GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
ZECHARIAH 7:1-3
7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month (which is Kislev). 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melek and their men to ask the favor of the LORD, 3 saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, “Should I mourn and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
Chapters 7 and 8 involve questions about fasting. There is no New Testament passage that commands us to fast. The ancient Christian Church did not command any fasts, although there were questions that were raised. Perhaps we will discuss some of these. The best advice about fasting in the early days of the Christian Church came as more of an alternative to fasting than as advice about whether fasting should be done at all: “Fast in this way: Do nothing evil in your life, but serve the Lord with a true heart” (Shepherd of Hermas Hs 5,1,5). This is another way of saying that what we really want to give up for Lent is sin.
About two years had passed since the Lord first spoke with Zechariah and gave him the eight night visions (chapters 1-6). It was now our December 7th, in the year 518 BC (the Jews counted their months from Passover, which is in March or early April). Men from Bethel came to Jerusalem to inquire about the Fast of Kislev, in the fifth month. That fast was an observation of the terrible destruction of Solomon’s temple by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian troops on the tenth day of the fifth month: “Nebuzaradan burned the temple of the LORD, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every important building” (Jeremiah 52:13). The men of Bethel wanted to know: Since the temple has been rebuilt, should we still hold this fast, mourning the old temple’s destruction? And since they raised the question, there are points we might ask that are connected to fasting:
1, What is fasting? Fasting is abstaining from any food or drink beyond the basics of bread and water. It is traditional to withhold from eating even bread during daylight hours, but there is no law or rule about this.
2, What does fasting do?
a, First, the theory of fasting is that it works to tame the Old Adam and restrain the flesh. This is particularly true regarding the indulgence of food and especially of alcohol (Numbers 6:3, 20). However, because our fallen, frail human nature forgets God’s Word so quickly, we might easily become tempted to think that such fasting benefits the spirit as well as the flesh. Thomas Aquinas dared to say that ‘Fasting avails to destroy and prevent guilt,’ and by saying this, he made the damning error to elevate fasting as a co-Redeemer alongside Christ “to destroy guilt,” which only Christ can do. “So,” our Confession warns, “men are deceived by the appearance of wisdom and righteousness in such works” (Augsburg Confession Article XV “Human Traditions” par. 24). And again: “We should undertake these exercises (that is, fasting and abstaining) not as services that justify, but as restraints on our flesh” (AC XV, par. 47).
b, Second, fasting is thought to mortify the flesh and bring it under discipline. However, “the (daily) cross(es) and troubles with which God disciplines us effect a genuine and not a counterfeit mortification. When they come, we must obey God’s will, as Paul says (Romans 12:1): ‘Present your bodies as a sacrifice.’ This is the spiritual exercise of fear and faith” (Apology XV, par. 45). To summarize: The trouble that God sends into our lives to chasten us does a better job of turning us away from sin than fasting does.
3, When fasting is commanded by God, is it a sin to omit fasting? Certainly; and this is why the men of Bethel came to inquire of Zechariah about the fast of their fifth month. Our confession says: “True prayer, charity, and fasting have God’s command; and where they do, it is a sin to omit them” (Apology XII, par. 143).
4, Where are these commands? Some are temporary, commanded through a godly government (Esther 4:16; 2 Chronicles 20:3) or through God’s prophets or priests (Joel 1:14; 2:15). Then there was a permanent, yearly fast commanded for the Day of Atonement in September. God said to Moses: “It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath” (Leviticus 23:32). Anyone who refused or failed to do this was to be cut off and excommunicated from Israel (Lev. 23:29).
5, Are these commands still binding on us? After all, they are in the Word of God. These only lasted until the death of Jesus tore apart the curtain in the temple (Mark 15:38) and the barrier was destroyed by the sacrifice of Christ, not once for a year (Leviticus 16:34), but once for all, forever (Hebrews 10:10). Therefore none of the fasts in the Bible are still binding. They have all been fulfilled.
6, Didn’t Jesus fast? Yes, Jesus fasted for forty days before he began his ministry (Matthew 4:2; Luke 4:2), but there is no command for any of us to do the same. None of us is preparing to become the Messiah as Jesus did; none of us needs to undergo such a fast.
7, Didn’t Jesus also talk about fasting? The Lord did not command fasting, but said that when you do (and only if you do), then the one who fasts is not supposed to let other people know that he is doing it. “When you fast,” he said, “put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father who is unseen” (Matthew 6:17-18).
8, Didn’t the Apostles fast sometimes in Acts? Yes, at times such as the choosing of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2) and the appointing of elders in Galatia (Acts 14:23) there are references to fasting together with prayer. These are not commands (prescriptive passages) but are descriptions of what these Christians did. We should remember that they were mostly former Jews who had grown up in a culture where fasting was commonplace. We are not required to imitate them.
9, What, then, should we say about fasting? Fasting was a custom associated with grief (Judges 20:26, 2 Samuel 1:12). If we try to adopt it in our day, we must do so with the understanding that a fast is meant to focus one’s attention away from the pleasures of the body and toward the spiritual blessings of God. As one writer of the Apocrypha warns: “If a man fasts for his sins, and goes again and does the same things, who will listen to his prayer? And what has he gained by humbling himself?” (Sirach 34:26). Fasting may have its benefits, but the Bible points us to faith in Christ above all else. Remember Luther’s words about who is properly prepared for the Lord’s Supper: “Fasting and other outward preparations may serve a good purpose, but he is properly prepared who believes these words: ‘Given’ and ‘poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.’ But whoever does not believe these words or doubts them is not prepared, because the words ‘for you’ require nothing but hearts that believe.”
In Zechariah’s time, the question was: Now that the temple has returned, should we still fast? We ask: Now that Christ has come, are we not free of all the Old Testament Laws from Moses? Yes, we are free, for salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, and not through the observation of any laws at all. Even the moral law, the Ten Commandments, is in place not to save us, but to show us our sins. It is Christ who has forgiven our trespasses, and so we put all of our trust in him.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Zechariah 7:1-3 About fasting