If you do not doubt in your heart, it will be done for you.

 

If you do not doubt in your heart, it will be done for you.

 

Mark 11:21-24 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered.” Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come true, it will be done for him.”

It is said that Jesus went to the temple and stopped by Bethany, and then he was hungry. So he wanted to eat fruit from a fig tree. Mark 11:13-15, “Seeing a fig tree in the distance having leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he got to it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. So Jesus said to the tree, ‘Never again eat fruit from you for ever.’ His disciples heard him say this.”

It is not the season for figs. The fruit is borne when the time comes, but since it is not the season, naturally there is no fruit. However, Jesus said that we will never eat fruit from the fig tree again. The fig tree represents the temple of Israel. In other words, it represents Israel in the law. In the law, the fruit is Christ. The Jews should have found Christ while trying hard to keep the law, but they did not get the fruit. The fact that we will never get fruit from the fig tree tells us that we cannot meet Christ through the law.

Mark 11:23 "And whoever says to this mountain (Orei), 'Go, be removed, and be thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come true, it will be done for him." Ori is translated as mountain, but it refers to the mountain of God (the old temple). The sea refers to the law. The old temple being thrown into the sea of ​​the law symbolizes the people of the world drowning in the flood of Noah. This is expressed by baptism. Being immersed in water in the baptismal ceremony represents those who died in the flood of Noah.

1 Peter 3:20-21 “Who formerly were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water; and this is a sign that baptism also now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

Those who believe that the saints died with Jesus have faith like a mountain being lifted and falling into the sea. Then, God will give a new mountain, the temple of resurrection, in their hearts. This faith is like Abraham's faith in God's word that he would give him a son, Isaac, when he was 100 years old.

This faith is expressed in the Gospel of Luke as the faith of a mustard seed. Luke 17:6 "Then the Lord said to them, 'If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree (Sykamino), 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you." Sykamino refers to a fig tree. If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can throw the fig tree (the old temple) into the sea of ​​the law. This faith means being free from the law, and it shows how difficult it is to be free from the law.

Mark 4:30-32 And he said to them, "How shall we compare the kingdom of God? Or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can nest in its shadow."

The Bible says, “The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.” He planted this mustard seed in his field. The mustard seed is Jesus Christ. And his field represents Israel. There is a scene where Jesus talks to a Samaritan woman when he stops by Samaria. In John 4:22, “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”

The one who sowed in his own field represents God. God sowed Jesus Christ (the mustard seed) in his own field (Israel). So the mustard seed grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested on it. These birds of the air are the birds that Peter saw in his vision. They are the Gentiles. Although Jesus Christ was born in Israel, the Gentiles will enter the kingdom of God first. The parable of the mustard seed tells us that at first the kingdom of God on this earth seems weak, but after the death and resurrection of the Messiah, the gospel will spread to the Gentiles through the coming of the Holy Spirit.

God plants the mustard seed (Jesus Christ) in the field of the saint's heart. In the parable of the mustard seed, the field represents the new temple (Kingdom of God) in the saint's heart. In Matthew 13:31-32, the word "Kingdom of God" is used instead of "Kingdom of God." "Kingdom of God" is "He Basileia Ton Uranon", which means the temple (Kingdom of God) in the soul. Jesus was the first fruit of the resurrection. The saints also bear the fruit of the resurrection, and the fruit of the resurrection spreads as the saints share it through evangelism.

In Matthew 17, Jesus said that a man suffering from epilepsy was brought to him, but the disciples could not heal him. So they brought the child to Jesus and Jesus healed him. When the disciples asked, “Why can’t we heal him?” Jesus replied, “O perverse generation!” In verse 20, Jesus said, “Because you have little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

"The reason why the epileptic could not be cured was because the disciples did not have faith as small as a mustard seed." People think that faith as small as a mustard seed is "pure and true faith." That is why many churches say, "You must pray and ask every day to have this kind of faith." You cannot have this kind of faith by flesh or blood. Only those who repent and have the resurrection life can have this kind of faith.

Those who believe in the present resurrection will have a new temple in their hearts and Christ will come again into their hearts, so the saints will also receive the power of God. That power is the power to forgive sins. Therefore, the reason the disciples could not heal the epileptic is because the power of resurrection life had not come upon them.

Those who do not have the power of present resurrection remain as sinners who must die on the cross. That is why they become a rebellious generation. Jesus told his disciples three times that he would die on the cross and rise again three days later, but no one listened. They still become a rebellious generation. You may wonder how Jesus could receive the power of resurrection before he died on the cross, but Jesus is a being who has been given power by God, and thus has the life of resurrection.

John 11:25 Jesus said to them, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." So while Jesus was alive, the disciples could receive power directly. However, the disciples had no expectation of resurrection, so the power could not come upon them.