Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: And it shall be in that day—what day? The Day of the Lord. That living water shall go out from Jerusalem. Zechariah 13 is speaking of a specific millennial fountain that's literal, but it's going to have a figurative picture that's really important. When Christ returns, He's going to bring new life into the Jews, and the Dead Sea coming back to life is a picture of that. This millennial fountain from Jerusalem is a picture of what God's going to do for the Jews.

Kurt: The Old Testament prophet Zechariah describes an intriguing fountain that will literally spring forth in Jerusalem at a time yet to come. But what this fountain symbolizes and what it means for us today and end times prophecy is what Pastor Brett Meador will be highlighting as he returns to the book of Zechariah, chapter 13, in our continuing study of Today's Word.

Brett Meador: Zechariah chapters 12, 13, and 14 are some of the most complete descriptions in the Bible of the millennial kingdom, the second coming of Christ, and the Lord's plan and future for Israel and Jerusalem. We've been doing a lot of heavy-duty, hard-hitting Bible prophecy, which is the book of Zechariah. But there are also some times where we can step away from the Bible prophecy part of it and just enjoy the Lord Himself.

There's a truth tucked away in Zechariah chapter 13, verse 1: "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." A fountain opened—what a glorious thing. When's this going to happen? Well, this literal fountain that we're going to talk about is going to be opened in that day.

If you're reading the book of Zechariah, it's helpful to know that we're talking about the Day of the Lord. Look at chapter 12, verse 3, verse 4, verse 6, verse 8, verse 9, and verse 11. It's called the Day of the Lord. Behold, the Day of the Lord cometh. The Day of the Lord is when God looks at the earth and says, "Time's up. I'm going to intervene in the world and turn all these wrongs right and fix all the problems."

That's an important thing for you as a Christian to know because the world likes to say, "If God is love, then why does He allow bad things to happen to good people?" There are a bunch of wrongs with that question. First of all, there are no good people. We're all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. Because of the sinfulness of humanity and Satan, who is called the prince of this world, it makes sense why things are going the way they are.

God will intervene. The Bible tells us that's going to happen. Before we get too excited about that, you better make sure you're saved and you're a Christian before that happens. What's going to happen is the rapture of the church, where God takes His church out of this world. Then He's going to pour out His wrath upon a Christ-rejecting, sinful world. That's the beginning of the Day of the Lord.

Then He rules and reigns on this earth for a thousand years. He is seated on the throne in Jerusalem, the city of the Lord. After the millennial kingdom, God creates a new heaven and a new earth, and we all live happily ever after. But basically, something's going to happen—a fountain is going to be opened for refreshment and for cleansing.

It wasn't until the 1860s where doctors realized that washing your hands might be a good idea before surgery. In 1818, Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor, noticed women were dying in droves during childbirth. They gave it a name: childbed fever. Semmelweis started to wonder if there was a problem with their daily routines.

In those days, the doctors would start their day in the morgue doing forensic work on the cadavers. Then they'd go up into the birthing units and help deliver babies without washing their hands between those operations. Semmelweis began washing his hands regularly with a chlorine bleach between things. Suddenly, his pregnant mothers were surviving way more than all the other doctors.

He did this study for 11 years, and his rate was almost perfect. He spent his life debating with his colleagues. He said, "Perpetual fever is caused by decomposed material conveyed to a wound. I have shown how it can be prevented. For God's sake, wash your hands." Virtually no one believed him back in 1818. Sadly, Semmelweis died insane at the age of 47. His washbasins were discarded, and his colleagues laughed while women continued to die.

We live in a death world right now. Sin is the cause of death—eternal death and spiritual death. Death entered the world because of sin. The good news is there's a way to wash your sins away. Remember when Jesus was at the table with the disciples in John chapter 13? He girded Himself with a towel and started washing the disciples' feet. None of them really recognized what was happening here: God was washing their feet.

Peter kind of freaks out and says to Jesus, "Thou shalt never wash my feet." Jesus answered him and said, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head." Jesus said to him, "He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all."

Everything Jesus said was much deeper than what He was just talking about on the surface. When He said, "Unless I wash your feet, you can have no part with me," it had to do with this picture and illustration that you've got to be washed. When you become a believer in Christ, you're washed and you're declared righteous. Positionally in Christ, you are declared pure and clean.

However, when you became a Christian, you didn't live a perfect life from that day forward. You probably sinned ten seconds later. We think sin is murder and adultery, but it's also an evil thought or having a bad attitude. Yes, you sinned after you became a Christian—a lot. So did I. There's good news for you: Jesus died once for all sin—past, present, and future. When you're in Christ, positionally you're declared righteous.

Then what's the deal with confession? 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's like this: before the digital age, we used to have to balance a checkbook. You had the bank account and their amount of money, and then you had your little checkbook. You had to make sure your numbers matched the bank.

In the same way, in the bank of heaven, you've got a record of sin and wrongdoing that is then blotted out and your debt is paid in full. Meanwhile, back on earth, you're here with your little checkbook saying, "Oh, I sinned today." There's a record of wrong that makes you feel guilty and condemned. That's where confession comes in. You need to reconcile your book with the Lord's and say, "Lord, forgive me for that sin."

This is what Jesus was talking about with Peter. "Peter, you're clean, but unless you let me continually clean the part of you that touches the earth—your feet—then I can have no part with you." In the same way, we touch the earth as we live in this life and we're dirtied by sin. That's why we need to confess our sins. This idea of being washed from our sins goes right on through not only when you became a Christian, but also when you got baptized.

When you got baptized as a Christian, what a beautiful picture of washing as you're dunked under the water in the river and you're brought up out. Old things are passed away, all things become new. I love baptism. It's that outward sign of what God is doing inwardly. As Jesus died and was buried and rose from the grave, even as you are buried in your old sin and then you come up a new creature in Christ, baptism's a beautiful picture of what God is doing practically.

If you were baptized as a baby, the problem with infant baptism is it's nowhere in the Bible. What you always see in the Bible is older people getting baptized, and there's a word associated with baptism most of the time: repent and be baptized. When you were three weeks old, could you repent of your sins? You didn't even know what a sinner you were. We were born in sin; it's just part of our sin nature.

When you get to that age where you realize you're a sinner and you repent, baptism is something you choose to do cognitively. It's something that comes from your heart toward the Lord. So, while well-meaning parents are in some ways doing a disservice by baptizing a baby, baptism is you acknowledging what God has done for you. If you were baptized as an infant, get baptized as an adult.

Let's say you were baptized as a 17-year-old kid and you loved Jesus and you were following the Lord. Then you went to college and you partied down. You backslid, but then you came back to church. You might feel like you need to be baptized again. The answer I would say is no, because after everyone was baptized, we all sin after that. We all still make mistakes.

There's something that we get to do that's part of this cleansing and washing like baptism. Baptism is something you only need to do once, but there's what I like to call the mini-baptism: the act of communion. When you go to the table of the Lord, it's just as important and powerful as was your baptism, and maybe even more important that you do it on a regular basis because we all sin and we all fall short of the glory of God.

As we drink of the cup, we know that nothing can wash away our sins but the blood of Jesus Christ, and we're washed again. Paul the Apostle reminded us what Jesus talked about: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup."

Why were women dying in 1818? Because the doctors weren't washing. In the same way, why are people going to hell, and why are people living in their sin with guilt and burden? Why are they depressed and full of anxiety? Because they've never accepted Christ and never gone to the cleansing agent. All you've got to do is wash. Communion is one of those beautiful ways of doing that.

Zechariah is talking about a specific fountain that's literal, and it's going to happen. Zechariah 13 is of a specific millennial fountain that has to do with the second coming of Christ. Where is Jesus when He returns at the second coming? The Mount of Olives. That's where He ascended, and the Mount of Olives is right next to the Temple Mount.

Jesus is going to touch down. What happens when His foot hits the Mount of Olives? It's going to split in two—an earthquake, the Bible says. Then what happens? Water gushes from that Mount of Olives and makes a river. When Jesus returns, we get from Zechariah and some other passages as well that the Mount of Olives will split and the river is going to flow.

Chapter 14, verse 8 says, "And it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter it shall be so." A year-round river is going to flow from Jerusalem and from the Mount of Olives, and it'll flow both to the Dead Sea and to the Mediterranean.

What happens with the water that flows from Jerusalem into the Dead Sea? The Bible tells us prophetically the Dead Sea is going to come to life. The Dead Sea, as it turns out, is an illustration of the Jews and how there's a deadness in the Jews. When Christ comes, He's this fountain that will spring from Jerusalem, flow down the mountain into this Dead Sea, and bring this Dead Sea back to life.

It's the same story that we read about in Ezekiel 37—the valley of dry bones. Remember all the bones coming together, and then the Lord puts skin on the bones? Then He breathes life. He's talking about how the Jews are literally, spiritually dead right now. They missed the Messiah, Jesus. But there's coming a day where all of Israel will be saved. The Jews will have new life breathed in at the end of the tribulation period when Christ returns.

Kurt: Pastor Brett Meador drawing helpful insight for the vivid imagery of end times prophecy concerning Jerusalem from the writings of the prophet Zechariah in chapter 13. There's much more to come as Pastor Brett will join me in just a moment. Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Brett's been the pastor of Athey Creek for 30 years, where he goes verse-by-verse in his study of the Bible.

If you missed any portion of our study today, you can find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. You can also watch full video messages by going to todayswordradio.com. Well, Pastor Brett is with me now. Brett, one of the things that people will notice with your verse-by-verse study in God's word is that you enjoy using the King James Version of the Bible. Why is that?

Brett Meador: Kurt, that's a great question. First off, I always like to say this: if the King James Bible was good enough for Paul the Apostle, it's good enough for me. Now, of course, I'm joking. Actually, I joke about that because there are those who believe the King James is the only inspired English translation, and I'm not on board with that. There are other great translations out there, and they're really great. I love the ESV. The New American Standard is solid.

For me personally, I tend to use the King James Version for a few reasons. One, it is accuracy; it is a very literal word-for-word translation. Two, I grew up with the King James Version and I still love its style and beauty. Number three, for me, it slows me down a bit and gives me a sense of weight. When I read the Bible in King James, I don't just blow through it quickly. I have to slow down and think about it.

I'll often reference other translations in my teaching because sometimes they help bring clarity. It's really not about saying one is the only translation; it's about finding the Bible you'll actually read, understand, and apply to your life. I'd say choose your favorite translation and then, if you're listening to my study in the King James, let it slow you down and give us time to think about what is being said. I think that's what the King James does for us.

Kurt: That's excellent advice. I agree because I also grew up with the King James and New American Standard versions of the Bible. Thank you, Pastor Brett, for that brief explanation. If you'd like more information about Today's Word Radio or Pastor Brett Meador, just visit our website at todayswordradio.com. Next time, Pastor Brett will continue in Zechariah and we'll see the remarkable prophecy concerning the future of Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom, which foretells the fountain of living water, which is Jesus Christ.