READ: Zech. 13:7-9: Sword, awake against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion… I will bring that third part through the fire and refine them as silver is refined… I will answer them. I will say: This is My people; and they will say: The LORD is my God.
Who is the shepherd upon whom the sword strikes at the command of the LORD of hosts, the almighty God? The LORD calls Him “My Shepherd, who is My Companion.”
The Lord Jesus Himself explained and applied this text to Himself just before His arrest, at the table where He instituted the Lord’s Supper. He said to His disciples: “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” (Matt. 26:31).
What is remarkable about Zechariah’s text is that the LORD of hosts Himself gives this command! This aligns with Is. 53:10: “Yet it pleased the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief.”
For the LORD, the atoning work of His only begotten and dearly loved Son required that He, having taken upon Himself the sins of the world, be punished with death on the cross.
There, He was not only abandoned by His disciples, who fled in all directions, but God the Father actively struck Him with the heaviest blow by forsaking Him on the cross (see also the Belgic Confession, Art. 20).
But then comes a glorious continuation. In His grace, the LORD chooses for Himself a remnant of the little ones, the humble, who seek their salvation outside of themselves in Christ (vv.7-8). Those who believe in Christ form the church under the governance of the LORD, outside of which there is no salvation, and to whom God’s covenant promises apply.
This is not their own merit but purely grace. They will continually be tested in their faith, to see whether they keep seeking the LORD.
These verses reveal how important this testing is: the gold and silver must remain. All who turn to the LORD and endure trials may continue to live within the covenant with the LORD!
Why is testing still necessary as a church member?
Sing: Ps. 66:4,5