On Fasting

Isaiah 62:6-7

On your walls, O Jerusalem,

            I have set watchmen;

all the day and all the night

            they shall never be silent.

You who put the LORD in remembrance,

            take no rest,

and give him no rest

            until he establishes Jerusalem

            and makes it a praise in the earth.

I read this passage in a recent quiet time and it struck me as an appropriate reminder of how earnestly God wants us to pray. Isaiah, as you probably know, is a prophetic book – perhaps the most famous of the Old Testament books of prophecy – and as you near the end of the book you find more and more reference to the coming time when God will complete His redemptive work, destroying sin and evil once and for all and bringing forth a New Jerusalem, filled with His presence and righteousness, in which sin and pain will be no more. His Kingdom will fully come.

The verses quoted above follow a passage that fits this prophetic description of God’s coming Kingdom. Isaiah writes that “the nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory..” (v. 2), and that “You shall no more be called Forsaken…but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her….” (v. 4) He also uses marriage as a metaphor, in which God is described as rejoicing over His people as a groom rejoices over his bride (v. 5). Revelation 21 and 22, the Bible’s last 2 chapters, describe this New Jerusalem in more detail, describing the city coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. God will dwell with His people, crying and pain will cease, the Kingdom will be established permanently.

Both for an Israelite hearing these words in the day they were written, and for us reading them now, a hopeful longing for this beautiful day to come ought to spring forth. This is desirable, worth fixing our eyes upon and dreaming about. More than any other hope of a bright future ahead, this is the brightest, the one we ought to keep in front of us. It’s better than graduation day, better than wedding day, better than anything that happens to be the top of our life’s bucket list. It’s better than a Pirates World Series win (and if you know me, you know that’s a pretty lofty future I hope for).

In light of this vision of what is to come and the longing it produces, we have verses 6 and 7.  God says that He will set watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem who will not be silent. So what is a watchman and why will these ones not stop talking?

In ancient times, cities were walled – fortified against any enemy attack. Often, watchmen would stand atop these walls, scanning the horizon for any threats, or, as in this case, any signs of good news on its way. The watchmen would then alert the city accordingly. It seems that these watchmen, though, are not silently waiting, but constantly speaking. Or in this case, praying.

The following words in the passage indicate this: “You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest, until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.” Those who put the LORD in remembrance, I believe, describes those who pray. And these people who pray are told to give God no rest, or to take rest themselves, until the establishment of this coming Kingdom.

Now I don’t know exactly how God hears and answers prayer, or determines what He’ll answer when and how. It’s mystery that continues to confound and amaze me, but passages like this give no doubt that He considers it vital and uses it in His grand and global plans. He uses the prayers of His people in the accomplishment of His purposes. That’s astounding! God, the Creator and all-Sovereign King, will establish His eternal Kingdom – that’s a fact – and our prayers are an essential part of the process. In some way, He waits for us to ask and seek.

Beginning this week, Pittsburgh Cru has entered into a time of fasting together. We’re inviting everyone involved with Cru to participate by joining in a daily lunch fast from Oct. 13 to Nov. 21, or by fasting in a way that God may specifically lead you or would make more sense for you. We’re doing this because we desperately need God. We need Him to move in our individual hearts and we need Him to move on our campuses and in our city, to draw people to Himself, revive the hearts of His people, and bring the values and presence of His Kingdom here to our city.

Pittsburgh is not Jerusalem. But this passage doesn’t speak just to that city in Israel; it also speaks of a coming day when the new Jerusalem will be the eternal home of all who believe and proclaim Christ as Lord. And this passage reminds us that we are to give God no rest until that day comes. To persistently ask, plea, and beg for Him to bring this end of time and establish His heavenly reign on earth. To cry out to Him for His move. To continue to go before Him and not stop until that day comes. He invites it! He wants us to do this.

As we fast together, let’s pray with this persistency and earnestness, for God to bring His Kingdom in its fullness quickly, and also for Him to bring His Kingdom - which has come to the world through Christ and is spreading and growing even now – more fully and tangibly here. Let’s pray for the lost to be saved, for the hearts of God’s people to be revived and transformed and moved to worship and to action, and for the joy, freedom, peace, healing, life, justice, reconciliation, and all the other wonderful elements of His Kingdom to be more realized here, in Pittsburgh.

If you’re free, the staff will be meeting daily from 12-1 to pray together, and we’d love for you to join us. Let’s seek the Lord together! We’ll usually be at the random stairway to nowhere in the Tansky Lounge of the Pitt union, but text one of us to double check.

-- Jason (412-354-0942)