The One Third Left Behind

The Minor Prophets Speak To Today

I Want To Be In The One Third Left Behind

Zechariah 13:7-9 NLT

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“But one-third will be left in the land.
9 I will bring that group through the fire
    and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
    and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
    and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

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Death, Death, Death . . .

We grow tired of the topic of death and destruction that God speaks of through the prophets. For modern people especially, the prominence of these passages becomes an excuse to turn away from God. Or maybe, more accurately, for not accepting God. 

"How can I believe in a god who destroys and is always talking about death? How can that god be God? God is love."

Not that the questions, merged with the quote from God himself, have a logical connection. But they have a strong empathic connection in the minds of humans who judge God by their own minds and emotions, by human wisdom and wishes. If God is God, who are we the created beings to judge him. We struggle to even have concept of him.

Death Is Not The Message Here . . .

The message here is that God will purge away all that is impure. It is his right and in his divine character to do so. God will purge away all that is impure--that message is nowhere clearer than in Zechariah 13:9.

I know we humans think we are pretty special. In fact, God thinks we are special. We are special because God made us special. No matter how you believe God brought homo sapiens into being, at some point he did something to man that he has not done to any other creature. After forming him from the ground, God breathed into the human his own divine breathe making homo sapiens living souls. No other animal or plant life, no other life form received the personal breathe of God. They were merely created and were alive.

Given the free will that that breathe carried with it, man was given the power to upset and destroy all the rest of creation. And we did. We continue to do so. We are the greatest threat to life and non-life on this planet and we keep proving that day after day.

And so, ever since the first disruption, God has been in the business of bringing man back to the purity he had at the homo sapiens' creation. Purity of body. Purity of purpose. Purity of mind. Purity of relationship to God.

The One Third Left In The Land . . .

Two-thirds of the inhabitants of the "land" will be cut off and die.

What a trauma that will be for the one-third left. Heartbreak, lost love ones and friends, the terror of seeing God's children getting cut off, dying. That can not be easy. Perhaps, the one-third will wonder if they will be next. The scripture does not say anything about the one-third being removed, being shielded, being coddled or even divinely protected from the terrors of that day or the day of falling away.

The one-third will care deeply about the people called God's. They will weep at the great falling away, the scattering, the shattering, the cutting off. It will test their own faith to its limits. It will test their concepts and beliefs about God. They may even question God's wisdom or whether it is Satan rather than God orchestrating the events.

No, there is no promise anywhere in scripture that the one-third, even under grace, will not suffer and be trembling in mind, body, and soul.

But, when it is over, when they are now the ones left, for them the purging and purify is not over. This is truly the case of when it's over, it's not over.

God says of the one-third. . .

I will bring that group through the fire

    and make them pure.                          

I will refine them like silver                

    and purify them like gold.                     

Passing through the fire of purification is not all hallelujahs, and praise the Lords. 

Silver is refined by skimming off the dross. The things that do not belong. The things that cloud the finish and leave the silver corrupt. The fire melts the silver making the dross visible and ready for the refiner to skim off. That separation is not easy, not a process that leaves the silver unmoved but scrapes the very silver itself.

Once the refining removes the dross from the one-third, and their lives, another step occurs - the purifying like gold.

Gold is purified by heating to the point the impurities are burned away. Only their heart of faith and trust in God will remain. Only their surety that God loves them and is working for their good will sustain them. 

But sustain them it will. For they will call upon the Lord affirming, "The Lord is our God." And the Lord will say, "These are my people!"

Actually, outwardly, first the Lord will say, "These are my people!" and the people will respond, "The Lord is our God." Like a round, God will speak and the people will answer. The Lord will speak and the people will respond. And all the earth, whether pro or against God will know these are God's people and who it is that is their God.

The world may continue to reject their God. The nations may turn to plotting against him directly. But they will know who it is that they are rebelling against. And it will be clear who is rebelling and who is on the Lord's side.

I Want To Be In The One Third Left Behind

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