different aspects of his teaching grew naturally out of his knowledge of
God as his Father and the Father of all men; they were the fruit,
therefore, of personal certainty of ultimate and all-dominating truth.

243. If the knowledge of Jesus had been shown only in matters of spiritual
truth, it would still have marked him as one apart from ordinary men.
There were other directions, however, in which he surpassed the common
mind. The fourth gospel declares that "he knew what was in man" (ii. 25),
and all the evangelists give evidence of such knowledge. Not only the
designation of Judas as the traitor, and of Peter as the one who should
deny him, before their weakness and sin had shown themselves, but also
Jesus' quick reading of the heart of the paralytic who was brought to him
for healing, and of the woman who washed his feet with her tears (Mark ii.
5; Luke vii. 47), and his knowledge of the character of Simon and
Nathanael (John i. 42, 47,) as well as his sure perception of the intent
of the various questioners whom he met, indicate that he had powers of
insight unshared by his fellow men.

244. Furthermore, the gospels state explicitly that Jesus predicted his
own death from a time at least six months before the end (Matt. xvi. 21),
and they indicate that the idea was not new to him when he first
communicated it to his disciples (Matt. xvi. 23; Mark ii. 20). He viewed
his approaching death, moreover, as a necessity (Mark viii. 31-33), yet he
was no fatalist concerning it. He could still in Gethsemane plead with his
Father, to whom all things are possible, to open to him some other way of
accomplishing his work (Mark xiv. 36). The old Testament picture of the
suffering and dying servant of Jehovah (Isa. liii.) was doubtless
familiar to Jesus. Although it was not interpreted Messianically by the
scribes, Jesus probably applied it to himself when thinking of his death;
yet the predictions of the prophets always provided for a non-fulfilment
in case Israel should turn unto the Lord in truth (see Ezek. xxxiii.
10-20). Moreover, the contradiction which Jesus felt between his ideas and
those cherished by the leaders of his people, whether priests or scribes,
was so radical that his death might well seem inevitable; yet it was
possible that his people might repent, and Jerusalem consent to accept him
as God's anointed. Neither prophecy, nor the actual conditions of his
life, therefore, would give Jesus any fatalistic certai