Charles Spurgeon Commentary Zechariah 13:9

"And I will bring the third part into 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, Jehovah is my God." — Zechariah 13:9 (ASV)

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,–

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 God has put you in the third part that he will save, he has also ordained that you should pass through the fire. You will have, both within and without, that which will 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."

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.

I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Note these quick responses—echoes, so to speak. 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, truly happy are you; but if not, may God grant that you quickly 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.