2. Genesis of their conception. — This takes us back to the Gospel history, and that to the pro- phecies of the OT. (1) Andrew and John were led to follow Him through the testimony of John the Baptist. Others were doubtless directly or in- directly attected by John's ministry. And John
links us inevitably to the OT and the prophecies that went before concerning the Messiah. With these John and most of his hearers, these first disciples among them, were familiar. It is not necessary to go into the details here (they may be found in Drummond, Stanton, Edersheim, West- cott, Kirkpatrick, and a recent book by Willis J. Beecher, The Prophets and the Promise). But the heart of prophecy is God's close personal rela- tion to man. His loving interest in man and gracious purpose for him. Thus there was in it a fact and a promise — the fact of God's kindness and grace, the promise of a Divinely - wrought deliverance. The former was the vital religious force in Israel's history, tlie latter its hope. Tlirough unequalled sutlering and by the might of His power the pro- mised Deliverer was to crush the adversary, save His people, and set \\\) an everlasting Kingdom that should till the whole earth. Language is almost exhausted in depicting the greatness of that Deliverer and the glory of His reign [e.g. 2 S 23^"*, Ps 72. 89, Ezk ZV^'-^, Is 26. 52. 53, Dn 7'- 2'). Some passages identify the Deliverer with Jehovah Him- self appearing among men as their Saviour and King [e.g. Is 9^'- and, in its light and that of Mt P^ Is 7''^ and 8«-i5 ; Is 40^-5 comp. with JNIt 3^ || ; Is 4521-25 comp. with Ac 4^2 and Ph 2^"^- ; Jer. 23^-8, where Jehovah our Righteousness is the Branch and King ; Zee 12'^''^'^, where the i^ierced one is identified with Jehovah ; and Mai 3').
Whatever may be dark or disjjutable in these Scriptures, the pre-eminence of the Coming One is clear. John the Baptist was the last of the prophets. In his utterances the earlier are .sum- marized. Jesus is the ' Lamb of God ' who bears the world's sin, and ' the Son of God ' as possessing permanently and without measure the Spirit of God (Jn l^a-sJ^ cf. the Evangelist's elaboration in 3^^'). He is executor of God's wrath as well as of His grace, baptizing in fire as well as in the Holy Spirit (Mt 31'^''^) ; He is the Bridegroom, even as Jehovah was Husband to His peojjle (Jn 3-^). In His presence John feels his own inferiority and confesses it. He is not lit to loose His sandal- strap. At best he is His herald and friend (Mt 3"- ", Jn V^ 3-"). John can tell them to repent, and can baptize them in water as a symbolic declaration of repentance ; but only this greater One can deal with them in the realm of reality and baptize in the Spirit (Mt 3" |l Jn \^^-^). In the light of Christ's tribute to John's greatness (Mt ll'""), what a testimony John's utterances form to the pre-eminent greatness of Christ. It was the be- ginning of the disciples' faith.
(2) John's testimony was confirmed to them and strengthened by Christ's otvn personality, ivords, and deeds. His personality captivated and mas- tered them. The hallowed influence of the first day's fellowship (Jn P^), issuing in strengthened faith and open confession, is a sample of what was continuously at work thereafter. The calm and confidence, serenity and majesty of His demeanour ; His absolute rectitude and sinlessness ; His artless yet reverent familiarity with God and absolute devotion to His will ; His exquisite tenderness, quick sympathy, abounding compassion, and un- wearying beneficence, filled them with wonder, awe, admiration, and affection, and .steadily ripened their faith. His words were clothed with unpar- alleled authority, and were full of wisdom and grace. In this setting His deeds of might and mercy accredited Him as from God, and attested His Lordship over nature as well as His Saviourship to men (see Mk V 4«, Lk 422 et al.).
To all this experience, and interpreting it, were added His own imperial claims, most fully pre- sented in the Fourth Gospel (see art. Claims of Christ).
406
PRE-EMINENCE
PKE-EMINENCE
(3) To the testimony of John and that of His own character and claims was added the testimony of His enemies, both men and demons (Jn 7'^'', IQ*", Mk 1^^ 3^1), of angels (Mt 28'^), and of the Father Himself (Mt 3''^ and Lk 9^^). Tiie last jiassage is especially strong', because intended to rebuke the thouglit of putting Moses and Elijah on the same level with Him.
The effect of this growing body of testimony is seen in the confessions made from time to time. The early ones in Jn. needed deepening. The disciples had misconceptions, the removal of which might stagger their faith. They had as yet but poor knowledge of their own sinfulness ; while of the path of suffering Jesus must take to His glorj'- they knew nothing. The new consciousness of sin which came to St. Peter as he beheld the miraculous draught of fishes (Lk 5**), and the deeper sense of it that came with his denial (Mt 26"^), are waymarks of progress on the one side ; the testing times in the Capernaum synagogue, when not only most of the multitude but even professed disciples forsook Him (Jn 6''"''^), and at Cwsarea Philippi, whither He had gone from the growing hostility in Judaea and Galilee, mark their progress on the other. It is for this reason that that confession of His Messiah- ship is treated as so important (Mt le^-*'-*^) ; their faith in Him holds when others desert. Immedi- ately the way of tiie cross and tiie stern terms of discipleship are announced. We can see how it shook them. The Transfiguration, with its double message of death and glory (Lk 9^i'-). served to steady them during the dark months that were coming ; and the voice of the Father declared Jesus' Sonship and superiority to the greatest of the olden day. That scene was perhaps a means of answer- ing the Master's prayer that their faith should not fail. Nor did it fail utterly. Peter's tears are the proof. But thougii their faith in Him personally held, it was intellectually eclipsed. It was the Resurrection, His subsequent teachings, and the coming of the Spirit that finally established it in clearness and power. That great conviction is expressed empliatically by Thomas when lie hails Him as his Lord and God (Jn 20'-^) — a declaration which Jesus endorsed. In keeping therewith is the closing scene in Mt 28^'^"^", where, on the one hand, Jesus claims all authority in heaven and on earth, and, on the other, they worshipped [TrpocreKvvqcxav) Him, — a term which siiould perhaps be understood here and in Lk 2^'^ in tiie full religious sense. Thus in the closing scenes of the Gospels these men are consciously face to face with One whom they joy- fully hail as their ' Lord and God,' and the closing words fold back and into the opening quotation from the propiiet that the Coming One siiould be ' Immanuel— God with us' (Mt F^'-). When men so thoroughly steeped in monotheism as these Jews, and with the lofty thought of God all Jews had, so believe and receive Him, how for them could there be any doubt about His absolute pre-emi- nence ? Many adjustments of their views on other things will yet be necessary ; but this conviction will abide and become the centre, the touchstone of truth for them, the central fact into which all others must be fitted. As St. Paul expresses it, they will hold the Head and so increase with the increase of God (Col 2'**).