“Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.” – Matthew 3:4
John the Baptist certainly had a unique fashion sense and diet! You probably don’t want to imitate that as your New Year’s resolution. He dressed like the old-time prophet Elijah to help Israel understand that God had sent His first prophet in four centuries. John was all about the authentic word of God, not appearances. Listen up, he announced…
John offered Israel good news and bad news. The good news was that God’s Kingdom was about to break into the world. The Messiah was coming soon to a countryside near them! The bad news is that they were deeply sinful people who needed to get onto God’s agenda if they were going to receive the Messiah and enter the Kingdom.
Many did. God drew enormous crowds to this wild man with the wild diet. They came to repent of their sins and be baptized as a sign of spiritual cleansing. They came to prepare their hearts to respond to Jesus, though they didn’t yet know His name. Unfortunately, many didn’t come. Many of the most “religious” people of the day wanted little to do with John the Baptist. They valued their religion over the authentic word of God. They did the same when they encountered Jesus.
John prepared the way for Jesus. Jesus came in a very different style, but He certainly got people’s attention. Some embraced Him. Most rejected Him. That remains true today. Have you embraced Jesus? Is He your Savior? Your Lord? Your King? If not, what’s stopping you from believing in Him and entering God’s Kingdom? #FollowJesus