Is alcohol allowed when you fast?

Question:

Is it allowed to consume alcohol the days when you fast?

Unprecedented

The Bible doesn’t tell us about someone who was fasting and at the same time was consuming wine or other strong drinks. On the contrary, as other articles on this subject have shown, all the cases from the Bible when people were fasting show that they abstained completely from food, and in some cases, they abstained even from drinking, i.e water.

Fasting is for proximity with God

As prophet Isaiah wrote in the 58^th chapter of his book, the meaning of fasting is that our cry may be heard by God. But, the whole Bible warns us a lot about the dangers that come along with the alcohol consume.

Wine consume is not allowed for proximity with God

When people dedicated themselves to God for a more special worship, they abstained from wine. So, when John the Baptist was conceived, the angel told Zacharias, his father, the following things about the child that was to be born:

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. (The Gospel of Luke 1:14–16)(NASB)

Prophet Daniel didn’t consume wine

Even if the Word of God doesn’t define as fasting, there was a situation in the life of the prophet Daniel that applies to our question. Here is how the Bible relates this situation:

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar; and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. Did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed. (Daniel 10:1–3)(NASB)

This was the way how Daniel intensified his prayer, a spiritual battle when he asked from God the explanation of the revelation he had seen. When the angel who gave him the explanation came to him, he told Daniel the following:

Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.” (Daniel 10:12–14)(NASB)

Because he set his heart on understanding the revelation and on humbling himself before God for three weeks, that is 21 days, he didn’t eat any tasty food, nor did any meat or wine enter his mouth.

Considering the things mentioned before, I let the reader decide by himself if it is right for a Christian to consume wine when he fasts.

Translated by Felicia Djugostran