Say To This Mountain
"You will speak
to a problem..."
Say To This Mountain
"You will speak
to a problem..."
Say To This Mountain (this page)
I was probably around 9 or 10 when a Scripture teacher at our primary school told the story of Jesus teaching His disciples about moving mountains into the sea.
Back then Scripture teachers didn't always provide real-life applications for what they taught. After all, a lot of Scripture teaching was about the almighty Son of God who could do anything. No one ever mentioned that we could, according to Jesus, do the same or even greater things if we believed in Him.
At lunch time I went to the front of the school and looked at the mountain range in the distance. (In those days you could see the Benambra Range, but later the eucalypts grew too tall in Wenke's paddocks and the mountain range has been out of sight for decades.)
I believed what Miss Hensel had told us, so I decided to act on it.
Conveniently, just a few miles from the mountain range was a large, inland reservoir called, in those days, the Hume Weir. This should be easy, I thought.
"Mountain, be picked up and thrown in the Hume Weir."
Nothing happened, so after a pause I said it again. Still nothing.
I didn't give up easily in those days so I said it a third time.
When nothing happened after three times I turned away, disappointed, if not devastated. I had really believed that it would literally work. I'm thankful, of course, that it did not work, because when my father found out that I was responsible, I probably would have received the thrashing of my life!
It was another twenty years before I tried again, after I found out that Jesus was talking figuratively, about shifting problems, rather than literally about movong geological mountains. And then, of course, I did see them shift.
Anyone can do it when they know what to aim for and how to go about it.
Choose a topic from the list below or scroll through to begin Part 2.
See Matthew 17:20, Mark 11:23, Luke 17:6.
The details in the references above differ slightly, probably because Jesus used the illustration more than once (probably many times?). A composite version, combining the major elements, would read something like this:
“If you have faith like a mustard seed” = ‘If you have the smallest amount of faith’
“You will say to this mountain” = ‘you will speak to a problem’
“Be picked up and thrown into the sea” = ‘and say what should happen to it’
“And it will be done for you.” = ‘and it will be done for you.’
Jesus did not say that we only need a little bit of faith to move a mountain (a figure of speech, meaning ‘to solve a problem’). He said that we only need a little bit of faith to SPEAK to that mountain (to speak to that problem).
Instead, most people speak about the problem rather than TO IT.
Or they will pray about the problem, rather than SAY TO IT.
Worse yet, they will ask God or Jesus to move the mountain (to solve the problem) when that clearly isn’t a part of Jesus’ instruction, either. There are many worship songs about Jesus moving mountains, and messages about ‘mountain-moving faith’ as if it is some great entity, but Jesus described no such thing.
All that is required is enough faith to speak TO the problem, using normal, everyday language, in a normal tone of voice. One person, alone, can do this, according to Jesus, the book of Acts, and my own personal experience, witnessed and performed by others, now, on countless occasions.
But the worst thing is when people think that God is the problem, and if they can just get enough people to pray about it, God will change Their mind, or God will make it happen.
a) He used very simple language
b) He gave very simple commands
i) In Matthew 8:2-3, when a leper approached Him for healing, Jesus simply said, "Be cleansed."
ii) In Matthew 8:16, when many under demonic power were brought to Him, He drove out the spirits with a word (the word being, "Go").
iii) In Matthew 9:6, to the paralysed man let down through the roof, He simply said, "Get up."
iv) In Matthew 12:13, to the man with the withered hand, He simply said, "Stretch out your hand."
v) In Mark 1:22-26, when a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue suddenly cried out, Jesus "rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and come out of him. And the unclean spirit...came out of him."
vi) In Mark 4:36-39, when a storm threatened to sink the boat on which he was sleeping as it crossed the lake, "He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm."
The word 'rebuke' is interesting in that many, many people do not understand what it means and how it is used. In its simplest form, as used to describe Jesus' words of rebuke, it means 'to tell something or someone to stop what they are doing'.
The scripture in example v) above actually shows Jesus' words of rebuke: "Be quiet."
In example vi) the rebuke could have been a separate command to the wind, "Stop blowing," or both the wind and the sea, which after all is just responding to the wind, could have both been calmed by the one rebuke given, "Be still."
When we rebuke someone or something in the real world we do not use the words, "I rebuke" or "I rebuke you" because that is not how the word is used. When we speak to 'mountains' we are speaking to something in the real world, and so, just like Jesus, we don't use that word 'rebuke' as part of the command. The word 'rebuke' just describes the action of telling something to stop, it is not a part of the command itself.
"Stop blowing," or "Stop crying out," or "Stop running around" or "Stop wasting your money on that" are all rebukes.
Another example of the usage and meaning of the word 'rebuke' is given in Luke 4:35, where Jesus deals with an evil spirit calling out in a synagogue. The text shows that the rebuke consists of the command, "Be silent."
"But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent, and come out of him."
Just a few verses further on is another example, when Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.
"And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her, and she got up." (Luke 4:39)
How do you rebuke a fever? "Fever, stop!" Or, "Fever, Go!"
Seeing that, the people brought those who had sickness and disease to Jesus.
"And demons came out of many people, screaming and crying out (as they tend to do if we allow demonic manifestations) but He rebuked them (told them to stop) and would not allow them to speak because they knew that He was the Christ." Luke 4:41. When we are on a mission from God we don't want crazy, drunk or 'demonic' people announcing that - it's our job, at the right time.
There is no example of anyone in Scripture saying, "I rebuke you," because that is not a possible use of the word in English. Instead, we see an unusual usage of the word in Zechariah 3:2.
In Zechariah 3:1 the guiding angel shows Zechariah a scene where Joshua the high priest is standing before the Angel of the Lord (that is, Jesus, who plays the role of advocate or defense attorney), while the accuser (in Hebrew hassatan or 'the satan' - almost all Bibles wrongly turn this into a name, Satan) stands at his right hand to accuse him. Behind the Angel of the Lord is the LORD (Yahweh) Himself, who functions as judge.
In verse 2 "the LORD said to hassatan, The LORD rebukes you, hassatan, even the LORD who chooses Jerusalem rebukes you..." In other words, Yahweh (the LORD) is saying to the accuser, "The LORD is telling you to stop...
Is that amazing? Not even God Himself says, "I rebuke you" to the accuser, yet I have heard countless pastors and others directly address the devil and say, "I rebuke you." I would not be surprised if there is some problem, some penalty attached to foolishness and ignorance like that.
In the New Testament the book of Jude is just as clear about this matter. In verse 9 we read:
"But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, argued about the body of Moses. he dared not bring a condemning charge against him, but said, The Lord rebuke you." In other words, "The Lord tell you to stop."
There are situations where it is appropriate to follow angels and God's lead and say to the enemy, "The Lord rebuke you."
vii) In Mark 5:41 Jesus grasps a dead girl by the hand and says, "Talitha (little girl) cumi (get up). And instantly the girl got up and started walking around." In Luke's version, "He called, saying, Child, arise! And her spirit returned, and she arose immediately." Luke 8:40-56.
Note how Jesus always talks to the person as if they are there, even when dead. In this case He called her spirit back.
viii) In Mark 7:32-37 Jesus encounters a man who was deaf and could not speak properly. He touched the man's ears and tongue, then looked up to Heaven and sighed as He said, "Be opened." It's possible that what was interpreted as a sigh was actually Jesus exhaling over the man 'Huh," in a way that mimicked His later action as He said, "Receive Holy Spirit."
ix) In Mark 10:46-52 a blind beggar calls out to Jesus to take pity on him. Jesus calls him to come "and said to him, What do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to Him, Master, let me receive my sight. And Jesus said, Go your way, your faith has healed you. And at once he received his sight."
Where was the man's faith seen that activated this miracle? When he called out. Did his healing come then? No, it came after Jesus' instruction, "Go your way."
x) In Mark 11:13-14 Jesus sees a fig tree in leaf in the distance and, although it wasn't the season for figs, he went up to see if He could get fruit. In brackets The Amplified Bible notes that in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves. In this case, since there was some problem with the tree and it was in deception, Jesus spoke to it directly and said, "No one ever again shall eat fruit from you."
The next day when they passed they noticed that it had withered away. That's the sort of authority that our words can possess, to build up, or to break down. I prefer the wording in the early version (pre 1987) of The Amplified Bible when it describes Peter's words the next day, when they passed the tree again:
"Master, look! The fig tree which you doomed has withered away!" (Mark 11:21.) Currently, all other translations on biblehub.com use the word 'cursed', which has a different meaning, different connotations these days. An even better word to replace 'doomed' would be 'condemned'. The word 'curse' carries associations with anger and speaking badly that misrepresent Jesus' approach to the situation.
xi) In Luke 5:12-13 a leper fell at Jesus' feet and said, "Lord, if you will, you are able to cure me." Jesus showed that we need have no fear of contagious diseases while ministering in the authority of The Father, by reaching out His hand to touch him, before saying, "I will, be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him."
Jesus was Son of Man, that is, a human being with a human mother, Mary.
During His life on Earth He was confined to a human body of flesh and blood like the rest of us. He had to eat and drink, bathe and sleep, and go to the toilet just like the rest of us, too.
That human body had limitations just like ours, although Jesus was able to overcome some of those limitations when He walked on water, for instance. We know of at least two other humans, Peter and Philip, who were able to move outside of their normal body limitations: Peter walked on water to meet Jesus (Matthew 14:28-30), and Philip was miraculously transported about 12 miles to Azotus after he baptised the Ethiopian (Acts 8:39-40)
Jesus did not attempt to hide his physical needs and limitations. When the storm erupted on the lake He was asleep in the back of the boat (Mark 4:38). When He was on the cross He became thirsty (John19:28).
When I was a child in Sunday School, and later a student at a Christian secondary school there was no suggestion that Jesus was anything other than the Son of God*, and accordingly able to do anything that He wanted to. Any miracle that Jesus performed, we were taught, was because He could do anything because He was God. But that isn't what Jesus said about Himself.
"I can do nothing of Myself, but as I am taught by God." John 5:30
"I assure you, the Son is able to do nothing from Himself, but He is able to do only what He sees the Father doing." John 5:19
"I only say what I hear the Father saying." John 12:49
"My Father has enabled Me to do many good works." John 10:32
"The Father who lives continually in Me does the works." John 14:10
"My Father has not stopped working from the beginning." John 5:17
In other words, Jesus was declaring very precisely that the works He was doing were being done as Son of Man, that is, as a human being. None of His own, personal Godliness was involved in them in any way. He was totally dependent on God for any miracle in which He was involved.
On that basis He was showing that, if He could do it, so could anyone else on Earth. In fact, that is precisely what He said in John 14:12!
"Truly, truly I tell you, if anyone believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also." Joh 14:12a
Jesus set a very low bar for top performance, but there is something in that verse that few people see, or realise.
For further coverage of this important topic see also Fully Man, Fully God? here.
*To be accurate, in our religious studies Jesus was always described as Son of Man and Son of God, but His humanity was tied to His miracles in such a way as to downplay anything other than His Godhood.
A work is not the miracle itself, since that is performed by God the Father.
We have no control over that, except that by doing things in the Father's preferred way, we are likely to see more and more great signs, wonders and miracles.
Instead, a miracle, a healing, a move of God's provision, whatever it is, is more like a building. The building didn't get there by itself; it took a lot of work from one person, or maybe a lot of people, to get a building built. The work is what we do and the way we go about getting something done.
Jesus is saying, "I only do things the way I see God doing them. If you do things the way you see Me doing them, you will have the same sort of success."
In case we think that Jesus had an unfair advantage over us in doing what the Father wanted, we should take heart from two Scriptures. The first is the Old Testament promise found in Jeremiah 31:31-34, as it is repeated by the writer of Hebrews in chapter 8:10-11.
"For this is the covenant that I will make...after those days, says the Lord (Jeremiah mentions the House of Israel, but by extension we - Gentiles - are included in that): I will imprint My laws upon their minds, even upon their innermost thoughts, and engrave them upon their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And it will nevermore be necessary for everyone to teach his neighbour or everyone his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all will know me, from the smallest to the greatest of them." AMP.
This has taken place already, from the day of Pentecost, when Holy Spirit was released upon the Earth. It's much easier for God to do this when people read the Word, the Scriptures, since they reveal the Godhead in a way that no other method can. Of course, following His baptism and filling with Holy Spirit at the Jordan River, Jesus was operating under this principle.
Under this principle He also passed on to us another promise from His Father:
"If a person really loves me he will keep my word, and My Father will love him, and we will come and make Our home with him. John 14:23 AMP
Most people understand this verse to mean, 'If I love Jesus I will show it by keeping His word, by doing the things He showed and said'. However, that is not the real story.
I have emphasised the word 'will' to show that, in line with Jeremiah's revelation from God, we also are programmed to keep His word, we will do it, we will follow it - and that starts just with loving Him. Grace; amazing, isn't it?
And a part of keeping Jesus' Word is to follow his methods and do ministry like He did.
And then He said that any believer, doing things the same way as He did, will see the same results. To understand more about how Jesus thought and acted, see Ministry Like Jesus.
Even on the cross Jesus presented as Son of Man (a human) so that He could identify with us in every way, through temptation and testing, in life and death. Even in His resurrection He was Son of Man, "the first-born from among the dead." Colossians 1:18b
Even as the spotless, never sinning Jesus, He was still presenting as Son of Man. He had to be perfect in His humanity to complete the Old Testament, unblemished, first-born sacrifical type.
There really was only one aspect of His life where He presented as Son of God.
Just as in the Garden, when God freely provided an unblemished physical sacrifice for Adam and Eve, and on Mount Moriah, when God freely provided a sacrifice for Abraham, so it was at Golgotha where God once more freely provided an unblemished physical sacrifice for all mankind that would end all sacrifices. (With the shedding of blood there is forgiveness of sins. Leviticus 17:11)
His Son, who came willingly to do His Father's will, knowing what was set before Him, offered for all, gave up His life so that we all might live forever, free of the penalty of death for sin. Amazing grace, again.
See full article here.
Cessationism is the theory that signs, wonders and miracles died out with the death of the last of the original apostles towards the end of the first century AD as a part of God's plan for the new church to grow by 'faith' rather than through miraculous events.
However, the evidence is right there in the New Testament that signs, wonders and healing died out long before the apostles themselves, not because of any move of God, but through the inaction of men.
Factor 1: The early church started out with a big impact as a semi-egalitarian movement, where people also had everything in common.
"And they steadfastly persevered, devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread and prayers." Acts 2:42
I was always impressed by the next verse, at least until I read Proverbs 1:14.
"And all who believed were united, and together they had everything in common." Acts 2:44
Proverbs 1:14 says that 'one purse in common' is the mark of the sinner. Hmm.
Factor 2: Already at the beginning, the power to minister was concentrated in the hands of the few.
"And a sense of awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were performed through the apostles." Acts 2:43
That sounds great, but there is a big question looming: Whatever happened to the 70, who had also trained under Jesus? Some of them, surely, must have become involved in this new movement?
It's a similar story, just amplified, a few chapters later:
"Now by the hands of the apostles startling signs were being performed among the people...And none of those who were not of their number dared to join with them," Acts 5:12a, 13a.
During Jesus' ministry the crowds pressed upon Him because He simply made Himself available. Once it became the apostles' turn, they separated themselves and made it clear that they were "above' the ordinary people. The hierarchy was being established right at the beginning.
Still, men like Stephen and Philip (the deacon), who were not part of the original apostles, worked miraculous signs and wonders before the people in the power of God. Acts 6:8; 8:6.
Factor 3: Like Jesus' ministry, the apostles' early ministry functioned on Say To This Mountain.
"And Peter said to Aeneas, Jesus the Messiah makes you whole. Get up and make your bed! And immediately Aeneas stood up." Acts 9:34.
"And Peter put them all out and knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, Tabitha, get up! And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat upright." Acts 9:40.
At Lystra a man who had never walked was listening to Paul. Paul, "shouted at him, saying, Stand erect on your feet. And he leapt up and walked." Acts 14:9-1
At Troas a young man listening to Paul fell asleep and fell to his death from a third story window. "But Paul went down and bent over him and embraced him, saying, Make no ado, his life is within him." Acts 20:7-12.
Factor 4: Soon after Jesus' ascension, 'Say to This Mountain', was formally replaced by 'Pray to The Father'.*
The Book of James is regarded as the earliest circular letter forwarded among the early Christians. It is estimated to have been written between 40 and 50 AD. The book contains much very sound wisdom of God.
Attributed to the younger brother of Jesus, who also headed up the church in Jerusalem, this letter formally and completely changed the way healing ministry, in particular, was performed. See James 5:13-15
James never followed Jesus before His death (and actively tried to interrupt and shorten His ministry on several occasions), and missed seeing firsthand the unique way healings and miracles were setup by Jesus for the Father to complete. James was not among the twelve when they were sent out to do ministry like Jesus, nor among the 70 who were sent out soon after.
*There is no doubt that prayer works to bring healing and restoration to many people, but at a greatly reduced rate compared to using the techniques Jesus used and taught.
Factor 5: While Jesus taught that anyone could do ministry like He did, James taught that ministry should be concentrated in the hands of a few select men.
"If anyone is sick he should call in the church elders, who will anoint him with oil, and pray for him. And the prayer of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him. And if he has committed sins he will be forgiven." Paraphrase of James 5:13-15
Anointing with oil was an Old Covenant symbol of the presence of Holy Spirit for people, none of whom had an indwelling Holy Spirit - in the New Covenant Holy Spirit is within us.
Even the forgiveness of sins was now potentially taken out of the hands of the individual and placed into the hands of a few select men.
Factor 6: James also established the concept of 'if God is willing' without also teaching that God is always willing to heal, deliver and set the captives free.
See James 4:13-16
Jesus was clear on the fact that His Father had been healing and setting people free right from Creation, and that He was just doing what He could see His Father doing. Numerous verses testify that His Father healed as many as came to Him.
Not everyone who encountered Jesus was healed, though. He was unable to do many miracles in his home area, for example.
"He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people and cured them." Mark 6:5.
At the same time, the 'faith' of the individual receiving healing is not always crucial. Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus, for example, had no faith to be healed while they were dead.
The first time I ministered on American soil was at a Thanksgiving lunch. A young woman with bad pain in her ankle (she was due to have an operation the following week) allowed me to minister to her. As I held my hands near her ankle the pain shifted from the side to the back of the ankle, which showed the presence of a spirit. I persisted and God set her completely free of pain. As she walked to the car afterwards she kept saying, "I don't believe it, I don't believe it."
Factor 7: When people meet opposition or make mistakes they can lose confidence in God's ability or willingness to follow through on what they say. They might pray instead.
After Paul's arrest in the temple in Jerusalem (he was not supposed to be in the temple, nor even in Jerusalem - see Paul's Captivity) he seems to have lost some of his confidence. Whereas he spoke quickly and precisely to the man who could not walk from birth, after his arrest, when he was on the isle of Crete as a prisoner and encountered the father of Publius sick and in bed, "after praying and laying his hands on him he healed him." Acts 28:8.
Note also the unusual conjunction of prayer and the idea that the one who prays is the healer.
Factor 8: A Teaching Timeline (Dates are approximate)
AD 27-30 Jesus establishes and demonstrates continually that healing is freely available through using His hands, commands, actions or declarations. His default method was overwhelmingly 'say to this mountain'.
There is no evidence in Scripture that Jesus ever prayed for someone during ministry. Why would He ask His Father for something that He could already see being done?
AD 40-50 James, who never saw Jesus at work, writes that prayer from elders and anointing with oil is the approved/valuable/reliable way to produce healing. In just 10 to 20 years Jesus' methods had already fallen into disrepute or even disuse.
AD 48-55 Paul, writing to the church in Galatia, implies that the miraculous is still happening: "Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the Law or by hearing with faith?" Galatians 3:5
AD 55 Paul teaches the Corinthian church about Holy Spirit manifestations (an overflow of Holy Spirit within us) and points out that they are always under our control (1 Corinthians 14:32) - (we can start and stop them as we choose). Included are scary things like faith, miracles, healing, tongues and more.
AD 60 Paul writes from prison in Rome to the Church at Ephesus. In chapter 4 he describes how each believer has been given one or more of the so-called ministry gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers - verses 7, 11 - with the intention to fully equip the believers to do the work of the ministry - verse12.
Unfortunately, few believe this, and while some churches pay lip service to training believers, the majority are not taught about what God has placed within them, and few take up the opportunities God provides to use the unnatural gifts that have been placed inside us.
Cessationism is not the removal of spiritual gifts by God. There is no timeline for operation of spiritual gifts or manifestations given anywhere in Scripture. There is no schedule given for when they must or will stop.
The traditional idea about cessationism - that God withdrew the special miracle-working gifting from mankind - is contrary to the nature of God as revealed in Scripture. "For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable - He never withdraws them once they have been given." Romans 11:29 AMP
Miracles and healings stopped because believers did not believe or did not follow the words and methods of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels.
As Jesus said, "If anyone believes in Me, the works I do (the methods I use), they will do also (they will use also)." (Words in brackets added for clarification.)
Outside Nain Jesus and the disciples met a funeral procession for a young man.
xii) "And He went forward and touched the funeral couch, and the pallbearers stood still. And He said, Young man, I say to you, wake up." The young man sat up and started to speak. Luke 7:11-16
xiii) Ten lepers met Jesus on the road between Samaria and Galilee and called out to Him for help. It was not unusual for Him to ask someone with an infirmity to do something that they could not do, without any specific word of healing.
"And when He saw them He said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went they were cured." Luke 17:12-19 Strictly speaking, what He asked them to do was not legal, since you were not allowed to show yourself to the priest until after you were completely free of the disease.
xiv) Jesus was invited to a wedding, where the wine ran out early. When His mother pointed this out Jesus said that it was not His time. Mary did not try to persuade Him, but in the finest example of what Matthew calls "taking the kingdom of Heaven by force" (see Matthew 11:12) she simply said to the servants nearby, "Do whatever He tells you." That in itself was a fine example of 'Say to this mountain'.
Jesus then gave two instructions, "Fill the water pots" and then "Draw some and take it to the manager of the feast." John 2:1-10).Two things stand out: He was functioning as Son of man (a human like us) and He did not need to pray in that moment to see the desired result.
xv) A certain royal official approached Jesus because his son lay dying at home. "The king's officer pleaded with Him, Sir, do come at once before my little child is dead. Jesus answered him, Go in peace, your son will live." John 4:46-54 When the father found out that his son had recovered at the time Jesus spoke over him, he and his family believed on Jesus.
xvi) At the pool of Bethesda (like a combination between a hospital and a health spa) Jesus found a man who had had a lingering disorder for 38 years (although that does not mean that he had been lingering there for 38 years). In spite of making a fairly lame excuse as to whether he really wanted to be healed:
"Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your bed and walk!"
Jesus found him later in the temple. "He said to him, See, you are well. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." John 5:2-15.
Note: We find consistently when people are not quickly healed in a meeting (we ask them to meet up with us later) that there is an issue or issues, often from years past, that they did not correctly deal with. Their problem goes when we deal with/speak to the past issue(s). Extensive detail on this is given in Dealing with Problems.
xvii) "As He passed along He noticed a man blind from his birth...Jesus answered, As long as I am in the world I am this world's light. When He had said this, He spat on the ground and made clay with His saliva, and He spread it on the man's eyes." John 9:1-6
Neither the mud nor Jesus' saliva used in making it were therapeutic. Instead, these are symbolic. We find that getting a deaf person to cover their ears with their hands, or a blind person to cover their eyes with their hands, is similarly effective during healing ministry.
What made the difference for the man who was born blind?
That simple instruction, which he followed.
"And He said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam...So he went and washed and came back seeing." John 9:7.
It wasn't the pool, or the water in it. That was just used as a point of reference (where he 'washed away' his blindness).
It wasn't the mud or the saliva, that was just used to get his mind off his condition and prepare for a change.
It was Father God as always.
xviii) "Now a certain man named Lazarus was ill..."
This story, one of two, establishes certain foundational facts about Jesus' unique ministry.
Lazarus is dead. Martha says to Jesus, "And even now I know that whatever You ask from God He will grant it to you." John 11:22
Martha's comment is probably accurate. Jesus is highly unlikely to ever ask His Father for something that is unsuitable and not grantable. On the other hand all of Jesus' comments about how He works in with the Father show that He only does what He has seen the Father do. In other words:
STTM 1) The Father initiates the action, while Jesus responds. What, then, does He need to ask the Father for, since it has already been granted?
This revelation continues with verse 41:
"So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard Me."
The verb, 'heard', (an aorist in the Greek, which could also be translated in the present tense as, "I thank You that You hear Me," ) suggests that Jesus might have asked the Father to raise Lazarus, in line with Martha's statement in verse 22. However, what is more likely is that:
STTM 2) Since Jesus knew four days previously that Lazarus had died, He could have only known that through the Father.
At the same time, since Jesus gets His 'orders' directly from the Father ("I only do what I see My Father doing," and " I only speak what I hear My Father saying,") it seems most likely that the Father would have told Jesus at the same time that He would raise Lazarus from the dead. That ties in with what He told both the disciples (verse 11) four days before, and Martha (verse 23) on the fourth day, that Lazarus would be restored to life.
It is Jesus' next sentence which shows what the word 'heard' in verse 41 means. Verse 42 also describes the mechanism or connection between Jesus (and us) speaking to a problem, and the subsequent resolution of that problem.
"Yes, I know You always hear Me, but I have said this for the benefit of the people standing around..."
Why did Jesus always need the Father to hear Him?
STTM 3) Because it was the Father, via the agency of His angels, who responded to the commands that Jesus gave.
It is God who responds to the commands that we give, also. This is in line with Jesus' original instruction, in everyday language for simplicity, that:
If you have the smallest amount of faith, you will speak to a problem and tell it what to do, and it will be done for you.
We produce the command, but God produces and enforces the solution.
Like Jesus, we do not produce the miracle itself, but set up the circumstances, such as by giving a command that could not ordinarily be carried out, under which God will perform it.
When Jesus gave the command, "Lazarus, come out," He was speaking to a dead man who could not hear him because he was dead and had a burial napkin around his head, and who could not raise himself to follow the instruction, anyway, because his hands and feet were wrapped with burial cloths.
At the command, Holy Spirit breathed new life into Lazarus, while angels lifted him to his feet and pointed him in the right direction. Lazarus shuffled out and was released from his bonds.
Why did Jesus pray and thank His Father for hearing Him, for the sake of those standing around?
STTM 4) Let's be clear about this: Jesus did not pray to bring on the miracle. Only after He gave the command to Lazarus to "Come out" was the man alive and able to move.
He thanked His Father so that those there would believe that the Father sent Him (verse 42), and for us, many of whom are just standing around, too, so that we might know how these remarkable signs and wonders and miracles were performed, so that we might also know that we can do things in the same way that Jesus did.
We discussed some of The Centurion's Servant story in Part 1 - Authority
This story, the second of two, establishes certain foundational facts about Jesus' unique ministry.
I have seen people say, in speech and in text, "I decree and declare." One person does it and others follow.
Where do they get that from, Disney movies? Jesus certainly never spoke like that. It's unreal, it's fake, and while it might work for some things under certain circumstances, it will ultimately fail.
Perhaps the origin is in Job 22:28? "And you shall decree a thing, and it will be done for you." In other words, when we speak to a mountain and tell it what to do, that is the decree, that is the declaration.
Both 'decree' and 'declare' are words similar in use to 'rebuke'. They describe an action that we take, but the words themselves are not part of the speech or language used to make the decree, the declaration or the rebuke. See "Understanding the word 'rebuke'" here.
Or people will make a blanket, anonymous declaration: "This is your year to rise above the work of the enemy..." without addressing anyone in particular. God sees and treats each one of us as individuals, and such a pronouncement is too vague, without an address or landing location, to be of real value as an example of 'Say to This Mountain'.
Instead, the story of The Centurion's Servant (Matthew 8:5-13) is very precise and succinct as to how to speak to mountains.
"As Jesus went into Capernaum, a centurion came up to Him, begging Him and saying, Lord, my servant boy is lying at the house paralysed, with intense pains. And Jesus said, I will come to him." Verses 5-7.
"But the centurion replied to Him, Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof; but only speak the word and my servant boy will be cured." Verse 8.
That is straightforward; the story now becomes definitive:
"For I also am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me;"
This man, a gentile, must have heard stories about Jesus, and must have heard details of some of His messages as well. John's Gospel shares many words of Jesus about how He operated in His Father\'s name, under His Father's authority. These teachings must have passed through the people to the centurion, who had even built a synagogue for the Jews in his area. (Luke 7:5.)
"And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does it." Verse 9
That is the very same simplicity of authority that Jesus taught with 'Say to This Mountain'! There is no need to use long, involved or complicated commands - after all, Jesus didn't do that.
When he 'says' to one or the other he will use their name, to get their attention. We do the same when we deal with sickness, pain and oppression. "Pain, go." "Malaria, get out." Anger, Go." "Rain, come," and so on. We have taught a number of churches to call in rain just by using those two simple words, and the rains came where there was none before.
We always say it, just as Jesus taught. We never pray it - prayer is not the right tool for this.
Continue to Part 3 below
Say To This Mountain (this page)