Today’s Living Word comes from Mark 1:6, “ Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, ”
In a sense, Old Testament prophets wore uniforms. Zechariah 13:4 says, "And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive.” If you wanted to be recognized as a prophet, you put on the simple coarse hair robe of a prophet.
Even the false prophets did this in order to gain credibility.
In 2 Kings 1:8, King Ahaziah recognizes Elijah when he was described to him as “a hairy man who wore a leather belt around his waist. It was not by accident that John wore this same simple outfit, for it identified him as a prophet, but even more importantly identified him with the Elijah spoken of in Malachi 4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” This was later confirmed by Jesus in Matthew 11:14, “ And if you are willing to receive it, he (John the Baptist) is Elijah who is to come.”
Everything about John pointed to the Elijah who would be the forerunner of the One who was to come and we should not miss this key point, because it is further affirmation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
I’m Duane Matz and that’s today’s Living Word.
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