What is the fire in Zechariah 13:9 that the third part is brought through?
The fire in Zechariah 13:9 is identified as the fires of tribulation, the wrath, and the vexation. God brings Israel’s third part, the remnant, through this fire to refine them as silver is refined and try them as gold is tried, so they call on His name.
Les explains that Zechariah 13:8 describes Israel’s land, where two parts are cut off and die, but the third part is left as the remnant. In verse 9, God says He will bring that third part through the fire—the fires of tribulation, the wrath, and the vexation. This is a refining and testing: He refines them as silver and tries them as gold. The outcome is that they call on His name, He hears them, He says, 'It is My people,' and they say, 'The LORD is My God.'
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
More Questions
What does fire represent in Zechariah 13:9?
In biblical passages like Zechariah 13, fire usually is a depiction of testing; Les illustrates this with the refining of gold, where heat brings impurities to the surface.