"And it shall come to pass in all the land, declares the Lord, that two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive" (Zechariah 13:8). Rabbi Berachiah said: this is not a prophecy about disaster. This is a prophecy about refining. The two-thirds that are cut off are the dross. The one-third that remains is the silver, purified by what it has passed through.
The midrash turns this toward the end of days — the great eschatological reckoning that the Psalms and the Writings anticipate throughout Aggadat Bereshit. A third of humanity will survive to see the world repaired. A third of Israel specifically will endure. The rabbis were not offering these numbers as predictions so much as as a structure for hope: the most extreme tribulation is not total destruction. Something — someone — comes through.
What comes through? The text specifies: those who called on the name of God. "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 my God'" (Zechariah 13:9). The covenant language at the end of history echoes the covenant language at the beginning — I am yours, you are mine. The refining fire of the end of days burns off everything except the relationship. And the relationship, it turns out, is indestructible.