pective in the picture of the
future. It may be that this fact will in part account for one great
perplexity in the apocalyptic sayings of Jesus. In the chief of these
(Mark xiii. and parallels), predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem
are so mingled with promises of his own second coming and the end of all
things that many have sought to resolve the difficulty by separating the
discourse into two different ones,--one a short Jewish apocalypse
predicting the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of the Son of Man
within the life of that generation; the other, Jesus' own prediction of
the end of all things, concerning which he warns his disciples that they
be not deceived, but watch diligently and patiently for God's full
salvation. The difficulties of this discourse as it stands are so great
that any solution which accounts for all the facts must be welcomed. So
far as this analysis seeks to remove from the account of Jesus' own words
the references to a fulfilment of the predictions within the life of that
generation, it is confronted by other sayings of Jesus (Mark ix. 1) and by
the problem of the uniform belief of the apostolic age that he would
speedily return. That belief must have had some ground. What more natural
than that words of Jesus, rightly or wrongly understood, led to the common
Christian expectation? Some such analysis may yet establish itself as the
true solution of the difficulties; it may be, however, that in adopting
the apocalyptic form of discourse, Jesus also adopted its lack of
perspective, and spoke coincidently of future events in the progress of
the kingdom, which, in their complete realization at least, were widely
separated in time. In such a case it would not be strange if the disciples
looked for the fulfilment of all of the predictions within the limit
assigned for the accomplishment of some of them.

247. Whatever the explanation of these difficulties, the gospels clearly
represent Jesus as predicting his own return in glory to establish his
kingdom,--a crowning evidence of his claim to supernatural knowledge. It
is all the more significant, therefore, that it is in connection with his
prediction of his future coming that he made the most definite declaration
of his own ignorance: "Of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even
the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark xiii. 32).
This confession of the limitation of his knowledge is conclusive. Yet it
is not i