the bridegroom fast

8/8/2019 The Bridegroom Fast

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The Bridegroom Fast

Pastor Jason Armold


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John the Baptists disciples were confused andtroubled by the lack of fasting among Jesusdisciples.

John had taught his disciples to fast often, andthey saw that even the hypocritical Phariseesrecognized how essential this discipline was.(remember Isaiah 58)

Jesus answered their question by asking themwhat seemed to be a strange question. Can the

friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as thebridegroom is with them?


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Jesus was talking about when He would be takenaway from them. Then, He implied, would Hisdisciples fast with the same consistency and

intensity that Johns disciples did. Their fasting would then flow out of longing and

mourning for Jesus as the Bridegroom.

This was His first reference in Scripture to being

the Bridegroom.

He was introducing a fast motivated by desire toencounter His beautiful and loving presence.


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Old Testament fasting was usually an expression ofsorrow over sin or a pleas for God to physically deliverHis people from disaster (again, Isaiah 58).

Fasting was, in many cases a purely religious exercise.

Now the Lord was saying there was something new.

After His death, after the New Covenant wasestablished, fasting would take on a whole newdimension.

The indwelling Holy Spirit would make this possible.

The fast His disciples would enter into would be onerelated to intimacy with Jesus as the Bridegroom.


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God opened the depths of His heart to every believerthrough the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:10 10 But God has revealed them to usthrough His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes,the deep things of God.

Hebrews 10:19-22 19 Therefore, brethren, havingboldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20

by a new and living way which He consecrated for us,through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a HighPriest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a

true heart in full assurance of faith, having our heartssprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodieswashed with pure water.


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We must never be content to live without a growingexperience of Gods heart.

1 Corinthians 2:12 12 Now we have received, not the

spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, thatwe might know the things that have been freely given

to us by God.

The apostles experienced this intimacy of knowing theMan Jesus while He walked on the earth.

Jesus insisted they not fast during this time, butrejoice.


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Things changed after Jesus was taken away.

The promise of the New Covenant was still theirs,but His physical presence was gone.

He had awakened a depth of desire in theirhearts that they were not fully aware of until theywere wounded by His absence. They longed forHim, for His nearness. When the overflowing

gladness of His immediate presence was takenfrom them, they were heartsick then theyfasted.


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Song ofSolomon 5:88 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

If you find my beloved,That you tell him I am lovesick!

The Song of Solomon describes the relationship betweenJesus and His bride. It describes the Churchslovesickness for God.

Song ofSolomon 2:5

5 Sustain me with cakes of raisins,Refresh me with apples,ForI am lovesick.


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Even the remembrance of our close encounterswith Jesus in years past create a hunger today, acraving that will not be satisfied until we

experience Him again and again in even greatermeasure.

A heart that does not mourn for more ofHim is

a heart that accepts its current state of spiritual

barrenness as tolerable and livable. A mourning heart is fiercely discontent; it has a

desperate hunger for God.


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The Bridegroom fast is focused on desire: bothunderstanding Gods desire for us and awakening ourown desire for Him.

Jesus promised that we would be satisfied as wemourn for more of Him.

Matthew 5:44 Blessed are those who mourn,For they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:66 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst

for righteousness,For they shall be filled.


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The joy that the early apostles experienced inJesus nearness became grief and longing, evenlovesickness, when Jesus was taken from them.

Spiritual hunger is a divine gift that leads us toseek greater experiences of His love, regardless ofthe cost.

We were made to love and be loved by God. He

has made us to crave Him until our heart cry isanswered. He increases our experience of Him byawakening and then answering desire within us.


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He romances us, lets us feel His love stir withinus. Though this brings a certain satisfaction toour souls, it also awakens a deeper longing and

hunger for more.Psalm 421As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God.2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shallI come and appear before God?We fast in response to the groan in our hearts for

more of God.


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Why would Jesus want His friends to mourn

while He was away?

Yes, we were made to live in joy, but joy canbe found only in the Person and presence of

Jesus. Joy apart from Jesus is no joy at all.

Our mourning for Him gives witness that we

are not of this world and that we refuse to

come under the seductions of satan.


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This holy longing will not ultimately or fully be satisfied until we liveface to face with Jesus. His second coming is ultimately the fullnessof the answer and consolation for which we mourn. It is in Hiscoming that our highest joy will be found.

Psalm 119:19-20 19 I am a stranger in the earth;Do not hide Your commandments from me.

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My soul breaks with longingFor Your judgments at all times.

Romans 8:23-2523 Not only that, but we also who have thefirstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 Forwe were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; forwhy does one still hope for what he sees?25 But if we hope for whatwe do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.


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Until that day we will continue to groan withinourselves, eagerly waiting for Him to come onceagain.

The purpose of the Bridegroom fast goes evenbeyond yearning for Jesus return. It is theyearning to experience His presence now.

God has designed us so that when we give

ourselves to Him by fasting, reading the Wordand prayer, our capacity to receive more of Himincreases.


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Fasting serves as a catalyst to increase the depth andthe measure to which we receive from the Lord. Byfasting we receive greater measures of revelation at anaccelerated pace, which has a deeperimpact upon ourhearts.

It is not to move His heart but to move our own. Ourhearts are prone to dullness and lethargy, and if wedont deliberately confront that dullness, we become

hardened without realizing it.

Our desire for God is His gift to us. This craving for Godcauses pain in our hearts. This works good things in us!


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He doesnt inflict meaningless heartache on

us. This longing has a purpose. Spiritual

hunger is a divine agent that leads us to

greater love.

Our desire for Jesus creates the mourning or

the pain of lovesickness, which in turn

compels us to make changes in our lives so

that we can receive all that is ours in Christ.


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The Bridegroom fast also brings holiness to oursouls. Fasting for spiritual renewal includesmourning over the sin that hinders ourrelationship with Him.

The increase of lovesickness for God inevitablycauses a conviction within and we becomeunable to tolerate anything that opposes the lifeof God in us.

No longer are we content to live in compromiseor sin. We surrender everything becauselovesickness compels us.


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David spoke of humbling and chastening his soul withfasting as he confronted the sins that hindered is abilityto behold the beauty of God.

Psalm 27:44

One thingI

have desired of the LORD,That willI seek:

ThatI may dwell in the house of the LORDAll the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD,

And to inquire in His temple.

Psalm 109:2424 My knees are weak through fasting,

And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness.


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Fasting because of love exposes the compromisesin our hearts and our ungodly dependence onworldly things.

It is a way of keeping our hearts spiritually awakeand alert in a dark world that naturally dulls anddefiles the human spirit.

ohn 14:2121 He who has My commandments andkeeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he wholoves Me will be loved by My Father, andI willlove him and manifest Myself to him.

the bridegroom fast

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