And Jesus answering said to them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and do not doubt, not only shall ye do what [is done] to the fig-tree, but even if ye should say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and be thou cast into the sea, it shall come to pass.
The disciples had just seen a fig tree wither at a word, and their amazement is what the Lord answers here. His reply moves from a dried-up tree to a mountain thrown into the sea. Two questions follow: what is "this mountain," and how far does a promise like this reach?
Commentators read the withered tree as a picture of the nation that had every advantage and produced nothing.
The sentence on the fig tree was a symbolic curse upon the people — Israel was the fig tree. The Lord found nothing but leaves, and the word is that from now on no fruit shall grow on it forever. The nation had failed to bear fruit for God. They had every means and opportunity for glorifying and serving Him. Now all their advantages are gone, and the old stock is given up — a dead tree.
The Lord says "this mountain," not "a mountain." Several writers read it as a symbol of the nation's standing, not a heap of rock.
The disciples wondered. But the Lord says to them further, "If you say to this mountain (a symbol of Israel's exalted place among the nations), Be cast into the sea," and so on. This has been done. There is no fruit borne for God. More than that, Israel as a nation has been cast into the sea — lost in the mass of peoples, trodden down and oppressed under the feet of the Gentiles.
Commentators differ on how far to tie the image to Israel. Another writer weighs any such obstacle against God Himself, and against the servant who leans on Him.
The mountain, we understand, stands for all the obstacles that lay in the way of finishing the work... But all these are nothing to God, whatever the activity, power, or influence of the adversaries. They are just as nothing to the man of faith who rests on the power of the Spirit alone and walks in the path of God's will... This gives rich encouragement in the Lord's service. His servants can treat the most impossible difficulties as occasions only for the display of almighty and victorious power, through the working of the Holy Spirit.
Why teach this at this moment? Because one order was ending and another beginning.
He then teaches His disciples an important truth. The Jewish system was about to be replaced by a new way of dealing among them as His disciples. The characteristic energy or strength of that new way was to be faith. To faith, and not to the temple, God would commit the exercise of His power on earth.
The promise is not a blank cheque for ambition. One writer points out that the disciples could speak this way only because God had already settled the matter.
It is certainly not that faith decides what it wants to do. Faith depends on the will of God. God had decided that the fig tree, Israel, would wither, so faith could act on God's will in the matter. Faith that depends on God could see this, and so could speak prophetically about it. Faith makes no independent decisions: it trusts simply in the word and will of God. And His will in this case could be found in His word, the Old Testament.
"If you have faith and do not doubt" sets no minimum size. One writer explains what happens when even a trace of faith is real.
Faith works what is impossible to man, to nature; and this, too, wherever there is a grain of reality, however small. For whether faith be little or strong, if real, it brings in God; and God is the same God in answer to little faith as to great. The difference may be great in what we feel and enjoy. But God in His grace answers the feeblest exercise of faith in Him.
Writers differ on the scope. Some hold that the Lord gave the promise first to the apostles, and that its principle reaches further:
Some of the promises in the Gospels applied first of all to the apostles. Yet the principle in them may reach even the humblest disciple.
Others refuse any narrowing, while insisting the condition is real:
The promise here has, of course, very varied application. It would be wrong to limit it in any way, except as the Lord Himself does. And He makes His last assurance as full as possible. To faith nothing shall be denied; but it is no limitation to insist that faith must be faith.
- Leaves. The tree had every appearance and no fruit. The sentence on it fell on a nation that had every advantage and gave God nothing.
- Mountain. "This mountain" is what looks immovable: Israel's high place among the nations, or every obstacle blocking God's work.
- Sea. History has already seen it: the nation sank into the sea of the peoples and disappeared among them.
- Faith. The old system was ending. Power on earth now belonged to faith, not to the temple. And faith does not invent its own requests; it rests on God's word and will.
- Grain. Size is not the test. If faith is real, however small, it brings God in — and to that faith nothing is denied.
And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
These words about receiving whatever you ask came right after Jesus cursed a fig tree that had leaves but no fruit. The tree withered, and the promise He then gave is so wide that it raises an obvious question: does my asking change anything?
The miracle was not an end in itself. Commentators say the Lord's reply points the disciples away from the dead tree. It points them to the power open to them, and it guards the promise from misuse.
The disciples are amazed when they see the fig tree withered. But the Lord uses the miracle to assure them of a power ready to work for them in answer to faith... The promise here is open to many different uses. It would be wrong to limit it in any way, except as the Lord Himself does. And He makes His final assurance as full as it can be. Nothing shall be denied to faith; but it is no limitation to insist that faith must be faith.
Just before this, Jesus spoke of moving a mountain. That mountain is more than a figure of speech. Writers connect it to the same nation the fig tree pictured, and see the promise fulfilled in history.
This, like the parallel passage in Mark 11, stands in relation to the incident of the barren fig tree. The fig tree stood for Israel, where the Lord came looking for fruit and found none. He declared that it would never bear fruit again... The fig tree pictured Israel as a nation meant to bear fruit. The "mountain" here pictures Israel as a nation with power to rule. In answer to the faith of the apostles, that mountain was thrown into the sea of the nations, and Israel lost its place among them.
Some have concluded that a promise given to apostles is not for ordinary believers. Commentators reject that reading. They apply the words to every believer.
Let us not limit these words, nor say, as some have said, that they are not for us. They are for the children of God, and there is no limit to them. All things, whatever they are: there is no limit here. Then come the three steps — asking in prayer, believing, and receiving.
The scale of it is what makes the verse hard to believe rather than hard to understand.
If we turn to Matthew 21:22, we shall find another of the essential conditions of effective prayer... This is a truly marvellous statement. It opens the very treasury of Heaven to faith. There is absolutely no limit. Our blessed Lord assures us that we shall receive whatever we ask in simple faith.
Everything turns on one word: "believing." So the verse is not a method for testing God.
Genuine, divinely given faith, not mystical or imagined faith, is what is meant here. Probably many have experimented on this promise, only to be disappointed... But God does not give His promises, or the power of His Spirit, for curious experiments or for private ends.
If faith is the condition, the honest question is how anyone gets it. One writer answers that God gives the faith as well as the answer.
Still the promise in all its fulness is there, for faith to act on. It is a large one, and its only limit is the reality of the faith that uses it. If God gives faith, He will just as certainly give what that faith reaches for.
That is why confidence in prayer grows out of knowing what God has already said.
Faith can only spring from confidence in God about the thing we are asking for. And that confidence only comes when we are sure that what we ask is according to God's will... This passage matters because it shows where faith stands: on knowing God's will. And God opens up that will to us in the Scriptures.
Because faith rests on God's will, some limit the verse to spiritual requests. Not all agree.
I believe this is true of every spiritual blessing we need. And it is not limited to the spiritual. "Whatever you ask in prayer" sets no limit, and I refuse to add one where Scripture does not... The Lord often uses our everyday needs to teach us. We pray about them and trust Him, and that encourages us to pray and trust Him for the deeper spiritual needs.
- Occasion. A dead fig tree and a mountain set the scene. The Lord turned Israel's fruitlessness into a lesson on what faith may ask.
- Promise. The words open heaven's treasury with no stated ceiling — "all things, whatever."
- Condition. Everything hinges on believing. It must be real faith, not a test staged to see whether God will perform.
- Source. Faith itself is God's gift; where He gives the faith, He gives the thing the faith reaches for.
- Anchor. Such faith grows from knowing God's will in Scripture. Commentators differ on whether the promise covers everyday needs too.