This Week's Story
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Who was he - brave preacher, desert dweller, prophet, messenger, birth announced by angel Gabriel, forerunner of Jesus, beheaded!
This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.
Who are you? part two
Levi awoke to the night sky changing to day. His yesterday’s grumpy camel, Eitan, was now happily eating thorny fiber-rich plants outside John’s tent.
“Eitan, my camel friend, you are surely one of God’s marvels! With your thick lips and tough tongue with firm bumps, you gobble plants with thorns. They would give my mouth misery. Each wretched thorn would have to be removed,”
John called, “Levi, please join me for breakfast.
A hair-cloth was spread between him and Levi. On it were a pitcher of water, roasted locusts, and a tin dish brimming with honey comb. John’s diet included no bread.
Levi watched John curiously. His food and appearance were exactly as people in Levi’s village had described. “He lives a totally simple lifestyle. No indulgences! He does not drink wine or any alcoholic drink. His daily food is locusts and honey. Don’t expect any party food. He wears a garment made of camel’s hair and a leather belt. Neither his hair or beard are cut.”
“John, desert life must agree with you. You look healthy.”
“My desert life has many advantages. The locusts and honey I eat help maintain balanced health in my body. They are considered a clean food in the Mosaic law.”
“John, why are you living in the Judaean Desert?”
“It was my place for training as I grew up. Now, it is where I am to do the work God has been training me to do.
“The angel Gabriel told my father before I was born that I would be filled with the Holy Spirit even when I was growing in my mother. I cannot explain that, except to say that from my earliest remembrances God has been real to me. I believe that what Gabriel told my father is true. I accept that I am to be a prophet with the message God gives me.
“Levi, you know some of my story from my family and neighbors. My birth, the visit of the angel Gabriel to my father, my preaching in the countryside along the Jordan River and in the Judaean Desert have not been secrets. My task as a prophet was prophesied by the prophets Isaiah and Malachi in the Old Testament.”
“John, please tell me what Isaiah prophesied about you.”
“Seven hundred years before I was born, and I am now in my early thirties, Isaiah wrote, ‘The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
“What did the prophet Malachi prophesy about you, John?”
“He wrote, ‘Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.’”
“How would you, John, describe your mission as a prophet?”
“I am, by God’s strength, to preach to people that they are to repent from their sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the Jordan River. Their repentance is preparing them for the Messiah, who will bring salvation.”
This story will conclude next week when John meets Jesus. You can find resource passages for today’s story in Luke 1 and 3, Matthew 3, Isaiah 40, and Malachi 3. Check out thisweeksstory.com.
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