Read Mark 2:18-22
Direct New Testament Teachings.
There are several passages where Jesus talks about fasting:-
Matthew 9:14ff, Mark 2:18ff.
In these parables Jesus talks about the old age and the new age. We can assume that the old age is the age of the Law (OT) and the new age is the age of Jesus coming. What Jesus says is clear.
Mark 2:20 ‘...But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast…’
If Jesus is the bridegroom then when He is taken away fasting will be appropriate. This is backed up in the book of Acts with the NT church fasting and praying etc.
Jesus follows the OT and tells us that Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4.
What God is saying is that true life, real life, comes not from food alone but from hearing (and doing - see the context of Deuteronomy 8:3) the word of our Lord. As we fast, we begin to see the reality of that promise/statement. Without fasting we will never know how true it really is.
When we fast we are stating with our entire being that the above is true. We are abstaining from food/water showing God that we believe that ‘Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
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