5. Lord. — He who is Saviour has the rirfit of absolute lordship. Such sovereignty Jesus claims, unhesitatingly, unceasingly. (1) He commands rather than inWtes discipleship [e.g. Mt 4" 8-- 9' 19-'). (2) He enjoins on His representatives a similar usage (lO'--'"). (3) He demands entire surrender, placing Himself first in the regard of the human heart {e.g. Mt 10^- **, Lk g^"""'-). (4) He decides infallibly on the spiritual cases set before Him, and deals ^^-ith them in a manner which would be an invasion of element-al human rights, if it were not warranted by a unique function, which, in turn, is rooted in a unique personality. (5) He appoints the whole future of His disciple's, both here and hereafter (Mt lO'^-^", Jn 14- ^). In all this there is implied a sovereignty over man which cannot be wielded by one who is no more than man.
6. Worker of Miracles.— If we take the stand- point of monism, that there is only one substance, and only one set of law- apiirDpriu'te to it, or that of dualism or paralleli-m, tlut s|.iiit\ial and material facts belong to two ili-tiint .iiiil inoomnmnicable orders of being, we f-liall liml it impossible to believe in miracle ; and we shall condemn, as mis- taken, Jesus' evident belief that He was able to seal His redemjjtive activities by works of super- human power in the realm of physical nature. If, however, we hold the theistic position, which Jesus Himself held, that between God and the universe there is neither pantlieistic identification nor dualistic separation, but that God maintains constant contact with the world whicli He has made, and directs the activities of which He is the source, towards ends in harmony with His own nature, then we shall find it possible to believe in those interventions of spiritual power in tlie domain of physical nature, which we call miracle. The only question we shall ask— apart from that of evidence— is that of need. In a perfect uni- verse there might be no need for miracle. In the universe as we know it there is abundant need. Redemption is needed, at once ethical and cosmical. The Kingdom of God is miraculous in its very nature. Miracles, therefore, naturally will attend its advent into the realm of time and space. They are altogether congruous with the mis.sion of Jesus. They are ' signs ' of the Kingdom, the cliaraeter- istic ' works ' of Him in whom the Kingdom comes. Such, in any case, was the conviction of Jesus. Before the forces of nature, and of the obscure
spirit- world that borders on the physical, in pres- ence of disease and death. He did not own Him- self conquered. He bore Himself as Master, as One to whom God's universe lay open, so that its powers Avere at His disposal for the furtherance of the cause committed to Him. This commanding authority of His was an element in that impres- sion of supernatural greatness which He made on those who came under His influence (Mk 1", Lk 5»).
7. Creator of the New Israel.— The word iKKX-qaia is but once heard on the lips of Jesus in its special significance ; but the occasion is one of solemn im- port (Mt 16'*). Peter has made his inspired con- fession, and Jesus makes reply, ' Thou art Petros, and on this Petra I will build my Ecclesia ; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.' Those who heard could not fail to identify Ecclesia with Israel, as though Jesus had said, ' on this Rock will I build my Israel' (Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, p. 11). This claim has reference to the ^n.s<. That community, which ori'finated at the first Pass- over, which endured through the vicissitudes of Israel's history, which cannot be identified with the nation which has rejected Christ, is now rebuilt, or built, by Jesus in His capacity as Messiah. It has reference to the future. To the Ecclesia, or community of believers in Jesus, He gives the seals of the Supper and Baptism ; to it He gives the commission to carry on His work ; in it He promises to dwell by His Spirit. Regarding it He predicts that it will prove invincible in face of the powers of Hades. He, Jesus of Nazareth, undertakes to erect on the bed-rock of that ^oup of loyal disciples a new Israel, a spiritual dominion whicli shall not pass away while time endures. It is vain to characterize a consciousness such as this as merely human. Jesus, in His own belief, stands above humanity, Revealer and Representative of the everlasting God, superior to the lapse of time.
8. Judge.— Our view of eschatology will depend on our conception of history. If we believe in the progressive accomplishment of a DiWne purpose we shall anticipate a climax, in which the whole movement will be complete. In that case we shall not be able to set aside ' Messianism ' as irrelevant to the essence of religion. Our Lord certainly regarded redemption as a process to be continued through a lapse of time, whose culmination would form the completion of the world's history ; and, at the highest point of that culmination. He placed Himself. Amid the many difficulties, textual and other, which surround the eschatology of Jesus, it seems clear tliat He keeps close to the OT repre- sentations, Arithout committing Himself to the details elaborated in later literature. In one all- important point, however, He modifies the OT representation ; Avhere the OT placed Jehovah, Jesus places Himself as Judge (Mt 7^'"^ IS*"' •" 16-'' 2511.12.3iff., Lk 13»-").