“And I will bring the third part through the fire”
The Prophet Zechariah saw a time in the future when Israel as a nation would pass through a time of great trouble at the very end of this age unlike anything that has happened in the past or will happen again in the future. The prophets Jeremiah and Daniel and the Lord Jesus Himself all spoke about this time of the Great Trouble for Israel but that Israel will be saved out of it but not from it. For the sake of His elect saints, being Messianic believers both Jew and Gentile, being one new man in Him, will be rescued out of it (Jeremiah 30:1-10) (Daniel 12:1) (Matthew 24:21-22). After this the Messianic Kingdom will be established on earth.
When you read through the Bible concerning Israel you will always find there is always a faithful remnant. Both Isaiah the prophet and the Apostle Paul wrote about this remnant (Isaiah 10: 21-23) (Romans 9:27). When you look at the long and troubled history of Israel God primarily used foreign armies or Israel’s imediate neighbours to bring about a return of His spiritually backslidden people to Himself. When Israel trusted in the Lord He blessed them and protected them from their enemies even when they were outnumbered. However, when God’s people turned away from Him to follow the ways of the pagan nations He allowed their enemies to defeat them. The Book of Judges brings this out clearly.
Of course we know in the Torah that the Lord set out blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28). The prophecy we are to look at in Zechariah concerning Israel was fulfilled in the first century historically but prophetically it also applies to Israel at the end of this present age. We need to keep in mind that Israel as a nation is God’s prophetic time-clock for the nations, not the Church. Having said this we cannot discount the faithful Church or the Body of the Messiah because by extension and inclusion it is part of the Commonwealth of Israel having been spiritually grafted into Israel and partakers of the blessings promised to Israel by God through His blood covenant cut with Abraham, the father of faith and of all who believe in the Messiah (Romans 11:15-18) (Romans 4:16-17). What happened in the past in scripture related to history tells us about what will happen in the future prophetically.
The prophet Zechariah wrote; “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,” Declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn (or bring back) My hand against (or upon) the little ones. “It will come about in all the land,” Declares the Lord, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”(Zechariah 13:7-9)
Now let’s look at this prophecy. (Vs.7) “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,” Declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered;”
This portion of the prophecy was fulfilled in the time of the Messiah our Lord Jesus when He was wounded for our violations of Torah and crushed for our rebellion and when the chastisement that brought us peace with God was fully accomplished when our sins were laid upon the Messiah our Lord Jesus. (Isaiah 53:5-6) It was the will of God to bruise Him, not for His own sins because He was without sin, but for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). When He died at the cross all of His disciples were scattered and fled thus fulfilling this prophecy. (Matthew 26:31) However, we also know that after He had risen He gathered His disciples to Himself and they became the apostles and leaders of His Body the faithful Assembly of believers in Jerusalem.
And then we read; “And I will turn (or bring back) My hand against (or upon) the little ones.” The “little ones” were the followers of the Lord Jesus who came after the apostles and were in Jerusalem when the Romans laid a siege against the city. For around 40 years, after the ascension of the Messiah to His Father, the believers in Jerusalem, under the leadership of the apostles, grew in number and many Jews came to saving faith in the Messiah. By 70AD most of the apostles had been martyred except for the apostle John.
The early assembly of believers in Jerusalem were persecuted by the religious Jews and the Romans and through these circumstances God’s hand was turned towards them or upon them, not to destroy them, but to refine and protect them even though some were martyred like Stephen and James. When 70AD came and the city of Jerusalem was about to fall to the Romans Simeon, the leading Bishop (overseer) of the Jerusalem Assembly and the first among equals in leadership, led the believers out of the city through the enemy lines to safety and were miraculously preserved by the Lord. They were the ones who had believed what the Lord Jesus had said 40 years before about the final destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. They were only a remnant. Those who stayed behind perished. This past event teaches us about what will happen in the future to the Jewish people. Through applied pressure God will bring forth a faithful believing Jewish remnant.
Now let’s continue. (Vs 8) “It will come about in all the land,” Declares the Lord, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it.”
When the Romans sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple according to the Historian Josephus, who witnessed these events first hand, tells us that around 1.1 million Jews were killed during the siege which lasted for three and a half years from the middle of 66AD until 70AD. The population living in Jerusalem in 70AD was estimated to be between 60.000- 70,000. It was only a faithful remnant that survived. Then in the Second Century you had the BarKochba rebellion against Rome (132-136 AD). Jerusalem was ploughed like a field by the Roman armies and the Temple Mount area completely levelled and ploughed over (Micah 3:12). According to Cassius Dio, a Roman statesman and historian of Greek and Roman origin, 580,000 Jews perished in the war and many more died of hunger and disease. In addition, many Judean war captives were sold into slavery.
Prophetically the time is coming in the future when the city of Jerusalem will be attacked and half of the city once again taken into exile. (Zechariah 14:1-2) We are told that at this time two thirds will perish in the land of Israel. Why? Because Israel, by and large as a nation, still reject their own Messiah and His perfect and complete atoning sacrifice for their sin. Not only is there a rejection of Him by most Orthodox religious Jews, but also by secular Israelis living pagan hedonistic and alternate lifestyles that are violating Torah.
Israel as a nation are estranged from Him and from their own covenants of promise and from their Messiah who loves them dearly and has bled and died for their sin and rebellion. Sadly by and large most Israelis do not care for Him. Having said this all will not be lost, neither will Israel cease to be a nation before God. He always remembers His covenants. Out of this coming fiery furnace of affliction a faithful remnant will come forth preserved by the hand of God.
And so we read about this end-time remnant. (Vs.9) “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
Sadly it will take an invasion of Israel by their enemies to bring them to the point where, as a nation, they will cry out to God for deliverance so crushing will the invasion be. (Jeremiah 30:1-6) Having lost everything and all human support as they cry out to God He will hear them and send the Messiah back to reveal Himself to them as their pierced and striped Passover Lamb and to rescue them (Zechariah 12:10-14). Even though two thirds in Israel will perish in the land, a third will be rescued by the Lord Jesus at His Second Coming when He will fight against those nations that have attacked and persecuted His covenant people. (Zechariah 14:3-4) Israel will go into the Time of Trouble for Jacob (Israel) but be saved out of it to enter into the Millennial Messianic Kingdom. (Jeremiah 30: 7-10)
After the Messiah has destroyed all resistance to His Kingdom and Israel’s enemies on the mountains of Israel He will set up his Messianic Kingdom on earth with His headquarters at Jerusalem on Mt Zion in the City of David (Zechariah 14:6-21) (Isaiah 8:18) (Psalm 74:2) (Isaiah 24:23) (Psalm 2:6). When the Messiah fights at Jerusalem Judah (the Jewish remnant) will fight under His war banner! (Zechariah 14:14) In that day every Israeli will call on His name and He will say to them; “They are My people,” and they will respond; “The Lord is my God!” It will not only be a personal and individual response to God but also a corporate response to Him by His redeemed people. They will have passed through the fire of tribulation but come forth as a shining and radiant remnant to co-reign with their Messiah our Lord Jesus when He reigns from Jerusalem with all of His redeemed saints.
