“King of the Mountain”

“Thou art coming to the king,
Large petitions with thee bring!
For his grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much!”
-John Newton

Christ had empowered his disciples to work wonders. Astounding miracles. And these men, who had forsaken all to follow Christ, were undefeated in all of their attempts to do God’s will and be greatly used of him. But the day came, as we read in Matthew 17, when they faced a significant challenge in the form of an unrelenting obstacle.

The ever-present multitude of onlookers was gathered around the disciples in the shadow of a great mountain. The scene was a pathetic one. The center of attention on that day was a desperate father in search of a miracle. He brought his demon-possessed son to the disciples. All watched as, one by one, the disciples approached the tormented child but failed in every attempt to deliver him from his evil captor. They had encountered a situation in which, regardless of the indisputable ability Jesus had given them and independent of past victories, they felt overwhelmed, helpless, and simply gave up.

This was an enormous problem for the disciples. From their perspective, these men loved the Lord. They left home, family, and occupation to follow him. What happened? Despite the victories they had known, it now appeared they were powerless to defeat this particular devil. But even more disturbing, did they do something to cause this?

Well, you know how the story goes. Christ, Peter, James, and John enter the scene upon their descent from a nearby mountain. It is a mountain that is about to become an object lesson the disciples will not soon forget. But all in due time. First, the Lord will publicly rebuke the devil and heal the child. (We can always be confident of the Lord’s compassion and goodness!) As the elated father and son began their journey home, and when the crowd began to disperse, the disciples approached Jesus. They desired a private audience with him. Bewildered and, perhaps somewhat ashamed, they asked the Lord, “Why could not we cast him out?” What did we do wrong, Lord? We thought we were living right.  We try to be obedient and faithful servants…Why did we fail?

Undoubtedly, they had a measure of faith, but it was weak and ineffectual in this trial. Jesus’s answer was concise:

“Because of your unbelief.”

Wait. What?

Hmmmmm…this is not the first time the disciples have had those words directed at them.

Matthew 6:30 “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

Matthew 8:26 “And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.”

Matthew 14:30-31 “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him,

and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Mark 16:14 “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Luke 12:28 “If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Just to reference a few instances…

The disciples must have been somewhat frustrated to hear that rebuke…again. I mean, these were Christ’s disciples…(not unlike you and I, by the way) if anyone had faith, if anyone throughout Judaea believed, it was these men who left everything to follow Christ! But no one had the time to interject their feeble justifications (“…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak…”) because Jesus had more to say. And so begins the object lesson.  The One who created the mountain gestured toward it and directed the disciples’ attention there. All the disciples cast their eyes upon that ancient and formidable mount, its massive size and summit commanding their respect. “…for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove;”

Now, there are four key details in this lesson:

Our faith- and the deficiency of it

A mustard seed- and the littleness of it

A mountain- and the magnitude of it

Our Lord-the King of the mountain

Our Faith  

Whenever the Christian faces a trial, the question of his faith comes front and center. Faith, or the presumed lack of it, is a huge concern for any child of God. But faith cannot be turned on and off. It is not something we scramble to muster up in a frenzy when a storm hits.

Faith is a working, growing, living, breathing manifestation of our Christianity. It is an essential, indisputable, integral part of the Christian life. Christians need to be operating in faith every day, way before any storm comes…and, be assured, they will come… Trusting the Lord, asking him to intervene, intercede, precede, and prevent as he sees fit. “…building yourselves up”, as the faithful Jude records, “on your most holy faith”. Which brings us to…

The Mustard Seed  

Some seeds are so very tiny and yet, did you know they are alive?  Our daughter has a little jar of mustard seeds. Each tiny one is not much bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. But every seed is viable, created with the ability to grow, succeed, and live.  Our Lord Jesus takes this occasion to teach the disciples the power of faith, that they might not be so lacking in it the next time, as they were now. Faith, in simple terms, is complete confidence in God. In this case, our Lord gave the disciples his Word that they would be successful in defeating devils. But apparently, this devil was something they had not previously encountered. This was a battle. This must have been a sight to behold. Whether frightened, confused, or perhaps shocked, their unbelief overwhelmed their faith. They had a full commission, among other things, to cast out devils without exception. Yet, this situation, being so much more intimidating and daunting than anything else they had encountered, caused them to distrust the power they had received. To convince them of their weak faith, Christ shows them what they might have done. The faith required in any situation always goes back to our confident assurance that God is aware, he knows, and by his grace we can keep our focus on his Word and trust him implicitly.

The Mountain

Had the disciples trusted Christ before this time? Absolutely. Had they exercised faith and believed his word before? Many times.  The Bible tells us so. They experienced the Lord’s unparalleled authority firsthand. He was Lord over storms, every sickness, science, physics, nature, the devils, and even death!

So what did the disciples need to learn, and what can we conclude from this lesson? 

The lesson is that a colossal amount of faith is not required to live a victorious Christian life. But what is essential is unmixed faith.  A faith that is not mingled with doubt. Faith is the dominating feature in the life of every Christian.  “Now the just shall live by faith…”, Hebrews 10:38. We must place our trust in what we cannot see. This is not blind faith. Blind faith is without evidence or reason. The faith we need is rooted in the Word of God.

The King of the Mountain

To be a king means to have power and sovereignty. To be King of kings is to have ALL the power and sovereignty. What more is there to say? Christ is King over every trial. Over every mountain, over every valley. God’s grace will always be sufficient, even when the outcome is not as we hoped. His will is always good, his plan, always perfect. He is worthy of our trust.

The faithful Matthew Henry sums it up for us: “Those who have been faithful in great trials for the time past, have reason to hope that the same grace will be sufficient to help them still to live by faith.”  Amen.

Thank you so much for reading,

Liz