September 22 (Daily reading: Zechariah 10-14) In the final chapters of Zechariah, God revealed future events. Because Israel was wandering like sheep without a shepherd, He would restore them. “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back, because I have had compassion on them” (10:6). God would defend Judah against those who attacked him. “And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (12:9). “And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one” (14:9). The survivors of this destruction will go to Jerusalem “to worship the King, the LORD Almighty” (14:17).
Water is symbolic for those future events: “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity” (13:1). Through this cleansing, God said, “I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land” (13:2). Zechariah also wrote: “And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem” (14:8). As we saw in Ezekiel 47:1, and abundant supply of water was flowing from the temple to bring life to the land. As John was told by an elder in his vision: “the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of the water of life” (Rev. 7:17). John said that an angel “showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev. 22:1). God was also described by Jeremiah as the source of “the fountain of living waters” (Jer. 2:13). Water is a symbol of the cleansing and purity that comes through relationship with God in Christ.
– Al Gary
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