Zechariah 13:1-9
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.a
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a roughb garment to deceive:
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
a Day of Testing
Zechariah 13:1-9; Zechariah 14:1
This Fountain was opened, when the soldier pierced the Savior's side. But it is not enough for God to forgive; He must deal drastically with the waywardness of his people. And so thorough would be the work, that parents would rather their son should die than assume for filthy lucre and without the divine call, the lucrative profession of a prophet. A township would arise against a man suspected of being a prophet, who, in his terror, would pretend that he was a tiller of the ground.
And if they discovered marks in his body which indicated that he had been previously branded as a false prophet, he would rather assert that his friends had been the cause of his affliction, than that he had any sympathy with the prophetic office.
Note that remarkable anticipation, Zechariah 13:7-9. See Matthew 26:31. Jesus knew that He was the Father's fellow. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. “We will come unto Him, and make our abode with Him.” But He is also the Man. By the grace of the One Man, we may reign in life, Romans 5:17.