““It will come about in all the land,” Declares the Lord, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”” (Zechariah 13:8–9, NASB95)
This is one of the more understandable passages in the book of Zechariah. It seems to promise that one-third of God’s people? the people of the land? will be brought through a refiners fire. The result will be that the third part will call on my name and Yahweh will say They are my people and in turn the people will say The Lord is my God.
This is a picture of a return to faithfulness after a time of testing and trial.
It isn’t clear exactly what this passage refers to in regards to the third part.
- The Ryrie Study Bible says “God’s judgment of Israel at the return of Christ will weed out all but one-third of them. These will constitute the “all Israel” that will then be saved (Rom. 11:26).”
- The Life Application Study Bible seems to think it refers to Israel throughout its history: “Throughout the history of Israel, whenever the whole nation seemed to turn against God, God said that a righteous remnant still trusted and followed him.”
- JFB takes it to mean: “It hence appears that the Jews’ conversion is not to precede, but to follow, their external deliverance by the special interposition of Jehovah; which latter shall be the main cause of their conversion, combined with a preparatory inward shedding abroad in their hearts of the Holy Spirit (Zec 12:10-14).”
- Baker Illustrated Commentary seems to think it refers to Jews during the Great Tribulation.
This is a good example of how difficult it is to interpret Zechariah because even in this relatively understandable passage, exactly whom it refers to and how it all plays out isn’t clear and there is a wide variation in interpretations.
I’m inclined to think that the passage refers to Jews and God’s promise to save “all Israel” in Romans, but it is a bit of a difficult passage.