Daily Devotional Saturday 13th April 2024
by William Moody
Zechariah 13
13:1 “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.
Idolatry Cut Off
2 “And on that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. 3 And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the LORD.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.
4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’1 6 And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’2 he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’
The Shepherd Struck
7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the LORD of hosts.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land, declares the LORD,
two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
and one third shall be left alive.
9 And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”Footnotes
[1] 13:5
Or for the land has been my possession since my youth
[2] 13:6Or on your chest; Hebrew wounds between your hands (ESV)
After a great verse on God providing cleansing (v1), the focus is now on ridding the land of idolatry and false prophets (v2-3). The language here is very strong and speaks of wholehearted devotion to the Lord, a devotion that even supersedes loyalty to family.
Truth will cause false prophets to understand their previous folly (v4-5) and they have been helped to come to this point through the wounds of their friends (v6). This should really encourage us to pray and graciously speak to those who have been caught up in false teaching.
The striking of the shepherd (v7) was quoted by Jesus to describe what would happen at His arrest (Mark 14 v27). Jesus’ disciples wavered, especially Peter, but by His grace they were restored. Falling does not mean the end of our following.
Here two thirds of the people are cut off but one third are left alive (v8). The third who are left alive will be refined through trials (v9a). The sign of the faithful is their calling to the Lord which will not be in vain (v9b). This prophesy may have fulfilment in the fall of Jerusalem in AD70 when estimates put the number of Jews killed as being over one million. Many were being cut off from God’s people, but God’s plan was for a pure remnant to remain.
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