This Fast, that Fast, What Fast????

In the age of weight loss diets and fads, South Beach here, Keto this, Adkins who, it can get confusing. Then there is intermittent fasting, Jewish fasting, 16/8 fasting, 5/2 fasting, yikes! It is no different from Scripture; it's confusing.

We know from reading the Old Testament that fasting was a sign of repentance. When someone was fasting, they were repenting their sins before God; it was an outward sign of an inward repentance. Then along come our friends, the Pharisees. I say friends with a grin because they were so wrong in everything they did, and they added extra-biblical caveats to the laws of Moses. Worse, they made things more difficult for the Jews of their time. Jesus said, "Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers." (Luke 11:46 ESV). In the eyes of the Pharisees, you could not repent without fasting.

The New Way.

Along comes Jesus and says, you guys have no idea what you are talking about. We can read that Jesus told several parables about the fact that there was a suitable and wrong time for fasting. In the time of the ministry of Christ, it was not the time for fasting but rejoicing! It was the time of Emmanuel; God was among us. One of Jesus's most essential points is that a connection exists between the Old and New Covenant, but they are different. The New Covenant introduced and new system while saying goodbye to some of the old.

The Parable of the Old Garment

Jesus told the parable of the old garment to the disciples of John. Jesus said, No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. (Matthew 9:16 ESV). Jesus said that you cannot patch the Old into the New. Jesus did not come to maintain the Old Covenant but to usher in the time of the New Covenant, the Covenant of His blood.

The Old Wine Skins

In Matthew 9, Jesus also used the parable of the old and new wineskins. "Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved." (v.17). Here Jesus was telling the disciples of John that the work he was doing, the work of the new covenant was something outside the Old Covenant. Because of this, the Old Covenant could not contain the New Covenant; the New would destroy the Old.

A Pinch of This, and a Pinch of That

Some things, like the commands of God, remain the same in the New Covenant, just as they were in the Old Covenant. However, Jesus destroyed things like the sacrificial system. There was and is no longer a need for the sacrifice of a lamb. The ultimate Lamb was sacrificed. The Lamb of God, the Lamb that was slain, the Lamb Jesus, was the ultimate sacrifice. He sacrificed Himself for you and me and the elect of God.

If you are seeking Jesus and do not yet know Him, please, reach out to us. We can guide you to Him and help you find a church family to further your new walk with Him. Let us give praise to the Lamb who was slain from creation. Blessed be the Lamb of God.