In delivering Israel from her enemies, our Lord’s ultimate goal is more than their national preservation, for their spiritual restoration is uppermost in His heart. He wants to reveal Himself to them and establish the kind of relationship that was impossible in previous centuries because of their unbelief.
The people will repent (12:10–14). Repentance isn’t something we work up ourselves; it’s a gift from God as we hear His Word and recognize His grace (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25). God will pour out the Spirit upon Israel (Joel 2:28–29), and the people will realize their sins and call out to God for forgiveness. They will also see their Messiah whom the nation pierced (Ps. 22:16; Isa. 53:5; John 19:34, 37) and will put their faith in Him. Forgiveness comes to any believing sinner only through faith in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
The nation will go into mourning, the way parents would mourn over the loss of their only son, the way the nation mourned near Megiddo when their beloved King Josiah was slain in battle (2 Chron. 35:20–27). Zechariah mentions that all the families (clans) of Israel will mourn, the men and women separately, and this will include royalty (David’s clan), the prophets (Nathan’s clan; see 2 Sam. 7), and the priests (Levi’s and Shimei’s clans; Num. 3:17–18, 21). “All the families that remain” covers the rest of the nation. It will be a time of deep and sincere national repentance such as has not been seen before.
The nation will be cleansed (13:1–7). Isaiah had admonished the nation, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes” (Isa. 1: nkjv), but they refused to listen. Jeremiah had pleaded with his people, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved” (Jer. 4: nkjv), but they wouldn’t obey. But now, in response to Israel’s repentance and faith, the Lord will wash them clean! This forgiveness is part of the new covenant that God promised to His people (Jer. 31:31–34): “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (v. 34).
William Cowper based his hymn “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” on Zechariah 13:1, for it’s the sacrifice of Christ that atones for sin. The Jews could cleanse their external ceremonial uncleanness by washing in water, but for internal cleansing the sinful heart of men and women can be cleansed only by the blood of the Savior (Lev. 16:30; 17:11). “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2: nkjv).
But not only will their hearts be cleansed, but the land itself will be purged of all that is deceitful and defiling. The idols and the false prophets—two of Israel’s besetting sins—will be removed, as well as the very “unclean spirit” that caused people to turn from God. (See Zech. 5:5–11.)
According to the law, false prophets were to be killed (Deut. 13); so the false prophets in that day will lie about their occupation in order to save their lives (13:2–6). They won’t wear their special garments (v. 4; 2 Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4), and they’ll claim to be farmers rather than prophets. If asked about the scars on their bodies, actually caused by wounds inflicted while worshipping idols (1 Kings 18:28), they will lie and claim that their friends (or family) inflicted the wounds to discipline them.
In contrast to the false prophets, the true Shepherd is presented in Zechariah 13:7. (Review Zech. 11 for the other “Shepherd” prophecies.) Jesus quoted part of this prophecy when He was on His way to Gethsemane with His disciples (Matt. 26:31), and He referred to it again when He was arrested in the garden (v. 56). Only Jesus the Messiah could the Father call “the man who is My fellow,” that is, “the man who is My equal.” (See John 10:30; 14:9.)
But there is also a wider meaning of this text as it relates to the scattering of the nation in AD 70 when Jerusalem was taken by the Romans. The Jews had smitten their Shepherd on the cross (Isa. 53:10), and this act of rejection led to the nation being scattered (Deut. 28:64; 29:24–25). Israel today is a dispersed people, but one day they shall be gathered; they are a defiled people, but one day they shall be cleansed.
The nation will be refined (13:8–9). This image reminds us of the value God puts on His people Israel: they are like gold and silver that need to be refined in the furnace of affliction. This had been their experience in Egypt (Deut. 4:20) and in Babylon (Isa. 48:10), but “the time of Jacob’s trouble” will be their most difficult “furnace experience.”
The goldsmith refines the gold or silver so that the dross may be removed, and that’s what the tribulation in the last days will accomplish for Israel. One third of the people will be spared, the true believing remnant, while the rest will be rejected and perish. That godly remnant who called on the Lord (Acts 2:21) will be saved and become the nucleus of the promised kingdom, for the Lord will acknowledge them as His own people (see Hos. 2:21–23).
Before we leave this section, we need to see the spiritual application for God’s people today. Certainly the church is a defiled people who need to repent and be cleansed, and the promise of forgiveness is still valid (1 John 1:9). God often has to put us through the furnace of suffering before we’ll call on Him and seek His face (Heb. 12:3–11; 1 Peter 4:12). If God’s people will follow the instructions of 2 Chronicles 7:14, the Lord will cleanse and bless the church and bring healing to the land.