The Prophecy of Mary

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We have been looking at the Christmas story in Luke 1 and 2.  So today we pick it up in Luke 1:39-56.  Mary has just received the news from the angel Gabriel that she is to become pregnant by the Creative power of the Holy Spirit.  However, he had also revealed to her the miracle that her relative Elizabeth was now 6 months pregnant.  This situation opens the door for Mary to leave her home town in Nazareth and go down to the Jerusalem area and stay with Elizabeth till she delivers.  Elizabeth would need the help and Mary could use her company and understanding.  Who else would truly understand her pregnancy?

When Mary comes into their house and greets them a strange thing occurs.  It is not strange for babies to kick and move in the womb and by now Elizabeth would know that.  However, there is a large movement of the baby and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. She breaks out in a praise and prophetic declaration under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  Verses 42-45 record this outburst.  First of all Mary hasn’t said anything yet, but by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth recognizes that Mary is pregnant with the Messiah, “my Lord.”  Not only does she recognize that the Messiah has now come, but she also blesses Mary for her trust in the Lord and encourages her.  How invaluable this moment, and many more encouraging ones afterwards, must have become to Mary.  She who would be looked upon as a sinner without understanding, had one individual in Elizabeth who understood the miracle of what God was doing through Mary.

Mary’s response to this is referred to as a song because it is in a poetic style and has been used as a hymn by the Church from its beginning.  It is also called the Magnificat (Latin) because of Mary’s opening line of Magnifying the Lord.  However, this is more than a song.  It too is a prophetic pronouncement and praise by Mary.  This prophecy is given in the same style and Spirit as Hannah the mother of Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 2.

Mary Magnifies the Lord

In verse 46 Mary magnifies the Lord.  To magnify the Lord is to cause His reputation to be greater.  God is what He is and no one can make Him greater.  But we can cause the greatness of who He is to be recognized more.  In a world that has cynically rejected the greatness of God, we need people who will magnify the Lord with their words and their deeds.  Our lives can increase or diminish the view that others hold of God.  An interesting thing about this is that God loves to be magnified by the lowly.  Mary is no great person in the political scene of Israel and, yet, she is able to magnify the Lord.  In fact, God has made it abundantly clear that he prefers the praise of the lowly over the false words of the great.

How highly and how great do you see God as?  Is He only a figment of the imagination of an ancient culture?  Is He just a good idea that is inspiring to us today?  Or, is He the Mighty One who loves to help the lowly?  We can never think too highly of the Lord.  May God increase our understanding and may we magnify Him in the eyes of others.

Mary Rejoices that God Is Her Savior

We can rejoice in the general things that God has done for us all.  He has created a planet with all that we need to live and enjoy life.  He has provided salvation for us.  He has given us His Word in living and written form.  He has made His Spirit available to all who believe in Jesus.  But we should also rejoice in the things that He has specifically done for us.  Mary gives praise specifically that the Lord has chosen her to bear the Messiah.  Only one woman of all history would ever have this distinction, not even Eve herself.  Yet, our praise of the specifics God does in our life should never be in comparison to others.  Even though God has not done a thing of such magnitude through you, don’t diminish what He has done.  Learn to take joy in those things which God does for you.  In fact, as bearers of Jesus we find ourselves in a similar situation as Mary and able to rejoice that God has chosen us to bring Christ into the lives of others.

I would point out that in verse 47 Mary recognizes that she is a sinner in need of a Savior, “my savior.”  She was not some salty sailor of extreme wickedness.  But, neither was she a sinless, immaculately conceived being.  She was a young girl who believed the promises of God and was living for Him.  And yet, she also knew that she needed a savior.  She too was tainted by sin.  What a joy to know that the time had come that her sins and the sins of her people would be removed by the Messiah in one day!

God Notices the Lowly

In verses 48-50, Mary recognizes the mercy of God in choosing one who is lowly.  Now Mary is a young girl who is part of an off-shoot of the Davidic line.  She is not of a family that is in line for the throne nor involved in the politics of the day.  They couldn’t be much more removed from power and influence than to live in Nazareth.  Neither do they appear to be of any great economic stature.  Mary sees herself as lowly in the estimation of the world around her.  Yet, God took notice of her.  O friend, what is it in a person that catches the eye of God?  It can only be by keeping ourselves lowly of heart.  Mary could not control her circumstances, but she could control her heart.  Even when we are doing great in the estimation of the world, let us lower ourselves as Christ did.  Dying to the life of ease so that we can tend to the burdens of others is the hallmark of our Lord.  More than food, and health, people need the salvation of Christ that touches the burden of their sin.  How horrible it would be to feed someone and clothe them and yet do nothing for their soul.  God does not need great people.  He simply needs someone who is humble enough to greatly trust Him.  Humble yourself in the eyes of the Lord and He will lift you up in due time.

God is Against The Proud And Mighty

Next Mary exults that God not only notices and chooses the lowly, but He purposely rejects the proud and mighty of this world.  Yes, He notices them.   Yet, He refuses them.  In fact, He has pledged Himself to judge them.  1 Peter 5:5 says, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ “  Also, in James 5 read verses 1-7.   “

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!  ² Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.  ³ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.  ⁴ Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.  ⁵ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.  ⁶ You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.  ⁷ Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.”

We cannot count on justice in this age.  But, God promises a day of judgment in which all will stand before Him and give account.  All things will be rectified by God.  Much evil is done in this life in the name of getting justice.  Beware of the fact that the enemy loves to use good things as a cover for all manner of evil.  Also recognize that God has made the rationale He will use on that day abundantly clear throughout the Scriptures.

God Remembered His Promise

Israel itself is a type of the lowly.  When God needed a nation to bring forth Truth and the Messiah, He did not choose the proud and mighty nations of the world (Egypt, Chaldeans, Assyrians, etc…).  Rather, he found a single, lowly man, and made a nation out of him.  Among the nations of the time, Israel was the “slave nation” who would not even exist if it wasn’t for the help and grace of God.  God had made promises to Abraham and his children.  Now it was being remembered as the Messiah was conceived.  God is a God who remembers and helps the lowly.  Even to this day, the nations of the world look down on Israel as something that should not exist.  To them the world would be better if she disappeared or were completely destroyed.  Be careful when you are standing in line judging others that you are not loading the ammunition that will be used against you by the Lord.

May God help us to be faithful to the Lord in our generation.  God help us to trust Him.  God help us to believe that no matter how lowly we are in the world’s eyes and by the world’s measures, God will exalt us in due time and put down the proud.

The Messages of the Angel Gabriel

People have always been fascinated with the biblical characters called angels and our modern era is no exception.  Angels were the original men from “Out There” (although they were not “little green men”).  If we separate the popular fiction about angels that has built up over the millennia and look to the Bible, we find the truth about angels.

Hebrews 1:14 says that angels are spirits that are tasked with helping those who are inheriting salvation.  Thus it would stand to reason that fallen angels have rejected this task and seek to keep men from inheriting salvation.  Although these spirits have the ability to take on flesh, they are clearly not limited to flesh like humans.  It is also good to note that when angels interact with mankind they look like men.  In Hebrews 13:2 believers are reminded to be hospitable to strangers.  Why?  Many reasons could have been stated.  But the writer reminds them of the many stories in the Old Testament where people found out later that the person or people they entertained were actually angels (e.g. Abraham and Lot).

There are only two angels that are named in the Scriptures.  The first is the archangel (chief angel) Michael.  Scripture tells us that he specifically watches over the people of Israel.  The second angel is Gabriel.  It does not say that Gabriel is an archangel.  The description that is used of him is: “the one who stands in the presence of God.”  He is revealed 3 times in Scripture.  He gives messages from God to Daniel, Zechariah, and Mary.  We will look at the last 2 today.  Join me in Luke 1:5-38.

To Zechariah The Priest

In this passage we find a priest who is from the house of Aaron.  The Levites who were of the house of Aaron were a special class of priests who were able to minister in the temple.  During the reign of King David Aaron’s clan had been divided into 24 family divisions.  Each division was responsible to provide priests for a period of daily service in the Temple.  This was a rotation that was continued after Israel came back from exile.  Part of the temple service was removing the ashes from the Altar of Incense and the burning of fresh incense.  While this was happening the priest would intercede for the people of Israel.  Thus Zechariah is a priest who was chosen by lot to burn incense in the temple as a part of the morning and evening sacrifices.

It is important to note that Zechariah and his wife were considered by God as blameless.  This should not be interpreted to mean they were sinless.  Only Jesus is declared sinless in the Bible.  A fact that many miss is that there had to be grace during the period of the Law.  If no one could be saved by the Law, there had to be a way for Moses, David, etc… to be saved.  Thus those who did their best to follow God’s Law were considered blameless by God if they did so trusting Him.  God would not blame them even though Satan clearly would.  We see this in the Book of Zechariah, where Satan makes accusations against the High Priest Joshua, but the Lord will not listen to him.  In verse 10 we see that the people were gathered at the hour of incense.  They would pray in the temple courtyard, while the priest was offering the incense and interceding for the nation.  It is in this setting that an angel appears to Zechariah.  Of course he doesn’t know it is an angel at first.  He suddenly sees a strange man at the right side of the incense altar and is startled.  No one was authorized to be in there even if they were a priest.  This was under penalty of death.  Zechariah is very startled. 

Let’s get to the message of Gabriel.  After calming the fears of Zechariah the angel tells Zechariah that his wife will become pregnant and have a child.  We are also told that his wife, Elizabeth, is both elderly and barren.  Thus this represents a miraculous thing.  It isn’t on the same level as the virgin birth, but it is amazing nonetheless.  This is somewhat of a signature move of God.  He did this with Abraham and Sarah, who had a baby when she was 90.  He also did this with Isaac and Rebekah, Samuel’s parents, and Samson’s parents.  At critical times in the plan of God, a child is born to a couple who are barren and too old to have kids.  The “miracle child” goes on to accomplish something great in the plan of God.  Thus we are told that the child “John” would be great.  Jesus himself later said that none of the Old Testament saints and prophets were greater than John the Baptist.  He was to be a Nazarite.  Normally a person would volunteer to be a Nazarite for a temporary amount of time.  During that time they would not cut their hair, not drink any fruit of the vine, and devote themselves to worship and prayer of God.  At the end of their vow they would be released.  But there had been special cases where a child was called to be a Nazarite by God and they were to stay such their whole life.  This was the case with Samson and Samuel.  They did not choose it, nor could they un-volunteer.  As the leper was a living picture of sin, so the Nazarite was a living picture of holiness: a life separated from the common for service to the Lord.  John’s remarkable life would be marked by a powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, even while he is in the womb.  This is remarkable because even in the present time of the outpouring of God’s Spirit such a thing is not heard of. 

John’s task would be to prepare people for the coming messiah.  He would “turn many to God.  It is not our job to “save” people.  But, we can turn people back to God.  People were not living their lives towards God and in the light of His direction.  Rather, they were going towards their own desires and way.  Thus John would point them back to Messiah and back to the Way of the Lord.  He did this by warning them that those who were not prepared for Messiah’s coming would come under judgment.  Though they were a part of Israel they would perish like the generation did that traveled with Moses out of Egypt.  They perished in the desert because of unbelief.

The last part of the message is both a rebuke and a sign.  Zechariah was slow to believe what the angel said and thus he loses his ability to speak.  The angel tells him that he will be unable to speak until the child is born (over 9 months away).  This discipline in Zechariah’s life would teach him to trust the Lord, but it would also enable him to focus on what God was doing and be a spectacular sign that something special was happening with this child.  Of course Zechariah comes out of the temple and cannot speak.  Everyone knows something happened.  However, he goes home.  Elizabeth becomes pregnant, which she hides from public knowledge.

To Mary The Virgin

Six months later the angel Gabriel pays a visit to Mary a relative of Elizabeth’s.  Elizabeth was near Jerusalem, but Mary is in the Northern area of the Galilee, in the town of Nazareth.  The message is similar but has some very important differences.  Here we see that Mary is just as startled as Zechariah and yet is comforted by the angel.  He tells Mary that she had God’s favor.  The word would be better translated as “Grace” and is reminiscent of the phrase, “And Noah found Grace in the eyes of the Lord.”  God needed someone to bear the Messiah into the world.  This is not a statement of Mary’s superiority, but that she pleased God.  Only one could bear the Messiah.  They needed to be a virgin, of the line of David, and a godly woman.  Thus, Mary was chosen by God.   God is not doing this to reward Mary.  Rather, when he wanted to bring forth the Messiah, He looked for someone who fit His qualifications.  We might ask ourselves two things.  First, what does God want to do?  Second, am I qualified?  God sometimes is looking to do something spectacular.  But most of the time He is just looking for someone who will trust Him with all their heart and pass that faith down to the next generation.  This is no small thing and becomes the foundation for those times when He does something great in our eyes.  Mary is ready because faith had been passed down from one generation to the next until it reached her.  Are you being faithful to the faith that has been passed down to you?  Satan does not want strong believers because he knows that this is his only way to thwart the plan of God.  We can have the favor of God whether or not He does something as great as part the Red sea, or miraculously conceive a child within us.

The angel tells Mary that she will become pregnant and the child will actually be the Son of God.  Furthermore, this child will be given the throne of David and rule upon it forever.  This is heady stuff.  The Son of God is a clear reference to divinity.  Also, at this period in time “David’s throne” had been usurped by non-Jews.  Rome had given the throne to Herod even though he was not of the line of David.  We might ask what this means in light of the fact that Jesus was killed.  Even though he was resurrected, he then ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God.  At the cross, Jesus demonstrated his right to have the throne of David.  But, He will not take up the throne until He comes back.  When He does come back He will establish a kingdom that will last forever and will be upon the earthly throne of David.  Thus God will have fulfilled His promise to David.  However, He will not just rule over Israel, but over all nations.

The message involves Mary being pregnant.  Mary is not sure what to think since she is a virgin and asks how this could be.  Now let me make a plug for control in the area of sexuality.  Part of God’s favor had to do with the fact that Mary had trusted God enough to wait until marriage to become sexually active.  So her question is a tribute to her fidelity to God.  How will this happen?  The angel’s answer is that the baby will be miraculously conceived in her by the Holy Spirit.  Though this seems to be a fairy tale to some, take time to think about it.  Mary would have eggs within her.  The same God who took dirt, shaped it and breathed life into it, could surely cause an unfertile egg to “come to life.”  In fact, an egg is literally turned on by the information of a sperm.  Who made the DNA molecule in the first place?  Who encoded it with the information to make a human?  These things are miraculous, but they are not impossible with God.   In fact, humans are learning to do these kind of things in a lab.  Could not the Creator of the universe do so inside Mary’s womb?  We often have more faith in man and his technology than in God who created the physics that allow technology to exist. 

The angel ends with information that Mary didn’t know.  Her relative Elizabeth who had been barren all her life, had been pregnant for the last 6 months.  Now this is important because it serves as a sign to Mary that God would keep His word to her.  But it would also give her a close confidant who was also a seasoned believer.  This young teenager would have a strong woman of God to counsel her and prepare her for the tough days ahead.

Let me close with this.  Recognize in this story of miraculous things that the key is God’s heart.  He wants us to turn our hearts back to Him so that we can be blessed by what He is planning to do.  How often we turn from God to ourselves or to other men.  We trust more in our own ability to accomplish things than God.  God forgive us and help us to see that with Him, Nothing is Impossible.  In the days ahead, may we hold fast the faith that has once and for all been delivered to the saints until that day He comes back to reign forever.

Message Angel Gab Audio

The Trustworthy Account

We have been looking through Luke in order to discover who Jesus really was and what he really taught.  Over the next 5 weeks we are going to go back to Luke 1 and discover the reality of the birth of Jesus.

However, today let’s look at Luke 1:1-4.  Here Luke describes why he is writing and I think we will find it both instructive and encouraging to our faith.

Why Luke Wrote

We see in verse three that Luke is addressing a man named Theophilus. He also uses the title “Most Excellent.”  It is from this title that most scholars believe Theophilus was an official of some sort who had come to hear the gospel, whether from Luke or someone else.  Either way, Luke is trying to give Theophilus further information about this Jesus that Christians were talking about.

Now the gospel of Luke is actually the first volume of a 2 part account of which the book of Acts is the second volume.  You can recognize this by reading Acts 1:1, “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach…”  Although Luke is writing to a specific person, it seems clear that the size of the accounts expected a wider audience. So this project of writing a Gospel and a History of the Church from the ascension of Jesus, seems to have been instigated by the need of further details that Theophilus had.

Luke makes reference to the fact that other gospels had been written.  He doesn’t say whether he felt they were insufficient or that he didn’t have a copy.  Either way he explains that he recognized that he was in a perfect position to create such a gospel as well.  Now let me insert at this point that it would be easy to say that this reference would include things like “The Gospel of Thomas,” or “The Gospel of Judas.”  However, the only Gospels that the first century church recognized as actually from the apostles and their companions were the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  There is no record of these other gospels existing until later centuries.  They were also quickly rejected as poor copies of the Gospel style that were clearly written in order to co-opt Christianity and Christians into certain philosophies that existed at the time.  So this verse does not “verify” the legitimacy of The Gospel of Judas.

Another need for writing that is not explicitly mentioned by look is the fact that eye witnesses were beginning to die.  Now in 1 Corinthians 15:6 Paul mentions that over 500 disciples were taught by Jesus at one time after his resurrection.  If we add a potential 100 more we would have a large pool of people who were witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus.  This is beside the point that all of Israel were witnesses of the life, ministry, and death of Jesus.  Notice that Paul mentions that some of these 500 have passed away.  This pool of people was diminishing.  This would slowly begin to put pressure on Christians to write out the Gospel accounts before the eye-witnesses were all gone.

Another aspect of this is that even with 600 people, not all of them travelled as Paul did.  This group was limited in its ability to travel to all people and satisfy their curiosity.  So again, this would put pressure upon the witnesses themselves to put these things into written form.

Now Luke gives himself to this task because he felt that he had “perfect understanding” of what had happened.  Luke had ministered with the apostle Paul and had interacted with the other apostles as well.  He had received the accounts first hand and had opportunity to question and hear testimony from the people referenced in the historical stories.  Luke in verse 4 mentions that his hope is to make us certain about the stories of Christ.  He is concerned about the reliability of what people hear about Jesus.  If you have ever played The Telephone Game then you know how easily a story can be obscured the further removed from the source it gets.  Thus an account written by those who either actually saw the account or deposed those who did and wrote down their accounts would serve to establish that this is not just a tall tale that has grown with the telling.  Luke wants Theophilus to know that the incredible stories he has heard are in fact verifiably what happened.  Two thousand years later this need is even greater.  It is amazing to me that we are so quick to believe what we think happened, or didn’t, 2,000 years ago when we weren’t there.  And, yet, we will quickly discount the eye witness account of those who were there and that was written at that time when it could have been verified easily. These written Gospels become a verified anchor in time that becomes the evidence that what has been passed through time to us is the same that the Apostles themselves experienced.  It is reliable.

The New Testament Is Reliable

Now it is for these very reasons that we can know that the biblical account is reliable.  You can disbelieve it.  But don’t pretend that it is completely removed from reality.  You can disagree that Jesus existed, but you do so over the top of the historical witness of the first century Jews.  You can believe Jesus wasn’t resurrected from the dead, but you do so over the top of over 500 eye witnesses.  I can continue on this line of reasoning, but you can catch my drift.  You can be sure that the gospel of Luke we have today is the very understanding that Luke had and, by extension, that which the Apostle Paul, and the early Church themselves also had.

These accounts come from men who were eye witnesses and not in the sense that they all had a one-time psychedelic experience.  The apostles lived with Jesus and were his disciples for at least 3 years.  Those who witnessed him after the resurrection were numerous in number, but also numerous in the amount of times Jesus appeared to them.  Jesus spent nearly 40 days with these people and wasn’t just “sighted” like the modern Bigfoot sightings.  Rather, he spent time with them demonstrating that he was Jesus and teaching what he was wanting them to do.  Even if we want to believe that this is a large conspiracy, we will find such a premise incredible in light of how all of the apostles and many of the eye witnesses were treated and killed.  Under pain of death none of these eye witnesses recanted their stories and said, “We just made it up.”  We see this reality when Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:16, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”  The Apostle John also in his letter 1John 1:1,3 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—… that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

Another form of verification is the miraculous events that these eye witnesses saw.  Now in the modern world we reject miracles by definition.  However, it doesn’t explain what these people saw.  When the disciples share exactly what they saw, it stretches unbelief to hear some of the attempts of modern men to explain how they didn’t see what they saw, without saying they were lying.  You can believe that it wasn’t a miracle, but don’t pretend that the disciples didn’t know what a dead body looks like and that they were tricked by a different person pretending to be Jesus.

Think about it.  If this was just the account of a teacher from antiquity this world would be quick to embrace Jesus.  He would just be another teacher like Plato, Socrates, etc…  But Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh, and he claimed to rise from the dead and ascend into heaven.  This is unacceptable not just because it seems miraculous, but because it requires obedience to a particular God.  The miracles were the way that God helped the people to pay attention to Jesus.  But the point is not the miracles.  The miracles are intended to point to the one who is speaking and what they are saying.  Keep this in mind in the future because the Bible warns that lying signs and wonders will occur in the end times.  They are not lying because they aren’t real, but that they point to a liar and cause people to believe the liar.  When you look at Jesus hanging on the cross you know in your heart that this is no liar.  This one really meant what he said.  But when you see him resurrected from the grave you know that he was right!

These things were written down within decades and after having shared the story practically every day.  Historical evidences that we dig up always end up verifying the details of the Bible.  But on top of this, countless millions throughout every century have testified that they found the salvation and the Holy Spirit, promised in the Scripture to those who believe, to be real and true.

Jesus challenged us with this, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” This world wants to destroy any faith you would have in God’s Word.  But I am telling you that Jesus knew this would be happening.  You have been given great evidence upon which you can stand.  May you stand to the end!

Trustworthy Accounty Audio

When The New Becomes The Old

Today we are going to look at Luke 5:33-39.  Here the subject of prayer and fasting comes up.  But, rather than looking at the mechanics of how to do them, the issue is the Why and When of prayer and fasting.

The Question of the People

The question that is brought to Jesus starts with an observation.  The people had observed that prayer and fasting was a big part of the Pharisees and their disciples.  It was also a big deal with John the Baptist and his disciples.  Yet, the disciples of Jesus were not seen fasting and praying all the time.  Why?

Now let’s remind ourselves what biblical fasting is and what it is not.  There was only one fast that was commanded in the law and that was on the Day of Atonement.  All other fasts were voluntary, either as an individual or as a nation.  Even prayer is more assumed or expected rather than commanded.  So prayer and fasting are generally specific to a time of need.  Over time, the people of Israel had added public, memorial fasts to commemorate difficult times.  Things like the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple became times of national remembrance.  It would be similar to the United States declaring 9-11 as a day of fasting and prayer for our nation.  So why weren’t the disciples seen fasting on all these expected fasts?

Now we need to also remind ourselves of how the prophets corrected Israel on its many fasts.  Isaiah in chapter 58 took the nation to task.  Fasts had become a ritual in which they expected God to be impressed that they went without food and yet, on the same day, they would break his commands.  Fasting was never about impressing God with our ability to go without food.  Also, Jesus himself had taught in Matthew 6 that they shouldn’t pray in order to be seen by men, but rather to pray in order to be seen by God.  He also warned them to not use empty repetitious phrases.  So we would expect that his disciples would pray more in private than in public.  Also in regard to fasting, Jesus had taught that they should not make themselves look like they were fasting (in order that men may notice).  So it would make sense that their times of fasting would go unnoticed.  Jesus made it clear that God was not enamored with the ritual of prayer and fasting.  He was enamored with the heart that truly sought Him over the top of the things of this world.

Thus fasting has always been the mourning of a person who seeks God in prayer because of a difficult need or situation.  It is the cry of a person to God asking for mercy and help.  We want Him more than our daily food.  The situation is so devastating that we have no appetite.  We only want help from God.  Yet, this is not what is going on with the disciples.  They are not such good students of Jesus that they are never seen praying and fasting.  No, the answer was simpler.

The Answer: The Bridegroom And His Friends

In verses 34 and 35 Jesus gives the first of 3 parables or pictures which explain why his disciples weren’t fasting.  In this first parable, Jesus depicts himself as a bridegroom.  Now this is important to remember because Jesus used this image in other parables.  Here the disciples are called the friends of the bridegroom.  Even though the Church is called the bride of Christ, the marriage of the Lamb is not until the end of the age.  The Church is technically engaged to Christ.  So in this story Jesus compares them to his friends before the marriage.  This is clearly a happy time.  It would be the wrong time to act sad and start fasting.  Rather, it is a time to rejoice and feast together.  Israel had waited over a thousand years for the Messiah and here he was.  It would not only be unfitting to mourn and fast, it would be insulting.  Picture it this way.  If you were fasting and praying for a job and you got a call from a prospective employer saying that you are hired, it would be strange for you to continue fasting and praying as if nothing had happened.  You would be excited and scurrying around getting ready for your new job.  You would be happy and throwing a party.  The simple answer is that it isn’t time to fast.  Something wonderful has happened.

Yet, Jesus prophetically said that they day will come when he is taken away from them.  Then they will fast and pray often.  After the cross we see the disciples fasting and praying in the book of Acts.  Also throughout the New Testament letters we see that fasting was part and parcel with the early Church.  Why?  It is because of the fact that they were enduring the tribulations of this world for the sake of Christ and looking to that day when they could be reconnected with him.

The Answer: A New Patch, Old Garment

Jesus switches the analogy to that of an inanimate thing: clothing.  If you had an old garment and needed to fix it, you would not use a patch of new clothing.  Thus the Old Covenant was not just being patched up.  God was doing a new thing.  Even though the Law was old and tattered, it was not morally bad.  It was broken down by the sins and failures of Israel.  Yet, it still had served its purpose of demonstrating God’s righteousness and our sinfulness.  No man could be saved by Law.  The Law is righteous and I am not.  Therefore, I must die.  To simply patch the Law by adding grace would not be a good fix.  Grace is so vastly different that it would end up destroying both the old garment and the new patch.  This theme of bad mixtures runs throughout the Bible.  God warns us that not all mixtures are beneficial.  To mix some grace in with the Law is not God’s answer.  Grace comes in as a whole new set of clothing.  We are not under the law, but by grace we fulfill the righteousness of God.  In fact he says the two wouldn’t even match each other.  The Gospel is a completely different picture and vision than the Law.  They would be like trying to match a chromatic suit with a Hawaiian shirt.  It would look ridiculous even before both are destroyed.  You can’t promote one vision without diminishing the other.  You must choose between the Law (your righteousness) and Grace (the righteousness of Jesus).

The Answer: New Wine, Old Wineskins

The last picture has to do with wine and their containers.  Wine here is representative of the teaching of Jesus and the gospel.  Jesus had come to explain and show the Grace that God had made available to those condemned to die.  This new wine is different from the old wine of the Law that explained that everyone was sinful and disqualified before God.  The wineskin is the people and their response to the wine (teaching) over time.  Israel had the Law poured into them at Mt. Sinai.  Over the years their reaction to it had hardened into ritualized ways of dealing with it.  The Law had run its course and had affected them.  Thus the Law itself was new wine at one time.  The fledgling nation of Israel was also a new wineskin.  However, the Law had fermented and Israel had hardened.  Now it was time for new wine.  But God needed new “unhardened” people to pour it into.  God was unveiling the mystery of Grace that had been hidden and yet hinted at from the beginning.

Notice that both the wines came from God.  In fact Christians today should recognize that the Gospel itself has become “old wine.”  You may think it is blasphemy to say so, but that is because you think of old wine as bad.  Jesus wasn’t saying the old wine was bad, but that it had run its course and had its effect.  This world has heard the gospel for 2,000 years.  I am not saying it is time to stop, but the times of Grace to the nations does have a terminal point in the future.  Christian institutions and denominations have clearly followed a similar pattern as Israel did with the Law.  We have been affected by the Gospel, but in some ways, have been hardened by it.  The coming new wine is that of the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom.  God is doing this in such a way as to preserve the Law and Grace as both righteous, perfect tools in the hand of God.  Jesus did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it.  We must not bring the Church under the Law of Moses.  But neither must we attack it and declare its precepts unrighteous.

So let me end with these cautions.  The old wineskins always tend to not want the new.  Have you become so hardened to the Word of God that you are no longer useable by God?  Yet on the other hand, all that is new is not of God.  What vintage are you seeking?  In the name of progress and new wine, this world will embrace the antichrist spirit’s ultimate expression in the “Man of Sin.”  Why?  Simply because they hardened themselves to loving the Truth and set themselves up to believing a lie.  Caution!

New Becomes Old