"Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their
faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But
thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to
fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward
thee openly" (Matt. 6:16-18).

The Lord here does not so much enjoin fasting as bring it, like prayer, under the Christian
principle of having to do with our Father in secret. It falls under the individual life of faith. Yet
He undoubtedly sanctions and approves of it when so practiced; and this independently of the
more open and united aim such as we find in Acts 13:2,3 and 14:23. He also intimates its value
for spiritual power. Pious men have ever felt and must feel its appropriateness in chastening the
soul before God, where public or private need called for humiliation. The apostle Paul speaks (in
2 Cor. 6:5 and 11:27) simply and piously of "fastings" and "fastings often" in his service, to the
rebuke of that levity which the Corinthian assembly betrayed, and which characterizes modern
Christianity.

In Matt. 9:14,15 the Lord shows the true place and time of fasting in answer to the disciples of
John who asked, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said
unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?
but the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast."
Those who were only disciples of John had no real appreciation of the Bridegroom’s presence.
Still less did the Pharisees who were filled with forms and self-righteousness. However, it was joy
to the believing disciples of Jesus. Feeble as they were, they had left their all for Him, and they
tasted a divine bliss in Him wholly unknown to the others. The joy of Messiah’s presence made
fasting altogether inappropriate. Those who tasted none of this bliss were blind to Him whom
God’s grace had given and sent. Greater still would be their darkness when the Bridegroom should
be taken away. Then those that believed and loved Him would fast, both spiritually and literally.

Fasting among Christians is all the more striking because of the peace, joy, and boundless delight
they have in the love of Christ, and fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Still
if loyal to Christ we cannot but have the constant sense of His rejection, and of the judgment ever
impending and certain to fall on the guilty world, and all the more because it pays Him the
hollowest of lip homage. Yes, days have come when the Bridegroom thus ignominiously taken
away is still absent, and fasting lends itself to mourners, whatever may be their enhanced joy in
being united to Him as members of His body, and the joy of grace in the revelation and active
working of a Saviour God to lost sinners, both Jew and Gentile.

(From "Fasting", in Bible Treasury, Vol. 5N.)