Jesus seems never to have gone beyond Syria out into the great Roman Empire, nor to have become familiar with the Gentile type of life, nor to have read the history or literature of any nation besides his own. In morals and religion Judaism was to be the teacher, not the taught. Out of Hebrew history and teaching Jesus drew the truth of God, and it was upon the Old Testa ment foundation as laid by the greatest of the prophets that he built the everlasting Gospel. That which was good in the religious thought and practice of his day he recognized and cherished, that which was false and harmful he rejected with true spiritual vision. Discrimination of essentials from non-essentials, the fixing of a scale of real values, was characteristic of Jesus. And in addi tion to all, he loved the world of nature about him, finding everywhere God's workmanship and God's love. No one has seen so much in nature that is beautiful and helpful as Jesus saw. God's own spirit of wisdom, truth and love grew in him to perfect him for his mission. Jesus must have come early to a consciousness of special nearness to God. It was this constraining power which led him safely through the maze.of human experience to a complete control over his acts and choices, and to the ultimate approval of God for the Messianic work. He was the normal man; others were abnormal. And yet so unostentatious was Jesus' life during tlie thirty years at Nazareth, that his townsmen would not believe him extraor dinary (Mark 111:20, 21; vi:1-6; Luke iv:16-3o).
But however close Jesus felt himself to God. he probably was not yet conscious that he was to be the Messiah. The thirty years was a period of probation for him. When John the Baptist ap peared in the district of the Jordan heralding the approach of the Kingdom of God. and calling upon men to prepare therefor, Jesus eagerly re sponded to the summons. Now was to appear he who should restore pure 'religion to Israel. and lead men to the glorious realization of their ideal hopes. Jesus would, with the others, receive the symbol of conformity to God's will and of prepar ation for the kingdom at hand. But with the ad ministering of water baptism to Jesus came God's approval of his Son, and a unique impartation of God's spirit, which was to him at once the an nouncement of his Messiahship and the endow ment for his Messianic work.
The experience which followed upon this, the so-called temptation, was Jesus' self-adjustment to his new office and life. The gospel accounts of this experience came from Jesus himself. In this parabolic language he endeavored to show to his disciples what was the true conception of the Kingdom of God and of the Messiah, as he had determined these at the outset of his ministry. The problem as to what sort of a Messiah he should be, and what methods he should use in the performance of his Messianic mission, was a vital one to Jesus, and the mental anguish of decision was real. God was with him in the choice. He
determined to sacrifice himself wholly to the cause, to forego the comforts of life and sub ject himself to the privations and labors of a traveli.,g ministry. He determined that he would not employ spectacular methods, but quietly and simply would do the work of a preacher of righteousness. And that, however great might be the pressure upon him to become the temporal Messiah of current Jewish expectation, Ile would insist only and always upon a spiritual kingdom, founded on spiritual truth, composed of spiritual members, and seeking spiritual ends. Then Jesus was ready to begin his public work as Messiah.
(3) Plan and Method of Jesus' Ministry. The decision as to what needed to be done, and how it was to be accomplished, was reached by Jesus before he entered upon his public work. The Kingdom of God, a spiritual and tnoral king dom, was to be established upon the earth. It was the nature of this kingdom, first, to trans form the individual, second, to dominate and purify the world. Such a kingdom could not be founded from without. All true and effective means must be of an invisible and spiritual kind. There could he no alliance with the political par ties and forces already established in Judea, for the Kingdom of God was to take no external, temporal, or local form. It was not to be set up or maintained by any of those instrumentalities upon which human kingdoms depended. "My kingdom is not of this world," said Jesus (John xviii:36). It was to have no officers, no head quarters, no political features, no wordly associa tions. It was not to be established nor defended by physical force, neither was it to exist in the interest of selfish ends. Nor was it possible for Jesus to carry out the current Messianic pro gramme. The Messiah of the popular hope must establish a temporal kingdom, visible to men, which should give the Jewish nation political supremacy of the world, and so glorify and avenge the down-trodden Israel. This was not the character of the Kingdom of God. as God gave Jesus to see it. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation," said he. "the kingdom of God is within you"• (Luke xvii:2o, 21). It was impossible, therefore, for Jesus to cooperate with any of the religious parties which governed the lives and thoughts of his nation. The only means of establishing such a kingdom as he had been commissioned to found was to win to its support individuals who felt its truth and power, waiting patiently until those adherents should attain such numbers and strength as would leaven humanity entire, and transform the whole into the ideal uwiety of perfected individuals.