2 “It shall be in that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. 3 It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.
God values truth and severely deals with false teaching. When people lead others astray, it carries significant consequences. That is why the Lord will cleanse the land of idolatry and falsity.
13:2
“It shall be in that day,” says the Lord of hosts,
“That day” continues to be an emphasis of Zechariah. Here the reference is to a coming day before the Second Coming of Christ where God will judge idolatry and cleanse Israel so that she will be ready for the coming of Christ.
“that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered.
Idols will be cut off from the land so that there will be no memory of them. God will remove the image of the beast in the Temple in Jerusalem (Dan 9:27; 11:31; Mt 24:15; 2 Th 2:4; Rev 13:4). This event will occur during the Tribulation.
I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.
The “prophets” here are false prophets. These false teachers, who have an unclean spirit, will be removed from the land of Israel. The spirit behind heresy is “unclean”—that is, demonic activity.
13:3
It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord.’
God required the death penalty for those who engage in false teaching and idolatry (Deut 13:7-10; 18:20), especially the claim to speak in the name of the LORD.
And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.
Since the law of Moses required that the nation kill false prophets, families will execute capital punishment on their children. The truth about Jehovah will have a higher value than natural family bonds. The national conversion of Israel will be so complete that all memories of false teaching will be obliterated.
PRINCIPLE:
God abhors false teaching.
APPLICATION:
One day God’s people will put the Lord before anything else. Israel betrayed Jesus at His first coming, but there will come a day when Jews embrace Jesus as their Messiah. Then they will not tolerate false prophets or any teaching that violates the Messiah.
