6 God Does Not Tolerate Legalism

God is saying to the Jews through Zechariah, “All these fasts you held these seventy plus years were not to me!” They were all self-serving. They did it as some sort of outward manifestation of the distress they experienced. They were sorrowful that they were experiencing difficulty. They did not fast in obedience to God and He knows it. He therefore did not take any of these so-called fasts into account as any atonement for their sins. Their fasts were basically a penance of sort. They were expressing a “woe is me” attitude regarding their state and not looking to God for both the reasons why the calamities came upon them or exhibiting true repentance and asking God for forgiveness for what they had done to deserve their punishment.