The other is that the elusive language of the seer is not rfelusive. ' Jesus does not set Himself to utter dark sayings ; but His practical instinct keeps Him from dazzling His hearers with an excess of light. He gives them all the light they can take ; but it does not follow either that this is all that fills the recesses of His own spirit, or, on the other hand, that in His utterance He is consciously keepin" anything back. We must con- ceive the seer to deliver the truth in the form in which it holds liLs mind. But the form in this case is not the particular word or image. It is not even so impressive an image as that of the Son of Jlan coming with the clouds (Dn 7", cf. Mk 13=« 14*-]!). The form concerns rather what may be called spiritual emphasis. It is the exact poise of the spiritual mind at the point of self-suiTendering trust in the goodwill and immediate action of the good God. For such a mind the employment of definite words and images in relation to the secrets of the future may mean no more than a definite certainty of new and immediate manifestations of tlic Divine pciwer uiid love. They do not neces- s.iiily iiii'.in :i ilcliiiilc realization of the precise form ill which (lie iiKniiifi'station will be made. It is the ilcliniti- ccrt.iiiity, not the indefinite form, whirli the w.'hU :ire calculated to convey. If they coin.y c\cM I.I His most susceptible hearers some- lliiiiLi lli.it i- ill one aspect more and in another less tliiin tlii-, this is due to the fact that their spiritual poise is inferior to His. The poise in their case is rectified by the subsequent teaching of the Spirit in the light of events.
The idea of accommodation is no doubt auggesl^ed 1
ESCHATOLOGY
ESCHATOLOGY
533
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va ot f 1 lie 1 a I yet fa tl n J a I bel ef in tie still o „ Con u at n 1 e 1 o an 1 live still. Our conclusion is, then, buelly as fol- lows : — As a protest to His own .people, Jesus pre- dicted the downfall of the Jewish nation within a measurable period (see esp. Mt 23 and 24). While in all probability He depicted this catastrophe in colours that closely matched those of the event itself, the very intensity of His concentration upon a vision that might seem to concern only the Jewish nation serves to show that through the telescope of Jewish particularity He was looking out upon the whole human world. His vision was that of One uniquely alive to the purpose of God, of which He, the Messianic Son of Man, was the supreme executor. It was the vision of a prophet, seeing all things in relation to the Divine purpose, not the vision of a mere politician or patriot. The Jewish nation was chosen to bless the world with the knowledge of God. Failure to fullil this vocation brought on it the destructive wrath of God ; and the condemnation of the chosen people involved in an ol)vious sense the doom of the world. That ignorance of God and hostility, of which the Jewish obduracy was the signal ex- ample, would reach a climax in the murderous death of the Son of God. From that moment the forces of final reconstruction would set in. When the Consummation would be attained, ivhcn the Son of Man should come in His glory, and all evil and evil-doers be put away, no man or angel knew. Not even the Son, only the Father. But this much was certain. The power of the Prince of this world — the Prince whose power was mani- fest in sin, disease, and death — was broken. The proofs of that victory could not be long delayed. Some would live to see signs of which they had not dreamt, that tlie Kingdom had come in power.
This covers in brief probably as much as we are able to report of the unique eschatological con- sciousness of Jesus. The account, however, would not be complete without a fresh reference to the blank space of our ignorance. This space we shall enlarge or diminish according to our estimate of the difference between the area of our knowledge, and that not merely of the general purpose of God, but of the consciousness of Jesus, the Son of (iod. All men are agnostics in the sense of ad- mitting that they have not been made privy to the counsels of Creation and Providence ; but besides this common agnosticism there is a kind peculiar to Christians, which lireathes the spirit of faith and reverence. Chi i^t i.ni^ lii'Iic\c that 'all things," including especi;ill\- huiiLni .Irstiny, have been committed to the hnn'.l ui .1, :i^ ( 'Inist. In that faith they can anticipate wiLli cahiiness
the worst tragedies of personal or social history. They believe that there is no terror of the kingdom of darkness which the Son of God has not over- come with the armour of His holy light ; but, they believe this, they do not presume to ss, even in the measure of His Spirit to which they have attained, a key that ivill open every secret that was stored in the depths of His person- ality, even while He was on earth. The last mystery to Christians is no longer the mystery of death, judgment, and the hereafter. It is rather the mystery —which is also the fact~oi Jesus Christ, the mystery of the relation of these things to Him, or rather, perhaps, of His relation to them.