"On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity" (Zech. 13:1).

I fondly remember a very pleasant afternoon in Delhi, India, when Francis David and I went visiting. We rode a bus across this huge metropolis and visited a family of Christians. The husband then accompanied us to visit another family a couple of miles away. Then the husband of that family accompanied the three of us to visit yet another family. Eventually there were five of us making the last visit. The last visit was in a huge housing project made up of apartment houses five or six stories high. Many, many people were staring at our group, chiefly at me, since I was the only light skinned person within sight. As we entered this section of buildings where thousands of people lived, a long line of women and children was formed at the water supply in a large open area. They were filling large jars and other containers with drinking water and carrying them home. The fountain was a life line to which throngs of people went every day.

John Robertson tells of living in a northern city during a very cold winter when the pipes for whole streets would sometimes freeze. On his street everyone awoke one morning to find that their pipes had no water flowing from them. Soon the word came that a few streets away, a main pipe was flowing and was opened up for public use. Men, women and children put on warm clothing and carried whatever vessel they could to this street to fill it up with water. They gathered at the fountain.

Just as people gather at a literal fountain to receive water, God's people through all ages have gone to God himself who is the fountain of grace, salvation, forgiveness, and spiritual blessings. God is the rock from which the water of life has always flowed. As Christians we gather at the fountain of Calvary where the blood of Jesus flowed forth in a life giving, sin cleansing flood. Christ is our oasis in a desert of sin.