Zechariah 13 I have been crucified with Christ
In the previous chapter we saw the mourning with men on one side and women on the other. This is reminiscent of Mount Sinai where God commanded them to make themselves correct and to not come near a woman. The Hebrew means to not put yourself in the position to sin. To not be in a position to sin is to be in a position to know the truth. But what happened? They made a golden calf and then the men and women began to dance, to flirt, to make frivolous with one another. They disobeyed this commandment. In the previous chapter we had king (David), prophet (Nathan) and priest (house of Levi) and finally those from the house of Shimei (the last family in order of the house of Levi) and then all the people.
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem [to cleanse them from] sin and uncleanness.
This is a fountain for immersion, for baptism. Immersion signifies a desire to obey and serve God and it identifies us with the Lord Jesus. When the Jews prepare for the day of Atonement they have a great day of immersion.
2 And in that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will remove from the land the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit.
The false prophets and unclean spirits are closely interrelated. It is no small thing when the NYT, or CNN or Facebook or Twitter are caught lying. These companies are working together with the unclean spirits. Project 1619 and CRT is a work of the unclean spirits, they are doctrines of demons teaching us to hate one another and fight with one another. The word of God is a fountain that cleans us from this uncleanness.
3 And if anyone again appears [falsely] as a prophet, then his father and his mother who bore him shall say to him, You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother who bore him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.
The Lord was thrust through on the crucifixion because of the testimony of false prophets. But for eternity it is the false prophets who get the judgement. This is like the proverb that a curse unfounded is like a bird that will not roost. The false prophets dug a pit for the Lord but they will be the ones that fall into it. In the same way the false prophets of mainstream media and the tech giants will also fall into the pit they dug.
4 And in that day the [false] prophets shall each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, nor will he wear a hairy or rough garment to deceive,
Today we can see many televangelists and prosperity gospel prophets who wear the clothes to indicate their prosperity which they equate with God’s blessing. It is the phony baloney garments of scam artists.
5 But he will [deny his identity and] say, I am no prophet. I am a tiller of the ground, for I have been made a bond servant from my youth.
These are the “deplorables”, the blue collar workers. The same people that mocked, ridiculed and insulted these ones will later try to associate themselves with them.
6 And one shall say to him, What are these wounds on your breast or between your hands? Then he will answer, Those with which I was wounded [when disciplined] in the house of my [loving] friends.
Hold everything, this refers to the Lord Jesus. Did these false prophets get converted? Does this show that all of us when we were dead in our offenses and sins were false prophets? Think about this, the Lord suffered these blows in the house of his friends? He came to save Israel and they crucified Him. That is what a true prophet does, they tell you the truth, even if you don’t want to hear it and even if you are killing people who tell that to you. I recently saw that they are putting Trump supporters on a no fly list. They want to label all 75 million people who voted for Trump as white supremacists (the Military has approved a high level position for a person that holds that view and whose job is to eliminate “extremists” from the military, those who are conservatives and who voted for Trump).
7 Awake, O sword, against My shepherd and against the man who is My associate, says the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd and the sheep [of the flock] shall be scattered, and I will turn back My hand and stretch it out again upon the little ones [of the flock].
We know this is what happened to the Lord. He was a coworker with God to bring redemption to Israel. This chapter is brilliant, we begin with the false prophets who are utterly shunned and rejected, even by their parents and then it seems the Lord appears to be one of them. The befuddled Israelites smite and kill Him, perhaps thinking they are serving God just like the parents of the false prophets. This is what we are seeing today, the world is acting cult like, as though they have been bewitched and they are accusing all Bible believing Christians of being a cult and the ones with hate speech. They are using this to justify the persecution and ultimately killing of these Christians.
8 And in all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, but one-third shall be left alive.
Two thirds of God’s people will perish during Jacob’s trouble, the last days. People use the word “decimate” as though it is horrible, they were “decimated”. To decimate is to kill one tenth. At the time of Hitler they estimate that about one third of all the Jews worldwide were killed. So if anyone thinks that this is absurd, it could never be this bad the Holocaust proves it could be. However, as bad as the holocaust was it will be twice as bad at the end of the age.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them. I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.
Israel is going to go through this difficult time. Prophecies like this make some interpret the Bible as though all believers must go through this fire. What really confuses people is that there are several paths to salvation. Israel’s path is not the same as that of the Christians and the Christians have both first fruits and the general in gathering. How do we know? Look at the second half of this verse, they have to go through all of this fire before “they will call on My name”. It isn’t until this tribulation that they say “the Lord is my God”. So if you are calling on the Lord’s name and you are proclaiming that the Lord is my God how could this refer to you?
“I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that live but Christ lives in me”. We are tripartite, Body, Soul and Spirit. Our flesh and our self are put on the cross (degenerate Body and corrupt soul). That is two thirds of our being. If you, like Paul, have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer you that live but Christ lives in you then why would you need to go through this? If you have already been refined like gold and silver it would be a waste to do it again. If you receive the word of God by faith and obey the Lord to walk the narrow way that lead to life then you will be refined prior to the end of the age. You will put yourself into the correct position to see the truth. You will rid yourself of false prophets. You will bear in your body the brands of Jesus.