Understand Scripture

Jesus said, in Mark 11:23 KJV - For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.I

Really? Isn’t that impossible?

It says we must BELIEVE.

So I’ve written the following with that goal in mind.

Decoding some termsI’ve covered a lot of ground below, and bolded significant terms in order to explain them.

First, the Bible often speaks in metaphor, and was written with an Eastern mindset. Let’s take mountains for example - What is a mountain?

MOUNTAINIn Scripture, the word mountain can symbolize different things depending on the context.

• When Jesus speaks of removing a mountain, a ‘mountain’ represents an obstacle or a problem in our lives - something that stands in the way of spiritual progress or blessing.

• When we describe God as being above all things like the highest mountain, that’s a positive symbol of His supreme power and authority.

These are not the same kind of mountain - one is a symbolic difficulty we face, and the other is a symbol of God’s power over everything, including those difficulties.

God uses physical things that we see to help us understand things we can’t see.

We are in a plain on the earth. God is high above us (Isa 55:9) like a mountain, and beneath us, metaphorically speaking, there is a bottomless pit.

Sometimes we are faced with a problem, or a mountain that has raised itself above the plain, often pushing itself higher in our life where it has no right to be.

In more symbolism, in Revelation 17:6 there is an evil woman.

In Rev 17:9 she sits on seven mountains.

A woman symbolizes a church, in this case an evil one. The woman doesn’t just sit on one city. This is talking about a universal church who has power over seven nations or countries. But this doesn’t last.

Hab 3:6 “He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.”

The Bible explains that in the future, God’s mountain will prevail over the other mountains:

Isa 2:2 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.”

Also Micah 4:2 and other places show this.

SEANext, Jesus said we can cast mountains into the sea, but what is the sea, as a metaphor?

I think the sea often represents spiritually dead people and nations!

Psa 65:7 Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people. Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. Jud 1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.Isa 57:20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Psa 98:7, Eze 26:3, etc.

Does that sound like spiritually dead people?

Interestingly, in the book of Revelation, in vision, John is shown a sea directly in front of the throne of God. The sea is like glass, and it’s clear as crystal, but those who conquer stand upon it! Rev 4:6 & Rev 15:2 KJV.

We should not doubt that we can conquer mountains, cast them into the sea, and then stand ABOVE ALL OF IT. Notice verse 2 specifically says those who get the victory stand ON TOP of the sea.

According to Psalms 89:9 God rules over the sea, and according to John, in Revelation 4:6, the sea (or the people?) are like glass to him. If this is a metaphor for people, John sees through them, and so does God. In Rev 19:4 God is on the throne, and in Rev 19:6 the multitudes are like many waters and God reigns over them all.

This symbolism may change how we look at a number of other verses, such as Rev 8:8. Here, a great mountain is cast into the sea. Could it be saying that a nation, perhaps mystery Babylon (Rev. 17:5) is brought down from superiority to become merely part of the rest of the sea, and no better then other lower peoples? The great mountain is also burning with fire… could this be referring to the nuclear destruction I’ve speculated on here?

Please note, that is one possibility only, and it may NOT be correct. You should study for yourself, and then decide for yourself!

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