20160223 Tuesday, February 23 2016
Zechariah 13: The Coming End Of Idols And False Prophets

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"And 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"

The world, such as it has become, is grossly-infested with idols of all sorts - religious, political and personal - and the false prophets and politicians (see When Democracy Becomes Demolatry) who propagate them, and themselves. The idolatry began with the fall of humanity from its created-sinless state. The idolatry will end when humanity is risen from that dead-end carnality (see When The World Is Going To Reject The Way Of Satan and The Declaration Of Repentance).

As seen by the prophet Isaiah (see also How Art Thou Fallen From Heaven and Which Tree Will You Pick Fruit From?):

"2:17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 2:18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 2:19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

2:20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 2:21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." (Isaiah 2:17-21 KJV)

"31:7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin." (Isaiah 317 KJV)

As seen by the apostle John and recorded in the Book of Revelation (see also Revelation: Thy Kingdom Come). Notice that Isaiah and John describe the same powerful return of the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) in which those who have been clinging to idols will then toss them into the trash where they belong.

"7:16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. 7:17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. 7:18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. 7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity. 7:20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them. 7:21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it." (Ezekiel 7:16-21 KJV)

"9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." (Revelation 9:20-21 KJV)

Zechariah too, like the other true prophets of the LORD, was given to see and record the prophecies of when the world will be made true and clean again (see The City Of Truth Prophecy and The Former Rain And The Latter Rain).

"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.

13:2 And 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.

13:3 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.

13:4 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: 13:5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. 13:6 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.

13:7 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. 13:8 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. 13:9 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." (Zechariah 13:1-9 KJV)

Fact Finder: When did false prophets begin? When did idolatry begin?
See Where Did True and False Prophets Originate? and The History Of Idolatry; also The Cure For Confusion