Matthew-060

 

 

Today, we continue to study this passage, Matthew 17:14-21 as we have not finished looking into the riches in it.

I have pointed out previously, that “epileptic” is an incorrect translation of this word. The boy was in fact, possessed by a demon. The Lord Jesus then tells us about this faith that is so able to bring God’s power into operation that no mountain will stand in your way. Now I am sure that you and I are painfully aware, and I say advisedly, painfully aware, that we live in a day where the church is notable only for its lack of power. Where do we see this kind of faith today? The church must be ashamed of itself. We must come before God in confession, praying that God may have pity upon us, that whereas he has provided such great power, we have failed pitifully and misera­bly. We must be ashamed of the church, of ourselves included, seeing that we are part of the church, and pray that God will restore to us again in this generation, that kind of faith, that kind of commitment, that kind of love that brings with it that dangerous t kind of power. Where does this mountain-moving power come from is precisely what we need to study today!

What are the mountains that we are to move? Clearly, we are not particularly concerned with moving earthly mountains since no earthly mountain is likely to be a spiritual hindrance to us. What are these mountains which are far more of a dangerous obstacle to us than any earthly mountain could be?

 

The insight from the parallel passage in Mark 9

Let us now turn to the parallel passage, Mark 9:14-29, that we may get a fuller picture of the whole situation, and also get some insight into the problems of faith.

We see in verse 14 that the Lord Jesus and three of his disciples came down from the mount of transfiguration. Only three were on the mount and the other nine disciples were down below waiting for them.

Verse 23 tells that the Lord Jesus is in fact, saying to the father, “The question is not whether I can. The question is whether you can.”

Notice this very curious sentence in verse 24, “I believe, help my unbelief!” This sad mixture of faith and unbelief is so common to man.

 

Reasons for Unbelief:

1. Man turns to God in desperation, even if he does not believe

Prayer is the expression of faith (v. 29). This passage is parallel to the passage in Matthew except that it is more detailed and gives us much insight into the whole situation. Notice that in one’s desire to get some help from God, one is prepared to come to God even in unbelief. I have seen this happen so many times. It is a sort of 50-50 chance. “I’ve got nowhere else to turn; the doctors can’t help me; I am at my wits’ end, therefore, God is my last resort.”

Even epilepsy is incurable by medical sciences as it stands at the moment. The doctors performed brain surgery on our Burmese brother who was here before, and it was said to be successful at the time, although he died very soon after returning to Burma. We don’t really know whether this had anything to do with operation or not. Perhaps, it had something to do with it indirectly, if only by weakening his system. But whatever the cause, time and again, we realize that man has really no answer for so many things.

In our church in Liverpool, England, we had a brother with epilepsy, and often, he would suddenly fall off the chair and be in convulsions. He becomes rigid and foams at the mouth and so forth. I objected to the translation of “epileptic” in Matthew; it’s incorrect because epilepsy does not necessarily have anything to do with demon possession, although demon possession may have very similar outward symptoms as epilepsy, such as convulsions, foaming at the mouth and the like.

But the point we need to observe is so often, man in his extremity turns to God, when he has tried everything else. For example, a person is dying of cancer, and in many cases, there is nothing that medical science can do to stop cancer. Then what does man do in his desperation? He turns to God, although not entirely in faith. He turns to God because there is nowhere else to turn.

It is like this father, who comes to Jesus and says, “If you can do anything.” Notice the “if.” He is not at all sure that Jesus can do anything, hence the “if.” He did not come with confidence: “Jesus, you can do it, therefore, I have come.” If he had spoken like this, we would know that he had come in faith. Look at the Lord Jesus’ words: “O faithless and perverse generation!” You don’t believe that God can do it, do you? You come to me because you have nowhere else to turn. And even when you come to me, you come without any real confidence. You say if I can do anything, will I please have pity.”

Jesus said, “The question is not whether I can do anything. The question is whether you can believe.” There is the problem, and that puts the ball squarely into the man’s court. There is this mixture in verse 24: “I believe. Help my unbelief.” How can you both believe and not believe at the same time? That is why I say this a very strange sentence. You still have unbelief yet you believe.

 

Today, Christians also believe yet don’t believe

This tragic mixture of faith and unbelief is so characteristic of man today. He will neither commit himself wholly here nor there. We see that very easily in Christian parents, for example. If the child goes to church, the parents say, “Go ahead! That’s good!” At least most of the people in church are nice people. There are some crooks in church too, but the average should pass as being quite decent people. The Christian parents even say, “You like to listen to the preaching? That’s okay, just listen to the preaching.” But notice how everything changes in this Christian parent the moment the child says, “I’m going to serve God.”

“What? You’re going to become a pastor? Have you gone out of your mind? Christianity is all right for Sundays, even if you are mad enough to go to church twice a week, Friday and Sunday. If you don’t have the sense to watch a good baseball game, and you want to spend your time reading the Bible, that’s your business. But now you want to become a preacher? You’ve really gone right out of your mind!”

This reaction doesn’t come from parents who are non-Christians, but time and again, I have seen it come from Christian parents, which just reveals what their Christianity is all about. Their Christianity is a mixture of believing and unbelieving. Believing in order to derive some good from it; but unbelieving when certain demands are made upon us. We want “all take and no give.” We want to have it all in our interest. “I’m going to have Christianity if it gives me some peace of mind, if it helps me meet some nice people.” Or if you are a young person, maybe you find that there are some girls in church who might be worth considering as a future partner. Or if you happen to be a sister, there may be some nice boys who might also be considered in that direction.

 

You must examine your motive for becoming a Christian

What is the motive for so much of that which goes by the name of “Christianity” today? I suspect much of Christianity today is pure selfishness, and let’s not beat around talking polite words. Much of Christianity today is pure selfishness, and you know it. That is why the non-Christian does not want to go to church and he is right. He is right because so many of those people who go to church are not only less selfish than the unbeliever, but in many instances, the “Christian” is far more selfish than the non-Christian. This Christianity is pure selfishness. If you ask the “Christian,” “Do you believe?” “Oh yes, I go to this church. I’m active in this or that way.”

Many young people become active in the churches really because they want to gain experience in organizing, or in this or that field, which could be very useful in life in the future. So their motive for doing those things is not really their love for God. Perhaps there is an iota of love for God involved but what is the motive for being a Christian? I suspect that the motive all too often is pure selfishness, as I must stress again.

If we first come in selfishness, and that selfishness is slowly transformed into something more profound, more beautiful as time goes on, that is different. And often, that happens. A person may go to church for a very selfish motive. For example, I know of some boys who have gone to church really because they were looking for nice girls. But as they kept coming to church, the Word of God gripped them and their original selfish motive began to change, and gradual­ly, they began to have a real love for God and they were transformed. Their whole attitude was changed. They began to become true Christians. Unfortunately, there is always a proportion of people in the church who are motivated by little more than selfishness and that gives the church a very bad name.

 

2. Selfishness creates a mixture of faith and unbelief within us

We must examine ourselves before God because I am afraid that in many of us, even as Christians today, there still remains the element of selfishness. This is what creates this mixture of faith and unbelief within us. Why doesn’t the mother or father want the son to become a pastor or preacher? It is well known today that pastors and preach­ers get a very small salary for a start. If he were becoming a pastor and his salary would be say, $30,000 a year, I don’t think many parents would object to your becoming a pastor. If you were doing some other job, you would only get $15,000 a year but a pastor gets $30,000, so by all means be a pastor!

I fear that most unbelievers know that pastors don’t make that kind of money, therefore, what is the attraction of becoming a pastor? Just look at this fellow who is a pastor, and he has 7 children to bring up. He is trying to scrape by, by the skin of his teeth, and he drives an old, broken down car. Do you want to be a pastor? Wait until the day you see the pastor drive up to the church in a Cadillac, or in a chauffeur-driven car, with people opening the door, then everyone wants to be pastor! Suddenly, the queue for the seminaries will become extremely long. That is selfishness! What motivates us to be Christians? This is the problem. You might well consider letting your son become a pastor if one day, he becomes the Archbishop of Canterbury! However, since his chances of becoming archbishop are pretty slim, then let’s forget it, because the average vicar or pastor in the Church of England gets such a low pay that it’s not worth talking about!

 

Selfishness is at the root of powerlessness of the church

I would like you to see how much that goes by the name of “spirituality” is in fact, nothing but “disguised selfishness.” I don’t want to build this kind of church. If you begin to feel uncomfortable at the way I preach, perhaps, something is being said to you. You can see why the gospel is far from being an opium that makes people comfortable. On the contrary, the gospel is intended to make people very uncomfortable by exposing every hypocrisy and falsehood, whether it’s inside or outside the church.

Why am I stressing this point? It is this selfishness which is at the root of the powerlessness of the church today. If the church is simply nothing more than non-Christians parading as “Christians,” if “the church” is simply another term for “selfishness” in religious language, if really the non-Christian is justified in saying that you Christians are no better than we are because you are just as selfish, if that statement is true, and too often, as I have admitted, it is true, then it explains why the church today is powerless. It doesn’t have this mountain-moving power. It hasn’t got the kind of love that should be flowing forth in the church today.

If the church is going to continue in this sort of way, I for one would like to get out of it! I feel I can make better use of my time and energy, and perhaps such gifts as I have been given by God in some other sphere. Maybe I can make a better contribution there than waste my time with any church that is simply there to perpetuate a spiritual hypocrisy of selfishness that goes by the name of “Christianity.” However, the reason I am still preaching is because I have confi­dence in God that there are people who intend to be Christians with all their hearts, because they are willing to change the direction of their lives, from selfishness to self-giving love; they are prepared to stand for the truth even if it costs them their jobs, and perhaps, their lives. I am confident that there is still a hope for the church in this generation.

 

I still have hope in the few!

I am also not a person who lives under illusions. Having preached the gospel and having served God for a good many years, I know human nature pretty well. I know that that number will always be few. The Lord Jesus himself said that few will enter the narrow gate. It is the few who will walk the path of life because it’s a hard road.

Therefore what shall we say? Isn’t it worth it because there are few people? I doubt it. When I look at the history of this world, I have discovered, as you will discover, or perhaps have already discovered, it’s always the few that accomplish much, who change the course of history. The majority contributes little or nothing. It was the Lord Jesus with 12 humble and poorly educated disciples who changed the course of this world! History has never been the same since Jesus walked this earth. It is always the few that have changed the course of history. Great inventions are created time and again, by the few. Great discoveries are made by the few, sometimes only by one.

Which mind could have come up with this understanding of the universe that Einstein did, who applied himself with such diligence? Do you think it’s only intelligence? It’s not just intelligence. Intelli­gence is part of it, but pure dedication and hard work that makes these things. Einstein was not a brilliant student, but in fact a very poor one, as I have had occasion to note. I even preached in the secondary school at which Einstein studied, and I had occasion to ask the people whose predecessors were Einstein’s teachers, what kind of student he had been at that school. They said, “Terrible! He was so poor in his studies that he couldn’t get university entrance. He barely scraped into the University of Zurich.” I said, “His physics must have been good.” But they said, “No, his physics was not good either.”

Einstein was not good at anything at school. That all came much later when he finally applied himself. So if you think that Einstein made all his discoveries because he was a great student in his time, you are mistaken. He was undoubtedly a highly intelligent person but that’s not the only reason. God has used much humbler people to achieve great things in this generation.

So the point simply is this. In the course of history, whether it be in science, military affairs, politics, or business, time and again, it has been the achievement of the few, who have been able to see with clear vision where they were going and were able to give direction and purpose saying, “Come this way,” and pointed to a new direction for mankind – sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. But it was always the few.

Hence I am not in despair concerning the future of the church, although I am also under no illusion about the problems that face us. There are many people among the pastorate today, whose reasons for being a pastor may often be no more exalted than the fact that they couldn’t get a job in any other profession. Nevertheless, there are those pastors today, who are men of outstanding quality, dedi­cation and faithfulness. So it is true of the church as it is true of the world, that the few will accomplish much.

 

3. Unwillingness to believe because of the cost

There is this painful mixture of faith and unbelief: “I believe. Help my unbelief.” I believe but I also don’t believe, and it sounds so much better if you can say, “Help my unbelief.” What does “help my unbelief” mean? What is God going to do about your unbelief? You are the one who has to do something about your unbelief. Of course, there is a sense in which God could help our unbelief provided that we ourselves are prepared to take that step, which is very difficult in the Christian life. Often, unbelief is not the inability to believe but the unwillingness to believe.

I discovered that very early in my Christian life. It’s not that I couldn’t believe, but that I didn’t want to believe. I found that even after the evidence had overwhelmed me, I did not want to believe because of the cost. The cost of being a Christian is too costly for us. We think it’s good to be a Christian but we cannot face the cost. Therefore, it isn’t “I cannot believe,” but “I don’t want to believe.”

Hence, what does “help my unbelief” mean? Many a young person has heard God’s call to serve but they have turned away. Why? Be very honest about it. They could not face the cost. The cost was just too high. It was not that they didn’t see it as worthwhile, but when they pondered the entire cost, it was simply too high to face, and so they backed out. This unbelief then, is not the inability to believe, it’s the unwillingness to believe.

Do you want to know if God is real? God will provide you with any evidence you need that he is genuine. I have put the challenge before God many times. He never once failed. It was I who failed, not God. Many times, I have proved that God is true without a shadow of doubt. He says, “Listen to me and I will show you that I am the living God. You fulfill those conditions, and I will prove to you that I am God. I will prove it even beyond the shadow of doubt that you could have. Just take My word and see.” We don’t have the courage to do this.

 

4. Peter did not believe because he relied on his experience

Peter was a fisherman, and he had been fishing all night in the lake. There are those days when you work all night and get nothing. Peter came home, tired, dejected, empty-handed. God had a purpose because the next day, Jesus was going to use that boat for preaching, so Peter was not going to catch any fish. Imagine, how was Jesus going to stand in the boat with all the fish in it? So when Peter came home, he was dejected that the boat was empty. You will remember that the Lord Jesus said, “I’m going to use your boat now. Just push your boat out and I’m going to preach the gospel.” (Lk. 5:1-9)

All those thousands of people stood there and the Lord Jesus used his empty boat as a platform to preach the gospel. After the preaching, he said to Peter, “Push the boat out there in the lake, and drop the net on the right side of the boat.” Peter would think, “What? No fisherman in his right mind goes out to fish in broad daylight. You don’t teach me how to fish; you can teach me something else, but fishing is my trade.” Since Jesus has spoken, Peter said, “Master, we have worked all night and got nothing. But at your word, I will go.”

So he takes the boat out and many of you know the rest of the story. He dropped his nets and the nets were so full of fish that he couldn’t pull them up. He had to call to the shore. “Come over here, John and Andrew! Bring the other boat!”, and between the two boats, they managed to haul in this great catch of fish. Luke 5:7 tells us that both boats were in danger of sinking with this catch of fish. It’s as the Lord Jesus tells us, “If any man’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” (Jo. 7:17)

This is the way to know God. Is God true or false? Is this simply a purely psychological thing? Is this purely philosophy? Find out for yourself. If I tell you it’s true, you have only got my word. You don’t know whether I’m telling the truth or not, do you? Go out and try it, and see what happens. I have had occasion time and again, to put God’s Word to the test and it was true. It does not fail.

 

5. Uncertainty causes doubt in your faith

But so often, we are still unwilling to obey, unwilling to go forth. How much more difficult it was then when the Lord Jesus said to Peter, James, John and the others, “Follow me.” They were bound to think, “What? We are never going to fish again? All my skills in fishing are going to be lost?”

“Yes, that’s the way it is. Come with me. I’m going to give you a new job. You’re going to fish for men.”

“Oh, I’m not trained in fishing for men. I can handle fish but I can’t handle men.”

The Lord Jesus says, “I will make you to be fishers of men.” That is a frightening step of faith to go out into the unknown! They knew the Lake of Galilee, but they did not know the world. They knew every spot on those little mountains that surround the Lake of Galilee, but they did not know anything outside of that. It took faith, courage and the willingness to face this uncertainty of the future. That is where faith is. Uncertainty is what causes us to retreat repeatedly. We are uncertain about what it holds in store for us.

 

Faith mixed with unbelief must be removed!

How else are we going to move the mountains? What God is calling us to do in this passage is that we must remove this blend of faith and unbelief once and for all. The disciples asked the Lord Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you but why couldn’t we cast out the demon?” The Lord’s answer is unhesitating. “The reason is your unbelief. You disciples still hide unbelief in your heart. There is still this mixture of unbelief and faith. How can you move any moun­tains? You can’t even cast out the demon.” This is the whole issue we must study today.

You must ask yourself how much unbelief is still mixed with your faith. How much unbelief is there? You know how much unbelief there is in your heart. In every Christian, as in these disciples, there is this mixture, this impurity, this lack of single vision, hence we cannot see clearly. Remember the Lord Jesus told them about future things and they could not understand them; they did not have the perception to see. Spiritual perception and spiritual power are closely linked together.

 

Pure faith—removed from selfishness—moves mountains

You wonder, “How can I move mountains?” The Lord Jesus gives us the answer. When your faith is purified of unbelief, removed from selfishness that is still gripping it, there will be the increase in power and spiritual perception. Unbelief always expresses itself in selfish­ness, in a certain self-preservation, in hanging on to the securities that we have, rather than letting them go, and being willing to follow Jesus in total commitment.

Really, the answer is very simple. How do you move mountains? Have faith. The disciples had faith didn’t they? Of course they did! “Why couldn’t we cast out the demon?” “The reason is your unbelief. You still lack the purity of faith – that singleness of heart is still not there. Hence, when you try to confront the enemy, you find yourself powerless; you couldn’t do it.”

 

Jesus expects us to have pure faith

We already noticed that the Lord Jesus expected his disciples to be able to do it. Hence he said, “How long do I have to be with you? How long do I have to bear with your unbelief?” He is saying, “I grant you that you have a measure of faith, but you also have a great blend of unbelief. Hence you are powerless. You cannot go forward as Christians to accomplish the liberation of mankind.”

I would to God that we would have a church today that has pure faith not mixed with unbelief, selfishness, greed, and impure motives! It is because our motives are so impure that we lack power. I’m not saying that you are entirely without power, but you don’t have the power in its fullness. The disciples were able to cast out certain demons, but not this kind. In other words, they had reached the limit of their power. This kind comes forth only through prayer and fasting.

 

Purity of prayer determines purity of faith

The Lord Jesus is not talking about ritual prayer. Do you think that the disciples did not pray? They wouldn’t have been disciples if they didn’t pray at all. Of course they prayed. Every good Jew prays. So what did Jesus mean “with prayer”? Jesus is talking about a particular kind of prayer, just as he is speaking about a particular kind of faith. It is the prayer which gives itself with undivided devotion and concentration upon God! Have you tried praying like that? Or is it that the moment you start praying, you find that your mind is distracted? Is it that the moment you start praying, you suddenly thought how cool the water would be if you were swimming at this moment, and not praying in the heat? Or the moment you pray, you suddenly remembered, “I’ve got five more letters to write”; or “I’ve got to make a phone call”; or “I’ve got to write a note.” Do you want to see how pure your faith is? Just see how pure your prayer is. It’s very simple to see.

Our prayer is like a child shooting a catapult, he puts a stone in and he fires it up and it goes up and it drops down again. It goes up and it drops down again, this endless tedious cycle of up and down. It’s reflected in the lives of so many Christians. It’s all up and down. They are smiling today, tomorrow they are down, and tomorrow they are smiling again, and then they are down again. So they go up and down like their prayers.

Can we really pray for only five minutes? Singleness of devotion in prayer doesn’t consist in how long you pray. Many people cite to us, “You know he was a great spiritual giant; he prayed 2 hours a day.” I’m not interested in how many hours he prayed. My concern is not the quantity of the prayer. If you prayed for 2 hours and never got beyond this low level, what’s the use if you prayed for 50 hours or for 500 hours, as though the length of time you prayed proves any point? Rather, if you prayed for just 2 minutes of undivided atten­tion, undivided purity of commitment, those 2 minutes are more valuable than 20 hours of mumble jumble!

What is the use of praying mumble jumble? What is a continuous reciting of the Lord’s Prayer about? Does God want to hear how many times you can recite “Our Father who is in heaven”? Or how many times you can say “Hail Mary”? What does that prove? Are you trying to break the Guinness Book of Records as to how many times you can say “Our Father”? What does that prove about spiritual quality? It proves absolutely nothing!

That was the way I was brought up in Catholic school. If you do something wrong, you had to do penance: recite 5 Hail Mary’s. But what do 5 Hail Mary’s do? Or what does 5 Our Father’s do for you? It’s meaningless! So the Lord Jesus says” in Matthew 6:7,

It’s as though prayer is all talk and God has to listen to this endless banter.

No, prayer is sometimes total silence, but undivided concentration on God, undivided self-giving to God. Attention is giving yourself to a person. Did you find it very tiring to talk to a person who isn’t listening? You talk and talk, and finally he said, “What did you say?” I might as well be talking to the wall! But have you noticed that if your attention is undivided upon that person, that communication for two minutes can be far more profound than two people who talk and talk for two hours, and wear each other out?

This is the same in our relationship to God, we think that God is there to hear our endless complaints, mumblings, and asking for blessing for everybody in the family, instead of just coming to him with two minutes of undivided attention. Just try that some time. That is the exercise towards a pure faith.

I used to pray and my knees got tired. And I thought, “God, I just can’t stay in this position much longer.” Then I shift around to the other side, but that doesn’t work too well. So I try this side again. Finally, I said, “God, excuse me, my knees are too tired. I’m going to stand up now.” And then my thoughts start wandering in all directions. I am sure that as Christians, you know exactly what I am talking about. Finally, you say, “Oh! I give up! It’s no use.”

No, I have learned more and more to forget about the length of time and concentrate purely on quality. If it’s only for one minute, then it’s going to be one minute of total concentration, self-giving, undivided attention towards God. Perhaps gradually, we can extend it to two minutes. Our concentration is very poor, like children in Sunday School. If you have taught Sunday School, you will know what I mean. They just cannot concentrate. But if you can start in this way, you will find your concentration poor at first, but gradually it improves. Then gradually, make this your prayer: “God, purify my faith.” It’s useless to pray for anything else when our faith is nothing but unbelief in disguise! What’s the point of coming to God like this? Just pray, “God, purify my faith.” If from then on you can pray more, go on and pray more but stop engaging in meaningless rituals. That does nothing but develop our hypocrisy.

 

3 points on understanding “moving mountains”

1. Growth of faith, spiritual insight, power, hinges on our relationship with God

What are these mountains that need to be removed? I have already observed right at the beginning that earthly mountains don’t become a spiritual hindrance to us. When the Lord Jesus is talking about removing the mountains, he hardly means that we have to move this actual mountain, but there are mountains which stand in our way. First, let us consider what to move mountains might mean.

In understanding the Bible, we often have to go back to original expressions, into the historical context to ask, when Jesus spoke about moving mountains, what did the hearers understand by that sentence? For that, you often have to examine whether there was a proverb or an expression in those days which used this kind of expression. In the Talmud, we find that there was a similar expression, although not quite the same. It is said of great teachers that they were called “rooter-up of mountains.” They could root up mountains. And what was meant by that? What was meant was that they had profound insight into very difficult problems—weighty, mountainous problems—that no one else could deal with. These great teachers were able to move these mountains as though they were small matters. They find the problem that you thought was so difficult to be quite simple.

Often, you wrestle with a particular question which seems like a great mountain that you just cannot move. You just cannot under­stand the situation, and don’t know how to deal with it. It blocks your way. Every time you try to think about it, you find that you just cannot cope with it. For example, you may be wrestling with the question about the origin of sin. Oh, how difficult it is to understand! This seems like an enormous mountain blocking our way. We can’t cope with this kind of question.

Or there are many other questions. How can we understand God? Oh! There is a mountain for you to cope with. You think and think and the steam is coming out of your head but you just cannot figure it out. Then, when you meet with these great rabbis, when you consult a rabbi, a “rooter-up of mountains,” and he explains it to you, you would say, “Ah! I get it! It’s all plain now. The mountain has disappeared! Now I can see!”

Rabbi Bar Nachmani was a famous rabbi and he was called a “rooter-up of mountains,” as the Talmud says, because he had piercing judgment. This great rabbi can see right through the problems you find insurmountable like a mountain. It was no problem to him. So this was a proverb for people who had deep, spiritual insight.

 

Spiritual power and spiritual insight are inseparably linked

The connection of this to the Lord Jesus’ teaching is also quite plain. As the Jews realized, and as we also realize, there is a close connec­tion between spiritual insight and spiritual power. The person who has no spiritual power is usually also the person who has no spiritual insight to understand spiritual problems. It’s very easy to discover. The carnal man does not understand spiritual things, so how can the carnal man have spiritual power? Paul tells us that it’s the spiritual man who has spiritual insight and perception. But it is also the spiritual man who is equipped with power. Hence you can also have a very good idea as to the state of your spiritual progress by how much spiritual insight you have been granted by God, as up to this point.

Now spiritual insight is closely connected with faith; faith in the sense of a total commitment of ourselves to God. It is closely con­nected with the purity of our belief. A person who is impure in his motives is a person who is of impure faith, and he will lack spiritual insight. I have illustrated this point many times.

This insight is not a matter of intelligence, but of perception. That is why there are many people who may have had no problem getting a Ph.D., or whatever degree they collect, yet they are as blind as a bat when confronted with spiritual things. They have no perception at all. They cannot understand spiritual things. They don’t understand the Bible when they read it. The Bible is like reading Greek and Hebrew to them. Why? Are they stupid? No, it’s because they don’t have spiritual perception, so when they read it, they cannot under­stand it. If you have a friend who is a Ph.D., just take out the Bible and say, “Read Romans chapter 3, and tell me what it means.” He will probably be scratching his head and say, “I don’t know what this means,” because he doesn’t have perception, not because he is stupid.

That is the reason why spiritual insight has to do with faith. Faith is our attitude and our relationship to God, and that relationship to God determines to what extent we have perception in spiritual things. As faith can grow, so can spiritual perception. We thank God for that! So you need not be discouraged if you don’t feel that you have deep, spiritual perception at this moment.

 

2. God moves mountains by his servants he empowers

Secondly, we must also understand the Old Testament background in order to understand this moving of mountains. In the Old Testament, the term for “moving mountains” has also been used quite a few times. In Zechariah 4:7 we read this:

What are you, great mountain, before God’s servant, Zerubbabel? You are nothing! Who was Zerubbabel? Zerubbabel was the governor of Israel at the time. He is not a famous person in history, but appears to have been a man of some spiritual depth. And what is the great mountain? The great mountain was the kingdom of Persia. What is a priest, a governor before the mighty kingdom of Persia? Humanly speaking, a little priest, a little governor of a province is nothing in front of the great mountain of Persia. Back then, Persia stood as the unrivaled dominant power in that region of the world. It was an enormous mountain! And that mountain stood in the way of building God’s temple. That was the problem.

Zerubbabel led the first exiles from Babylon back to Jerusalem to start building the temple of Yahweh God, but the Persian Empire brought the building of the temple to a halt. Why? It’s because the Samaritans accused the Jews of intrigue, and the Persian Emperor Artaxerxes accepted these accusations and ordered the building of the temple to stop.

This great mountain, Persia stood in the way and said, “No building,” so how would they continue to build God’s house? But the prophet Zechariah says, “What are you, O great mountain before Zerubbabel? God’s servant will move this mountain of Persia away, the mightiest power on the earth!” The mountain was moved aside and the temple continued to be built. Therefore, the picture of moving mountains expresses God’s power working through his servants, such as Zerubbabel.

 

We must move mountains to prepare the way for Yahweh

Moving mountains was not unheard of in the history of the Old Testament. Micah, the prophet of God also says in Micah 1:4,

God will cause the mountains to melt away, moving them out of his way.

The context of this passage lies in Isaiah 40:3-5 where the prophet Isaiah says to the Jews:

This passage is very important. The mountains will be moved away because the valleys will be lifted up, presumably by filling the mountains into the valleys. Why? Because we must build a highway for God. Build a highway from where? A highway from Babylon to Jerusalem! Why? Isaiah is prophesying the return of God’s people, Israel to Jerusalem. The Jews were sent into exile because of their disobedience, but now, God would have pity upon them after their long exile, and God would enable them to return to Jerusalem.

However, so many mountains stood in the way! What can be done? God says, “Prepare a highway in the wilderness. Bring the mountains down; level them into the valleys, and prepare a highway for God’s salvation, so that the whole world will see God’s glory revealed.”

This is why I am so concerned about the church, because so long as the church lives in hypocrisy, in impurity of motives, in lack of faith, the world cannot see God’s glory. Where is God’s glory going to be revealed? It has to be revealed in God’s people. but God’s people are hypocrites. So how is God’s glory going to be revealed in the world today?

 

Like Israel, we return to God from the world

All these mountains of hypocrisy, impurity, hindrance of God’s purposes must be moved! There are parallels in the Bible, one of which is, we, as a church, are exiles like the Jews in Babylon return­ing to Zion, to God. That is why we have the hymn, “We are marching to Zion.” We are returning to Zion, returning to God. The prophet envisages this great procession of God’s people returning to God from captivity in the world, Babylon, to meet with God in Jerusalem.

Peter speaks of the Christians in the same picture of the Jewish exiles. He writes to Christians addressing them as “the exiles,” dispersed in various places, in 1 Peter 1:1,

In 1 Peter 5:13, he says he is writing his letter in the church at Babylon:

Many scholars have been puzzled about “Babylon.” Clearly, Babylon represents the world.

The church or Christians are delivered by God from Babylon, and are now moving towards Zion. We are returning to our God, but have not yet arrived. This is salvation! Salvation is a process in which one is being delivered out of the world and brought back to God. We are all in the process of being saved if we are truly Christians, and we are then being brought back to God.

Now in this process of return, we “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22). It can be said that we are registered as citizens not of the earth but of heaven, and we are going home to Zion. It is in this context that New Testament writers such as Peter, is using the words of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 40, to speak of the salvation that God is working in the world today. It is in this process of salvation that God’s glory is revealed in the church.

However, consider carefully. When the exiles are coming from Babylon to Jerusalem, you need only look at a map to see what is their route. They had to go over what is called “the Fertile Crescent.” They couldn’t travel directly through the desert; instead, they had to follow a crescent-shaped path.

So they came through the desert, and as they approached the Promised Land, they faced a huge range of mountains in front of them, the mountains of Hermon, which are still there today in Lebanon. As you come towards the Holy Land, as you approach modern-day Lebanon, you will see the great range of snow-peaked mountains, which the Bible calls “high mountains” blocking the way! That is the point Isaiah is making when he says, “Make a highway for God and his people. Bring down the mountains so that you will find a clear and straight road to Jerusalem.”

 

Jesus was referring to Mt. Hermon and Mt. of Olives

Read carefully Matthew 17:20 where the Lord Jesus says to his disciples,

He did not say any mountain. He said “this mountain.” He is speaking about a particular mountain range. Now if you read Matthew 17:1, you will see that this mountain range is where the transfiguration took place. It is described as “a high mountain,” and the only “high mountain” in the area is Mount Hermon. The Lord Jesus is speaking about Mount Hermon.

Four chapters later, in Matthew 21:21, the Lord Jesus speaks again about moving a mountain:

Again, “this mountain”, but this time, “this mountain” is not the same one as Matthew 17. Which mountain is this? In Matthew 21:1, you will see that it is the Mount of Olives. Again, it is a specific mountain.

This is remarkable in the structure of Scripture. That is exactly the path from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem! Along this way, there are two main barriers: the first is the great mountains of Hermon, the second is the much smaller mountain, Mount of Olives. Mount of Olives is on the east side of Jerusalem, and it blocks the pathway to Jerusalem. You have to go over or around the Mount of Olives to get to Jerusalem. These two mountains are to be removed to prepare a way for God.

 

3. Yahweh God will return along this highway of salvation!

The third and final point is, not only God’s people are returning along this highway of salvation, but God himself is returning! That is very interesting! If you read carefully Isaiah 40, you will find that it is not only talking about the return of the exiles, but it is also talking about the return of God to Jerusalem. Isaiah 40:9-10 reads like this:

The picture that Isaiah is saying to the Jews is: “Look! Your God is coming! Prepare a highway for God because he is coming with his people!” And this is exactly what we, as Christians are looking for.

 

Mt. Hermon represents the power of the Evil One

We are moving to Zion, returning to our God. We are both looking for God’s coming with his people and preparing the highway for him. There are two mountains that stand in the way. What does Mount Hermon represent? If you read Matthew 17:1 in its context, you will see that it has to do with the power of the Devil. Here is the question of how to cast out the demon, how to cast out the Devil. That is the great mountain that stands between God and man’s salvation. Satan is there, and all the powers of evil are there to block the way of salvation. And who is being called to prepare for the building of the highway of God? The church, God’s people are being called to prepare for God, to build the highway of salvation for mankind.

In order to prepare the highway, you must have the power to bring down this spiritual high mountain. What is the spiritual mountain? It is the kingdom of the Devil that Matthew 17 is particularly concerned about. That is why the Lord Jesus is so distressed because he says, “How long am I going to be with you? You are going to have to prepare for God to build this highway when I am gone. And you must move this mountain of the Evil One. But you can’t do it because you haven’t got the power to cast out the Evil One.” And why don’t you have the power? The reason is your faith is not pure. You still have unbelief. Now if you want to have the power to cast out the Evil One, to move away the mountain of Satan, the kingdom of evil, you have to have pure, undivided faith. You cannot serve God and mammon. Your eye has to be single. Only then can you have the power to move the Evil One.

 

Mount of Olives represents unbelief

The second mountain is Matthew 21 – the Mount of Olives. In the context of Matthew 21, you see the cursing of the fig tree. Why is this? The fig tree represented God’s people, Israel in unbelief.

There are two main mountains that stand between God and man’s salvation. The one great mountain is the mountain of the Evil One, of the kingdom of Satan, at that time represented by the kingdom of Persia in the Old Testament hindering the building of God’s temple. And the second mountain is the mountain of unbelief.

It is truly remarkable that on that Day, Yahweh God will stand on the Mount of Olives. It will be split apart to make a way into and out of Jerusalem! (cf. Zech. 14:4-5). And the Mount of Olives representing man’s unbelief will be literally moved away. Then verse 9 says that Yahweh God will return. Let us read from verse 6:

We have seen that these mountains are spiritual mountains: the spiritual mountain of evil, and the spiritual mountain of unbelief in people.

 

Be single-minded, pure in heart to work with God to bring liberation to mankind

How can we overcome the power of Satan and unbelief in people? How can we work for the liberation of mankind when we ourselves are in Satan’s power and unbelief? That is what the Lord Jesus is saying to his disciples, “How can you move those mountains of the Evil One, and of unbelief in others for their liberation, when you yourselves are the victims of the power of the Evil one and unbelief?” You just cannot do it. You must attain single-mindedness and purity of heart so that you can contribute to bringing salvation to mankind.

The church today is powerless to work with God for the salvation of mankind because the Church itself is impure. Let us pray that God have pity upon us, that God would purify our hearts, that God would remove from us every impurity and hypocrisy and falsehood, starting with us and working through the whole Church today, until it can prepare for God to build his highway of salvation, to “hasten the coming of the day of God,” as Peter says in 2 Peter 3:12. The church must repent before the world can repent. Let us prepare the way for our Yahweh God who is coming to build a highway of salvation for mankind.