The peril of potential loss of salvation involves a battle for the mind . Education is an important countermeasure , to learn the truth of the Word and the Mind of Christ , as well as to expose false doctrine and outright lies of Satan . But for the offended saint , double – minded , wounded and resentful of life and perhaps of God Himself, it is crucial to appreciate the richness of the salvation transaction at a devotional depth that compels one’s free will to choose fidelity towards Christ . Time for a devotional upgrade !
How much does God love you ? So much more than this inadequate vessel could ever write . What do you think it was that killed Jesus when He laid down His life for you and me ? Was it our sins that nailed Him to the cross ? Yes . Was it shock and blood loss and , finally lungs filling with water , as the doctors say ? Yes . Could it have been anything else ? Yes .
He fasted to death for you and me . Yes, brother . Yes, sister . That’s right . His whole life was a fast . Even when drawing nourishment at the bosom of Mary , He was fasting . And when he fasted food for 40 days, He was fasting on top of fasting . For you . For me . Christ’s Life, God’s devotional to His children to be saved .
Let’s consider the Divine, selfless, charitable God -fast of Isaiah 58: 6 -14 :
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens,
and to let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
and bring the poor who are outcasts into your house?
When you see the naked, to cover him
and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then your light shall break forth as the morning,
and your healing shall spring forth quickly,
and your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your reward.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord shall answer;
you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am.
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 and if you give yourself to the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted soul,
then your light shall rise in obscurity,
and your darkness shall become as the noonday.
11 And the Lord shall guide you continually,
and satisfy your soul in drought,
and strengthen your bones;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12 Those from among you shall rebuild the old waste places;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
and you shall be called, the Repairer of the Breach,
the Restorer of Paths in which to Dwell.
13 If because of the Sabbath you turn away your foot
from doing your pleasure on My holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight,
the holy day of the Lord honorable,
and honor it, not doing your own ways,
nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
14 then you shall delight yourself in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
You see ? This scripture talks of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ . We know how He healed and delivered , cast out demons , broke bread for thousands , preached righteousness , encouraged, loved and taught . He raised the dead. He gave Living Water . And they murdered Him for it .
And yet, this scripture does not even mention the fasting of food , in the fast that He has chosen .
It is apparent, therefore, that God’s idea of fasting is much more expansive than just abstaining from food for a time . God’s own devotional initiative towards the family He wishes to build .
Divinely Devotional Demonstration :
It is more along the lines of this : To put off one’s ease and comfort , to leave one’s abode in order to pursue the best and highest good for others who are powerless to effect it for themselves . Even at great personal cost to one’s self . To do without the comfort and ease and pleasure and beauty of the glory of heaven and the company of the other Members of the Godhead , and of the holy angels. All to come to earth and toil in the dirt and the oppression to solve other people’s problems. A profound devotional statement .
He fasted heaven just to come here . Fasting is doing without . As a babe in the manger, He was fasting . Even when drawing nourishment at the bosom of Mary, he was fasting . In every act of earthly ministry, He was fasting . At the last supper, even as He broke bread with the disciples, He was fasting . Fasting heaven, its glories, comforts . Its fellowships .
On the cross, He fasted food and water . As the Blood ran out of Him , He fasted His Blood . As His lungs filled with water, each breath yielded less and less oxygen . You see, He fasted oxygen, too . For you . For me . He fasted His garments as they stripped Him naked , cursed and spat upon Him . He fasted His beard as they ripped it from His face . In the end , His soul and spirit fasted His body as he died ; He fasted His union with His Father above as the Father saw our sins imputed to Christ, and looked away . The three – fold cord of body, soul, and spirit broken . The three – fold cord of Holy Trinity , temporarily unraveled . A traumatic dis – union of the Godhead Itself . As Father and Spirit fasted the Son. As all of heaven fasted the Son . Even the holy angels, who come forth as ministering spirits, do emulate the fast of God as they leave the glory and comfort of heaven to help those mired in sin on earth .
Our forbears fell when they ate wrongly , idolatrously . Adam and Eve ate and died .
Christ came and fasted to death, to make Himself a meal for us that we could eat and live . See John 6: 53 – 54 :
53 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day.
Truly, our sins consumed Him on the cross, both His flesh and His Blood. He fasted to death for us . That is the devotional truth .
How’s that for fasting ?
Feel the Love ?
Abide .
