At this point, Matthew condenses his narrative. This has two results. First, it looks as if the cleansing of the temple took place on Sunday afternoon, while Mark clarifies that it took place on Monday. Second, he makes it look like the cursing of the fig tree and the lessons drawn from it took place at the same time. Again, Mark clarifies that there was a twenty-four hour interval between the two.

Mark’s twenty-four hour interval is valuable not just for understanding the chronology, but also the theology of this passage. You see, Jesus curses the fig tree on Monday. The disciples don’t notice it until Tuesday. Between these two events, Jesus cleanses the temple. Thus we understand that the withered fig tree is a symbol of Israel’s future. It is kind of like an enacted parable.

Mk 11:12-14 with Mt 21:18-19 ¹²The next day [early in the morning^MT] as they were leaving Bethany [on his way back to the city,^MT] Jesus was hungry. ¹³Seeing in the distance [by the road^MT] a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. [Immediately the tree withered.^MT]

Early on Monday morning Jesus hikes two miles back to Jerusalem for some unfinished business in the temple. Jesus shouldn’t have been hungry yet. Jews normally only ate two meals a day: 10 a.m. and 6-7 p.m. It was still too early for “breakfast.” Perhaps in all the excitement of the previous day Jesus missed his supper. That would not be the first time Jesus missed a meal because of business (Mk 3:20; 6:31).

Up ahead, off to the side of the road, Jesus notices a fig tree in full leaf. Passover time was unusually early for fig trees to leaf out. But normally, with the leaves came the green buds which would mature into figs. They are bitter but edible. Jesus goes to the tree looking for the fruit that its leaves promise. But he finds nothing but leaves.

Jesus has been criticized for expecting figs before their time. After all, “It was not the season for figs.” That criticism misses the point. The leaves promise there will be green fruit. But there isn’t. What’s worse, without the green fruit now, there will be no figs later.

Jesus has also been severely criticized for using his divine power to destroy an inanimate object in a fit of anger.^10-12 This too misses the point. Jesus isn’t wreaking vengeance on a deceitful tree. He is using this opportunity to teach his disciples a valuable lesson, especially in light of what he is about to do in the temple. To Jesus people are more valuable than things. He places more value on teaching his disciples than on an inanimate object. This same lesson was to be learned at the loss of 2,000 pigs in Gerasa. Besides, this tree is unproductive. It is taking up space on God’s good earth without doing its job. It is absurd to picture nature weeping the loss of its valued comrade through the whimsical anger of Jesus. It is a useless tree.

It has the appearance of a fruit-bearing tree, but it is not. So Jesus curses this unproductive tree as he is about to curse this unproductive nation. The disciples hear him. There is no way they could have predicted from his words—“May no one ever eat fruit from you again”—how immediate and severe the demise of this poor tree will be. Matthew says that it withers immediately. Within twenty-four hours, when they pass this spot again, they will notice that it has withered from its roots (Mk 11:20). Now that is “immediate” in any arborist’s book!

Verse-by-Verse Study

On Monday morning of Passover week Jesus rode into the city on a donkey colt to a Messiah’s welcome and was acclaimed the Son of David, as the people shouted hosannas and placed clothes and palm branches on the road before Him (Matt. 21:1-11). On Tuesday He came into the city again and cleansed the Temple of the sacrifice merchants and moneychangers (vv. 12-17). Now on Wednesday, He entered Jerusalem for the third time since coming up from Jericho.

From Mark we learn that the encounter with the fig tree involved two successive days. Jesus cursed the fig tree on the morning He entered Jerusalem to cleanse the Temple, and it was on the following day, Wednesday, that the disciples noticed that the tree was “withered from the roots up” (Mark 11:14, 20). Matthew condenses the two events into one account, which He mentions only in regard to Wednesday.

In light of Jesus’ just having been hailed by the populace as Israel’s great Messiah and King, His cleansing the Temple and cursing the fig tree were of special and monumental significance. The cleansing of the Temple was a denunciation of Israel’s worship, and the cursing of the fig tree was a denunciation of Israel as a nation. Instead of overthrowing His nation’s enemies as the people anticipated He might, the newly-acclaimed King denounced His own people.

It was inconceivable to Jews that their Messiah would condemn them instead of deliver them, that He would attack Israel instead of Rome. That is why the accolades of the triumphal entry were so short-lived, turning in a few days to cries for Jesus’ death. He had conclusively demonstrated what both His words and His actions had testified all along—that He had not come as a political—military Messiah to free Israel from Rome and set up an earthly kingdom. When that truth finally dawned on them, whatever else Jesus did became irrelevant to most Jews. They had no use for such a Messiah and certainly no use for such a King. By joining their leaders in calling for Jesus’ death, the people would declare in essence what Jesus had predicted in the parable of the nobleman: “We do not want this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14).

Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree was not nearly so powerfully dramatic as the cleansing of the Temple, but it was equally significant.

Jesus destroyed the fig tree. Why? Some have said such destruction is out of character for Christ. He would never destroy a tree for not bearing fruit. Why did Jesus destroy the tree?

• He destroyed it for the same reason that He angrily ran through the temple casting out all who bought and sold.
• He destroyed it for the same reason that He lashed out at the Pharisees for being hypocritical (Matthew 23:13-39).
• He destroyed it for the same reason that He cast the evil spirits into a herd of swine, killing them (Matthew 8:28-34).
• He destroyed it for the same reasons that He became indignant (angry) with the disciples for keeping little children from coming to Him.
• He destroyed it for the same reason that He deliberately demanded uncompromising loyalty despite family or personal needs (Matthew 8:18-22; Matthew 10:34-39).

Why did Jesus act with such force in destroying the tree? For the same reason He acted with such force in all of the above. Jesus always acted either to teach man or to save and help man. In destroying the fig tree, He was teaching man a much needed lesson.

The lesson: the Messiah has absolute power over all the physical universe. The unfruitful among men (symbolized in the fig tree) do not have such power. Contrariwise, He alone has such enormous power. He alone has the power to judge and to determine fruitfulness and unfruitfulness, life and death, salvation and condemnation. He alone laid down His life; no man took it from Him (John 10:11, 15-18, esp. John 10:18).

Remember this was Jesus’ last week. It was Tuesday, just three days before He was to be killed by unfruitful men. Jesus had to do all He could to prepare His disciples for His onrushing death and for all they were to bear through the ensuing years. He had only two days left, so He had to undergird them all He could. He was hungry and He saw a fig tree full of leaves. He walked up to pluck some fruit, but He found no fruit. He saw an object lesson in the event—a lesson that could be uniquely used in teaching and preparing the disciples.

In destroying the tree Jesus was showing the disciples (in an unmistakable way) that He had absolute power over all the physical world, even the power to keep from being killed. He was not dying out of weakness, not dying because He was not the Messiah, not dying because of the plots and intrigues of men.

Men may be judging Him to be unfruitful and unworthy of life, but He was not dying because of them. He was dying because the death of God’s Son was the way of salvation (John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:24). He was not being judged by unfruitful men or events; rather, unfruitful men and events were being judged by Him upon the cross (1 Peter 2:24; cp. Ephes. 2:13-22).

Very simply put, Jesus was picturing that He was truly God’s Son with omnipotent power, picturing it in a way that we can never forget. He had the power to save Himself and to destroy the unfruitful men who would take His life. But He of course could not—not then. Right then He was sent into the world to die for men and to save men, including the very ones who were judging and condemning Him to be unfruitful and unworthy of life. However, the day is coming when He will judge the unfruitful just as He judged the fig tree. But that day is out in the future, for the present He was to save men.

Note: the lesson of power through prayer and faith was the lesson Christ drew from His action (Matthew 21:20-22).

1. Jesus lodged in Bethany (v.17-18).
2. Jesus’ great power over the physical world (v.19).
3. Jesus’ great source of power: faith, not doubting (v.20-21).
4. Jesus’ promise of power to the disciples (v.22).

Jesus returned to Jerusalem despite the threat to His life. He returned because it was God’s will. He would not be stopped from doing God’s will. So it should be with us. We should never allow opposition and threats to stop us from doing God’s will. Note that like Christ, Paul did not shirk from God’s will, from setting his face toward Jerusalem despite the bonds and trials that awaited him there (Acts 21:13-15).

The Predicament

Now in the morning, when He returned to the city, He became hungry, And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it, and found nothing on it except leaves only; (21:18-19a)

Jesus lodged in Bethany, which was a suburb of Jerusalem. It lay about two miles east of the great city. Bethany was the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Jesus stayed with the family when ministering in and around Jerusalem. We must remember that Jesus apparently had no home of His own, which was partly due to the fact that His immediate family did not believe in Him (John 7:1-5, esp. John 7:5). He Himself had said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). The only housing He had was the homes of others such as Mary and Martha (John 11:1f; cp. Luke 11:1f; Luke 10:38-42; Luke 19:29f; John 12:1f).

As noted above, the morning refers to Wednesday, the day after the cleansing of the Temple and two days after the triumphal entry. Jesus returned to the city of Jerusalem after spending the night in Bethany as He had been doing, doubtlessly with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (see Mark 11:11).

It seems certain that Jesus’ hosts would have prepared breakfast for Him had He wanted it, but He may have gone out very early to pray on the nearby Mount of Olives, which He often did, and had no time to return to Bethany to eat. Or it may have been that He had eaten breakfast many hours earlier and that His intense prayer and His climbing the Mount of Olives rekindled His hunger. In any case, He became hungry. Although He was the Son of God, in His incarnation Jesus had all the normal physical needs characteristic of human beings. Therefore, when He saw a lone fig tree by the road, He hoped to find fruit on it to eat.

Fig trees were common in Palestine and much prized. It was not uncommon for them to grow to a height of twenty feet and equally as wide, making them an excellent shade tree. When Jesus called him to discipleship, Nathanael was sitting under a fig tree, probably in his own yard (John 1:48). Before the Jews had entered the Promised Land, the Lord described it to them as “a land of wheat and barley of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey” (Deut. 8:8). Through Zechariah the Lord promised His people that at Messiah’s second coming, He would “remove the iniquity of that land in one day” and “every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree” (Zech. 3:9-10). A favorite place for people to gather was under a fig tree

Just as the presence of the fig tree was a symbol of blessing and prosperity for the nation, its absence would become a symbol of judgment and deprivation. Largely because of the many conquests of Palestine after the rejection of Christ, the land became greedy denuded and barren. Some invaders used the trees to build their war machines and others simply to fuel their fires. When lumber trees were gone, fruit and shade trees were cut down. During one occupation the rulers began taxing according to the number of trees on a piece of property with the predictable result that many landowners cut down some of their remaining trees in order to lower their taxes.

Normally a fig tree produced fruit before it sprouted leaves. Therefore when Jesus found nothing on it except leaves, He was disappointed, because a tree with leaves should already have had fruit. Fig trees bore fruit twice a year, the first time in early summer. In the much lower elevation and much hotter climate of Jericho, some plants and trees were productive almost year round. But in April, a fig tree at the altitude of Jerusalem would not usually have either fruit or leaves, because, as Mark observes, “it was not the season for figs” (Mark 11:13).

Nevertheless, if the tree produced leaves early it should have produced fruit early. Whether because of too much or too little water, the wrong kind of soil, disease, or other reason, it was not functioning as it was supposed to.

Jesus used many subjects from nature—birds, water, animals, weather, trees, flowers, and others—to illustrate His teaching. On this occasion He used a barren fig tree to illustrate a spiritually barren nation. The illustration was a visual parable designed to portray the spiritually degenerated nation of Israel.

Jesus had great power over the physical world. He demonstrates His great power by three acts. These same acts are applicable to a human life.

1. His expectation: fruit. The tree looked healthy and full of leaves. It was time for Him to feast, and He had the right to expect fruit on such a mature looking fruit tree. It professed fruit.
2. His disappointment: no fruit. The tree had life; it was living. It had the sap to produce a rich foliage of leaves and it was professing fruit, but it had none. Its very purpose was to bear fruit, but it did not. It failed at three points.
3. It had an empty profession.
4. It had an unfulfilled purpose.
5. It deceived instead of served.
6. His absolute power over the physical world demonstrated. Christ demonstrated that He has the right and the power to execute judgment as He wills. He can deliver or He can destroy. His disciples needed to have this lesson fresh on their minds. His omnipotent power, the enormous power available to them, would encourage them as they experienced His death and as they faced the trials that lay ahead of their own witness. (See note—^ Matthew 21:17-22.)

The fig tree is a clear picture of hypocrisy, of false profession. If a tree is living, it is expected to bear fruit. That is its purpose for living. If it does not bear fruit, it is useless and good for nothing but to be cut down and burned (cp. Luke 13:7). Note another fact: the more alive a tree is, the fuller it appears and the more fruit it is expected to bear. If we give the appearance of righteousness, then God expects us to bear righteousness.

There are two times in particular when Christ looks for fruit within a person.

• There are the times of deep sensitivity wrought by life’s great trials and great opportunities. These times cause a person to think of God, of his need for God, and of his obligation to use his life for good (for example, feeding, clothing, and giving to others). Christ expects us to bear fruit in a very special way during these times: to turn to Him in trial and to help and bear witness when great opportunities arise.
• There will be the time of eternal judgment. There is a day coming at the end of the world when Christ will judge all men, both believers and unbelievers. Fruit will be expected.

Christ has absolute power over the universe. He did not die at the hands of men. He died purposefully for the sins of the world just as God willed. He had the power to keep from dying, but He chose to lay down His life for the sake of men (Romans 5:8).

There is no question, the cursing of the fig tree shows the enormous power of Christ to do three things. (1) It shows the power of Christ to deliver His disciples out of great trial. (2) It shows the power of Christ to determine when His disciples should depart out of this world (cp. 2 Tim. 4:6-8). (3) It shows the power of Christ to judge and condemn. The great day of His wrath is not yet come (Rev. 6:17), but the day will come. When the day does come, then all unfruitfulness of men shall be judged by His absolute power. (Cp. the parable of the fig tree, Luke 13:6-9.)

Some things will doom us: hypocrisy, false profession, uselessness, purposelessness, and no fruit. The cursed fig tree symbolizes all this.

The Parable

and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered. (21:19b)

Because the fig tree was barren when it should have had fruit, Jesus said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” With those words He pronounced the tree’s doom. It was under a divine curse (see Mark 11:21) and would be perpetually unproductive. In Matthew’s account it appears that the fig tree withered instantly. But as already noted, although the tree may have died at once, the withering was not evident until the next morning when Jesus and the disciples passed by it again and saw it “withered from the roots up” (Mark 11:20).

The fig tree represented spiritually dead Israel, its leaves represented Israel’s outward religiousness, and its lack of fruit represented Israel’s spiritual barrenness. As Paul later described his fellow Jews, they had “a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge” (Rom. 10:2), a form of godliness but no godly power (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5).

Fruit is always an indication of salvation, of a transformed life in which operates the power of God. People’s right relation to God is evidenced by the fruit they bear. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit,” Jesus said (Matt. 7:18). In the parable of the soils, the good soil is proven by the fact that it yields a crop—sometimes a hundredfold, sometimes sixty and sometimes thirty but always a crop (Matt. 13:8). The good soil, Jesus went on to explain, is the person in whom the seed of God’s Word takes root and grows. It “is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit” (v. 23). Using another figure involving fruit, Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit” (John 15:5). Fruit is always the manifestation of true salvation.

Jesus’ point regarding the fig tree was that Israel as a nation had an impressive pretense of religion, represented by the leaves. But the fact that the nation bore no spiritual fruit was positive proof she was unredeemed and cut off from the life and power of God. Just as fruitfulness is always evidence of salvation and godliness, barrenness is always evidence of lostness and ungodliness.

Empty religion almost invariably has many outward trappings in the form of clerical garments and vestments, ornate vessels, involved rituals, and other such physical accoutrements. It is also typically characterized by repetitious prayers, cited by rote and offered at prescribed times, or else by spontaneous prayers that are wordy ostentatious, and self-glorifying. Such were the meaningless repetitions of the pagans (Matt. 6:7) and the self-righteous prayer of the Pharisee who Jesus said was actually praying to himself (Luke 18:11).

This incident was not the first time Jesus had used an illustration of a barren fig tree. On an earlier occasion He said that for three years the owner of a certain fig tree had failed to find fruit on it and therefore instructed his vineyard-keeper to cut it down. But the keeper pleaded with the owner, “Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down” (Luke 13:6-9).

Presumably the request was granted. Here, too, the fig tree depicts Israel’s barrenness, and the owner’s willingness to wait for the tree to bear fruit represents God’s patience before bringing judgment. Our Lord makes no specific comparison of that three years to the three years of His ministry but it was three years after Jesus first presented Himself to Israel as her Messiah that the people declared their final rejection of Him by putting Him to death.

Some forty years later the curse on the nation of Israel, illustrated by Jesus’ curse on the fig tree, was fulfilled. At that time, God allowed the Romans to sack Jerusalem and raze the Temple, destroying both the nation and its religion, because Israel had not borne any fruit, as it has not to this day.

In cleansing the Temple, the King’s message was that Israel’s worship was unacceptable, and in cursing the fig tree it was that Israel as a nation was condemned for its sinfulness and spiritual fruitlessness. Those messages of doom the people would not tolerate.

They had not accepted John the Baptist’s call to repentance in preparation for the coming of the kingdom or his declaration that the Messiah was coming with “His winnowing fork… in His hand [to] thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and [to] gather His wheat into the barn [and to] burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt. 3:1-12). Nor had they accepted Jesus’ same call to repentance or His command to come to God in humble contrition and a genuine hunger and thirst for righteousness (4:17; 5:3-12). They were now even more ill-disposed to accept His word of judgment.

When the Lord delivered Israel out of Egypt He declared, Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you he in the country. Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. (Deut. 28:1-6)

But the Lord also declared, It shall come about, if you will not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. (vv. 15-19)

Through Isaiah, the Lord reminded Israel that He had nurtured and cared for her like a man who plants a vineyard in the best of soil and gives it the best of care and protection. But the vineyard produced nothing but worthless fruit, and the man declared that he would remove its protective hedges and walls, let it be laid waste and become choked out by briars and thorns. He would not even allow it to receive rain. “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,” the prophet explains. “And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress” (Isa. 5:1-7). Then follows a long series of woes, or curses, describing the calamities God’s people would suffer because of their unfaithfulness and spiritual barrenness (vv. 8-30).

The Principle

And seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” (21:20-22)

When the disciples passed the cursed fig tree the next morning and saw that it was “withered from the roots up” (Mark 11:20), they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” A diseased tree might take many weeks or months to die, and even one that had been salted, either by accident or from maliciousness, would take several days to die. For the fig tree to wither overnight was to do so virtually at once.

At that point the Lord moved from the visual parable of the fig tree to another truth He wanted to teach the disciples. The principle taught in the parable was that religious profession without spiritual reality is an abomination to God and is cursed. The principle Jesus was now about to teach related to the disciples’ marveling about how quickly the fig tree withered. They knew why it withered, because they heard Jesus curse it; they just could not understand how it could wither so fast. The Lord took the opportunity to teach them about the power of faith joined to the purpose and will of God, which can do far more than instantly wither a fig tree.

In response to their bewilderment, Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen.”

Jesus obviously was speaking figuratively. He never used His own power, nor did the apostles ever use the miraculous powers He gave them, to perform spectacular but useless supernatural feats. It was precisely that sort of grandiose demonstration that He refused to give to the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees who wanted to see a sign from Him (Matt. 12:38).

(21:20-21) Power—Faith: the demonstration of Jesus’ great power did just what He had wanted. It stirred the disciples to marvel and question. In amazement they asked, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?” (This is a better understanding of the Greek.)

Jesus had them just where He wanted them: they were asking about His great power. He wanted to teach them that He had absolute power over the physical world and that the same power was available to them in the future as they served Him. He had demonstrated His absolute power; now they were asking about the source of that power.

Note how Jesus shared the source of His power. He said in essence, “Here is the source of my power, and the same power source is available to you.” He was explaining the source of His power in the second person which makes it applicable to all His disciples. He was answering their question about His power, but He was doing it in such a way that they would know the same power was available to them.

What is the source of Christ’s great power? Or, we may ask, what is the source of great power for the disciple of Christ? It is three things.

1. Faith (Hebrews 11:6).
2. Not doubting at all. This means never having a thought as to whether a thing can be done or not. It means not hesitating, not wondering, not questioning, not considering, not being concerned at all. Realistically, only God Himself could ever know whether or not something would happen—know so perfectly that no wondering thought would ever cross His mind. What Christ is after is that we grow in belief and trust. He wants us to believe that all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13).
3. God’s authority: given to those who speak the Word. Note the phrase “Shall say”. The power of Christ came from the authority of God. All He had to do was say, that is, speak the Word and it was done. That is the very point He is making to us. If we believe, not doubting, then we stand in the authority of God. We may say, that is, speak the Word and it shall be done.

Jesus had already performed countless miracles of healing, many of which they probably had witnessed. And He performed many more such miracles that they could easily have witnessed. But the sign they wanted was on a grand scale, one in which fire would come down from heaven or the sun would stand still as it had for Joshua. The literal casting of a mountain… into the sea would have been just the sort of sign the scribes and Pharisees wanted to see but were never shown.

The phrase “rotor up of mountains” was a metaphor commonly used in Jewish literature of a great teacher or spiritual leader. In the Babylonian Talmud, for example, the great rabbis are called “rotors up of mountains.” Such people could solve great problems and seemingly do the impossible.

That is the idea Jesus had in mind. He was saying, “I want you to know that you have unimaginable power available to you through your faith in Me. If you sincerely believe, without doubting, it shall happen, and you will see great powers of God at work.” At the Last Supper Jesus told the Twelve, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14). The requirement for receiving is to ask in Jesus’ name, that is, according to His purpose and will.

Jesus was not speaking about faith in faith or faith in oneself, both of which foolish and unscriptural ideas are popular today. He was speaking about faith in the true God and in God alone, not faith in one’s dreams, aspirations, or ideas of what he thinks ought to be. “You ask and do not receive,” James warns, “because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3).

“This is the confidence which we have before Him,” John says, “that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). Mountain-moving faith is unselfish, undoubting, and unqualified confidence in God. It is believing in God’s truth and God’s power while seeking to do God’s will. The measure of such faith is the sincere and single desire that, as Jesus said, “the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

True faith is trusting in the revelation of God. When a believer seeks something that is consistent with God’s Word and trusts in God’s power to provide it, Jesus assures him that his request will be honored, because it honors Him and His Father. When God’s commands are obeyed He will honor that obedience, and when any request is asked in faith according to His will He will provide what is sought. To do what God says is to do what God wants and to receive what God promises.

When the disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out the demon from a young boy “He said to them, ‘Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you’” (Matt. 17:20). Jesus was not commending small faith. It was the littleness of the disciples’ faith that prevented their success in casting out the demon. He rebuked them for having small faith that stayed small, but exhorted them to have faith that, though it begins small, continues to grow. The point of the mustard seed illustration is not in its smallness but in its growing from smallness to greatness. In the same way the virtue of mountain-moving faith is its growth from smallness to greatness as God blesses and provides.

(21:22) Prayer: Jesus’ promise of power to us is through prayer and faith. Christ drives home two striking points.

1. His promise is comprehensive: “all things.” It is all inclusive, much beyond the sphere of what we can ask or even think (Ephes. 3:20).
2. His promise is conditional: “in prayer, believing.” We have to pray and believe to receive.
3. Prayer is to be constant. The person who receives answers from God knows God personally. He is in constant, unbroken fellowship and sharing with God. A person cannot come every now and then to God and expect answers. This is not what Christ means.

1. Believing is, of course, essential. Mark says it well: “Whosoever shall say…and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass” (Mark 11:23).

Mountain-moving faith is activated by sincere petition to God. “All things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive,” Jesus explained. The parables of the friend who asked his neighbor for a favor at midnight and of the widow who petitioned the unrighteous judge (Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-8) both teach the importance of persistent prayer. Persistent prayer is the prayer that moves mountains, because it is truly believing prayer.

Whatever our finite minds may lead us to think, there is no inconsistency between God’s sovereignty and mans faith, because God’s Word clearly teaches both. It is not the believer’s responsibility to fathom God’s inscrutable ways but to obediently follow His clear teaching. Persistent prayer that is believing God’s Word cannot be inconsistent with the operation of God’s own sovereign will, because in His sovereign wisdom and grace He commands such prayer and obligates Himself to honor it.

The believer who wants what God wants can ask from God and receive it. The Christian young person who truly wants what God wants for his life will have it. The woman who truly wants what God wants for her family will have it. The pastor who truly wants what God wants for his ministry will have it.

God’s will for His children does not, of course, always involve things that are pleasant to the flesh or the things one might naturally prefer. His will for His children includes their willingness to sacrifice, suffer, and die for Him if necessary. For the believer who seeks God’s will, it is never a matter of succeeding or failing, of prosperity or poverty of living or dying, but simply of being faithful (see 1 Cor. 4:2). Therefore Paul declares, “If we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8).

When the church is impotent, as so much of it is today it is because so many Christians are impotent. And Christians are impotent because they are not persistent in praying for what God wants, believing He will provide it. God desires His children to ask and keep asking, to seek and keep seeking, to knock and keep knocking, and it is through that persistence that He promises to bless. He guarantees that they will always receive, always find, and always have the door opened to them (Matt. 7:7).

God does not build His church or build up His people by better ideas, better programs, or better methods, although such things can have a place in His work. God promises to truly reveal His power only through faithful believers who, in persistent prayer, seek only His will.