We have a dozen verses that mention the Holy Spirit in the book of Isaiah, many more than the other major prophets. I’m going to combine these references into categories to make our study a little easier and to go a little faster…
THE NATURE OF THE SPIRIT:
40:13 – The context of chapter 40 is one of trust. This text has the famous verse 31 at the end. In the opening of the chapter, Isaiah foresees a messenger who will come before the Lord, a messenger Jesus tells us was John the Baptizer which means that Jesus is that “Lord” in the passage. In our context, the Lord will come (vs 10) and He will lead like a “shepherd.” That’s why we need to trust Him.
So verse 13 suggests that there is no human being who can direct the Spirit of the Lord or could be His counselor in any way as to inform Him. Yet another verse indicating the nature of the Holy Spirit. He has all knowledge and all wisdom. He cannot gain any more knowledge through study or experience nor could He gain any more wisdom through trial and error. He has complete knowledge and wisdom and that is why we need to trust Him.
THE SPIRIT’S ROLE IN JUDGMENT:
4:4 – This text does not interpret “spirit” as referring to the Holy Spirit. No translation I checked understands it that way. Yet, when we remember the role the Holy Spirit had with the antediluvian world (Gen 6:3) in “striving” with those impenitent people and the role the Spirit had in Israel recorded in Nehemiah 9:20, 30, we can easily see that this reference could be to the Spirit bringing about judgment and “burning” in a metaphorical way through the preaching and teaching of the prophets.
30:1 – God rebukes Israel for making an “alliance” with others and not with Himself, not with His Spirit. The verb “make an alliance” is an usual turn of expression. Translated literally, it means to “pour out a molten image.” The idea is of worshiping idols, making an offering, a drink offering (it could be translated) to an idol, rather than to the Spirit of God. When the Israelites did that, then they added “sin to sin.”
34:16 – This chapter deals with God judging the heathen nations and Isaiah specifically mentions Edom in verses 5-6. All these nations will be turned into a wilderness in the day of the Lord’s “vengeance” (vs 8). That is the role of the different animals mentioned in verses 11-15 – to picture a deserted place.
So in verse 16, Isaiah calls on the nation of Israel to consider the book of the Lord – read it. Not a single prophecy (that’s how I understand the pronouns “these,” “its” and “them” will fail to be fulfilled. This is a statement, I believe, of Isaiah’s inspiration. That is, the prophecies of this destruction are “gathered” by God’s Spirit.
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48:16 – This text is one of those passages that declare the inspired guidance of Isaiah the prophet by the Holy Spirit. It is because the Lord God has sent both Isaiah and the Spirit in Isaiah that, verse 17, they can be taught by the Lord and can be lead in the way they should go. That is why the Israelites need to pay attention to the commandments (vs 18). They are not Isaiah’s; they are the Spirit’s, sent from the Lord God.
59:21 – Once more, a reference to the inspiration of Isaiah and the words that Isaiah would write down. Remember that Isaiah lived about 700 years before Christ. There would be 7 or more generations who would come and go, feeding on the words of Isaiah the prophet, who would need to live holy and godly lives to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah. Therefore, the Holy Spirit would be present in his inspired message, in his “mouth” so to speak and the mouths of all those who would continue to read and teach Isaiah’s message, until the Messiah would come. Incidentally, of course, the Holy Spirit still speaks to us today through the “mouth” of Isaiah – “from now and forever.”
63:10-11, 14 – This verse reiterates what we have seen in the lives of the Israelites throughout the OT history. The sinful nation of God rebelled and in doing so, they “grieved” (עצב) His Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is pure goodness then when mankind rebells and sins, even “adding sin to sin,” then it “grieves” or “distresses” the Holy Spirit. It is also used of the Lord during the days of Noah’s impending flood (Gen. 6:6); See also Psalm 78:40.
The LXX has the verb παροξυνω which means to “urge on, stimulate, anger.” See NT uses of this verb: Acts 17:16; 1 Cor. 13:5; Acts 15:39; and Hebrews 10:24.
Verse 14 tells us that despite the sinful rebellion and distress that Israel caused the Spirit, the loving, good Spirit still led them to the land of promise and “gave them rest.” That is grace. That is mercy.
Monday, we’ll look at the Holy Spirit and His relationship with the Messiah as well as prophecies of His coming in the future.
–Paul Holland
