Can faith really move mountains?

The condition attached to the first of the foregoing is believing. It will be said that believing, or faith, is necessary to all prayer. Though this is true, Scripture recognises specific faith about a specific thing. Thus one of the subjects of the miracles had faith to be healed (Acts 14:9); and it is expressly taught in 1 Cor. 12:9 that there is a distinct spiritual gift of faith which some have, and some have not — a gift alluded to in chap. 13 where Paul corrects the tendency to glory in gifts. "Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:2). It is perhaps to this special character of faith that the Lord refers when He says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). Genuine, divinely-given faith, not mystical or fancied faith, is what is here meant. Probably many have experimented upon this promise, only to be disappointed. Mahomet, it is said, audaciously commanded a mountain to come to him, and when his folly was manifest to all, tried to evade humiliation by saying, "If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the mountain." But the promises of God, and the power of His Spirit, are not bestowed to be the subject of curious experiment, or the means of subserving private ends.

Further, the application of some of the promises in the Gospels was primarily to the apostles, however much the principle of them may extend to the humblest disciple. Take, for example, the promise we are considering. This, as well as the parallel passage in Mark 11, stands in relation to the incident of the barren fig-tree. The fig-tree was a type of Israel, to whom the Lord had come seeking fruit but finding none. He pronounced it fruitless for ever. That is a picture of Israel after the flesh, producing only the leaves of profession. Any fruit-bearing must be from the living One — "From me is thy fruit found." In connection with this the Lord says, "Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this to the fig-tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt. 21:21-22). Now as the fig-tree symbolized Israel in the character of fruit-bearer, so "mountain" here represents Israel as a political system, and accordingly as an answer to the faith of the apostles, Israel has been cast into the sea of the nations, and politically lost.

Again spending the night outside the city, they return in the morning to find the fig tree the Lord had cursed dried up from the roots. Peter drew the Lord's attention to this strikingly rapid result of His words. The Lord answers, "Have faith in God," and assures them absolutely that one could say to a specific mountain, "Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea," and if he had no doubts about the matter, if would definitely take place. Of course the Lord is not speaking of a literal mountain, but "this mountain" is clearly the obstacle of Israel's condition at the time, lust as the fig tree spoke of her condition. The obstacle was Israel's opposition to the Lord Jesus. Its being removed and cast into the sea actually took place not long after the death of Christ, when the nation was driven from her land and absorbed by the sea of the Gentile nations.

In answer to the disciples' marveling at how quickly the fig tree withered away, the Lord tells them that if they have unquestioning faith, they themselves could not only do what was done to the fig tree, but could, by speaking to a certain mountain, cause it to remove and be cast into the sea. It is certainly not that faith decides what it wants to do. Faith rather depends on the will of God had decided that the fig tree (Israel) would wither: faith therefore could act upon God's will in the matter. Just so, the specific mountain, the obstacle of Israel's opposition to the truth, would very soon be set aside by God, in fact cast into the sea of the Gentile nations. The faith of dependent confidence in God could discern this, and therefore speak prophetically about the matter. For faith makes no independent decisions: it confides simply in the word and will of God; and His will in this matter could have been found in His word (the Old Testament). Consider for instance Deut.28:15-68, specially verses 64 and 65.

In answer to the disciples' question, the Lord tells them that their unbelief was the reason for their inability to cast out the demon. "This mountain" of which the Lord speaks then is the obstacle of their own weak spiritual condition. Genuine simplicity of faith would banish the obstacle, and make nothing impossible. Certainly this implies that nothing consistent with the will of God would be impossible, for faith sees the will of God as predominant. It is impossible to have faith for anything that is contrary to His will. He has laid down the path for faith in His word: if we do not follow it, the obstacle is in ourselves.

The disciples are in amazement when they see the fig-tree withered; but the Lord uses the miracle to assure them of the power which was ready to manifest itself for them in response to faith. Not only should they do what was done to the fig-tree, but if they had faith and doubted not, even a mountain standing in their way should be removed and cast into the sea, and whatsoever they asked in prayer, believing, would be done. We may well see in this a veiled assurance of how Israel, now nothing but an obstacle in the path of faith would disappear politically in the sea of the nations. But the promise here is of course, of very various application, and it would be entirely wrong in any way to limit it, save as the Lord Himself does; who distinctly makes His last assurance as full as possible. To faith nothing shall be denied; but it is not limitation to insist that faith must be faith.

(Vv. 20-26). The Lord instructs His disciples in the great principle that enables the feeblest saint to overcome the greatest difficulty and the most subtle opponent. Outwardly all the power and authority of the established order was in the hands of those who were opposing the Lord and His teaching. How then were a few poor fishermen to stand against the wisdom and power of men in high places? The Lord's answer is, "Have faith in God." All the power of those who were represented by the barren fig tree would vanish before the power of God used by faith. The Jewish nation which represented the whole system of the law, loomed large in the eyes of the disciples, even as a mountain that had stood for ages. Nevertheless, though to sight the nation looked so stable and enduring, faith could discern that it was about to be cast into the sea of nations. But though the mountain would be removed, God would remain, the unfailing resource for faith.

They wondered at the power which made the fig tree wither, and He calls their attention that the power of God is ready to answer their faith. The connection is obvious. Israel had no faith in God, hence their bareness. If they have faith, it shall be far different; the power of God is then at their disposal. The mountain is the type of an obstacle. Every obstacle can be and will be removed out of the way in answer to prayer. That there is a reference to Israel in these words is no doubt true. The nation was a mountain and by its disobedience and rejection of the Lord, the nation was an obstacle in the path of the Gospel. But on account of faith this mountain was indeed cast into the sea, the type of the nations. Precious to faith has ever been and ever will be the Word, the author and finisher of the faith speaks here. "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Let us not limit them, nor say as some have said, it is not for us. They are for the children of God and there is no limit to them. All things -- whatsoever; surely there is no limit here; and then the three steps -- asking in prayer, believing and receiving. He, the King, who has all power spake these words; and what a meaning they should have for us! May we cast ourselves upon them in childlike faith.

Let us then enquire what was the secret of their failure. It lies on the surface, that they knew not how to avail themselves of the power which their Lord had conferred upon them; and He expressly tells them that the cause of this was their unbelief. So plainly does He lead their hearts into the secret of their failure that He adds, "For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Without the present operation of faith therefore, there can be no display of power through the servant, whatever his earnestness or zeal for the glory of God; whereas, on the other hand, if there be but the smallest degree of faith in exercise, divine power is so brought in that obstacles as large as mountains are removed, and all difficulties are victoriously surmounted.

But this is not all. Had the Lord paused here, it might have been concluded that this victorious faith could easily be obtained and become a common possession. The Lord therefore goes deeper, down to the root of the failure to use the power entrusted to His servants, when He says, "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." By these words He teaches most distinctly that faith can only thrive in a congenial soil, that a certain state of soul is requisite for that confidence in God which can call Him in, and avail itself of His power in the emergencies of service.

Nevertheless the apostles (for so it is expressed here for our instruction) — "the apostles said to the Lord, Give more faith to us." They felt that such a demand was entirely beyond them.426b "But the Lord said, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard [seed] ye had said unto this sycamine tree,427 Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea; and it would have obeyed you." (Matt. 17:20; Matt. 21:21 Mark 11:23.) Thus faith works what is impossible to man, to nature; and this, too, wherever there is a grain of reality, be it ever so 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. There may be a great difference as regards the result for sensible enjoyment; but God answers in His grace the feeblest exercise of faith in Him. "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard [seed], ye had said unto this sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea [an entire contrariety to the course of nature], and it would have obeyed you." We must always hold, as believers, the superiority of God to all circumstances. "Have": so Edd. as ℵABFL, etc., 1, 33, 69. DEGH, Old Lat. "had."

It is clear, from chap. 3:15, that there was no excuse for the inability of the disciples to cast out the demon from this poor child. The power had been bestowed upon them, but when this opportunity for its exercise was presented to them, they could not use it. Combining the narrative in Matthew with this in Mark, we learn the whole secret of their failure. In answer to the disciples' own question, "Why could not we cast him out?" Jesus said, "Because of your unbelief"; and He, moreover, told them that nothing would be impossible to them, if they even had faith as a grain of mustard seed. We learn likewise, from both gospels, that for such faith, for the exercise of such victorious power, over the enemy, there must be a corresponding state of soul: "This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." (Mark 9:29.) Prayer is the expression, in confidence in God, of the realization of absolute dependence; and fasting will mean that Nazarite state which refuses lawful things and lawful enjoyments (See Numbers 6:3-7) for the sake of more entire devotedness to the Lord's service. It may sometimes include abstinence from food, but to confine it to this is to miss its main import. A fasting soul is one so filled with the marrow and fatness of heavenly joys, as to be superior to, and independent of, the gratifications of earth. In this condition, faith will be in such vigorous exercise that "mountains" will be removed. (Matthew 17:20.) The same blessed instruction concerning the action of faith may be gathered from the Lord's words to the father of the child, who had cried, "If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us." The answer was as to its meaning, "the 'If thou canst,' is, 'If thou canst believe' - all things are possible to him that believeth." Whether, therefore, in the Lord's service, or in deep personal need, the indispensable requisite for calling in divine power for succour and deliverance, is faith - faith that looks beyond all difficulties and obstacles, and lays hold of the arm of Omnipotence. And this unutterable grace and privilege are of divine permission and appointment.