Matthew 21:21

This is one of several verses that have fed the idea that those with enough faith will be able to move mountains. That is, of course, a literal reading of a spiritual statement. The Lord was not talking about earthly mountains, and would have no reason to want people to be able to move them. He was talking about spiritual mountains.

In most cases, mountains have a good meaning in the Bible, indicating love to the Lord and the desire for good that comes from it. In this case, though, it is used in the negative sense, meaning the love of self and the desire for evil that comes from it. The sea in this case represents the falsities of hell and by extension hell itself.

What this verse means, then, is that if we believe that the Lord is God and follow him, we will be able to wither fig trees – tearing down the empty shells of unloving fact and reason to make way for a spiritual rebirth. Beyond that, if we follow the Lord we will be able to remove our love of self (or rather, will be able to let the Lord remove it) and cast it into hell.