![]() There is a definite article following the word “oros” (meaning mountain). The Greek language is quite clear on this point. He is not speaking about “any mountain.” He is speaking about a specific one. In order to properly interpret this passage we must note that Jesus did not say, “a mountain.” Jesus said, “this mountain,” which holds great hermeneutical importance. This is a clear example of “ a text taken out of context becoming a pretext for just about anything.” As an aside, having heard many of the so-called “faith preachers” expound on these verses about how they are to be taken “literally,” I have not, as of yet, heard of any one of them casting a “literal” mountain into the sea. Time and again this passage, along with Mark 11:23-24, becomes the “launching pad” for a “faith rocket” aimed in any direction we want it to go. ![]() This passage has been “fodder” for many sermons on “Mountain-Moving Faith.” I have heard sermons on “a mountain of debt,” “a mountain of worry,” “a mountain of problems,” “ a mountain of sickness,” on and on ad nauseam. ![]() And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” One clear case of this is found in Matthew 21:21-22 where Jesus says: “Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen. is evidenced through much of their interpretation of the New Testament. The failure of many scholars and Bible commentators to recognize the significance of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Here’s Don Walker’s article, “The Mountain Cast Into the Sea”: A Further Explanation of That Mountain Being Cast Into the Seaģ. A mountain was cast into the sea in the generation of Jesus and His disciples, and great victories can also take place in our generation. However, Jesus Himself makes a secondary, greater application to what He said about casting the mountain into the sea, and I want to focus on that application in the final section of this post. In the second paragraph, Don discounts other applications of this passage, and I understand his point about the failure to first consider how Jesus’ listeners would have understood His words (audience relevance). It’s a brief article and I will include it in this post. This is confirmed in Revelation 8:3-4, 8-9. The author, Don Walker, discusses how His followers in the first century AD did exactly that with the specific mountain that Jesus was talking about – Jerusalem / Israel / the old covenant system. I recently came across an article on Jesus’ words about casting a mountain into the sea (Matthew 21:20-22, Mark 11:21-24), and I found it to be very good overall.
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