You know, when you’re talking about not mending new cloth over old cloth, which would get torn more, thus worsening the original state because the old cloth is weak. Also, do not put new wine in an old wineskin. The wineskin, to me, seems to appear as a better illustration of what I am writing today.
So, first of all, before Jesus spoke of the wineskin, the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus why His disciples don’t fast as they and the Pharisees do. Jesus said the friends of the bridegroom don’t mourn when the bridegroom is around. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away, and then there will be the need to fast.
Jesus gave a very simple analogy to why we fast. Before the
coming of the Lord Jesus, the Jews fasted. One of the reasons for their fast was to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah. This was under an old covenant.
Now, the new covenant came in the person of Jesus Christ, and the disciples see
Him every day, so why would they fast when the Messiah was walking with them
every day? So, if the disciples were to fast, Jesus would be like, “I don’t get
you guys.” Sort of “Who are you fasting to, and who am I”
The essence of fasting before the coming of Jesus Christ is
different from the reason for fasting after Christ’s ascension. The reason why we fast now is for communion with the
Father, thus spending time to know Him. We don’t have any other business in
the fasting order than to know and fix our eyes on Jesus (ref. John 17:3;
Hebrews 12:1). This allows us to be soaked into who He is because all of who He
is, is who we are.
We have no other business. Since we have been raised with
Christ Jesus, continue in Him. As we continue to know Him, we live Him. So,
when we fast with the sole purpose of knowing Christ Jesus, we know why we are
Sons and Daughters of God. We know our collective and individual purposes as
Sons and Daughters of God on the earth.
So, in a summarised form, the reason why Jesus Christ said
there was no purpose for His disciples to fast was because He was with them,
also elaborating on the fact that the purpose of fasting is to know Him. And He
was establishing a new covenant, which was why He said no one puts new wine in
an old wineskin. We cannot mix the Law and Grace, you cannot mix the old
covenant with the new covenant.
Before Jesus came, no one had the Spirit of Jesus in them,
but after His ascension, the Spirit of our Lord Jesus is offered to the whole
world as a brand new life.
The essence of fasting is to know Jesus Christ, to dive
deeper into the knowledge of Him, and to become and manifest Him because we
have Him as our life.
Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t? Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations—you’re born again, and you are now brand new!
Log on next time.
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GOD BLESS YOU.
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Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are obtained from the New King James Version (NKJV)