Zechariah 13

 

Zechariah 13:1 “In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty of David and the people of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

 

This “day” is one of the last three days of the Great Tribulation. The Holy Spirit will open up the eyes of Israel so that they will receive a national salvation. 

 

The fountains in the temple cleansed the priests for service and the sacrifices for offering. The Holy Spirit will cleanse the nation of Israel, meaning that they will be saved and justified. Their great sin was disbelieving in the Messiah Jesus. 

 

Here is a quick review of the Campaign of Armageddon:

 

1. The Gentile armies of the Antichrist will gather in the Valley of Jezreel in Galilee.

2. Babylon will become the capital of the Antichrist, just as Jerusalem is the capital of the Lord Jesus Christ. The enemies of the Antichrist will destroy Babylon.

3. The armies of the Antichrist will take the city of Jerusalem.

4. The Antichrist will come against the Jewish Remnant living in Petra.

5. The entire nation of Israel who survive the Great Tribulation will gain their national salvation by believing in Jesus.

6. Jesus will return at Petra. 

7. Jesus will fight the forces of the Antichrist, beginning at Petra, all the way back to Jerusalem, and finishing them off at the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

8. Jesus will take His victory ascent up to the Mount of Olives, the same place where He descended from His apostles in Acts 1:8.

 

2 And also on that day,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will remove the names of the idols from the land and they will never again be remembered. Moreover, I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. 

 

This “day” is the day of Israel’s national salvation. God Himself will remove three sources of pollution from Israel. First, He will remove idolatry. He will remove the idol of the beast which was placed in the temple. Second, He will remove the false prophets. They will all be executed and sent to Hell. Third, He will eliminate all demons. The demons will be confined in either Edom or Petra. Both places will be a continuously burning wasteland. None of these three types of pollution will be allowed during the Messianic Kingdom. 

 

3 Then, if anyone prophesies in spite of this, his father and mother to whom he was born will say to him, ‘You cannot live, for you lie in the name of the Lord.’ Then his father and mother to whom he was born will run him through with a sword when he prophesies. 

 

According to the Mosaic Law, all false prophets were to be stoned. All false prophets will be executed by the believing Remnant. This means that there will be no religious tolerance during the Messianic Kingdom. All false prophets and teachers of all of the cults and isms will be executed. The parents of these false prophets will be executed as well, because they did not biblically instruct their children to follow the Lord when they were younger.

 

Any modern parent who does not bring up their child in the Lord is training their child to become a Christ-rejecter. They are teaching their children to follow the ways of the satanic world system. They are teaching their children to become good citizens of the Antichrist’s kingdom.

 

4 “Therefore, on that day each prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies and will no longer wear the hairy garment of a prophet to deceive the people.

 

The prophets were wearing hairy mantles as symbols of their satanic prophetic office. They will be prophesying to the world that the Antichrist is good and he will win. When their prophecies are not fulfilled, they will be ashamed. They will take off their hairy mantles because they do not want the messianic Jews to find them and execute them.

 

5 Instead he will say, ‘I am no prophet—indeed, I am a farmer, for a man has made me his indentured servant since my youth.’

 

When these false prophets are captured by the messianic Jews, they will claim that they were not false prophets, but farmers.

 

6 Then someone will ask him, ‘What are these wounds on your chest?’ and he will answer, ‘Some that I received in the house of my friends.’ 

 

False prophets cut themselves in honor of the demonic gods in whom they served. The Baal prophets cut themselves when they called for rain during the challenge of Elijah. The messianic Jews will ask these false prophets where they received their scars. These false prophets will claim that the scars came from partying with their friends. Many Bible teachers claim that this is a prophecy about Jesus, but it is not. It is a prophecy about false prophets who are captured and executed at the end of the Great Tribulation.

 

7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the Lord who rules over all. Strike the shepherd that the flock may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the insignificant ones. 

 

This is a very important verse which is often mistranslated in most English versions. The Hebrew word for “my associate” is עֲמִיתִ֔י (amiti), meaning my equal.

 

Zechariah is referring now to the first coming of Jesus. Jehovah is doing the speaking. He is asking the sword to wake up. The sword was given to governments by God for inflicting capital punishment.

 

The sword of capital punishment is going to be used against Jehovah’s Shepherd. Jehovah’s Shepherd is עֲמִיתִ֔י (amiti), meaning Jehovah’s equal. The sword of capital punishment will be used against Jesus, who is Jehovah’s Shepherd and God’s equal.

 

After the Shepherd is executed, then the flock of Israel will be scattered. The immediate flock of disciples were scattered when Jesus was arrested. The rest of the flock was scattered at the Temple destruction of 70 A.D.

 

The rejection of the “insignificant ones” means that the common people will suffer when the false shepherds of Israel reject the True Shepherd of Israel.

 

8 It will happen in all the land, says the Lord, that two-thirds of the people in it will be cut off and die, but one-third will be left in it. 

 

When the flock is scattered all over the entire world, their descendants will remain in these foreign lands, even up to the time of the Great Tribulation. The Hebrew word for “land” is אָ֫רֶץ eretz, meaning the entire earth. This was the same word that God used in Genesis 1:1, when He created “the heavens and the earth.”

 

Adolph Hitler killed 1/3 of the Jews during the Holocaust. Hitler may have been the Antichrist’s dry run before the Great Tribulation. During the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist will kill 2/3 of the Jews. The 1/3 of the Jews who survive the Great Tribulation will eventually become messianic believers who will enter into the Messianic Kingdom. This believing remnant is the “all Israel” who will be saved, according to Romans 11.

 

9 Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire; I will refine them like silver is refined and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer; I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ” 

 

The fires of the Great Tribulation will refine the third. By experiencing these judgments, they will learn righteousness and come to salvation. These messianic believers will do three things. First, the surviving Remnant will turn to the Lord and call upon His name in saving faith. Second, they will enter into a righteous relationship with God. Third, they will believe in Jesus as their Messiah.