Introduction

“Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.’ So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.'” (Mark 11:20-24)

Moving Mountain Faith

Here is a teaching from Jesus that is difficult to discern. An astonished Peter says, “Hey look, Rabbi, that fig tree you cursed withered over night! And Jesus responds with a teaching about having faith and telling mountains to jump into the ocean. What? Why does Jesus teach these things after observing the withered fig tree? How are these things related?

There are some prima facie elements that we can go over first. Causing a fig tree to wither over night and causing a mountain to canon ball into the ocean are both supernatural phenomena. And a mountain being thrown into the sea is, it would seem, a greater supernatural feat than withering a fig tree. And Jesus says that those who believe in Him will do greater works than He did. (John 14:12) And so we could derive this truth. That the disciples are going to do even greater miracles than Jesus’ cursing the fig tree. Though, I don’t think Jesus meant literal moving of a mountain, even on this reading.

We can also see that Jesus is teaching on the power of faith, forgiveness, and prayer. I didn’t read the teaching on forgiveness, but it’s there. This passage is often just removed from its context and used to teach on these things. That faith can move mountains! This is true. Moving mountains is an idiom for strong faith used again by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. “Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2) Jesus also says something similar in Matthew 17. After he and the disciples came down the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples attempt to cast a demon out of a young boy, but are unable. And Jesus says it’s because of their unbelief or little faith. And that faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain. He specifically says this mountain, but we will get into that later. (Matthew 17:20)

So, in our passage on the withered fig tree, we can gather that Jesus is saying resolute faith, true belief, Abrahamic trust, we could say, has supernatural power in it. This is true. But, we are still left wondering, or at least I’m still left wondering, why would he choose to say this following the withered fig tree?

I think the context and imagery points to something specific. That throwing the mountain into the sea is converting the nations, bringing the gospel and the kingdom of Christ to the Gentiles. And that this requires strong faith and asking God for the impossible. I don’t think it’s a literal moving of the mountains, but it is an idiom for the power attendant in obedient faith, which, for the disciples meant bringing the kingdom and the gospel to the rest of the world.

The Mountain of God

Why do I say this?

They are on or near Mount Zion. They are on their way to Jerusalem. Zion is the easternmost hill of Jerusalem. It’s on the Southwest side of Jerusalem now. But in the time of Christ, it was on the East side. Which is an interesting historical factoid, too. That the location of Mount Zion, while always associated with Jerusalem, is always moving around, even possibly throughout biblical history. It’s a moving mountain. But here they are within eye-sight of Mount Zion. They are in-between Jerusalem and Bethany, which is East of the city. So, when he says, “Whoever says to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea,” I believe it is in reference to Mount Zion. It could also be a reference to the Mount of Olives, which is also nearby on the East side. But we could say that Mount Zion encompasses all of Jerusalem. It’s a synecdoche. A part that signifies the whole. So, by Jesus referring to Mount Zion, he is referring to what Mount Zion signifies, which is Christ himself, the Mountain is Christ, is the Church, is the Kingdom. These are all wrapped up in each other. All of these things are brought to bear when Jesus says, “this mountain.”

Furthermore, mountains are places where men meet God. Noah at Mount Ararat. Abraham at Mount Moriah. Moses at Mount Sinai. Elijah at Mount Carmel and Mount Horeb. And the Jews of the first century encountered God during His Sermon on the Mount.

Mountains are also giant altars. Mountains are elevated earth. Altars are elevated earth. They are connecting points from earth to heaven. Reaching up to heaven. Altars are mountains where sacrifices to God are made. Jesus is our sacrifice to God and connecting point from earth to heaven. Jesus is where we meet God. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice to God. He is the one mediator between God and man. He is our Mount Zion.

Mountains are also giant rocks. The Bible talks of Jesus as the Rock all over the place. He is the chief cornerstone. He is the rock of salvation. Jesus as the Christ is the rock that He builds His church on. Paul says the people of God in the Old Covenant drank from the same spiritual rock that the people of God in the New Covenant drink from, and that Rock is Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:4) Moses refers to God as the Rock numerous times. He says, “Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect.” (Deuteronomy 32:4) He is the rock made without hands in Daniel 2 which strikes the statue and becomes a mountain which fills the whole earth. Christ as the rock is everywhere in the Bible. And so I think Jesus is referring to Himself, His Church, His Kingdom here. There is this reflexive aspect to him saying, “this mountain.” Similar to how Protestants read Matthew 16:18, “On this Rock will I build My Church.” Well, that Rock is the confession of Jesus as the Christ, but it’s also Jesus Himself, Jesus as the chief cornerstone. It has a reflexive, ontological referent, which is not divorced from Peter, the Apostles, and the Church Militant generally. I believe Jesus is doing the same thing in our passage. Whoever says to this mountain is a reference to Christ himself.

The Sea of the Nations

What about the sea? The sea is the nations. In Scripture the sea is frequently used to signify the nations. In the Old Testament, when the focus is on Israel, we see more land and pastoral imagery. But when we get to the New Testament, we see much more marine imagery. Many of the disciples are fishermen. Jesus says, he will make them fishers of men. Jesus walks on the sea, which among many things, showed forth his putting the nations under his feet, and his authority over them. Why do the nations rage? the Psalmist asks. Jesus gives the raging nations rest, just as he gives the raging storm on the sea rest. Rest is salvation. Jesus brings salvation to the sea of the nations. Psalm 65:7: “You who still the noise of the seas, The noise of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples.” In Daniel and Revelation, beasts come out of the sea, and this is almost universally understood as foreign nations and rulers. Revelation 17:15: “Then he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.’” And in the prophets, the nations are regularly described in terms of roaring waters or the sea.

Isaiah says, “Woe to the many nations that rage—they rage like the raging sea! Woe to the peoples who roar—they roar like the roaring of great waters!” (Isaiah 17:12)

When the Chaldeans are conquering the nations, to include Israel, Habakkuk likens the nations to fish and the Chaldeans to fishermen.

“Why do You make men like fish of the sea,
Like creeping things that have no ruler over them?

They take up all of them with a hook,
They catch them in their net,
And gather them in their dragnet.
Therefore they rejoice and are glad.

Therefore they sacrifice to their net,
And burn incense to their dragnet;
Because by them their share is sumptuous
And their food plentiful.
Shall they therefore empty their net,
And continue to slay nations without pity?” (Habakkuk 1:14-17)

In the New Covenant, the Church is the fisherman who catches all the men like fish. The Chaldeans no longer catch men like fish. That time is over. Christians are now going to catch men like fish.

And lastly, Isaiah describes the conversion of the Gentiles and their coming to Mount Zion as the conversion of the sea.

“The abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.” (Isaiah 60:5)

This Mountain and The Sea

And so, if we think of the mountain as Christ, His Church, His Kingdom, and the sea as the nations, I think the teaching makes more sense. That the Apostles would be instrumental in their prayers, their faith, and their missionary journeys of bringing the gospel of Christ and His Kingdom to the nations. By doing this they throw Mount Zion into the Sea. They exercise a faith that throws this mountain into the sea.

This is connected to the withered fig tree because the falling away of the Jews meant the Abrahamic blessing of the nations. This is God’s sovereign plan. And Paul tells us this explicitly in Romans 11. “Through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!…For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:11-12,15) Notice here Paul makes this point of their fall being our gain, while still maintaining that the unbelieving Jews will eventually repent and be grafted back into the Church again, and that this will be something extraordinary to witness. But I point to this to give clarity to the withering of the fig tree, and the mountain thrown into the sea. We could retool what Paul says in language that Jesus is uses by saying, “If the casting away of the fig tree is the mountain being thrown into the sea, what will the blossoming of the fig tree be, but the Sun, moon, and stars bowing to their Creator?” Paul is teaching plainly what Christ is teaching through symbols.

In John’s Apocalypse, we are told several times that the things revealed in that book would happen shortly. So, I take Revelation to be mostly communicating first century events. It’s basically John peering into the heavenly dimension and seeing the book of Acts through the destruction of Jerusalem. And in Revelation 8, we are told that the second trumpet triggers something like a smoking mountain that is thrown into the sea. I’m not going to try and explain what that all means, but I think it’s connected to all the events of the first century, and basically another version of what we have already gone over.

So, if we view the mountain being thrown into the sea as connected to the explosive growth of the Kingdom in the first century, I think it further illuminates what Jesus says when he states, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.’” (Mark 11:24) I think Jesus has in mind the Great Commission here. Which stated in Psalm 2 goes like this. “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Psalm 2:8) Psalm 2 also pairs gospel victory over the nations with Mount Zion. “I have set my king on the Holy Hill of Zion.” (v.6) I think Jesus is teaching the Apostles to pray in this way. To pray for the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise that the Seed of Abraham would be a blessing to the nations. To ask the things in prayer that Jesus asks. To have the kind of faith and prayer life that would enable them to fulfill their commission of throwing the good news of Mount Zion into the heart of the Gentile sea.

We see this language used in Psalm 46, too. The NKJV pericope title for the Psalm is God the Refuge of His People and Conqueror of the Nations.

“God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.” (Psalm 46:1-3)

It continues later in the Psalm, in a similar way to Isaiah 2.

“Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”

So here in this Psalm we have mountains being thrown into the heart of the sea, as way of describing some kind of convulsive, tumultuous, event, similar to Revelation, and we are exhorted to trust in God. Similar to Jesus’ teaching on the withered fig, and the mountain thrown into the sea. The Psalm also pairs destruction of the earth with God being exalted among the nations. Which is so very similar to what we see in Revelation.

Okay, so I’ve tried my best to make my case here that the Mountain is Christ or Christ’s Kingdom being thrown into the sea of the nations. I came to this understanding before reading any early fathers, and when I went to check, I found out that Augustine read it the exact same way. (Augustine, Exposition of the Book of Psalms, Psalm 46, See also Augustine, Sermons on Selected Lessons from the New Testament, On The Words of the Gospel, Matthew 21:19, Schaff) He gives more interesting connections from the Old Testament. Points to Isaiah 2 and other places. You can look that if you want.

But let’s look at one more thing, then wrap things up.

A House of Prayer For All Nations

The withered fig tree, and Jesus’ teachings on having faith to throw this mountain into the sea happens in conjunction with his clearing the Temple courts. After Jesus chases the moneylenders out, what does he say? “Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” (Mark 11:17) The Jews had lost sight of their mission to the Gentiles. The outer courts were to be a place of prayer for the Gentiles, but they had filled it up with Mammon and robbers. These robbers were robbing the nations of their place in the House of God, on the Mountain of God.

Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 56. “My House shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56 speaks about Israel’s wicked rulers and the Gentiles coming and joining themselves in worship with the True God of Israel. In the same verse that Jesus quotes, we read of the Gentiles, “Even them I will bring to My holy mountain.” In other words, we could say the wicked Jewish rulers prevented the Gentiles from coming to the Holy Mountain, but what God will do is send out His Apostles to bring the Holy Mountain to them.

This idea might also be in mind after Christ and the disciples come down from the Mount of Transfiguration. That Jesus is referring to the Mount of Transfiguration. If you say to this Mount of Transfiguration be moved over there, it will bring transfiguration there, too. Nothing is impossible for you. You will be transfigured and you will transfigure. Just as the Father revealed my glory to you. you will reveal my glory to the nations.

Conclusion

So, I think the withered fig tree is about Israel being destroyed for not bearing fruit, but that Israel’s being cast away is riches for the Gentiles. And that part of having faith that can move mountains is believing that through the instrumentality of His Church, God brings Mount Zion to the rest of the world. That Jesus is the rock that destroys the statue of the nations, and grows into a mountain that takes over the whole world. That the disciples threw Mount Zion into the sea of the Gentiles in the first century, and that Mountain has continued to grow ever since. And if were to continue on in our passage, Jesus gives us another parable that teaches us this same truth, once again. We will go over that parable next time.

Post publishing note: Alistair Roberts remarks here are also relevant. The tabernacle is a moving mountain of Sinai. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRL6W2_AZY