(b) He to whom the human will ought to be sur- rendered must be known to be supremely worthy of reverence, trust, and love. Inasmuch, then, as knowledge of God is essential to eternal life, it was one of the aims of Christ to impart this knowledge (Jn 17^). God had often been represented as the Fatlier of the Chosen People, and liere and there individuals had thought themselves to be sons of God ; but in the teachings of Jesus the Divine Fatherhood is asserted and illustrated so copiously, that some chapters of the Gospels consist almost solely of variations to the music of these good tidings (Mt 5. 6. 7). Jesus made men think of God trustfully as well as reverently, with love as well as with awe. The revelation could be made only by tlie Son of God (Mt 11-', Lk lO-^), and it was contained in Himself (Jn ps 14'-i"). The love and obedience of the Son have as their counterparts the Father's love and instructions ; and so the paternal and the filial dispositions are mutually illuminating. The purposes of the Fatlier are exe-
cuted by the Son, and therefore to come to Jesus, to receive and honour Him, are acts that reach to God (Lk 9*8, Jn S'''- '"'^ 13^"). The message is the Messenger. Not merely does a veil fall from before the Divine character ; for Jesus, standing where the veil had stood, numifests the eternal righteousness and pitying love tiiat cannot be content unless men are rescued from unrighteous- ness and wrath. Salvation is man's progressive advance (Jn 17* y(.v^a-Ku}) to God, his growing com- munion with the Father, his increasing faith, love, and reverence. The Saviour invites men to come by penitence and trust to Himself, that they may become one with Him and, through Him, with the Father (Mt U'-*, Jn 17^^), whose holiness He dis- closes.
(c) The fulfilment of Christ's mi.ssion required the revelation of man. What is the moral con- dition of men ? What is man in God's idea ? What can make man's sin to be .seen and hated ? What can make God's thought and purpose concerning man attractive to .sinners ? Inasmuch as penitence, faith, hope, love are essential elements of a true life, to create them was included in Christ's gracious task. To produce the consciousness of guilt was an indispensable preliminary. His speech made sin exceeding sinful, and in His con- duct there were pre.sented such contrasts to man's misdoings that the evils were exposed. A sense of sin actually was produced (Lk 5** 7^"'' 19'- ^), and men learned to trust God's Son and to desire to be taught His life (Lk W). He encouraged men to liope that His experience of pleasing the F'ather (Jn 8-") miglit become theirs, seeing that they could become as intimately related to Him as the branches are related to the vine (15^"^). The ap- pearance of the Son of Man was a gospel, because, while it condemned sin, it affirmed moral evil to be an intrusion into man's nature, and it invited the sinful to receive forgiveness and enter into union with that victorious life which from the first had overcome the world (Mt 4^-''\ Jn 8-'' 16»» 17*). Corrupted man rejected and killed the Holy One, thereby disclosing human guilt and need ; man, as God intended him to be, and as he may become by ' believing in him ' ( Jn 2" 3^®), is re- vealed in Christ's meekness, devoutness, filial obedience and fraternal service. ' The Son of God ' gives men authority to become God's sons (1'^- '^), thereby causing men fully to unfold their manhood.
(d) The mission of the Saviour involved His death. — His death was a chief part of His work. The Evangelists record sayings which prove that the great sacrifice was present to our Lord's mind at an early stage of His ministry, so that there is no need to regard the explicit references to the death by violence made near Cissarea Philippi (Mk S^'"'-) as indicating a new outlook to the Lord's own mind. The tragic note that is heard early in the Fourth Gospel (2i9-2i 3"- ^^ &>y) is not left to the last in the Synoptic accounts (Mt 9'^ Mk 2i«-2«, Lk 534,35) Aloreover, the saving purpose of the sacri- fice (Mt 26^8, Mk 10*5 142*, Jn 10" 1223- 2*- s^- 33)^ its necessity (SeZ Mk 83i, Lk 24-^), and its voluntary character (Mt 26^3, Jn 10'8), are affirmed. ' Through death to life' is illustrated in His experience. The enjoyment by Him of a fuller life in countless redeemed ones is conditional upon His uttermost .self-renunciation (Jn 12^*). The life of the Saviour l^asses to men through His surrender, and it enters into them so far as they adopt its principle. The way of sacrifice is thus the way Avhereby the Saviour gives and the saved receive (Mt 16-*- ^s). The New Covenant (Jer 313>-3J) is connected with tlie shedding of the Lord's blood (Lk 222"), ^nd it is necessary tliat the saved sliould participate in tliis funda- mental law of Christ's being ( Jn 6'3-"). It was the Son's gracious will to come to earth on an errand
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which meant exposure to temptation (and therefore exposure to the possibility that He might not return to heaven) in order to destroy sin and to allure mankind to the paths of rectitude and peace. It was not the purpose of the Lord to ascend to God unless He could do so as the head of a new race, — a race healed (Jn 3^^ ^), vi\-ified and nourished by His sacrificial oflering (6^'"^). This death, with its victory over death, and its sequel — the return to the f'ather — were intended to provide, throu^'h the gift of the Holy Spirit, those saving resources wherebv the true life is initiated (16'") and sus- tained ri4'«-'^ 15'"^ 16i^-i=j.