After being in Babylon for seventy years, the Jews had returned to rebuild Jerusalem and restore the worship of God in the new temple they had built. Jehovah sent His final three Old Testament prophets to finish delivering that covenant, and then for the next 400+ years He was silent. The last three books of the Old Testament are filled with great truths.
Zechariah, the longest of these books, ends with many references to the coming of Jesus. He speaks of Gethsemane and that night when evil men would strike the Shepherd and the sheep, the apostles, would be scattered. “Awake, O sword against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My companion, says the Lord of hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Zech. 13:7; Mark 14:27).
He speaks of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Spirit. “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced” (Zech. 12:10). They pierced our Savior’s hands, feet and side, but the coming of the Spirit caused their cries of “Crucify Him, crucify Him” to be turned to tears of mourning on Pentecost. Their cries became petitions reflecting their grief at what they had done. They cried out, “Men and brethren what shall we do” (Acts 2:37)?
Some remarkable truths are revealed in chapter thirteen. “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (v. 1). They killed His Son, and His response was to open a fountain of blood to wash their sins away! Our God is One who longs for all men to come to repentance.
Look at the next verse. “It shall be in that day, says the Lord of hosts…that I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.” In one brief sentence God shows that demon possession would come to an end when He opened the fountain for sin. There is no need for exorcists in our day because demon possession came to an end.
God was about to end the Old Testament prophets. When Malachi wrote his book, God would become silent and there would no longer be prophets. When the fountain opened for sin, New Testament prophets would come again, but there would be an end to these prophets. When they had finished their work, God would again become silent. “I will cause the prophets to depart from the land.” The opening of the fountain brought new prophets, but the end of their work was foretold. The faith has now been revealed once and for all (Jude 3). When God had given all that pertains to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3), He stopped sending prophets. We have all the truth in the book they left for us.