©Clay Eldridge
Chapter 3:17-21 (ESV) - “So you shall know that I am the LORD your God,
who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall never again pass through it.
“And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD
and water the Valley of Shittim.
“Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
But Judah shall be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem to all generations.
I will avenge their blood,
blood I have not avenged,
for the LORD dwells in Zion.”
Question to consider: Where else in scripture is there a fountain that comes forth from the house of the LORD?
The writer of Hebrews considered the holy mountain in which YHWH dwells to be a heavenly one. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:22-24)
When Christ’s side was pierced by the sword, and blood and water poured out, John pointed us to an oracle given to Zechariah in chapter 12, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”(verse 10) That oracle ended with the following statement, “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.” If the apostle John believed that this fountain opened upon the death of Jesus on the cross, so do I.
This same fountain is also described by Ezekiel in the first half of chapter 47. The water trickles from the altar, out the temple and into the world where it steadily gets deeper and wider until it becomes a mighty fresh water river that gives life to all creation.
At the end of Revelation, John described this heavenly Zion coming down from heaven. "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'” (Revelation 21:2-4) I believe the end of this oracle given to Joel (and the end of scripture) is affirmed in the creeds: Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
Dear heavenly Father, help us to view the oracles given to the prophets in the same manner as the apostles. Christ is the name above every name and deserves all of our praise and glory. It is in His name that we pray. Amen and Amen.