Spirit of Christ (Isaiah 11:1-9)

In Ezekiel 37, we learnt that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of life. He is the one who brings life to the dead, who makes things out of nothing. He creates ex nihilo. He creates and recreates in new creation. Genesis 1:2 talk about God and the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the earth. The Spirit of God is active and present in creation. The Holy Spirit is the one who creates and makes all things, together with the Father and the Son. 

This is the Doctrine of Inseparable Operations, where we see that the Godhead acts as one. The roles that they play are distinct and different. We know the third person of the Trinity by knowing the second person of the Trinity and how He relates to the third person. 

What do you know about the Holy Spirit? Do we know the Spirit? 

(A) The Spirit of Christ is revealed to be a distinct person in the Triune God (Isa 48:16, Matt 28:19-20)

Picking up from our last study, the Spirit is the One who gives life and new life. From Isaiah 48:16, we see how the Lord God has sent this speaker with His Spirit. Notice how there is a possessive here — “his”. God is the one who sends but also has a spirit. The breath of God is not God but comes from God.  

Each person in the Trinity is God, but they are separate entities. All 3 persons are God and not interchangeable. 

Let us also look at Matthew 28:19-20. We know Matthew 28:19-20 as the Great Commission, where Jesus commissions His disciples on a global scale. He tells them to go — an action with a mission and intentionality — and make disciples. They are to do so by baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all that He has commanded them. This means we do not disciple people based on our own programme. Jesus have given us the way we are to do so. 

Baptism is how we establish our public witness. It is also unique to Christianity. When we do so, we establish ourselves in the name of the Triune God. It is more than a religious ritual. When we are baptised in His name, we declare that we have a relationship with this Trinitarian God. 

Notice also how important teaching is. Christianity is not religious multi-level marketing. We are to learn, grow and obey this God if we are His followers. 

The doctrine of the Trinity is what sets Christianity apart from other religions. If we do not know the Spirit of God, can we say we know God? As we begin this year, pray and ask God that He will help us know Him more, as He desires to be known. 

(B) The Spirit of Christ dwells on the promised Christ (Isa 11:1-2)

From Isaiah 11:1, we see that Jesse is a stump and a shoot shall come forth (Isa 11:1a). A bunch from his roots shall also bear fruit (Isa 11:1b). A stump is that which has been cut off violently. Thus, we can infer that something happened to Jesse’s line. Jesse is the father of king David, and David is the great king of Israel who is to have an eternal, everlasting kingdom. Yet, his descendants are unfaithful to God and this kingdom is eventually broken in half and exiled. The house of David can be rightly described as a stump. Yet, Isaiah is saying here that there is still hope. The king will return. 

This king will bring vengeance and recompense on evil, and also peace, justice and righteousness (Isa 11:4). Is this how we think of leadership? Is this what we value in leadership? We want leaders that are kind and nice. The Bible speaks of a godly leader as fair, just, equitable. Praise God that His idea of leadership is not like ours! 

The Spirit is also introduced and we are also given His various characteristics (Isa 11:2). He is described as the Spirit of the LORD, wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of the LORD. These are also traits that we will describe God. These traits also enable what the One who comes from the stump of Jesse is to do. 

These are also traits that are of Him, but also meant to help and affect a relationship with others. This is unlike traits that are intrinsic and unique to God. 

What do these 7 traits mean for us? The Spirit has resources that He delights to share. How often do we draw from His resources? Do we pause and ask Him for help, instead of turning to whatever else we use to cope with? Turn to God in prayer and ask for the Spirit to act as is written here in Isaiah 11:2. 

(C) The Spirit of Christ empowers Him to relate to God and do His work (Isa 11:3-9) 

He is a man of righteousness and faithfulness (Isa 11:5). How do we know that He is righteous? We see it through His actions, but also what He loves, delights in, pursues when there is no other reason to pursue, what He turns to when no one else is watching. This shoot will delight in the fear of the LORD (Isa 11:3). He will treasure, cherish, prioritise in the fear of the LORD. For this man, God is everything, supreme over all His priorities. He would rather lose everything than to taint His life. This is what it looks like for the Spirit to rest upon Him.

Isaiah describes the psychology of Jesus years before He appears. Jesus will do everything that is right because He loves what is right. The Spirit of God is His closest companion, and will hold Him close, giving Him the desire for that which is holy. 

How does this heavenly kingdom come to be? The earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD like how waters cover the sea (Isa 11:9), which results in a renewed, perfect existence. Each verse in Isaiah 11:6-8 describes pairs of predator-prey who seems to be in peaceful coexistence. It is a world we don’t know, one with no violence, conflict, victimisation, hurt or war. It is a stunning picture of peace and restored creation. 

What will bring us there? There will be no earth without the knowledge of the LORD. Notice how it is not “the Lord God” or “God”. Isaiah refers to the covenantal, personal name of God given to Moses. This name of God is associated with personal relationship. Thus, there is no corner of earth where YHWH is not known. God is perfectly known and represented by this King on earth, and this is the job of the Spirit. The Spirit will empower the Son until every last foe is conquered and every knee bows before Him. The Sprit will transform and change so thoroughly that every bit of sin is replaced with the holiness of God in Christ. 

The Spirit of God that works fruit in us is not interested in our personal, moral project. He is not interested to make us a bit better — more humble, gracious, kind. Our life and our change and transformation by the Spirit is part of a global work of God to make all things new. The more we resist Him by keeping sin and holding on to relationship, the more we try to carve out bits where we can be God and king, the more we are resisting the Holy Spirit. His desire is to bring us to full conformity to His Son, such that the knowledge of God covers the sea. 

The Spirit of God is intertwined with the Son of God. In Luke 1:28-35, we read of how the Spirit of God caused the Son of God to be conceived and born (Lk 1:35). Throughout the gospels, we see how the Son of God did nothing without the Spirit of God (c.f. Lk 4:1,14, 16-21) In Hebrews 9:14, we also read “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God”.

What this means is that we can be assured that this substitute is perfect in every way. His righteousness is perfect. The more we believe and know this, the more we realise that we are perfectly secure. There is nothing we can add to the Father’s perfect will, the Son’s perfect obedience and the Spirit’s perfect enabling. 

Does the Spirit have a say in your life? Is His will your will? Or, are you grieving the Holy Spirit by doubting, fighting, quenching Him?