<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Mark 1;6-8<div><br></div><div><b>6. &nbsp;Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.</b></div><div><b>7. &nbsp;And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals&nbsp;I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.</b></div><div><b>8. &nbsp;I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>The appearance&nbsp;of John the Baptist must have been startling,&nbsp;something of a wild man. &nbsp;I imagine his hair and beard were long, and his clothing very&nbsp;rough and&nbsp;untailored. &nbsp;(Although I believe he was clean, able to bathe himself as well.)&nbsp; &nbsp;His physical appearance, although striking, was probably not what was most notable about him. &nbsp;Neither was it&nbsp;his diet, or isolation in the Judean wilderness, which were&nbsp;most captivating about John;&nbsp;but rather his passion for God and for proclaiming God’s Word and work to God’s people. &nbsp;His spiritual&nbsp;eyes saw the truth concerning&nbsp;his kinsman Jesus. &nbsp;(Remember Mary and Elizabeth were kinswomen.). I imagine his earthly eyes were flashing and&nbsp;penetrating. &nbsp;I believe when he looked at you, you could feel he could see your most secret sins. &nbsp;The very spirit of Judgement Day was upon him and those who drew near to him I believe, trembled, as in the presence of God. Certainly, something akin to this was drawing people out of their comfortable homes into the harsh world of John the Baptist.</div><div><br></div><div>John the Baptist knew whose Son Jesus really was, and that he would be the final sacrifice for our&nbsp;sin.</div><div>He also understood that the ultimate work of God is not simply to cleanse us of our sin, or take us to heaven when we die…the ultimate work of God is to indwell us, and restore us to true humanity by being&nbsp;united in marriage to Christ, (The two, God and man,&nbsp;become one!). &nbsp;God’s work is to make us holy, not just in our personal&nbsp;being, but in our present and future&nbsp;life united with Christ,&nbsp; one with Jesus, and with each other.</div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>&nbsp;John&nbsp;proclaimed&nbsp;that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit. &nbsp;It is by the Holy Spirit that we are able to walk in newness of life, dead with the crucified&nbsp;</span><span>Christ to sin, and alive to God in the resurrected Christ. &nbsp;The gift of the Holy Spirit is ours in Baptism, (see, Acts 2;37&amp;38)</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Jesus said, <i>“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” &nbsp;</i>(Matthew 11;11)</span></div><div><span>Jesus ranks John the Baptist&nbsp;ahead of Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Elijah, and Enoch. &nbsp;Yet, John considers himself unworthy to be a foot-washing servant to Jesus. &nbsp;</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>The magnitude of the&nbsp;greatness of our Lord Jesus,&nbsp;(emphasized&nbsp;by John the Baptist) is intended to&nbsp;startle us even more, not only is his greatness far&nbsp;beyond that of all humanity, but we should be still more&nbsp;overwhelmed, even shocked, to consider the promise&nbsp;that he, (Jesus) will&nbsp;baptize <u>us</u>&nbsp;with the Holy Spirit! &nbsp;This is to be understood as a, <i>“participation in the divine nature.” &nbsp;</i>(2 Peter 1;4)</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>John’s life was set apart, different from the rest of humanity.&nbsp;His very life was a sermon to us from God, that we too are being called out of this world and reliance upon the things of this world, unto God, through repentance and dependence upon God only.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, draw us all unto Yourself alone,&nbsp;out&nbsp;of ‘ourselves’ and this corrupt deceitful dying ‘world’. We pray You do this even now as we walk in the Spirit, by faith, in the Mind of Christ. &nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”<br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Mark 1;6-8
6.  Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.7.  And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.8.  I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
The appearance of John the Baptist must have been startling, something of a wild man.  I imagine his hair and beard were long, and his clothing very rough and untailored.  (Although I believe he was clean, able to bathe himself as well.)   His physical appearance, although striking, was probably not what was most notable about him.  Neither was it his diet, or isolation in the Judean wilderness, which were most captivating about John; but rather his passion for God and for proclaiming God’s Word and work to God’s people.  His spiritual eyes saw the truth concerning his kinsman Jesus.  (Remember Mary and Elizabeth were kinswomen.). I imagine his earthly eyes were flashing and penetrating.  I believe when he looked at you, you could feel he could see your most secret sins.  The very spirit of Judgement Day was upon him and those who drew near to him I believe, trembled, as in the presence of God. Certainly, something akin to this was drawing people out of their comfortable homes into the harsh world of John the Baptist.
John the Baptist knew whose Son Jesus really was, and that he would be the final sacrifice for our sin.He also understood that the ultimate work of God is not simply to cleanse us of our sin, or take us to heaven when we die…the ultimate work of God is to indwell us, and restore us to true humanity by being united in marriage to Christ, (The two, God and man, become one!).  God’s work is to make us holy, not just in our personal being, but in our present and future life united with Christ,  one with Jesus, and with each other.
 John proclaimed that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit.  It is by the Holy Spirit that we are able to walk in newness of life, dead with the crucified Christ to sin, and alive to God in the resurrected Christ.  The gift of the Holy Spirit is ours in Baptism, (see, Acts 2;37&38)
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  (Matthew 11;11)Jesus ranks John the Baptist ahead of Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Elijah, and Enoch.  Yet, John considers himself unworthy to be a foot-washing servant to Jesus.  
The magnitude of the greatness of our Lord Jesus, (emphasized by John the Baptist) is intended to startle us even more, not only is his greatness far beyond that of all humanity, but we should be still more overwhelmed, even shocked, to consider the promise that he, (Jesus) will baptize us with the Holy Spirit!  This is to be understood as a, “participation in the divine nature.”  (2 Peter 1;4)
John’s life was set apart, different from the rest of humanity. His very life was a sermon to us from God, that we too are being called out of this world and reliance upon the things of this world, unto God, through repentance and dependence upon God only.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, draw us all unto Yourself alone, out of ‘ourselves’ and this corrupt deceitful dying ‘world’. We pray You do this even now as we walk in the Spirit, by faith, in the Mind of Christ.  In Jesus we pray, Amen 
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”

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