Who Are the Two-Thirds?
I’m very interested in the dogma used by people who are biblical, or at least profess to be biblical in their worldview.
All of us, because we have finite minds, can be misled. We get things wrong. Only the Creator God is perfect.
So, what I’m talking about this week is not an indictment of certain people, but hopefully a teaching moment. I’m talking about some of the dogmatic positions those of us in Bible prophecy circles have heard and taught for a couple generations. These are things we are sure about but perhaps should be cautious and reconsidered.
Obviously, we do not and never will question foundational issues like the Virgin Birth, or the physical resurrection. The Lord Jesus Christ was the key player in both events. We all believe that.
I’m talking about things less important, but still important.
Let’s look at the famous view that in the last days, 2/3 of the Jews in the Land will be killed. Where does that idea come from?
Well, the Scriptural reference is in Zechariah 13, so let’s look at that entire chapter.
Cleansing From Sin
“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
2 “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. 3 And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.
4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair in order to deceive. 5 Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.’ 6 If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’
The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered
7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land,” declares the Lord,
“two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it.
9 This third I will put into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
Now, this is the Scriptural evidence for the view that there will be a “second holocaust” for the Jews. I have found this to be a very problematic passage for Jews. And remember, this comes from their scriptures: the Hebrew Scriptures. Our “Old Testament.”
They ask, “Why are you Christians claiming we are going to be slaughtered again? Wasn’t one enough for you?”
It’s a legitimate question. So I began studying that. Honestly, 25 years ago when I had this thought, I had simply remembered what someone told me. What I heard taught. Going to the Bible and actually looking at what the text says can be rather sobering.
So far as I know, the entire Christian belief that 2/3 of the Jews in Israel will be killed comes from Zechariah 13. In that section of the book, we are dealing with the great last days prophecies coming to fulfillment. The “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.” This is the big finale, as God prepares to usher-in eternity. In this context, Christ will subdue the antichrist once and for all. And, because He is the Creator, this isn’t really a “battle.” The Battle of Armageddon simply reveals the Christ to be Who He has always insisted that He is. Not even the great thinker and orator Christopher Hitchens will be able to mock and explain this away.
So let me ask you: Why do you believe 2/3 of the Jews in the Land will be killed?
I believed it because some prophecy teacher said it or wrote it.
But what do I find when I read the text? In this rich context, it doesn’t matter what X Prophecy Teacher believes. We all cling to biases like a dog on a bone. I’ve found that many prophecy teachers are literally invested in a dogma that I don’t think stands up to scrutiny. But because he is revered, people listen and don’t question. They just lament the fact that, as of today, another six million Jews will be wiped out by a vicious enemy.
I’m not so sure of that.
If we are looking at the facts, all we know is that 2/3 “in the whole land” will be struck down. If we are looking at the whole of the promised land to the Jews, that comprises nations that today fly an Arab flag. Let’s say, re-attach Jordan to the Land. Then we can easily see that the two-thirds are Arabs. There are at present 450 million Arabs in the Middle East. About eight million Jews.
The one-third spared will be the Jews. Isn’t that possible, from the text? It just says 2/3 will die “in the Land.” The Bible does not at all say, “Two-thirds of the Jews will be killed.”
Not at all.
Let’s take another dogma, in the same way. I’ve always heard that Noah preached for 120 years—while the ark was being built—to the masses. Pleading with them to believe. Giving them a second or 50th chance.
No.
That is not what Scripture says. It tells us from the beginning of this story that God came to a righteous man, Noah, and told him to build a large wooden ship, with three levels. Room for the animals and eight humans.
Eight people. Total. Nowhere in that story do we read that Noah preached to the masses. The truth is, we have almost no information as to what he was doing, other than supervising the construction of a strange ship. We don’t even know for sure that other people had any thoughts about it. They certainly were not on some sort of alternate list.
God had decided what He was going to do and He never deviated from that plot.
We get the idea that Noah preached to the masses, imploring them to come in, because someone other than God told us that. They got that idea from their finite mind. We do read in Genesis 7 and 1 Peter 3:20 that eight people would survive. And let’s look also specifically at 2 Peter 2:5:
“if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others…”
Do you see? Evidently, Noah was a preacher of righteousness both before and after the Flood. But he did not plead with people, through preaching, that destruction was coming. God had decreed what He decreed long before, and He did not change His mind.
Isaiah 46:9,10—
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure…
We get ideas from men. We get truth from God.
Look, I’m not even dogmatic about my own ideas I’ve presented here. They will undergo the same scrutiny any human ideas should. But God’s Word is fixed and forever.
I’m just giving you something to think about. We might not be waiting for a second holocaust. Maybe what is coming is a reckoning for Israel’s enemies.
Think about it.
www.patreon.com/TheGodThatAnswers