Faithful are the wounds of a friend
Recently, while preaching through the book of Zechariah, I was struck by a passage in the thirteenth chapter in which the prophet spoke of a time when the Lord would so work in and among his people that they would no longer tolerate the presence of idols or the prophets who served them. So adamant would they be in this that even the family members of the false prophets would rebuke and discipline them. What’s more, the false prophets themselves would come to be grateful for this. Every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, but he will say, “I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil…” And if one asks him, “What are these wounds on your back?” he will say, “The wounds I received in the house of my friends” (Zech. 13:4-6). The genuineness of their repentance would be proven by the fact that they would regard as friends , those who had reproved them and rescued them from their er...