God's Holy Arithmetic
Introduction: The Terrible Mercy of the Refiner
We live in a soft age, an age that despises sharp edges and hard truths. Our culture, and sadly much of the church, has fashioned for itself a god made of marshmallows and good intentions. This god is a celestial therapist whose only job is to affirm everyone and judge no one. He is inclusive to a fault, tolerant of everything except biblical intolerance, and would never, ever dream of doing anything that might seem severe. This god is a liar, and he does not exist.
The God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is a consuming fire. His love is not a sentimental goo; it is a holy, jealous, and purifying love. He loves His people far too much to leave them as they are, wallowing in their compromises and their petty idolatries. And so, from beginning to end, Scripture testifies to the fact that God is a refiner. He purges, He prunes, He judges, and He cuts away, all so that what remains might be pure, holy, and truly His.
This passage in Zechariah is a bucket of ice water in the face of our therapeutic age. It is a stark and startling piece of divine mathematics. God is speaking here about His covenant people, the land of promise. And His declaration is that He Himself will perform a great and terrible culling. This is not some unfortunate historical accident; it is a sovereignly declared and executed plan. This is not just a prophecy about the historical judgments on Israel, such as the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, though it certainly includes that. This is a timeless principle of God's dealings with His covenant people in every age. The visible church is always a mixed multitude, and God reserves the right to clean His own house. And His method is fire.
But we must see this for what it is. This is not the rage of a tyrant; it is the terrible mercy of a loving Father. It is the intense, focused work of a master silversmith. The fire is not for destruction, but for purification. The goal is not annihilation, but the restoration of a true and vibrant covenant relationship. God is after a people who are genuinely His, and who know Him as genuinely their God.
The Text
And it will be in all the land,”
Declares Yahweh,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and breathe their last;
But the third will be left in it.
And I will bring the third part through the fire
And 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, ‘Yahweh is my God.’ ”
(Zechariah 13:8-9 LSB)
The Great Culling (v. 8)
The prophecy begins with a sovereign declaration of a severe judgment.
"And it will be in all the land,” Declares Yahweh, “That two parts in it will be cut off and breathe their last; But the third will be left in it." (Zechariah 13:8 LSB)
First, notice the authority. This is not a possibility or a prediction; it is a decree. "Declares Yahweh." The covenant name of God is attached to this promise of judgment. This is the God who keeps His promises, whether they are promises of blessing for obedience or promises of cursing for rebellion. He is not a man that He should lie. What He says will happen, happens.
The scope is comprehensive: "in all the land." When God brings a covenant lawsuit against His people, it is thorough. This refers to the covenant community, the visible people of God. And within that community, a great sifting will occur. The numbers are stark: two-thirds will be cut off. They will "breathe their last." This is the language of finality. This is the judgment that falls on those who are covenant members in name only. They are the branches in the vine that do not bear fruit, and so the Vinedresser cuts them off. They are the chaff that the winnowing fork throws into the wind. This is the judgment on apostasy, on those who have the form of godliness but deny its power.
But in the midst of this overwhelming judgment, there is a promise of preservation. "But the third will be left in it." This is the doctrine of the remnant, which runs like a scarlet thread throughout the entire Bible. Noah and his family were a remnant. Lot was a remnant. Elijah thought he was the only one left, but God had reserved a remnant of seven thousand. A remnant returned from Babylon. And here, God guarantees that no matter how hot the fires of judgment and persecution get, He will always preserve His true people.
We should not look at this as God losing two-thirds of His people. That is to think like a man. We must see it as God successfully purging all the phonies, all the pretenders, all the spiritual deadwood from His house. The "two parts" were never truly His in the first place. The culling does not diminish His flock; it defines it.
The Agony of Purification (v. 9a)
The remnant is preserved, but it is not preserved from trial. It is preserved through trial.
"And I will bring the third part through the fire And refine them as silver is refined And test them as gold is tested." (Zechariah 13:9a LSB)
Again, God is the active agent. "I will bring..." The fire is not an accident. The hardship, the persecution, the trial, the suffering, it is not random. It is a divine appointment. God Himself leads His beloved remnant into the furnace. Why would a loving God do such a thing? The text tells us plainly: for the purpose of refining and testing.
The metaphor is that of a silversmith. A silversmith does not put precious metal into the crucible to destroy it. He puts it there because it is precious and he wants to make it more so. The intense heat causes the dross, the impurities, the slag, to rise to the surface. The smith then carefully skims this worthless filth away. He keeps the heat on, watching intently, until the process is complete. And how does he know when it is complete? When he can look into the molten silver and see his own reflection, clear and undistorted.
This is what God is doing with us in our trials. He is turning up the heat to burn away our sin, our pride, our self-reliance, our worldliness. He is skimming off the dross. And His goal is to see the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, reflected in us. The fire of affliction is the workshop of our sanctification. It is painful, to be sure. It is agonizing. But it is purposeful. It is the work of a master craftsman who loves what He has made and will not settle for anything less than glorious purity.
The Covenant Restored (v. 9b)
The result of this fiery purification is not a pile of ashes, but a people restored to their God.
"They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’ ” (Zechariah 13:9b LSB)
Look at the beautiful fruit of this refining work. First, true prayer is restored. "They will call on My name, And I will answer them." The fire has burned away all the formal, dead, hypocritical prayers. What is left is the desperate, genuine cry of a people who know they have no other help. And to that cry, God's ear is ever open. The line of communication, once cluttered with the static of sin and compromise, is now crystal clear.
Following this restored communion, we have the great covenant declarations. God speaks first. "I will say, ‘They are My people.’" This is the voice of the divine husband taking back His bride. It is the voice of the Father claiming His children. It is the ultimate statement of ownership, belonging, and divine favor. After all the cutting and burning, God looks at His refined remnant and publicly owns them as His treasured possession.
And then comes the response from the purified people. "And they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’" This is the oath of allegiance. This is the cry of faith. This is the heartfelt pledge of a people who have been through the fire and have found that their God was with them the entire time. They have been stripped of all their idols and false refuges, and now they cling to Him alone. He is not just a god, or the God of their fathers. He is "my God." The relationship is personal, vibrant, and exclusive.
Conclusion: The Fire and the Gospel
This pattern of judgment and refinement is the story of the church in the world. But it is only possible because of the gospel. The ultimate fire of God's wrath against sin did not fall on us. It fell on the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross. He was the one who was truly "cut off" from the land of the living. He entered the furnace of God's judgment for us.
And because He took the destroying fire for us, the fire we experience is a refining fire. Because He was forsaken, we are claimed. He was cut off so that we, the remnant, might be left. He cried out to God and was not answered, so that when we call on His name, God promises to answer us.
Therefore, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. This is God's regular method. This is His holy arithmetic. He is culling the imposters and purifying His sons. The question for each of us is simple. Are we submitting to the Refiner's hand? Are we allowing the heat to do its work, to burn away the dross? Or are we kicking against it, complaining about the heat, and clinging to our impurities?
The call is to embrace the fire. Call upon the name of the Lord. Confess your sin, and trust in the Christ who was cut off for you. And you will hear the Father's voice, declaring over you, "This is my child." And you will be able to say, with all the saints who have gone through the fire before you, "Yahweh is my God." This is how God builds His kingdom. Not through easy comfort, but through terrible, glorious, refining fire.