3. The sufferings of the Messiah. — It was imme- diately upon Peter's confession that Jesus began to teach the necessity of suffering and death for Him- self (Mt W^, Mk 8^1). There are a precision and a fulness of detail in the account of this teaching, which are probably reflected back upon it from later experience. But the tragic note enters then and dominates the later teaching both in public and private. Its emergence at that time does not prove that Jesus entered then upon a new conception of His mission, taught by the progress of events. It is more probable that this tragic note was in His conception of the task of establishing the Kingdom from the beginning. His wilderness temptation argues that (Mt -i^- **) ; it is implicit in His Beati- tudes upon the meek and the persecuted, and in His teaching of the earthly rewards of hypocrisy (6'^- ^- '^) ; and the deeper spirit of the OT, with its history of religious growth through the sufferings of the saints and the long - suffering patience of Jehovah's love, could not be veiled from the insight of His meditation thereon in the years of His pre- paration. The joy of the early days does not con- tradict this. It was the natural answer of the heart to those new thoughts of the love of the Father which Jesus preached. And in Jesus' own thought this tragic element was not in contradiction with that instinctive, buoyant joy in His gospel, though then He had many things to say to them which they could not bear (Jn 16^^). Peter's confession brought the opportunity of revealing further the depths of the riches of the wisdom and love of God.
Reserve, as practised by Jesus, was never a politic means of leading men's minds gradually to doctrines which might startle or offend them at first sight ; it consisted only in seeking, with a single aim, the practical needs of faith in the heart — belief in that Divine Love whose outgoings are redemptive, and in whose fellowship and service stands eternal life.
Literature.— Ker, Sermons, 1st ser. xx. ; ExpT iv. [1893] 446 ; Paget, Studies in the Chr. Character, xxii. ; J. Smith, The Magnetism of Christ (1904), 269 ; B. Whitefoord in ExpT
vi. (1895)22. Richard Glaister.
RESISTANCE.— See Retaliation.
REST. — 1. There is in the Gospels frequent allusion to the value of rest as the purchase of pre- ceding effort, the compensation that is provided for sore afflictions. The Sermon on the Mount, as the proclamation of the new Kingdom, guarantees such rest and peace to those who serve and suffer for the sake of that Kingdom (Mt 5'''^). Pros- perity in the world can make no such promises (Lk
1220 1623).
2. As rest, physical, social, and religious, is an organic necessity of life, and is protected by con- ditions of time and place, it should not be set aside for effoi't that is uncalled for, or that confuses the lower and higher forms of rest. Such was the lesson given in the home at Bethany (Lk 10^-). Similarly, the lilies of the field, while developing to the full their own character in their own place, are content to remain lilies (Mt G^^* ^3).
3. There is an ignoble state of rest that may slothfully or blindly oppose the call to a higher and truer contentment (Mt 11"- 22, Lk W% Christ's gift is life abundant (Jn 10'"), but the bestowal involves asking, and faith's exertion of knocking is expected at the entrance into life (Mt 7'').
i. In the parable of the Sower, the recompense is in the abundant harvest. This increase is the way of nature Avhere hindering things cease to operate. The list of obstacles typifies the things that impoverish or prevent altogether the fruit- fulness of discipleship. In the Kingdom of heaven the instinct of citizenship is to be rich toward God.
RESTOKATION
KESTOKATiU^s
503
Its gratiiication is not toil but rest (Mt 11^*; see art. Kepose).
LrrERATURE. — The subject is treated hoiniletically in many vols, of Sermons, as H. Allon, Indwelling Christ (1892), 41 ; Stopford Brooke, Gospel of Joy (1898), 123 ; R. Flint, Chrint's Kingdom (1SU5), 22 ; E. W. lloore. The Promised Rest (1904) ; R. Rainy, Sojourning) with God (1902), 37 ; J. H. Jowett, Apostolic Optimism (1901), 87. See also ExpT ii. (1891) 110, viii. (1897) 239, x. (1899) 48, 104, xii. (1901) 466.
G. M. Mackie.
RESTORATION.— Round this word gather some of the most fascinating problems of our thought in regard to the possibilities of human destiny. Every lover of his kind, and everyone who has caught something of tlie spirit of the Lord Christ, is compelled, for his own mental and spiritual satisfaction, to ask, What is to be the issue of all this complex life of man, the beginnings of which we see on the earth, the final issue when the Divine purpose concerning the race is accom- l)lished ? And naturally the Scriptures of the NT are eagerly scanned to discover what declarations are there made, or hints given, respecting the issue. Above all, has the Master of Truth left us any definite teaching on which a fair and inspiring hope may be built? At first sight it must be confessed that to those who look for express state- ments of our Lord and His Apostles in regard to future destiny, the results of a restrained exegesis are disappointing. Isolated expressions and pas- sages may be, and often have been, pressed into the service of preconceived hopes ; but, on the whole, the statements of Scripture afford too slender a basis on which to raise a structure of dogmatic assertion, and do not throw light very far into the great mystery of the future. The disappointment, however, is modified by two con- siderations : (1) Many of the references to the future life are quite incidental, and occur in writ- ings which are themselves obviously of the most occasional character, in which, therefore, the immediate doctrinal or ethical concern is para- mount, and no intention of dealing with the pi'oblems of Eschatology was before the writer's mind. (2) The mysteriousness which everywhere surrounds our human existence is an essential part of life's discipline. If all the mystery con- cerning the future were dispelled, the race would be without one of its most refining and sanctifying influences, much of life's interest would vanish and its finest essence evaporate. The Evangelists, the Apostles, and even our Lord Himself in His earthly life, were required to vindicate to them- selves the Divine purpose in this mortal career without having all the future destiny of mankind revealed to them. Limitation of knowledge here seems to be essential to the very being of human nature.