INTRODUCTION
Scripture is full of moments which seem transcendent. The Choirmaster in Psalm 42, in light of verse-five, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” writes in verse one and two, “As a deer pants for the flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”[1] A prayer of Moses is depicted in Psalm 90. Aware of fickle human hearts, secret sins, and finite faculties, the Psalmist cries out in verses 13-14, pleading, “Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”[2] The Apostle Paul, emphasizing his ambition to honor Christ with his body, names death gain in naming a departure to be with Christ far better in verse twenty-three.[3] Meaning, though he lives to honor God by living for Christ, he recognizes the difference between languishing in the flesh, even with grace, compared to communion with God when this passing age is done. Of course, this is also relevant in Paul’s language in Romans 8:38-39.[4] When Christ compels a human heart toward everlasting glory Christ becomes the centrality of their yearning in this life. In the one sense, like the Psalmist, it is baffling we entertain a cast down disposition when infinite communion with the God of all creation exists, and it is another thing to reckon a pilgrim’s weary road, with humility looks upward, yearning for union with Christ, unsatisfied with wrestling life between Spirit and flesh, should longs for the day of resurrection. When we shall be with Christ in uninterrupted eternal union. Though this is beyond our full capacity, Christ by the Holy Spirit draws near in such a way which trains the heart to pant and even long for it.
Fasting, as we will explore below, summarily, is an expression of yearning for communion with God. And the ultimate fulfillment of such communion drives with an eschatological means. Meaning, the consummation of this age is not without human persons crying out, “Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants.” Yet currently, we have a conflict of interest. Restlessness and discontentment with the person and worth of Christ abound. Barren hearts feast upon bread which does not satisfy. Humankind immerses herself in dark depths in hopes to procure fulfillment. She is destitute. And yet amidst this burgeoning historical moment, Jesus is still King. Jesus is still preeminent over all things. Disillusionment and despair meet their end where Christ and the church glory in mutual satisfaction in one another. The discipline of fasting is often disregarded and/or misunderstood in its spiritual appropriation in aiding this end. Therefore, in aid to this end, we will briefly evaluate the theological role of fasting in Scripture, wrestle briefly with our spiritual warfare and fasting, concluding with how Christ coming satisfies the church’s yearning for His’ presence now and anticipates His’ return eagerly.
FASTING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Fasting is not synonymously Hebraic. Kent Berghuis observes, while it is unlikely to trace an exact origin, “From earliest antiquity” fasting was practiced individually and corporately, everywhere.[5] Summarily, fasting in the Old Testament (OT) The root words associated with fasting appear twenty-six times in the OT, are best defined as religious practice, and is always an abstinence of food, and sometimes included drink.[6] Berghuis adds, fasting in the OT, similar to the NT, holds inferences which “afflict one’s soul” (Lev. 16:29, 31), showing an association to “humble one’s soul” (Ps. 35:13).[7] Furthermore, Berghuis names positive categories of fasting in the OT: “(1) A sign of grief and mourning, (2) a sign of repentance and seeking forgiveness of sin, (3) as an aid in prayer, (4) as an experience of the presence of God that results in the endorsement of his messenger, and (5) as an act of ceremonial public worship.”[8] For the remainder of this section we will briefly interact with key Scriptures which connect an overarching Christ-centric purpose in fasting.
Eden: Food as a mock sustainer of life. In the story of the Garden one comes face to face, as it were, with a food restrictive test of obedience. In Genesis 2:16-17, “The first sin of the Bible was a violation of dietary restriction,” and it should not go unnoticed, Adam’s consequence involves laborious toil to produce and consume food, which has now become a necessity for sustaining life.[9] Thus, both violation and consequence are food related. Whereas food was a tool for enjoyment and God the true sustainer of life, post fall, food is now a “tool of divine discipline” and bears humanity a perpetual reminder of disobedience.[10] Is it any wonder food plays a central role for idolatry? Nevertheless, humanity is not left in a hopeless state, food will not always dominate as necessity. And while childbearing renders a partial consequence of sin, childbearing possesses a mark of hope-for in the seed will come forth the Messiah (Gen. 1:27; 13:15-16; 15:3-18; 17:7-19).[11] Of course, all this makes more sense in the narrative promises associated with Abraham: Gen. 21:12; Isaac: 26:4, 24; and Jacob: 28:4, 13-14, 32:12, 35:12, 48:4.[12] As we will see unfold, food has now become a mock sustainer for life, and a divine source of discipline.
Moses: The presence of God as Sustainer.. The first major representation of fasting in the OT is one of epic proportion. Moses, supernaturally, completes 3 forty-day fast from food and liquid (Exod. 24:18, 34:26; Deut. 9:18). Berghuis includes, “Presumably he [Moses] received the instructions of Exodus 25-31 during this time, dealing primarily with tabernacle construction and worship regulations. The encounter ends with the story of the people’s idolatry, Moses’ repeated intercessions, his breaking of the tablets, and his destruction of the golden calf (32: 1-35).”[13] One may imagine Moses after coming down the mountain, seeing the Golden Calf idolatry, and breaking the tablets; Moses fast again forty days for the sin of the people. Then God calls him back up the mountain, where he engages another forty day fast. While it is not impossible to complete a forty-day fast from food, it is impossible to more than a few days without water. Moses’ three forty-days were without food and water, meaning they were supernatural. Furthermore, this illuminates the presence of God as the sustainer of Moses’ life.[14] God as the sustainer of human life is the first theme; humankinds need of mediator who lives to intercede is the second. During the second fast, after Moses comes down from the mountain with the first set of Tablets, looking upon the idolatry of his people worshipping a golden calf, then breaking the Tablets, proceeds into the second fast as an act of intercession.[15] The people need a mediator, they need intercession. Moses’ second fast foreshadows the One who has ultimate power to intercede once and for the sins of humankind. Meaning, the idea that God’s wrath can be averted by “the complete humility and dependence on God shown by Moses in his fasting plays a role in God’s acceptance of his plea.” (Deut. 9:14, 26-29).[16] Moses represents fasting for the sake of depending on the presence of God alone as sustainer. This is demonstrated both in the receiving of the Law, and with intercession on behalf of sin.
The Prophets: Mourning illuminates eschatological hope. In the prophets, fasting is represented for many circumstances: grief (Judges 20:26; 2 Sam. 1:12); community wide fast (Jer. 14:1-12; Joel 1:14, 2:12-15) such as the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29-30); in response to personal sorrow and suffering (1 Sam. 1:7-8, 20:34; Job 3:24; Ps. 42:3, 102:4, 107:17-18); community-wide repentance and forgiveness (1 Sam. 7:5:6; Neh. 9:1; Joel 1:14; Jonah 3:5); personal forgiveness of sin (1 Sam. 1:7-11; 2 Sam. 12:16; 1 Kings 21:27; Neh. 1:4; Dan. 9:3); and fasting to aid prayer (2 Sam. 12:16-23; Neh. 1:8-10, 11; Ps. 35:13, 109:21-24; Jer. 14:1-12; Dan. 6:18, 9:3, 15-19, 10:1-3; Joel 1:14, 2:12-15).[17] The Major and Minor prophets are glossed with human sorrow and suffering, of sin and anguishing consequences, and time again the Prophet’s lead readership toward a harrowing realization- “the theological ideas attached to the practice seem to grow and converge in the prophetic anticipation of an eschatological fulfillment in an age when fasting and repentance will give way to the presence of eternal gladness and justice.”[18] In Eden communion is lost, in Moses and the Prophets the ultimate realization of eschatological consummation reunites humankind to eternal communion with God. A great example of this is in the book of Joel. God judges the southern kingdom, Judah, for their sins. The prophet Joel (2:12-17) calls Judah to repentance with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Not only will this corporate sacred-assembly heal their land from the consequential present judgement, it will overt an even worse judgement to come upon those who disobey. Thus, here one finds, as with Moses’ intercessory forty-day fast (his 2nd), God, through Joel calls for a corporate response, which includes fasting. Sin disrupts communion; fasting, as an essential, aims to restore communion; and, as proclaimed in verses 2:28-32, there is a promise of a people who will commune with God by the Spirit of God, and there is an eschatological proponent attached.[19] Thereby, through the Prophets, one sees fasting as a tool for communion with God in the present, and ultimately as an eschatological yearning for the fulfilment of the fulness of time, when the Messiah is revealed, and God Himself rules the nations forever.
Summarization of OT fasting. “Fasting is as old as humanity: it was legislated in paradise. It was the first command that Adam received: You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You shall not eat legislates fasting and self-control.”[20] While the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil may be often subpar to the other elements accounted for, food is caught in the drama. Food is then given as the burden of sustenance; God, who cannot dwell with evil (Ps. 5:4) gives the flesh of human sustenance over to food and drink. Food and drink now become a mock life force, all while binding hand and hand human desire, desperation, and power for idolatry within the hearts of humankind. However, the story does not end there. Eve shall bear a seed, and the seed shall bear a hope for humankind. A hope which will restore humankind’s true life-source. Looking to this hope, Moses and the Prophets demonstrate a different kind of hunger. A hunger which perpetuates longing for the coming of Messiah. Messiah will restore all things. The consequential plight of the human condition will come to its head. Fasting is a key element of the story. To abstain from food and drink as yearning for the presence of God; as intercession for repentance and forgiveness; of mourning and weeping and suffering; a humility of self-denial, in protest to the absence of communion with God. The OT combines absence of communion and repentance and forgiveness of sin with an anticipating eschatological hope for future restoration of the human capacity to fellowship with God. There is a day coming when fasting will we turned into gladness, when fasting will turn to feasting, when the life sustaining for of humankind will once again be God alone.[21]Therefore, the central purpose of fasting in the OT, as an aid to prayer, was for repentance and forgiveness of sin. Sin is tied to anything which ultimately inflicts separation from communion with God. Fasting then portrays the absence of food and drink as a self-denying recognition of human need of their true life-sustaining force; God. Though other nuances exist, other motivations for fasting in OT are also noted as aiding in idolatry (Isa. 58:6-7).[22]
FASTING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
In the New Testament (NT) as with the OT, “The issue is not food per se. The issue is anything and everything that is, or can be, a substitute for God.”[23] Eden represented a type of temple, then a physical temple[s] were commanded to be erected in Jerusalem as a type of sanctuary for God to dwell among humankind; however, these were only prototypical for the fulness of communion with God in the temple which is Christ Jesus.[24] I agree with John Piper who looks to Matthew 9:14-17 as a kind of thesis statement on NT fasting.[25] In this, one finds Christ in the metaphor of bridegroom. John’s disciple’s fast due Christ not with them, and Jesus’ disciples do not fast due Christ, the bridegroom, being with them. Jesus conveys, asking, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them” (vs. 15a)? Then, saying, “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (vs. 15b). In a continuation of thought not dissimilar from the Prophets, NT fasting is an instrument, namely, an expression of longing and yearning for the eschatological hope in the return of Christ. It recognizes limited fellowship with God’s presence through the Holy Spirit, however, it yearns for the day when Christ returns. In that day the fulness of communion between God and humankind will be restored. Therefore, fasting in its most proper expression, notwithstanding access to His presence now, centralizes the return of Christ, “our blessed hope.”[26] Where Eden and temples of material failed, Christ is the new Temple (Jn. 2:20-22), and humankind must recognize their body as not their own, rather, by the Holy Spirit our body is a temple for the dwelling place of God in Christ (1 Cor. 6:19). Meaning, there exist a paradigm of mystery: Jesus as the new Temple and our bodies being a temple through the Spirit of God, this means Christ has provided the necessary means for unhindered, eternal communion between God and humankind. The reality of fasting in the NT being tied to Jesus as the bridegroom gives the notion love and communion. My wife and I met overseas working with a mission’s organization. Then she returned to the States-neither of us had romantic inclinations toward one another. A couple of years later we reconnected through social media, began talking on the phone and video calling platforms, and handwritten letters. During those six-months we fell in love. It was a remarkable season of life for us. Not only did I experience a sense of longing to be in the presence of another person at unparalleled measures; I also grew in my understanding of what it meant to miss and yearn to be in the presence of God through the Spirit. And, notwithstanding, though many other lessons have added to it, I have a deeper yearning for eschatological communion with God. NT fasting is bound up in the great epic cry at the end of the book: “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’”[27] Below we will parallel NT fasting with OT fasting, then center on Christ as the goal for NT fasting.
In Christ alone is the fullness of fasting. Speaking of Eden, Berghuis notes, writing, “The ultimate hope of the believer is one of feasting and enjoying the life intended by God through the work of Christ, who kept the fast that humanity could not.”[28] Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist identifies Christ as the “beloved Son in whom I [God] is well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; Mk. 1:11; Lk. 3:22); D.A. Carson adds, “This creates a context of messianic and eschatological fulfillment.”[29] The stage is set as Jesus heads into the desert to begin his infamous forty-day fast. “In the Garden, knowledge of good and evil was offered at the expense of death by eating; in the desert, Christ refuses to eat and so shows dependence on the true source of life.”[30] Jesus’ desert experience mimics Moses’ desert experience. Moses fasted for the sins of the people, and Jesus fast for the sins of the people; however, Jesus Himself is more than fasting for the people, he is preparing to take on the punishment of human sin in their stead. Moses brings down God’s law, which he drops and breaks at the sight of the people’s idolatry; Jesus is the fulfillment of the law which cannot break-as He (the law) will be written upon human hearts. Moses served as one pointing to a necessary mediator between God and humankind; Jesus is the mediator between God and humanity.[31] Christ humbles Himself taking on human flesh, and he humbles Himself, as it were, fulfilling roles significant to the Prophets who came before Him, and “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).[32] The question now turns to whether fasting is now relevant or fulfilled in Christ.
New Wineskins. In Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, and Luke 5:33-39, in the middle the Pharisees examine Christ as to why John the Baptist’ disciples fast, and Jesus’ disciples de not Jesus draws their attention to new and old wineskins. As with above, Jesus is pictured as the bridegroom who is with his friend. How can his friends fast while he is with them? Remembering Berghuis’ transitional point between OT and NT fasting.[33] The analogy of old wineskins to new wineskins is covenantal language, the new age has begun and the old age has passed away.[34] This presents the tension of a an already/not yet age of fasting and feasting.[35] From the text we see that new wine is not suitable for old wineskins, new wine requires new wineskins. What Berghuis, and with Piper below, we contend a contextual hermeneutic; namely, Jesus parable of the wineskin is an analogy for a new way of fasting. Along with Luke 5:39, which indicates the difficulty of enjoying new wine in comparison to old wine; we see this beautiful tension arise, one where our hearts yearn and long for the eschatological perfection of our faith, where we will be united with Christ in communion, untarnished forever. And in the other, Christ is also present with us in this age. Piper elaborates wonderfully writing,
“The patch of unshrunk clothe and the new wine represent the new reality that has come with Jesus-the kingdom of God is here. The Bridegroom has come. The Messiah is in our midst. And that is not temporary. He is not here and then gone. The kingdom of God did not come in Jesus and then just vanish out of the world. Jesus died for our sins once and for all. He rose from the dead once and for all. The Spirit was sent into the world as the real presence of Jesus among us. The kingdom of God is the present reigning power of Christ in the world subduing hearts to the king and creating a people who believe him and serve him in faith and holiness. The Spirit of the Bridegroom is gathering and purifying his bride for Christ. This is the gospel of Christ and “the mystery of the kingdom…” This is the new wine…This traditional fasting is the old wineskin [Fasting legalistically, portrayed in Lk. 18:11-12]. And Jesus says that it cannot contain the new wine of the kingdom that he is bringing…In other words, the yearning and longing and ache of the old fasting was not based on the glorious truth that the Messiah had come. The mourning over sin and the yearning for deliverance from danger and the longing for God that inspired the old fasting were not based on the great finished work of the Redeemer and the great revelation of his truth and grace in history…But now the Bridegroom has come. And in coming he struck the decisive blow against sin and Satan and death.”[36]
Both Berghuis and Piper spend some time engaging the notion for which this new wine of the kingdom of God, namely, Christ in us by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, means the need or practice of fasting has now ceased. I will not argue this here. I will leave it with Piper’s understanding as he deals fairly and decisively with the matter. Piper, rather than calling for an end to fasting, as with above, conveys, “The new wine of his presence calls for new fasting.”[37]As with Berghuis, Piper acknowledges this beautiful tension, Christ is both here now by the power and presence of the Spirit of God, yet in the fullness of unhindered flesh and sin and Satan and death, Christ is here and not here. And the epochal glory which sets NT longing and yearning for the eschatological return of Christ apart from the OT is Christ has come, and Christ has conquered, and Christ is near to us by the Spirit.[38] We do not fast from an absence of Christ with us by the Spirit. Even our yearning and longing for Christ return is accompanied by the presence of Christ by the Spirit. Piper writes emphatically of this truth, saying,
“We do not fast out of emptiness. Christ is already in us the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). We have been “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is [now!] the guarantee of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:13-14; see also 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5). We have tasted of the powers of the age to come, and our fasting is not because we are hungry for something we have not experienced, but because the new wine of Christ’s presence is so real and so satisfying. We must have all that is possible to have. The newness of our fasting is this: its intensity comes not because we have never tasted the wine of Christ’s presence, but because we have tasted it so wonderfully by his Spirit, and cannot not be satisfied until the consummation of our joy arrives. The new fasting, the Christian fasting, is a hunger for all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19), aroused by the aroma of Jesus’ love and by the taste of God’s goodness in the Gospel of Christ (1 Peter 2:2-3).”[39]
The eschatological yearning and longing for “our blessed hope,” Jesus, to return and make all things new is intact, it remains central. However, we are void of Christ physical presence in the NT age. We have access to Christ through the Spirit of God, and therefore, our yearning and longing for God are both for the ultimate eschatological fulfillment, and for the here and now desperation cry for communion with God, through Christ, by the power of the Spirit. Thus, fasting has not ceased in the fulfillment of Christ, rather, like many kingdom-centric practices, it has intensified it purpose, centralized in Christ alone, has now arrived at its fullest meaning and purpose for practice.
NT understanding of fasting is bound in humility. Berghuis recognizes the greatest risk associated with Christian fasting is pride and arrogance.[40] Matthew 6:16-18 reads, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”[41] Hypocrites want gratification for their efforts. Gratification testifies to the true nature of their fasting-when fasting is disconnected from present and future longing for God’s power and presence, it becomes humancentric. When fasting is all about how it makes me feel when others know I am fasting, my reward becomes the pleasure my ego receives. This is what the religious structure of Jesus’ day were doing. It is a product of OT fasting empty and void of the present communion with Messiah by the Spirit. And furthermore, rather than the doom and gloom disposition we take on in our missing of food, we are to lean on Christ, yearning for His’ presence as the answer to our joylessness. Remember, Like David in Ps. 42 we need to question our downcast disposition, yearn for God like a weary deer pants for water, and alongside Ps. 16:11, we need to have faith to trust God with our weariness; namely, “in your presence there is fulness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”[42] Those who exalt themselves are humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (My emphasis. Lk. 18:14). Fasting by practice is humbling enough, do not waste your fasting for temporal ego-stroking. This does not mean no one is allowed to know you are fasting. It does mean we walk humbly together in love without boasting.
A BRIEF LOOK AT SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Of human dependence on God. As stated above, in the Garden, God was our sole life-force dependence; after the fall God named food for the belly as a mock sustaining life-force. Dependence on God for everything is a work by grace through faith. There is a fascinating error which humankind has fallen under, it is the idea which suggest, tilling the land to provide for our own sustenance is misapprehended as though self-reliance were more than a need to recognize a dependence in God. A.W. Tozer captures this well in his infamous work, “The Knowledge of the Holy.” Speaking on the self-sufficiency of God, he writes, “No creature has life in itself, all life is a gift from God…Need is a creature-word and cannot be spoken of the Creator…Nothing is complete in itself but requires something outside itself in order to exist…To God alone nothing is necessary...He needs no one, but when faith is present he works through anyone.”[43] Tozer further contends that this point is quite unnatural for the human ego, conveying, “The Christian religion has to do with God and man, but its focal point is God, not man. Man’s only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing.”[44] Human recognition for dependence on God alone is one of the great frontlines of spiritual warfare. Imagine storming the shores of Normandy. The overwhelming masses of your comrades are shot and/or blown into pale fragments of the person they were only moments before. Analogically, the boat is human self-reliance, the shore is the narrow gate, if you will, and taking the bunkers to secure the beach is the mystery of God’s sovereign grace to preserve us by His own self-sufficiency. Except, far too many of us, especially in the American West are disenfranchised with the realities of invisible warfare amidst everyday happenings. David Platt elaborates, writing, “The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American Dream is that our greatest asset is our own ability. The American Dream prizes what people can accomplish when they believe in themselves and trust in themselves, and we are drawn toward such thinking. But the gospel has different priorities. The gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and to believe in God and to trust in his power. In the gospel, God confronts us with our utter inability to accomplish anything of value apart from him…In direct contradiction to the American Dream, God actually delights in exalting in our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face to face with their need for him. In this process he powerfully demonstrates his ability to provide everything his people need in ways they could have never of mustered up or imagined.”[45] How much of this language sounds like Eden? As we depend on God by grace through faith, we move ever so close back to reliance on our true sustenance in God alone. The American Dream is not in and of itself evil…our self-relying idolatry is.
Biblical power and Weakness Motif. The framework of strength-centric redemption and discipleship unto triumphed glory to glory often disregards Christ’ relationship toward a sin-infected humanity by which all are affected by the affliction of our bodies. We have already noted above the human propensity to hide behind our own strength is problematic toward obediently surrendering one’s strength for Christ’s strength. Or better said, the misapprehension which believes human exertion of strength at the expense of the Holy Spirit is a mock strength, it will fall in the day of judgment and gladness. Weakness, as means of Trinitarian power in us, is a measure of humility and vulnerability by which the transformative power perpetuates Christ alone, in us. Yet, the American West appears saturated in a triumphalism which subjects weakness as antithetical of the victory of the cross. This is not to mean there is no victory in the cross, we will touch on this a bit below. Thomas E. Reynolds conveys in “Vulnerable Communion: a Theology of Disability and Hospitality,” by no means does the Gospel imply one to “seek suffering,” as if to “valorize” or “glorify suffering,” “The cross becomes the standard for thinking about God; otherwise, as Luther would contend, the human tendency is to fashion a triumphal God of absolute privilege and power in the theology of glory.”[46] Reynolds exposes our love affair with strength, success, and all things beautiful.[47] And this is the centrality of Paul’s message of weakness in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.[48] So-called “super apostles” (2 Cor. 11:5) seek to dismiss Paul’s apostleship based on his subsequent weaknesses and sufferings for the gospel-similar to a triumphant gospel which despises the weak things as outside the realm of God’s blessings over the life of his’ children. Paul turns this strength, “blessed-based” proof of the favor of God teaching on its head. In light of Jesus speaking, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (v.s. 9), Paul states, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (v.s. 9), and “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses…” (v.s. 10). To invert the definition and outworking of the power of the Gospel upon Christ’s church is to make war with worldly, fleshly strength, a vulnerable identification of human weaknesses which in turn produces strength which matters; depth of genuine relationship as opposed to a cog-machine, which appears to do much, yet is just that, robotic production at the expense of one another. Fasting is a means toward subverting human propensity toward relying on one’s own strength. This is not to say that strengths, successes, and things which are attractively beautiful are inherently evil. This is not to promote a weird theological vibe which promotes passivity and disengagement from the world and working hard to achieve goals. Fasting (and prayer), for this matter, are not passive, and they require grace and discipline. What this conveys is submission to the Spirit of God. It means letting Him be the Lord and leader of your life. It means taking on godliness and Scriptural integrity in our working and dealings with one another (Romans 12:9-21; Philippians 2:1-18). Humankind is full of strength, we are after all, made in the image of God.[49] Fasting produces the type of humility which recognizes, no matter one’s level of strength in the flesh, that there is One greater, and the world is in desperate need of Him. Yearning and longing for the presence of God regardless of physical and/cognitive ability is a great gift of grace and strength.
Of powers and principalities. We fight a different kind of war which requires a different kind of strength; supernatural strength which is gained by making the flesh weak, to rely on a strength on the Lord can give. Saint Basil the Great emphasizes accurately Ephesians 6:12, writing, “The fight is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness, need to be trained for the contest through self-control and fasting. While oil fattens the athlete, fasting strengthens the practitioner of piety. Hence the more you deny the flesh, the more you render the soul radiant with spiritual health. For it is not the body’s tone but rather the soul’s perseverance and steadfastness in affliction that results in strength against invisible enemies.”[50]Furthermore, the apostle Paul writes of this mystery, proclaiming, “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in who we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”[51] Paul then emphatically erupts in prayer and worship for the church to realize this purpose: “
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father…that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God”[52]
Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes about the Epistler, saying, “The peculiar feature and characteristic of the Epistle to the Ephesians is that here the Apostle seems to be, as he puts it himself, in ‘the heavenly places’, and he is looking down at the great panorama of salvation and redemption…The result is that in this Epistle there is very little controversy; and that is so because his great concern here was to give to the Ephesians…a panoramic view of this wondrous and glorious work of God in Jesus Christ our Lord”[53] When one understands the “great panorama of salvation and redemption” their perspective of life in this age compared to the age to come, their vision and values become Christ-centric. When Christ-centrality is the foundation of one’s vision and values, fasting is respectively given its appropriate worth. The individual and corporate faith align their vision and values with the vision and values of Scripture. What Paul declares, and erupts into worship and prayer for the church to understand is the same in our day. It is easy to be consumed by the many pressing issues of the human condition. However, when we lose sight of the reality of heaven and hell at war, and that we are to participate in that war-but not by the might and strength of the flesh, rather, by humble recognition of our own inability to fight such a war with human flesh, our longing and yearning for the presence and strength of God increases.
CONCLUSION
More than conquerors. America is in a peculiar historical moment. Not that America has not had similar moments, or at the expense of many global moments. We have been such a prominent force for human prosperity and governed autonomous individual freedom. However, we find ourselves in an epochal calm-before-the-storm situation. There is great anger and separation of race, class, and socio-political divide. I do NOT wish to initiate prophetic charge as a means to determine the future. What I do wish to charge the church with is the great responsibility to engage an invisible war, with the tools given us in Scripture. The church, especially in times of cultural crisis, has a unique opportunity, and responsibility, like Moses, to fast and pray on behalf of self, and the nation. We who know Christ by grace though faith understand, not arrogantly, rather humbly, that revelation of Christ Jesus as Messiah is a supernatural gift which resuscitated our dead bodies, as it were, to life and salvation in Christ, rescued from the deadly grip of “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”[54] Paul’s bold communication here is not to satisfy our justificational assurance of right theology. It is actually far more humbling than we want to admit. Paul writes to church of Corinth, saying, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’”[55] When the church sacrifices Christlikeness to defend Gospel truth, at the expense of demonstrating Christ, the church is no longer defending the truth. The slander, humiliating, degradation, anger, bitterness; these are fruits of self-righteousness-boasting with the flesh under a guise of the Spirit. Paul’s vice list in 2 Timothy should devastate us: “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless swollen with conceit, loves of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”[56] But God has identified the church as more than conquerors…namely, in Christ….Paul’s list of vices do not portray a church who is corporately yearning and long for Christ’ presence.
Paul, who suffered much. To be more than conqueror’s in Christ, one has to be in Christ. Paul writes in Romans 8:37-39, conveying, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[57] Satan’s full-time occupation is to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). Satan uses our idolization by distracting us from eternal realities with focusing human attention on human worries of this life. Instead of investing into the knowledge of God for a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, we become cynical by staring at what can only be seen with natural eyes. The reason this is important comes from the epistler Paul, whose understanding of the gift of mercy found in the power of the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ as the Son of God to humans who could otherwise not attain, is none other than where Paul places his focus. And as not to tremble too much, we know that Christ ever lives to intercede on our behalf, that our faith may not fail us.[58] Paul is a perfect proponent of this. Paul’s suffering list in 2 Corinthians 11:16-33 is enough to prove Christ faithfulness to save to the uttermost. The nature of spiritual-warfare for those in Christ Jesus is to display to the powers and principalities the wisdom and grace of God to save sinners, and thus prevail soteriological-victory over the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. The cost of discipleship means engaging this warfare, persevering in worship-based-obedience as a testament of gratitude toward the mercy of God. Trials and tribulations, though painful and perplexing, sanctify, strengthen, and establish the faith of the church through grace by faith. And though God is the supreme glory, we share in His’ glory for all eternity. To engage this warfare requires both a humility to fast and pray, recognizing that individual and corporate strength in the flesh only goes so far. It is to recognize the mercy of God to reveal Himself to the church, and to demonstrate discernably grace and mercy toward those who are perishing without revelatory salvation.
Final Encouragement. As we have briefly engaged OT and NT theology of fasting, it is important to connect the point of fasting in context to our afflicted surrounding culture, and why fasting is for the church; namely, fasting, again, is a humility to seek God’s presence in Christ by the power of the Spirit, and it has an eschatological means of anticipation for the ultimate fulfilment of Christ physical presence when He returns. This present age is without such presence and without such anticipation of eschatological hope. Here are six reasons to consider why fasting (with prayer) is for the church: (1) Humanity is mourning and groaning under the curse of its own sin. The Jews persecuted Paul and hated Jesus-In Romans 9:2-3 Paul expresses anguish and wishes himself accursed if only they could be saved; (2) Much of humanity is in a state of unrepentance and unforgiveness. Only the kindness of God’s revelation of Christ and presence changes this; (3) Let’s face it, the church individually and corporately struggles to pray. Fasting aids persistent prayer; (4) Satan is continually at work to destroy the church. Fasting aids the Ephesians 6 armor necessary for spiritual warfare. While we cannot prevent everything, local churches are one affair or envious and slanderous event away from total destruction. The discipline of fasting for the sake of longing for Christ presence keeps Christ central, and strengthens the church to stand strong together, being sober-minded the church resists him together;[59] (5) Christ is coming back. Regardless of what eschatology you hold to, we all agree Christ is coming back-and we are commanded to be ready;[60] and (6) Self-control demonstrates our dependence in Christ for salvation. For myself, for the church, and for the inhabitants of humanity, we are all bound by this mock sustenance for life called food. One thing we all have in common, a desperate need to be reunited with the presence of God, in Christ, by the power of the Spirit. Whether fasting is targeted with a need, or simply connection, it is for His presence, and it is for the church. Do you yearn and long for the presence of God as the deer pants for the water?
Epilogue. Yearning and longing for God are not always accompanied by heightened emotional experiences, or even a sense of feeling the presence of His’ nearness. Fasting does not always produce these experiences either. Fasting in not a manipulation to experience God or a twisting God into doing for you want you desire for Him to do. Fasting as a discipline is fundamentally one’s recognition of the need for God to restore humanity. It is the recognition of His’ capability at the lack of my own incapability. I am incapable of doing anything for His’ namesake apart from Him. I want to challenge readership to think of fasting as a disciplinary tool for the sake of trading in our weakness for the strength of God. God is particular to the secrete motive of human hearts. Thus, it is certain for one to focus on fasting through the “fast to receive” mantra; notwithstanding, there is Scriptural precedence for this. The central purpose of this paper is to refocus readership to the central purpose of fasting. And is as much already stated above. Therefore, should one venture in “fast to receive,” I encourage them to think upon motive. My conclusion: let proper motive for fasting remain with a longing for the presence of God in Christ as their central appropriation. God knows what you need before you ask.[61] It is true, “you do not have want you want because you do not ask,” however, also, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”[62] My reasoning here is not to persuade one out of asking God for what they need; rather, fasting for the central purpose of in Christ alone beckons readership to consider fasting as a means of yearning for God’s presence as central to right motive. And when right motive is present, and God’s presence is near to us, then shall we know what we might ask, and then shall we trust in Him for what we need. In this present moment of cultural-upheaval, or in any moment of peace or chaos, fasting is a disciplinary statement that Christ presence is far better. When the whole world around us seems to be crumbling, His presence is far better. When all the accolades of man rain down upon us in glorious fashion, His’ presence is far better. Though life may be marred with pain, perplexity, confusion, unfairness, limitation; His’ presence is our hope of content in time of need. His’ future physical presence upon the earth is humanity’s deepest need, and deepest longing fulfilled. May we fast and pray in the motive of longing to be with Him, both now through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and ultimately in the consummation of this age-when dimness gives way to glorious clarity.
[1]ESV. English Standard Version. Holy Bible. Wheaton, ILL: Crossway, 2001. Print.
[2]Ibid., ESV.
[3]Ibid., ESV.
[4]Ibid., ESV. Of all the joys and pains of this age, Paul writes, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Ibid., ESV).
[5]Kent D. Berghuis. Fasting: A Theological Approach. Richardson, TX: Biblical Studies Press, 2007. Kindle ed. Loc. 155, 166.
[6]Ibid., Loc. 180.
[7]Ibid., Loc. 189.
[8]Ibid., Loc. 203.
[9]Ibid., Loc. 216, 234.
[10]Ibid., Loc. 248. Berghuis elaborates, “In humanity’s fallen condition, the disciplinary nature of food is heightened. The curse section repeatedly draws attention to the failure to obey the negative command not to eat by reinforcing penalties related to eating” (Ibid., Loc. 260).
[11]Ibid., Loc. 267.
[12]Ibid., Loc. 273.
[13]Ibid., Loc. 350, 356, 368.
[14]Ibid., Loc. 391, 397, 402. Berghuis reminds us, this is an illusion back to Eden. Before the fall, God was the sustaining life force of Adam and Eve.
[15]Ibid., Loc. 402.
[16]Ibid., Loc. 408.
[17]Ibid., Loc. 498, 504, 510, 521, 533, 539.
[18]Ibid., Loc. 491.
[19]NKJV. New King James Bible: Wide Margin Reference Ed. Holy Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1994. Pp. 801, 802. Print.
[20]Saint Basil the Great. Susan R. Holman & Mark DelCogliano. On Fasting and Feast. Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2013. P. 57. Print.
[21]Ibid., Berghuis. Loc. 626. “It would be brought about by the messianic figure and result in the kind of social justice the passage envisions (8:20-23), overturning the fasting and mourning into joyous feast days. The NT will pick up on these themes, identifying the appearance of Christ, the “bridegroom,” as the beginning of that messianic age when mourning gives way to gladness (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19; Luke 5:34)” (Ibid., Loc. 646, 653).
[22]Ibid., Loc. 587.
[23]John Piper. A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer. Wheaton, ILL: Crossway, 2013. P. 19. Print.
[24]Ibid., Berghuis. Loc. 1053, 1058. The most significant transition from OT fasting to NT fasting is the centrality of Christ becoming the new temple, alone. The OT ceremonial aspects of fasting have given way to Jesus; i.e., Jesus has become the atonement, and in Him is the preeminence of all things. This metaphor is demonstrated in “bridegroom” language (Lk. 5:35) (Ibid., Loc. 1058).
[25]Ibid., Piper. Pp. 38-40.
[26]Ibid., ESV. Titus 2:13.
[27]Ibid., Revelation 22:17a. “And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Ibid., Revelation 22:17b).
[28]Ibid., Berghuis, Loc. 307, 313.
[29]Ibid., Loc. 975.
[30]Ibid., Loc. 286. (Matt. 4:1-4; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-4).
[31]Ibid., Loc. 995. Berghuis adds: Jesus’ forty day fast is a supernatural fast which demonstrates a kind of rite to rely solely on God for life and sustenance (Ibid., Loc. 982).
[32]Ibid., Loc. 921.
[33]Ibid., Loc. 1053, 1058. The most significant transition from OT fasting to NT fasting is the centrality of Christ becoming the new temple, alone. The OT ceremonial aspects of fasting have given way to Jesus; i.e., Jesus has become the atonement, and in Him is the preeminence of all things. This metaphor is demonstrated in “bridegroom” language (Lk. 5:35) (Ibid., Loc. 1053, 1058).
[34]Ibid., Loc. 1084.
[35]Ibid., Loc. 1024.
[36]Ibid., Piper. Pp. 41, 42.
[37]Ibid., P. 41.
[38]Ibid., P. 43. Piper communicates of OT fasting as an empty fasting. It was generally practiced without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the longing and yearning for Messiah was empty by the absence of Christ life, death, and resurrection. Of course ,faith and hope for Messiah to come and deliver were rightly experienced. However, it lacked the dual nature of his’ kingdom, which is here by presence, and not here eschatologically speaking (Ibid., P. 43).
[39]Ibid., P. 43.
[40]Ibid., Berghuis. Loc. 1157. Berghuis mentions: “Jesus does not attack the institution of fasting in Matt. 6:16-18. Instead, he warns against hypocritical or ostentatious fasting, which includes putting on a gloomy face and neglecting personal appearance in order to appear to be fasting” (Ibid., Loc. 1182).
[41]Ibid., ESV.
[42]Ibid., ESV.
[43]A.W. Tozer. Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York, NY: HarperOne, 1978. Pp. 32, 33, 35, 36.
[44]Ibid., Pp. 34, 35. Tozer on ego: “Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help” (Ibid., p. 34).
[45]David Platt. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2010. Pp. 46, 47. Print.
[46]Thomas E. Reynolds. Vulnerable Communion: A Theology of Disability and Hospitality. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2008. Pp. 204, 208. Print.
[47]Ibid., p. 110. “Deviation from the norm or existing order is considered a weakness because it concretely reveals to us what we come to despise in ourselves; fragility and weakness. We are ashamed of weakness, the fact that we too can be…in the end, finite and mortal” (Ibid. p. 110).
[48]Ibid., ESV.
[49]Ibid., ESV. Gen. 1:26-27.
[50]Ibid., Basil. Pp. 73, 74.
[51]Ibid., ESV. Eph. 3:7-12.
[52]Ibid., ESV. Eph. 3:14-19.
[53]Martyn Lloyd-Jones. God’s Ultimate Purpose: An Exposition of Ephesians 1:1-23. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998. Pp. 11, 12. Print.
[54]Ibid., ESV. Eph. 2:1-10.
[55]Ibid., ESV. 1 Cor. 5:12-13.
[56]Ibid., ESV. 2 Timothy 3:2-5.
[57]Ibid., ESV.
[58]Ibid., ESV. Lk. 22:31-32; Heb. 7:25.
[59]Ibid., ESV. 1 Pet. 5:6-11.
[60]Ibid., ESV. Matt. 25:1-13. The Parable of the Ten Virgins. Fasting produces oil-get oil.
[61]Ibid., ESV. Matthew 6:8.
[62]Ibid., ESV. James 4:2-3.