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The word Lent is derived from the Anglo Saxon word lencten which points to the lengthening of days we begin to experience as spring approaches, and is translated spring. Lent is a season of preparation the church has celebrated for centuries in the weeks before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days.
If you look up different events in the Bible that lasted forty days, almost every one of them was a preparation for a momentous occasion:
- The flood God brought as He prepared to start over with Noah and his family
- Moses’ fast in the presence of God on Mt. Sinai before he received the Law
- Investigating the promised land before the Israelites entered
- Jesus' testing in the wilderness before He began His public ministry
"Early Christians felt that the magnitude of the Easter celebration called for special preparation. …Easter was also the usual period of intense training for new Christians. During this period, the catechumens (those learning what it meant to be Christians) went through the final stages of preparation for baptism, which usually occurred at dawn on Easter Sunday."1
Many people fast during the season of Lent. The question is, why do we fast?
The tradition of fasting or "giving something up" presumably commemorates Jesus' wilderness fast (Mark 14:1). Fasting can heighten our sense of focus and receptivity to God. Pangs of hunger, or the temptation to reach for that thing we have given up, can be a reminder to us of Jesus' commitment when He resolutely set out to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51, NIV). But, does denying ourselves a normal pleasure honor God? Is it required of us, or is it just a tradition of man?
Fasting is very in vogue right now. It is one of the newest methods for cleansing the body and promoting health and weight loss. In the Bible, fasting was done for very different reasons.
There were two kinds of fasting in Scripture: public and private. Public fasts were always accompanied by prayer and many times the wearing of sackcloth and ashes. Fasting was a form of humbling oneself and seeking God to obtain His favor, and was a sign of repentance and mourning.
God desires His people to approach Him with reverence. In Joel 1:14 (ESV) we read: Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
Even the inhabitants of Nineveh knew what is meant to approach God reverently. When Jonah told the people they would be overthrown in forty days, the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them (Jonah 3:5, ESV).
As Easter approaches, believers all over the world humble themselves and prepare their hearts to remember Christ's death on the cross for sin. After all, He took our place. He suffered innocently at the hands of sadistic men, and was separated from God the Father so we would never have to be. It is fitting to ponder these things. As Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before Christ came:
6 the LORD laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:6–9, ESV)
The only reason we can approach God is because of the blood of His son.
In the Old Testament, those who feared God had to bring a goat or calf to the high priest so he could offer it to God on their behalf. The death of the animal paid for their sin.
- But when Christ appeared as [our] high priest…he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:11–12, NIV).
- Therefore…since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19–22, ESV).
In Zechariah 7:3 (ESV), the people ask the LORD if they should weep and fast as they “have done for so many years?” There were four fasts they observed in remembrance of the fall of Jerusalem. In verses 5-6 the LORD confronts His people saying, "’When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?’"
We find something similar in Isaiah 58 (ESV). The people ask God:
3 Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the LORD?
God goes on to give them a litany of things they should do. He lists what the law requires of them as His holy representatives. If we read these things literally and apply them to our lives, we are laying on ourselves heavy burdens God never intended. The law simply shows us our sin and points to our need for a savior. The wonderful thing for us is our Savior has come and fulfilled the law (Romans 10:4)
In Zechariah 8:19 (ESV) the Lord finally answers the peoples' questions about their fasts. He says, "The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace." God is pointing to a future time when they will no longer weep and fast over the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. One day it will be restored, and they will rejoice.
I have fasted many different ways during Lent. One fast I will always remember was when I felt God saying to feast instead of fast. I remember asking myself, “Can I do that?" It didn't seem natural or right. But each day at noon I feasted on His word and all that He had done for us, and joyfully celebrated what an amazing High Priest we have:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15, ESV).
During this Lenten season, contemplate what a true fast looks like for us as believers. We can solemnly remember Christ's sacrifice for our sin and look forward to the joyful celebration of Easter when He rose from the grave so we could reign with Him when He returns. We too have a season of joy and gladness to look forward to. So love truth, which came in the flesh for us and brought us peace.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Isaiah 58:3–5). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
1 Grissom, F. A. (2003). Lent. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p. 1025). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
Kim Prothro
Kim fell in love with Jesus and studying God's word in the eighth grade. That eventually led to a dream of attending seminary which she did after her children were grown. She graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2013 with a Masters in Theology and was part of the original group of women who founded Womenary in 2008. She has been a past professor for Womenary and is currently the Director of Soul Care at Living Well Holistic Counseling and Wellness Center. Kim can be contacted at kim.prothro@gmail.com. 
