The verses used to support that scenario are found in Zechariah 13:
7 "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion," Says the Lord of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones. 8 And it shall come to pass in all the land," Says the Lord, "That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will 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, 'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'The Lord is my God.' "Here’s how one futurist interprets the passage:
The purge of Israel in their time of trouble is described by Zechariah in these words: “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried” (Zechariah 13:8, 9). According to Zechariah’s prophecy, two thirds of the children of Israel in the land will perish, but the one third that are left will be refined and be awaiting the deliverance of God at the second coming of Christ which is described in the next chapter of Zechariah. (John Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy)
so that His name is no longer profaned and so that all his people he ingathered will be there for this display of His mighty saving and delivering power
Except for the 2/3 that are slaughtered.
These Scriptures effectively shred the silly statements above about the issues involved.
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Revelation 13:14-16 (The Message)
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
13-17 This second Beast worked magical signs, dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven. It used the magic it got from the Beast to dupe earth dwellers, getting them to make an image of the Beast that received the deathblow and lived. It was able to animate the image of the Beast so that it talked, and then arrange that anyone not worshiping the Beast would be killed. It forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or forehead. Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything.
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Revelation 13:15
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Revelation 13:14-16 (in Context) Revelation 13 (Whole Chapter)
Revelation 14:9
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Revelation 14:8-10 (in Context) Revelation 14 (Whole Chapter)
Revelation 14:11
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Revelation 14:10-12 (in Context) Revelation 14 (Whole Chapter)
Revelation 15:2
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
Revelation 15:1-3 (in Context) Revelation 15 (Whole Chapter)
Daniel 8:13
Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
Daniel 8:12-14 (in Context) Daniel 8 (Whole Chapter)
Daniel 9:27
And he shall enter into a strong and firm covenant with the many for one week [seven years]. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease [for the remaining three and one-half years]; and upon the wing or pinnacle of abominations [shall come] one who makes desolate, until the full determined end is poured out on the desolator.
Daniel 9:26-27 (in Context) Daniel 9 (Whole Chapter) AMPLIFIED
Daniel 11:31
And armed forces of his shall appear [in the holy land] and they shall pollute the sanctuary, the [spiritual] stronghold, and shall take away the continual [daily burnt offering]; and they shall set up [in the sanctuary] the abomination that astonishes and makes desolate [probably an altar to a pagan god].
Daniel 11:30-32 (in Context) Daniel 11 (Whole Chapter)
Daniel 12:11
And from the time that the continual burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.
Daniel 12:10-12 (in Context) Daniel 12 (Whole Chapter)
Revelation 21:8
But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God)
[HINT to those who over adore Mary!]
and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed)—[all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.
Revelation 21:7-9 (in Context) Revelation 21 (Whole Chapter)
My current comments: What an amazing set of prophecies here in this passage from Zechariah! What are these wounds in YOUR HANDS? These are wounds received in the house of my friends....WOW! How can this be taken any other way than as a direct prophecy fulfilled in exact detail when Our Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to that cruel cross, receiving these wounds in HIS HANDS which He would show to his friend and follower Thomas so that He would believe......and they were received in the HOUSE (House in OT refers to lineage, family, nation) of my friends (yet those to whom He came, (Jews), received Him not)...and certainly wounded Him there in their HOUSE, shared because of their lineage from David and from Abraham....making them "friends".... And Jesus Christ HIMSELF interprets Zechariah 13:7: As recorded in Matthew 26:31, " 31 Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: " 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' IN other words, Jesus says that Zechariah 13:7 refers directly to HIS TIME on this earth and to HIS DEATH's effect on His disciples..... cannot be much clearer than that! Matthew Henry believed the 2/3 who die and 1/3 who survive is concerning the same time that Jesus directly prophesies about - the Roman destruction of Israel which was a historic event in 70 AD. I do not know the percentages of the population of Israel at that time that survived / were killed. But we know that Rome was brutal and ruthless. This prophecy in Zechariah was NOT TALKING about the latter day ingathering of the Jews from all the nations of the world prior to the return of their Messiah who destroys the Gog and Magog force that sweeps down through Israel in the "latter days" it seems to me.....again because if you read Ezekiel 37, 38, 39 - what seems to occur at THAT time, is that Israel is regathered from all over the world into their land God called them to, Israel, and that they are dwelling in peace, with unwalled villages (we do not see this presently in Israel, do we?).....and that the Gog and Magog forces from the NORTH sweep down like a cloud - but THOSE FORCES are destroyed, NOT the people dwelling in Israel even though it seems it is the people of Israel who WILL BE destroyed. INstead, they will see their Messiah King, the Lion of Judah, delivering them from this military force, and praising God, their true God, their Messiah, as a result.
Ok, now I the scriptures passages to which you are referring - and I have read that passage many times but never took it to mean what you posted as an interpretation by John Walvoord, though I have read some of his works.
Anyway, here is all you posted:
My words: ....but I havenÂ’t found anything in those prophetic chapters which talk about the people of Israel being destroyed, wiped out, slaughtered...
Your words: The verses used to support that scenario are found in Zechariah 13: 7-9:
Zechariah 13:7 "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion," Says the Lord of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones. 8 And it shall come to pass in all the land," Says the Lord, "That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it:
9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will 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, 'This is My people'; And each one will say, 'The Lord is my God.' " (end of scripture passage)
Your words: HereÂ’s how one futurist interprets the passage:
The purge of Israel in their time of trouble is described by Zechariah in these words: “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried” (Zechariah 13:8, 9). According to Zechariah’s prophecy, two thirds of the children of Israel in the land will perish, but the one third that are left will be refined and be awaiting the deliverance of God at the second coming of Christ which is described in the next chapter of Zechariah. (John Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy) "
My quotation of part of Ezekiel 38,39: "so that His name is no longer profaned and so that all his people he ingathered will be there for this display of His mighty saving and delivering power."
Your words: Except for the 2/3 that are slaughtered.
My current comments:
Well, as I said, somehow I had missed this interpretation of this scripture passage by Dr. Wolvoord - until now.
But what a POWER PACKED scripture passage this is!
Thanks for directing me back to read it all through!
Here it is from the King James Version: Zechariah 13
Public Domain
[A Public Domain Bible]
Zechariah 13
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
2And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
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.
9 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.
Here is the interpretation quoted from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible (public domain)...but all found at the Bible Gateway website:
"The death of Christ, and the saving of a remnant of the people.
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 to �my Fellow. to � 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."
My current comments: What an amazing set of prophecies here in this passage from Zechariah!
What are these wounds in YOUR HANDS? These are wounds received in the house of my friends....WOW! How can this be taken any other way than as a direct prophecy fulfilled in exact detail when Our Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to that cruel cross, receiving these wounds in HIS HANDS which He would show to his friend and follower Thomas so that He would believe......and they were received in the HOUSE (House in OT refers to lineage, family, nation) of my friends (yet those to whom He came, (Jews), received Him not)...and certainly wounded Him there in their HOUSE, shared because of their lineage from David and from Abraham....making them "friends"....
And Jesus Christ HIMSELF interprets Zechariah 13:7:
As recorded in Matthew 26:31,
" 31 Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
" 'I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'
IN other words, Jesus says that Zechariah 13:7 refers directly to HIS TIME on this earth and to HIS DEATH's effect on His disciples.....
cannot be much clearer than that!
Matthew Henry believed the 2/3 who die and 1/3 who survive is concerning the same time that Jesus directly prophesies about - the Roman destruction of Israel which was a historic event in 70 AD.
I do not know the percentages of the population of Israel at that time that survived / were killed. But we know that Rome was brutal and ruthless.
This prophecy in Zechariah was NOT TALKING about the latter day ingathering of the Jews from all the nations of the world prior to the return of their Messiah who destroys the Gog and Magog force that sweeps down through Israel in the "latter days" it seems to me.....again because if you read Ezekiel 37, 38, 39 - what seems to occur at THAT time, is that Israel is regathered from all over the world into their land God called them to, Israel, and that they are dwelling in peace, with unwalled villages (we do not see this presently in Israel, do we?).....and that the Gog and Magog forces from the NORTH sweep down like a cloud - but THOSE FORCES are destroyed, NOT the people dwelling in Israel even though it seems it is the people of Israel who WILL BE destroyed.
INstead, they will see their Messiah King, the Lion of Judah, delivering them from this military force, and praising God, their true God, their Messiah, as a result.