A Rod out of Jesse

The prophet Isaiah writes much of Christ, foretelling details of His life on earth as Jehovah's Servant, His rejection by His people Israel, His sufferings at the hands of men, His atoning suffering from God, and His coming glory as the Messiah. In Isaiah 9:6 he writes of the holy Child that would be born to bring blessing to His people, of the Son that God would give to rule in righteousness, One whose personal greatness and divine glories are revealed in His Name, "Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." In Isaiah 11 the prophet presents the same blessed Person as a scion of the royal line, come from Jesse, a Branch whose precious fruits would bring pleasure to the heart of Jehovah.

There are different presentations of Christ as the anointed Man in Isaiah. Apart from the mention in chapter 11, which we shall particularly consider, there is the opening verse of Isaiah 42, which reads, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." This is quoted in Matthew 12:18-21. Then there is the opening verse of Isaiah 61, which the Lord Himself reads in the synagogue at Nazareth, and of which He says, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:16-22).

The Spirit of the Lord Shall Rest upon Him

Although a divine Person, Messiah would be truly Man, and as Jehovah's Servant, "The Spirit of Jehovah" would rest upon Him as the evidence of God's pleasure in Him, and to carry out His will. This Scripture, Isaiah 11:2, is fulfilled in the Lord's coming to earth, and, as recorded in John 1:32, "John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him." Like Noah's dove, which alighted on the ark, the only suitable resting place for the Spirit of God in this world was on Jesus, the holy Son of God.

This Scripture has sometimes been spoken of as "The seven Spirits of the Lord." In Revelation 1:4 we read of "The seven Spirits which are before His throne"; and the seven Spirits are also referred to in chapters 3, 4 and 5: of The Revelation. The Spirit of God in His divine fulness in relation to the ways of God is seen in the seven Spirits; but in Christianity, where divine unity is emphasised, we read of "One Spirit," and the "unity of the Spirit," and of the fruit of the Spirit in its rich variety.

If we view this Scripture in the light of the seven Spirits, the first, the Spirit of Jehovah, presents the Holy Spirit personally; and we see in Jesus here on earth the fulness of the Godhead, the three Persons of the Trinity active for the blessing of mankind. The Son was here in Person, the Father was present in Him in testimony, and the Spirit was upon Him in power. All are united and active for the carrying out of the counsels of the Godhead.

The Spirit is then presented in three couplets, the first of which is "The Spirit of wisdom and understanding"; the second, "The Spirit of counsel and might"; and the third, "The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord."

The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding

It is noteworthy that although the divine traits of wisdom and understanding belong to the Holy Spirit as the anointing, they also marked the Lord Jesus as the "fine flour mingled with oil" (Lev. 2:4-5); that is as the "holy thing" born of the Virgin, under the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). In Luke 2:40 it is written, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." A few verses later, telling of Jesus at the age of twelve, He is "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers." These were traits of His divine nature, but the Spirit that rested upon Him was the power for their manifestation in His public ministry.

Every step, every word and every action of the Lord Jesus was marked by the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; but there were occasions when these precious features were manifest to all, as when the spies of the chief priests and scribes sought to entangle Him with the question, "Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?" (Luke 20:22); and when the crafty Sadducees posed their question about the resurrection of the dead. The Spirit of understanding is seen in His discerning the thoughts and motives of His questioners, and the Spirit of wisdom in His replies that silenced them. Those who received the answer concerning the tribute "marvelled at His answer, and held their peace"; the multitude that heard Him silence the Sadducees "were astonished at His doctrine" (Matt. 22:33).

He understood all that was passing through the critical heart of Simon the Pharisee, who had bidden Him to eat with him, but who had denied Him the elementary courtesies due to a friend, much less than to the Son of God (Luke 7:39); but He also understood, as Simon could not, the heart of a repentant sinner. He not only had the Spirit of wisdom, He was Wisdom, and one of Wisdom's children had come uninvited into the house of Simon to do Him homage, and to make known her thankfulness for His heavenly grace.

The Spirit of Counsel and Might

The Spirit of this second couplet was specially manifested in the teaching and works of power of Jehovah's Servant. In Matthew 5 – 7 the Spirit of counsel is revealed in the teachings of the kingdom, while Matthew 8 and 9 demonstrate the power of the kingdom in Him who had the Spirit of might.

After pronouncing the blessings of the kingdom in Matthew 5, and having given various exhortations and warnings, the Lord Jesus says six times over, "But I say unto you." The Spirit of counsel in Him amplified, modified or replaced by His own teaching what had been said by them of "old time." He counsels that the spirit of grace, the nature of their Father, is to be manifest in His children, and not the vindictive spirit of the law. His counsel to Israel in the first of the six pronouncements is, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him …" (Matt. 5:21-26); and in the last of the six, His counsel to the Christian is, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-48). In all the teaching of the Lord, how blessedly does the Spirit of counsel rejoice the hearts of those who know Him.

Each of the four Gospels brings out the Spirit of might in the Lord. There were outstanding miracles, as when Jesus cleansed the leper, opened the eyes of the blind, made the deaf hear, and raised the dead. Then there were the miracles when numbers were involved as when He on two occasions fed the multitudes with loaves and fishes and when the ten lepers were cleansed. There were also times when, as in Matthew 8:16, "they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick." As we contemplate these and other times when the Spirit of might was manifest in Jesus, the words of the Apostle John come to mind, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21).

The Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord

How blessedly do we see the Spirit in this character in Jesus when He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The Spirit of knowledge is evinced in His selection and quotation of the appropriate Scriptures to meet each temptation; and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord is manifest in His referring each temptation to what God had said. He lived by every word that proceeded "out of the mouth of God"; He would "not tempt the Lord" His God: and refused to worship Satan on the ground of what had been written, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." His every step was taken in the knowledge of His Father's will, and in reverential fear that delights in God. Every trial and sorrow that lay before Him He knew perfectly, vet He took His way to the cross with undeviating step to accomplish the great work God had given Him to do.

Christ's delight was constantly "in the fear of the Lord," the reverential fear that seeks to please God in all things, as knowing Him, and as sustained by Him. Having Jehovah's Spirit there was no need for Him to judge of things by what He saw or heard, for He knew by the Spirit the thoughts and feelings of every heart. The perfection of Christ's Manhood is manifested by His reliance upon the Spirit of God in every circumstance.

The prophet then looks forward to the day when Christ shall reign, when He will care for the poor and the meek, and deal with the wicked. In that day, "Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins." The conditions of life on earth will undergo a radical change, for the glory of God and for the blessing of men, for "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Christians, who have been called out from the nations in this the day of God's grace, will not have their part in the earthly blessings of the coming day: their portion is in heaven in nearness to Christ, sharing the vast inheritance as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. Even now we share in Christ's anointing, as knowing that He is "anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows."
Wm. C. Reid.