Food, Feasts & Fasting

Introduction

Romans 15:4 NKJV

4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Learning (didaskalia); activities that impart knowledge or skill

It would mean that, the written scriptures, are there to impact knowledge to you and I, it would mean, it is to our advantage, we should seek to go over those stories to learn, be corrected, be instructed.

We find something similar in 2Timothy 3:16

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NKJV

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Doctrine — didaskalia; which is to impact knowledge;

So, the bible would be there for “impact knowledge”, to reproof which mean to convict, also, it corrects and gives me instructions.

And, that is how you and I are thoroughly equipped for every good work, how we are made ready, how we become competent, equipped, for every good work.

“Say with me, God’s word, is profitable to me, it makes me competent, for every good work”.

Hence, just like today, we are to get into understanding the subject of fasting, and we will be consulting scriptures to bring an understanding to our minds.

Let’s begin with Food.

Food

What does the bible teach us about food?

Genesis 1:11–12 NKJV

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Notice, God saw that it was good.

Good — טוֹב 1 ṭôḇ; pronounced (tov) — Which means useful, pleasing, desireable. It is proper.

Genesis 1:26–28 NKJV

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

So, man made in God’s image, which means “God’s representative” and was given dominion over all of God’s creation.

Now, upon giving man his purpose for living, we are told something next,

Genesis 1:29 NKJV

29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

Look at the phrase, “Every herb and every tree” it shall be for food. Hence, food itself wasn’t viewed as luxury, it is part essential for man’s sustainance.

The herbs, the trees whose fruit yields seed, that the lord has made for and called useful, are given to man for food.

Notice, that whilst a man have faith or not, the one who have brings about food for all men, is God.

Let me show you abit more;

Psalm 104:14–15 NKJV

14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth, 15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man, Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart.

So, the process of food, wine, is first of all;

Vegetation for the service of man.

Wine that makes glad the heart of man.

Bread which stengthens man’s heart.

Food, then, is first of all, Sustenance, and because sustenance comes from God, it is God’s blessing.

Genesis 3 let’s us see that sin led to effect on plants, and the earth itself.

Genesis 3:17–19 NKJV

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

Bread — לֶ֫חֶם lěʹ·ḥěm; Refers specifically to bread but commonly used generically for any kind of food.

So, it is a word that is used for any kind of food. Whilst man ought to work, in genesis 3, we find that thorns and thistles become the order of the day, and man would sweat to eat, why? because of Adam’s sin.

But then we find out that in Genesis 8, after Noah’s flood, God made a reversal;

Genesis 8:20–22 NKJV

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”

Verse 22 becomes quite important;

Seedtime & Harvest; Cold & Heat; Winter & Summer, Day & Night Shall not cease.

Hence, what we have is that God would sustain the world. The sustainance of the world, will be with God, by God.

Let us study more on this;

Psalm 145:15–16 NKJV

15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. 16 You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Hence, it is God’s blessing, and he give them their food in due season.

Food therefore, is vital to man sustenance, and it is also God’s blessing, it is God who satisfy all. The due season is not that God is waiting “for your own time” rather, the fact that we have times of harvest, times to reap, it is God who is sustaining all.

So, some things to note;

Food is for man’s sustainance

Food is God’s blessing

Eating is the regular order of life and day-to-day life.

Feasts

But then, we have occassions where we see feasts.

Now, let us look into that and understand it more;

Genesis 19:1–3 NKJV

1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” 3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Feast — מִשְׁתֶּה miš·tě(h); banquet; a feast provided for the entertainment of a company of guests.

So, it is provided for the entertainment of a company of guests. It is to honor those guests. We have kings who also threw feasts, but we are not focusing on that for today;

So feasts are first of all communal;

Now, we have other kind of feasts (we can call it sacred feasts), in the bible, regarding a celebration in remembrance of God’s act, covenant sealing, even certain sacrifices were eaten.

Let’s look at some;

Exodus 12:14 NKJV

14 ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

and let us read verse 27;

Exodus 12:24–27 NKJV

24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. 25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. 26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

So this feast is a memorial of the great deliverance of God’s people from Egypt. They will always celebrate God’s victory every year, and they do it over a feast.

So, feasts, have to do with celebration, it is communal, it is in celebration of God’s victory, also of God’s blessing;

This is why it is wierd that some people wonder why we have a day in celebration of Christ birth. What more to celebrate than such acts of redemption? It is God’s victory over death, sin and the powers of this world, which began in the incanation.

Deuteronomy 16:13–15 NKJV

13 “You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. 15 Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

Notice the reason clearly stated in the text:

“Because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.”

The feast is not arbitrary. It is because of blessing.

The Feast of Tabernacles celebrates:

God’s faithfulness in the land

God’s provision through harvest

God’s sustaining blessing over daily life

Because the Lord your God would bless you in all your produce, and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

The Social Theology of the Feast

Now look at who is invited: Sons and daughters; Male and female servants; The Levite; The stranger; The fatherless; The widow

At the feast:

No one eats higher than another

No one is excluded

No one is diminished

The feast creates equality.

For a moment, distinctions of status collapse. Everyone eats the same food, at the same table, under the same blessing.

This also flows directly into the New Testament writings, that we see that when Jesus was about to leave, he didn’t leave the disciples with a picture, or with words alone, HE LEFT US WITH A MEAL (A FEAST).

I know we are used to that tiny little cup and wafers, but that is not really it, it was a whole feast. (We will study this someday)

So now we can say a few things clearly:

Food is sustenance

Food is God’s gift

Food is God’s blessing

The norm is daily provision

Feasts are intensified moments of joy, gratitude, honor, and victory

Feasts create communion, equality, and fellowship

And all of it happens over food.

— If eating and celebration mark life as it ought to be, how should humanity respond when things are no longer as they should be?

When there is victory, there is feast, when there is order, we have daily bread, food. But when there is a disorder, when things aren’t how they ought to be, the response is a break from life norm, to seek the Lord.

Fasting

For Example, when there is Death;

1 Samuel 31:11–13 NKJV

11 Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

…and fasted seven days; to signify the death and to mourn Saul. The Fasting was to recognize that the norm has been broken, LIFE HAS SEIZED TO EXIST.

As food is associated to events of life, joy, gratitude, victory, communion etc, fasting signifies the opposite, that THINGS AREN’T GOING WELL, OR THINGS HAVE GONE WRONG.

Let us study this alot more;

Look at events such as Israel’s war;

2 Chronicles 20:1–4 NKJV

1 It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. 2 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

You see this again, something was about to occur here; a threat to the norm of life. What they did was to take out time to seek the LORD, but you will see the response to A THREAT TO NORM, …fast.

They fasted, to seek the LORD. So, in fasting, what they would do is to seek the LORD.

So, we have seen two things;

When the norm of life have seized, they mourn in fasting.

A threat to norm, fasting… to seek the LORD.

Let us study even more;

Nehemiah 1:1–4 NKJV

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

When the state of things aren’t the norm, we don’t rejoice in feeding (that is the norm), neither do we respond in “festivity” that would be us not descerning, the response is in fasting (a withdrawal from the norm of life), so as to seek the LORD for him intervention.

So, activities that follow fastings when it is not mourning, involve “seeking the LORD”, in prayer!

This can be norm in our lives, situations, and our world at large. We see yet a broken world, a state, we see a city not yet for the LORD, we aren’t given to just feasting, we are those who seek to pray, and accompany that with a withdrawal from food.

Let us look at more;

Daniel 9:1–3 NKJV

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

You will see few things that Daniel realizes:

The exile should be ending

But restoration is incomplete

Things aren’t the way it should be, hence, Daniel knew what to do; he set his face toward the LORD GOD, to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting.

We find the New Testament say thesame thing;

Acts 13:1–4 NKJV

1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

Notice, mission itself is within a world still broken, in need of God stepping in, discernment is still very much needed, it is still a world with hostility. Hence, often, they would fast and pray for God’s deliverance, impact etc.

In Conclusion;

So, when we encounter the brokenness of our world, we intentionally step away from the normal rhythm of life in order to seek God, in Prayer.

And this can be in our lives; e.g. David, in the world around us, in mission, etc.

Let us end with what will be the final result;

Revelation 19:6–9 NKJV

6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Hence, eventually, a day comes when we do not fast, when the world is filled with God’s glory, when the marriage of the Lamb has come, that day, we will feast again, but for now, we fast, seeing brokenness, inconsistencies in our christian lives, and walk with God, we see a world not filled yet, hence we draw near to God, in fasting and Prayer.

This is what we will focus on in the next 3 weeks.