Zechariah 13:2 Commentary and Bible Study

He gives us a further elaboration of the destruction of the old order and its replacement with the new. It refers to the new land, the spiritual church, where there will be no idols. Although one land is spoken of, in a sense, it is all nations, because the church of Jesus Christ will be spread throughout all the world. Old Testament Israel could have fine leaders but the people still went home and worshipped idols, but now because only the regenerate are in the church, then when error comes it will have to sneak in because there is a clear standard. Pollution of the church will not be possible in a barefaced way. God will cut off the names of idols and departures from the faith from the land, from the individual local churches which are faithful to him. (This does not, of course, mean that there will not be an apostate church also, but that is outside the true Jerusalem.) The New Testament certainly warns against idolatry (1 John 5:21), but this includes covetousness which Paul says is equivalent to idolatry (Colossians 3:5), and in context it includes all departures from the truth. The sort of idolatry seen in OT Israel will find it hard to get into a true church. The people of the true church, who with all their hearts trust in the Lord and his word, will not succumb to falsehood and to superstition, and to idols, or any form of idolatry.‘Also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.’ If prophets are understood to be false prophets, then the term ‘unclean spirits’ is explanatory, and both are excluded for the same reason. Obviously unclean spirits, unclean demons, false prophets, will have no place in the church; they were conquered by Christ when he brought demon possession to an end wherever the gospel has had its influence. They are unable to possess believers and unable to possess people in general without their consent. Witchcraft is among those sins which brought the death penalty under the law of Moses (Exodus 22:18), and which bars entrance into the kingdom of heaven (Galatians 5:20-21). But if the prophets are understood as true prophets, then they will also have no place in the New Testament age. Apart from at the very beginning, there will be no more prophets because we have the word of God and the Scriptures are complete. All in the church will subscribe to God’s truth. The true church that holds aloft the word of God and believes the Bible.