Topical Bible: Fasting: Prolonged: Jesus

◄ Fasting: Prolonged: Jesus ►

Jump to: Nave's • Library • Subtopics • Terms

Topical Encyclopedia

Fasting, as a spiritual discipline, is prominently exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ, particularly through His prolonged fast in the wilderness. This event is recorded in the Synoptic Gospels and holds significant theological and spiritual implications.

Biblical Account

The account of Jesus' prolonged fast is found in Matthew 4:1-2, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-2. According to Matthew 4:1-2 , "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry." This period of fasting occurred immediately after His baptism and before the commencement of His public ministry.

Purpose and Significance

1. Preparation for Ministry: Jesus' forty-day fast served as a period of preparation and consecration for His public ministry. It was a time of spiritual strengthening and focus, aligning His human will with the divine mission set before Him.

2. Spiritual Warfare: The fast was also a prelude to the spiritual warfare Jesus would face. During this time, He was tempted by Satan, as detailed in Matthew 4:3-11. Jesus' responses to the temptations, grounded in Scripture, demonstrate the power of spiritual discipline and reliance on God's Word.

3. Identification with Humanity: By fasting, Jesus identified with the human condition, experiencing physical hunger and weakness. This act underscores His full humanity and His ability to empathize with human struggles, as noted in Hebrews 4:15 : "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin."

4. Model of Obedience: Jesus' fast exemplifies perfect obedience to the Father. Led by the Spirit, He submitted to the divine will, showcasing the importance of obedience and submission in the life of a believer.

Theological Implications

1. Victory Over Temptation: Jesus' triumph over Satan's temptations during His fast highlights the victory believers can have through faith and reliance on God's Word. His example provides a blueprint for overcoming spiritual challenges.

2. Dependence on God: The prolonged fast emphasizes total dependence on God for sustenance and strength. Jesus' declaration in Matthew 4:4 , "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God," underscores the primacy of spiritual nourishment over physical needs.

3. Fulfillment of Old Testament Types: Jesus' forty-day fast mirrors the forty years of Israel's wilderness wanderings and Moses' forty-day fast on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28). This parallel positions Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament types and the embodiment of true righteousness and obedience.

Practical Application

For believers, Jesus' prolonged fast serves as an invitation to engage in fasting as a means of spiritual growth and intimacy with God. It encourages Christians to seek God's guidance, strength, and provision through dedicated times of prayer and fasting, following the example set by Christ Himself.

Nave's Topical Index

Matthew 4:2
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.
Nave's Topical Index

Library

The Story of the Baptist, from his Last Testimony to Jesus to his ...
... to enable the garrison to stand a prolonged siege. ... had remarked, the multitude had
turned to Jesus even before the ... and this in a time when fasting and prayer ...
/.../the life and times of jesus the messiah/chapter xxviii the story of.htm

Matt. xvi. 24
... Then said Jesus unto His ... into his own conscience; and to make him shudder, and convince
him that we have need of sackcloth, and of prolonged fasting, more than ...
/.../chrysostom/homilies on the gospel of saint matthew/homily lv matt xvi 24.htm

Festal Letters.
... And as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, being heavenly ... And Daniel, when fasting,
although a very young man ... men was wonderful, and the days prolonged, let no ...
/.../athanasius/select works and letters or athanasius/i festal letters.htm

Letter xxxvi. (AD 396. )
... reason why the discourse was so prolonged, that we ... been regarded as one suitable
for fasting, because, as ... and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty ...
/.../augustine/the confessions and letters of st/letter xxxvi a d 396.htm

Letter xxxix. To Paula.
... This solemn lamentation does not impose prolonged weeping upon ... had not sinned."
[839] But under Jesus, [840] that ... you give yourself daily to fasting, to reading ...
/.../jerome/the principal works of st jerome/letter xxxix to paula.htm

The Book of Life
... sound as compared with the statement of Jesus that he ... whirling like the dervish,
or by fasting like the ... is that there comes out of prolonged business practice ...
/.../mcconnell/understanding the scriptures/chapter ii the book of.htm

The Feeding of the Four Thousand - to Dalmanutha - the Sign from ...
... THEY might well gather to Jesus in their thousands, with ... it is remarkable, that each
time His prolonged stay and ... him, He could not send away fasting, lest they ...
/.../the life and times of jesus the messiah/chapter xxxvi the feeding of.htm

Prophecies Fulfilled.
... God: There shall none of My words be prolonged any more ... with love for one another,
and for Jesus, whom they ... and a turning unto the Lord with fasting, and weeping ...
/.../the great controversy between christ and satan /22 prophecies fulfilled.htm

Prophecies Fulfilled
... God; There shall none of My words be prolonged any more ... with love for one another
and for Jesus, whom they ... and a turning unto the Lord with fasting, and weeping ...
/.../white/the great controversy/chapter 22 prophecies fulfilled.htm

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xvii. 19, "Why could not we Cast ...
... 1. Our Lord Jesus Christ reproved unbelief even in His own ... a long life is nothing
else but a prolonged weakness ... is not cast out but by prayer and fasting." If a ...
/.../sermons on selected lessons of the new testament/sermon xxx on the words.htm