C. THE INTERVENING PERIOD. In consequence of these changed conditions, Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the semi-Gentile regions to the north of Galilee. spending there some six months (April to October, A.D. 23; John vi. 4 and vii. 2). His motive in thus going to a newer field was not apparently to begin there another popu lar ministry, though miracles were wrought and instruction was given. It was rather, by absence from the excited crowds of Galilee, to prepare His disciples for the final outcome of His mis sion, which was to issue in .Jerusalem. This is gathered from the chief event recorded for us in this period—the confession of His Aessiah ship by the twelve, made in the neighborhood of Ors-area Philippi. This evidently formed a turning point in the development of His work, since He immediately followed it with His first distinct announcement to the disciples of the divine necessity of His death, which He foresaw would ultimately result from the hostility toward Him on the part of the authorities at Jerusalem.
This announcement naturally His disciples could not comprehend. The falling away from Him which had been occasioned by His recent dis course in Capernaum had depressed them, espe cially as they came to realize its positive and permanent character. On the other hand, they themselves shared the popular conceptions of the promised Messianic age as an age which would be national as well as religious (see Acts i. 6), so that to their mind the ultimate issue of their Master's mission could not possibly in volve His death. They were thus disposed to resent such an outlook on His part. But .Jesus was clearly conscious of the issue, and equally conscious that it must he finally met in Jeru salem. His final return to Galilee from the north consequently was not to resume there His work among the people, but to pass through that re gion on His last journey to Jerusalem.