The Perfect Fast

There was never any doubt that Jesus, the Son of God, would win the following of humanity.

But the much more serious question was how would he win humanity?

The temptations the Son of God faced in the desert were to win humanity by giving men and women what they wanted (giving people food), or by doing spectacular miracles (such as leaping off the top of the temple), or simply by following and behaving like the devil.

In the desert, Jesus rejects all these in order to win the hearts of men and women by doing what they could not do by dying for them in order to reconcile them back to the Father. That is why Jesus faced the fourth, and the most difficult temptation, on the Cross; ‘Save yourself! Come down from the Cross if you are the Son of God’.

Note that after Jesus fasted, ‘the devil left him until some opportune time’. That 'opportune time' came after Peter had declared that Jesus was the Messiah but then tried to convince Jesus not to go to the Cross! Matthew 16:21-24. Jesus immediately saw the temptation for what it was and rebuked Peter publicly!

The devil’s strategy was to try to tempt Jesus to avoid the Cross. On the Cross, Jesus defeated satan because as king of the Jews he not only embodied humanity and died in place of humankind, but by ‘one sacrifice he perfected for all time those who are being made holy’ Hebrews 10:14. God forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross, Colossians 2:13-15. The devil lost everything at the cross. He was completely and forever defeated. When believers look at the cross we see our sin nailed to it, and we see satan disarmed by it!

Jesus’ fast in the desert teaches us:

That in times of spiritual warfare, we should fast.

That in extreme times, extreme measures are called for.

That Christ is victorious over all temptation, sin and the devil; ‘he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world’ 1 John 4:4.

That when we fast we must feast of the word of God which stands forever: ‘Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’

That through fasting we can learn how to address the deepest issues in our lives and discipleship.

That fasting establishes a bridgehead for the advance of the kingdom.

Two points for reflection

• A woman in one of the churches I pastored felt led by the Lord to do a five-day partial fast. She told me that by the end of the fast, four difficult relationships had all been resolved and restored!
• John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, used to practice fasting two days a week. He encouraged the other Methodists to do the same.

Helpful practice when fasting

• Don’t be heroic – keep the whole thing private and simple between you and your heavenly father.
• Join in with others. If there’s a church nearby spend a few minutes praying there. If there’s a mid-day communion, join in. Arrange to pray together with some friends for a few minutes on zoom.