Zechariah 13:8

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.

In all the land most of the people are cut off and die in judgment upon those who reject God, while a holy remnant, the third part, is left and preserved unto final restoration. Those who are left are brought through fire that tests and refines faith, until they call upon God and He owns them as His people and they own Him as their God. The cutting off begins at the death of Christ and reaches through the trials and divisions that came when He was manifested among men to all who enter the new covenant and are taught of the Lord. It fell upon Jerusalem, its city and temple and nation, when the Jews rejected Christ as their king, and it foretells the great day of the Lord and His kingdom, when the unfaithful are cut off in the first death before the utter destruction of the wicked in the second death. In the last work of separation the hardened, lukewarm, self-righteous and insubordinate are destroyed as every work is brought into judgment, so that the nominal church and nominal Adventists are cut off while the true church is left to seek translation to the city of God.

Meaning and Historical Setting

In all the land two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left therein. During the future destruction of the nations most of the people in the land will be cut off and die, while a holy remnant is preserved. This is a judgment upon those who reject God that looks ahead to final restoration. The third part that is left is brought through the refining described in verse 9. They endure fiery trials that test and refine faith, calling on God and being acknowledged by Him as His people while acknowledging Him as their God, and those who are not rooted in the faith are in danger of being shaken out.

The prophecy was given in the time of the restoration to encourage Zerubbabel and Ezra in building the temple and restoring Jerusalem. It belongs to the prophecy of Israel's restoration from Babylonian captivity. That prophecy is dated to 487 B.C. and was fulfilled when Israel was dwelling in its cities by 445 B.C., forty-two years later. Zechariah 13 and 14 refer to times widely separated and cannot be read consecutively without mistake. Each part must be placed in its exact time by testing scripture with scripture, spiritual things with spiritual, not by private interpretation or dogmatic assertion, as when Christ at Nazareth stopped before and the day of vengeance of our God.

The verse belongs to the prophecy of the first coming of the Lord, His death and burial. So it shows that Zechariah 11:7-11 also concerns that time. The verse does not prove that any particular individual is foreordained to be saved.

Fulfillments From Christ to Restoration

The two parts cut off and the third left reach from the death of Christ onward to its results under the new covenant, with verses 7 and 9 together carrying the prophecy forward from that death to the time when all who share in the covenant are taught of the Lord and come to acknowledge Him as their God. The cutting off and leaving also mark the trials and divisions that occurred when Jesus Christ was manifested among men, with a larger fulfillment still to come in the very last trials among God's children. In that manifestation the destruction of Jerusalem is shown, when city, temple, and nation would be destroyed by the united forces of the nations by the avenging hand of God. That destruction hung upon the choice set before the Jews when Christ presented Himself to them as their king, for reception would have brought miraculous preservation from the attack of all the peoples of the earth, while rejection and delivering Him up to die would bring that destruction upon all they held dear on earth.

What was spoken concerning God's children was fulfilled in measure when Israel returned from Babylonian captivity and will be fulfilled more fully, though under different conditions, in the great final restoration. That earlier restoration from Babylonian captivity serves as a type of the greater restoration from the later Babylon and from this world. Given in the time of the restoration to encourage the building of the temple and the restoring of Jerusalem, that restoration reformation movement is a type of the last reformation.

Final Judgment and Remnant

The prophecy to which the two parts cut off and the third left belong foretells the kingdom of Christ, the great day of the Lord, and the punishment of the wicked upon the earth. At the opening of that day all who have not been proved faithful are cut off and die, and that cutting off is the first death. The utter destruction that follows afterward is the second death.

In the final battle two hosts are cut off, the Turk and the nations, while the third part left is the people of God. That remaining third is brought through the refining of the following verse. The wicked left among the nations are thus marked out to be raised for their final destruction. After that destruction a place is provided where the beloved City may stand and be safely inhabited at the close of the thousand years of judgment.

The cutting off is the final separation and destruction of all who continue hardened, lukewarm, self-righteous, or insubordinate when God brings every work into judgment, even every secret thing. The warning is final, and to refuse it is to meet its consequence when heeding comes too late. Only a remnant remains, the devoted people of God, and they must pass through fiery trials that test and refine faith, for all not rooted in the faith are in danger of being shaken out.

In the end-time division of the people in the land, the two parts cut off and destroyed are Sardis, the nominal church or Babylon, and Laodicea, the nominal Adventists. The third part left is Philadelphia, the true church, whose members seek translation to the city of God. That surviving third is refined through trial, calls upon God, is acknowledged by Him as His people, and acknowledges Him as their God.

❧