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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
immortality on the cross is clear from his own sayings. The following statement of his is too definite to need
comment:
"Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again."-(Matthew, XX. 18 & 19).
He was all along aiming at it, so that whenever he was asked by the people for a sign, he would reply that no sign but that of the prophet Jonas would be given them, for as Jonas was for three days and nights in the belly of the fish, so would the Son of man remain for a similar period in the heart of the earth (Matthew, XII. 40 and XVI. 4). This was repeated in Galilee to his disciples (Matthew, XVII. 22). On another occasion he put it:
"I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am straitened till it be accomplished."-(Luke, XII, 50).
John (XVIII. 32) lends confirmation to this view, if any were necessary. So determined was he on his purpose that when Peter unwittingly rebuked him, saying: "Be it far from thee Lord: this shall not be unto thee," he (Jesus) turned on him (Peter) so fiercely that he had to hold his peace, in spite of the liberty he used to take with the Master (Matthew, XVI. 22 & 23).
The next question that arises in connection with the scheme of Jesus for a practical demonstration of his immortality is: how could he know beforehand the manner in which the Jews would put him to death? In other words, how could the Jews be compelled to further his scheme by selecting crucifixion as the only
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