webb). David used it to describe the abundant life he had found in God: "with you [God] is the fountain of life" (Psalm 36:9). Jeremiah spoke of the spring or fountain [same word as the one used here in Zechariah] of living water that his foolish contemporaries had abandoned in favour of their broken cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13). Here in Zechariah, this fountain of cleansing is sufficient to wash away every sin, as expressed in William Cowper's hymn:

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.

That fountain of cleansing will turn people away from the broken cistern of their idols to seek the living water that is to be found in our living and triune God (Zechariah 13:2).

Verses 7-9 look back to the pierced captain of salvation. These verses express the shocking truth that he, the great shepherd of his people, suffered not only at the hands of his enemies but was stricken by God himself (compare Isaiah 53:4-10). The Shepherd was struck down by God and the sheep were scattered (see Jesus' use of this verse from Zechariah in Matthew 26:31), but that was not the end of the story; through the fire of persecution the risen Lord will gather his people from many nations, "They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God'" (v 9). "Through many dangers, toils, and snares we have already come; 'tis grace that brought us safe thus far and grace will lead us home."

Father, we stand amazed that you were willing to strike your Son that we might be redeemed. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the fountain of cleansing and life that flows to us from your sacrificial death in our place. Holy Spirit, we thank you that you have directed that flood into our own hearts and brought us to acknowledge that God is our God and that the Lord Jesus is our Lord and our Saviour.

Dec 3 2020 - 1 John 2:18-3:6 – We shall be like him

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1). We are greatly loved children; loved so much that God gave his Son for us. John wants us to marvel at this lavish love of God.

And not only has he given his Son for us, he has also given his Spirit to us, “you have an anointing from the Holy One” (2:20). The Spirit pours out the love of God into our hearts and assures us that we are children of God. So John encourages those to whom he writes to go on following Christ and not to be led away by any attractive but deadly teaching that would draw them away from him; “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us – eternal life… As his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in him” (2:24-25,27).

The Spirit (this anointing) teaches us more of Christ and helps us to grow in likeness to him. So, says John, by this same Spirit, remain in Christ and go on following him. And do this in the knowledge that the best is yet to come. Already God owns us as his children because of Jesus. But his work of making us like his Son has only just begun: "Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure" (3:2-3).

Some might be tempted to argue that the pursuit of holiness now is just too difficult and demanding. Why bother? We know that God accepts us as we are, and we know that he will make us perfectly like his Son in the day when we stand with Christ in glory. What more is necessary? ("Let us continue in sin that grace may abound"?) But John won't allow such twisted logic for he tells us, "All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure." Our hope is in Christ and we long for that day when we shall be perfectly like him. This hope, this longing, calls us to go on following him; pursuing the hope we have in him. We want now to be more like what we shall be when he appears.

And the same truth applies to our attitude to the world in which we live. We cannot write off this world and simply wait for the new world that Christ will create at his coming. What we hope for in that day will shape our prayers and endeavours day-by-day now:

As we pray and work for Jesus’ world, as we seek to repair the damage we have done and as we preach the gospel to all creation, we may catch glimpses of how things will be one day. What we are part of now can only ever be the palest reflection of that day, but just imagine all the best things of this world, all the most beautiful, most inspiring, truest and loveliest things in all creation, combined with the glorious perfection of God’s presence in heaven. Imagine God once more making his home amongst human beings (Revelation 21:3). Imagine creation set free from its bondage to decay, all things released from death and suffering, and earth and heaven reconciled to God. As followers of Jesus, let this be our vision, and let this be our mission. (Dave Bookless, Planetwise.)

Father God, help us by your Spirit to grow more like Jesus even as we shall be made perfectly like him when he appears. Help us also to bring something of the world to come into this present world that your will may be done on earth even as it is done in heaven.

Peter Misselbrook