Zechariah 13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire,-
"Saved; yet so as by fire." This is true in a certain sense of all the righteous. They shall certainly be saved, and though the fires of persecution should rage around, the Lord will bring them through the fire. They shall not perish in it, but they shall even derive good from it; "I will bring the third part through the fire,"-
Zechariah 13:9. And will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried:
If you are God’s people, you will certainly be tried and tested. As surely as ever God has put you in the third part that he will save, he has also ordained that you should pass through the fire. You shall have, both within and without, that which shall test your sincerity, and prove whether your faith is of divine origin or not. There is no easy road to heaven.
"The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown."
Yet we who believe in Jesus are not an unhappy people. The character of God’s saints is still according to Paul’s paradoxes; "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."
Zechariah 13:9. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them:
What a precious little sentence: "they shall call on my name"! And God will give ear to their prayer: "And I will hear them." The "shall" and the "will" are put close together, and the one is as much the work of God’s grace as the other is: "They shall call on my name, and I will hear them."
Zechariah 13:9. I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Note these quick responses,-echoes, as it were. They call and God hears. God speaks, and they reply. God says, "It is my people." They answer, "The Lord is my God." Blessed are you if you can join in these heart-echoes, or can say, with the spouse, "My Beloved is mine, and I am his." Is there this mutual interchange of love between you and the all-glorious Lord? If so, thrice happy are you; but if not, God grant that you may speedily enter into this secret of the Lord! May he bless to every one of us the reading of his Word, for his dear Son’s sake! Amen.
Zechariah 13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire,-
"Saved; yet so as by fire." This is true in a certain sense of all the righteous. They shall certainly be saved, and though the fires of persecution should rage around, the Lord will bring them through the fire. They shall not perish in it, but they shall even derive good from it; "I will bring the third part through the fire,"-
Zechariah 13:9. And will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried:
If you are God’s people, you will certainly be tried and tested. As surely as ever God has put you in the third part that he will save, he has also ordained that you should pass through the fire. You shall have, both within and without, that which shall test your sincerity, and prove whether your faith is of divine origin or not. There is no easy road to heaven.
"The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown."
Yet we who believe in Jesus are not an unhappy people. The character of God’s saints is still according to Paul’s paradoxes; "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."
Zechariah 13:9. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them:
What a precious little sentence: "they shall call on my name"! And God will give ear to their prayer: "And I will hear them." The "shall" and the "will" are put close together, and the one is as much the work of God’s grace as the other is: "They shall call on my name, and I will hear them."
Zechariah 13:9. I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Note these quick responses,-echoes, as it were. They call and God hears. God speaks, and they reply. God says, "It is my people." They answer, "The Lord is my God." Blessed are you if you can join in these heart-echoes, or can say, with the spouse, "My Beloved is mine, and I am his." Is there this mutual interchange of love between you and the all-glorious Lord? If so, thrice happy are you; but if not, God grant that you may speedily enter into this secret of the Lord! May he bless to every one of us the reading of his Word, for his dear Son’s sake! Amen.