Fasting Day 12: Is Fasting a Requirement?
In the Old Testament, once a year the Jewish believers were required to fast:
“In the seventh month, on the tenth day, you shall go without eating” (Lv. 16:29, CEV).
This fast was kept on the Day of Atonement. So it is called the Yom Kippur Fast. God commanded everyone to fast on this day to remember the solemn experience of their salvation.
On the day of Atonement, the high priest took the blood of an animal into the Holy of Holies to offer it in substitution for the sins of everyone:
“And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, put on his garments, come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people” (Lv. 16:24).
The Day of Atonement dealt with the sins of the people, so everyone fasted to identify with the High Priest, who sacrificed a lamb for the forgiveness of their sin.[i]
Today, Christians are not required to fast. We’re not under law, but under grace. We no longer have to sacrifice the blood of a lamb for forgiveness. Jesus is the Lamb of God who died for all.
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
In the Old Testament Jewish believers fasted to demonstrate their obedience to God. However, in the New Testament, things are different. We are not required to fast, but we are allowed to fast for many reasons.
Jesus said to his disciples, “When you fast…” not, “if you fast…” (Mt. 6:16). Although fasting is not required, Jesus expected His disciples to capitalize on the opportunity of fasting because fasting is a discipline that builds character and faith. (See also Feeding Faith for a 3-part series on how fasting strengthens our faith.)
We have the opportunity of engaging in the discipline of fasting in order to feed:
- our faith
- our worship
- our character
- our prayer life
- our hunger for God
- our dependence on God
- our experience of His word
- our holy, separated, sanctified walk with God
We have the opportunity of fasting in order that we might starve (bring into subjection to the Spirit):
- our flesh
- our self-will
- our self-worship
- our self-governance
- our doubt and unbelief
- our rebellion and constant attempt to walk without God
I am glad that Jesus paid it all — that we no longer have to offer sacrifices for sin!
I am also glad that we have the opportunity of choosing to fast — choosing to offer our bodies to God in worship:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1).
When we fast and pray, we present our bodies (and the meals we forfeit) to God as a living sacrifice, a memorial that forever remains before His throne. The worship that we offer God through fasting helps keep us sensitive to the Holy Spirit and obedient to Him, resulting in a holy life.
Worship: Jesus Paid It All
Jesus Paid It All by Kristian Stanfill
Question: Are you glad you are given the opportunity to fast? If so, why?
[i] Atonement means “at-one-ment,” the state of being at one with God or being reconciled to Him. God is perfect and without sin. Because He is righteous and just, God must ultimately judge sin. He will judge the world by the standard of the Ten Commandments, a standard of complete perfection from the day we were born till the day we die. The result of God’s judgment is death and separation from Him (Isaiah 59:2). Unreconciled to God, we are God’s “enemies” (Rom. 5:10; 8:7), and have “no hope” (Eph. 2:12). All people have sinned, have fallen short of God’s perfect, holy standard and deserve the consequence of death (Rom. 3:23; 6:23).
In the Old Testament, God required animal sacrifices to provide temporary forgiveness of sins and to foreshadow the perfect and complete sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Lev. 4:35, 5:10). Animal sacrifice is an important theme throughout Scripture because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). When Adam and Eve sinned, animals were killed by God to provide clothing for them (Gen. 3:21). Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to the Lord. Cain’s was unacceptable because he brought fruit, while Abel’s was acceptable because it was the “firstborn of his flock” (Gen. 4:4-5).
God commanded the nation of Israel to offer sacrifices according to specific procedures He gave. The sacrifice called for on the Day of Atonement, described in Leviticus 16, demonstrates forgiveness and the removal of sin. The high priest was to take two male goats for a sin offering. One of the goats was sacrificed as a sin offering for the people of Israel (Lev. 16:15), while the other goat was released into the wilderness (Lev. 16:20-22). The sin offering provided forgiveness, while the other goat provided the removal of sin.
But we no longer offer animal sacrifices today. Such sacrifices ended because Jesus Christ was the ultimate and perfect sacrifice. John the Baptist acknowledged this when he saw Jesus coming to be baptized and said, “Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Christ’s death on the cross in behalf of sinners satisfied the demands of the law and the justice of God. Christ died in our place. He took the punishment of our sin and experienced the suffering and death each person deserved ( 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24). In Christ, God Himself bore the consequences of human sin.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10).
Through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, God reconciled us to Himself and bridged the gap between Him and us (1 Peter 3:18). The atonement is the consequence of God’s love to guilty men (John 3:16; Romans 3:24, 25; Romans 5:8; Eph. 1:7; 1 John 1:9; 1 John 4:9-10).
