We have therefore three revelations of the secret of messiahship, which so hang together that each subsequent one implies the foregoing. On the mountain near Bethsaida was revealed to the Three the secret which was disclosed to Jesus at his baptism. That was after the harvest. A few weeks later it was [pg 218] known to the Twelve, by the fact that Peter at Cæsarea Philippi answered Jesus’ question out of the knowledge which he had attained upon the mountain. One of the Twelve betrayed the secret to the High Priest. This last revelation of the secret was fatal, for it brought about the death of Jesus. _He was condemned as Messiah although he had never appeared in that rôle._ [pg 219] CHAPTER IX THE SECRET OF THE PASSION 1. The Pre-Messianic Affliction. THE reference to the Passion belonged as a matter of course to the eschatological prediction. A time of unheard of affliction must precede the coming of the Kingdom. Out of these woes the Messiah will be brought to birth. That was a view prevalent far and wide: in no other wise could the events of the last times be imagined. According to this view Jesus’ words must be interpreted. It will appear then that in his preaching of the Kingdom he brought into sharp prominence the thought of the Affliction of the last times. We always assume that when he speaks of persecutions which his Disciples shall encounter he means to predict what they must go through when they are left alone and orphaned on earth after his death. That is totally false. After his death Jesus will be Messiah through the Resurrection, and therewith the glory of the Kingdom dawns. Not what they must withstand after his death, but what they are to be in the Kingdom [pg 220] is the thought which concerns the Disciples on the way to Jerusalem. When Jesus speaks of suffering and persecution it is a question of the afflictions which his followers must bear with him before the dawn of the Kingdom. What is meant is the last desperate attack of the powers of this world at enmity with God, which shall sweep like a flood over those who in expectation of the Kingdom represent the divine power in the godless world. Hence Jesus constitutes the focus upon which the Affliction concentrates. He is the rock upon which the waves dash themselves to pieces. Whosoever would not be torn away by the flood must cling stedfastly to him. When he says that his mission is not to bring peace upon earth but a sword, when he speaks of the uprising which he brings about, in which the most sacred earthly ties shall be broken, in which one must follow him laden with the cross and count one’s earthly life for naught (Mt 10:34-42), he means by this the great persecution of the last times. He who hastens the coming of the Kingdom brings also this Affliction to pass, for it is out of this travail indeed that the Kingdom and the Messiah are born.