False Prophets Will Be Judged
3 “If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother, who gave birth to him, will say, ‘You don't deserve to live because you speak lies in the name of the Lord.' Then his father and his mother, who gave birth to him, will stab him when he prophesies.
4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He won't deceive people by dressing {like a prophet} in a coat made of hair.
5 He will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I'm a farmer. I've owned this land since I was a child.'
6 “When someone asks him, ‘What are these scars on your chest?' he will answer, ‘I was hurt at my friend's house.'
The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered
8 The Lord declares,
“Throughout the land two-thirds will be cut off and die. Yet, one-third will be left in it.
9 I will bring this third {of the people} through the fire. I will refine them as silver is refined. I will test them as gold is tested. They will call on me, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people.' They will reply, ‘The Lord is our God.'”
The Big Picture:
THE DEATH OF CHRIST, AND THE SAVING OF A REMNANT OF THE PEOPLE. 13:7-9
Here is a prophecy of the sufferings of Christ. God the Father gave order to the sword of his justice to awake against his Son, when he freely made his soul an offering for sin. As God, he is called "my Fellow." Christ and the Father are one. He is the Shepherd who was to lay down his life for the sheep. If a Sacrifice, he must be slain, for without shedding of the life-blood there was no remission. This sword must awake against him, yet he had no sin of his own to answer for. It may refer to the whole of Christ's sufferings, especially his agonies in the garden and on the cross, when he endured unspeakable anguish till Divine justice was fully satisfied. Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. This passage our Lord Jesus declares was fulfilled, when all his disciples, in the night wherein he was betrayed, forsook him and fled. It has, and shall have its accomplishment, in the destruction of the corrupt and hypocritical part of the professed church. Because of the sin of the Jews in rejecting and crucifying Christ, and in opposing his gospel, the Romans would destroy the greater part. But a remnant would be saved. And if we are his people, we shall be refined as gold; he will be God, and the end of all our trials and sufferings will be praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bottomline: That is, provision made for cleansing of all of those from the pollution of sin whom truly repent. The blood of Jesus Christ, and our God's pardoning mercy in that blood, revealed in the new covenant, are a fountain. For there is in them an inexaustable fullness. There is mercy enough in God and merit enough in Jesus Christ forgiving of the greastest sins and sinners. As He takes away the domination of sins by the power of His grace. Those whom are washed, as they are purified, as they are justified, so they are sanctfied. Simply because God has by His grace awakened their conscience and shown them their eror, or because the event disproves their predictions. Gos would remove those sources of false hope so people could depend on God alone. We have been guilty of bowing to idols or following false prophets. These are the words of God the Father, giving commission to the sword of His justice to awake against the Son, when He had voluntarily made His oul an offering for sin; for "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him" and put Him to grief; and He was " stricken, smitten of God and afficted," [Isa.53:4,10]. And try them as silver and gold are refined and tried. This is being fulfilled in the persecutions of the primative church, the fiery trial, [1Pet.4:12].God is the only one in being able to fulfill the promises of His deliverance.
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