Marked By God: Part 3

Marked By God: Part 3 || Day 3

Mark 1:1-8 NKJV

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.” “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Yesterday we presented the first of a few things that John did to cause his life to be marked by God; People who are marked by God don’t mind having a different appetite.

Secondly, people who are marked by God don’t mind having a different attire.

Why was this so important for the Holy Spirit to point out in scripture? Nothing in the Bible is there by accident. In the time of John the Baptist, all the religious leaders or people who were considered to be a spiritual leader wore long robes. The Pharisees had certain attire that they wore. The Sadducees had certain attire that they wore. The priests had certain attire that they wore.

John shows up on the scene and has no long robe given by a religious structure. He has no priestly garments to put on because the current government of that day had taken over the priesthood. He has no Pharisee attire to put on to show everyone that he was called by God. He shows up in camel hair and a leather belt.

This is signifying two things to the people of that day. One is that he is walking in the spirit and power of Elijah.

Let me tell you what I have heard over and over for the last two years by preachers who are still saved. All of us continue to say these are the days of Elijah. In other words, God is marking and raising up people with this type of anointing and power once again to destroy the altars of Baal and repair the altars of Yahweh.

Secondly, God was letting everyone know that He doesn’t have to use our religious structure to raise up someone in the earth. He’s saying, “I don’t have to have your approval to anoint someone right now. They don’t have to be a part of your denomination or movement to be used by Me.”

Isaiah 43:18-19 says, “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

You see, in the eyes of the religious leaders and in the eyes of the current government, John was not supposed to be in leadership. John was supposed to be the next priest of the Lord. His father was the priest and he was next in line. However, they knew they couldn’t buy him, and they dared not try him. The religious leaders had teamed up with the government to control the city and those who served the Lord.

Therefore, the Pharisees, together with the government, moved John out of the way and put Caiaphas in his place. Now they had a priest that would take their money and overlook justice. He would take their position and not stand up for holiness. Now they had a priest that would support them so they could get put back in power. Even though everything they stood for was against what God stood for, now they had a priest that would even speak out against those who stood up for righteousness and holiness. Now they had a priest that would shut their church down for Sunday worship and open it up for Monday vaccinations.

And God said, “That’s fine you can move him out of your religious structure, but you can’t remove the mark on his life! You can push him out of the city, but I will push the people to the country where he is. And you can overlook him and step around him, but you will never have the mark of heaven that he has.”

In these last days God is marking people just like He did with John. Your spiritual attire is going to look different. They won’t be able to trace you back to certain religious structures. They won’t see the robes of past revivals on you. They won’t see the approval of The Who’s Who in the denomination. All they will see is a different attire which will signify, you have been marked by God