“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord”—Isaiah 11:1-2.
The above quotation from Isaiah is one of many prophecies of the Messiah in Holy Scripture. Yet, too many churches and churchgoers see faith in Christ as merely being expressed by being “good people” [sic].
However, all Christians should remember “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23). Sin is challenged and overcome only by holiness, not by goodness. Our aspiration and identity as born-again Christians should be rooted in becoming and being a holy people. Because we are sinners, this can only come about through His sanctifying power working in our lives. In this article, the goal is to unpack the first two verses of Isaiah 11 in order to clarify to a small degree what it means to live a holy life.
Spirit of wisdom and understanding
This wisdom and understanding do not come from understanding difficult books or from understanding psychology or the “rules of good living.” Nicodemus, very knowledgeable about Old Testament Scripture and a wise man of Israel, came to Jesus by night, but he was reprimanded by Jesus. (John 3:10) Why? Because he had neither wisdom nor understanding.
Rather true wisdom and understanding come from being born again of the water and the spirit. (John 3: 5-6) It comes from understanding and applying God’s revealed Word. God’s ways are not man’s ways. (“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” Isaiah 5: 8-9)
We are told not to rely on our own understanding, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Proverbs 3: 5-6)
A friend of ours from years ago, now deceased, was a nice lady and a Christian, yet she decided that it was best to get her preaching from TV and especially from Harold Camping. She gave up attending church. This was her own understanding.
Prosperity preachers, or preachers who promote faith as a type of “positive thinking,” see our worldly goals as the m.o. of the Christian life. We do need God’s help in various situations. Even fixing a door can be a miraculous event. There was a large door at the entrance to our church’s sanctuary, far too big a job for this all-thumbs pastor. Amazingly, a neighbor whom I had only met briefly one time suddenly, with handyman aplomb, showed up with his elderly father, and they removed the big door easily and took it away in less than a half hour. This was a blessed divine intervention and not the result of “positive thinking.”
Our ultimate goal is to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ and, in particular, His righteousness. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these will be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33) It is essential to resist temptations that may come in the form of sexual advances by members of the opposite sex (outside of marriage) or same-sex attraction. They should be fought with determination and persistence.
-Avoid the person who is a possible temptation.
-Pray constantly.
-Trust in the Lord spiritually. His Spirit is more real and more powerful than even our passing intense emotions.
Spirit of counsel and might
In our culture the spirit of counsel is typically connected with “counselors” or “therapists.” They are sympathetic with us. Their goal typically is to bring integration and harmony to our personalities disrupted by anxiety, compulsions, obsessions, irrational fears, self-doubt, guilt, and confusion. Peace is sought by people in therapy as they seek to free themselves from neurotic or, sometimes, even psychotic reactions to circumstances in the present or the past.
However, in this prophetic passage in Isaiah, “might” is linked with our need for the Lord’s counsel. Might usually suggests an ability to confront (Elijah), to reject enemies or those in opposition to our well-being (David), to establish authority over opposition (Joshua), to endure or persevere in the face of opposition (Moses), and, to some degree for the Christian, we may need to be dogmatic, which worldly persons often reject as “lacking in empathy.” (Paul)
Godly counsel is calling us to a peace that passes understanding. It is a peace that surpasses empathy, meritorious as that may be in various situations. It is a righteous counsel.
This writer served on a high school committee of parents, teachers, administrators, and students to decide school policy on a number of issues. The committee discussed and passed a resolution to have a student health center in the school that would include referrals of high school girls for abortions (no parental consent is needed for students to be referred for an abortion in New York State). This writer was the only member of the policy committee to speak against the resolution and to provide biblical references to justify that opposition. In such a situation, Godly peace of mind allowed this writer to take a righteous stand against this unbiblical health center.
Godly peace also comes from standing with a friend or friends on a corner and giving out some tracts announcing that Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
Whatever good deeds we do must be done in the name of Jesus Christ. In this way those good deeds go beyond the mere axiom of “helping others” in order to take our minds off ourselves and our problems. Rather, there must be an element of opprobrium that comes from assuming the righteous authority given to us by Christ. Our identification with political, social, administrative, or individual righteousness flows from Christ who loves us and saves us.
Knowledge and fear of the Lord
Delight in the fear of the Lord is recommended by the prophet. Fear of the Lord is not like worldly fear. Typically, when we are afraid, we are not delighting. As I swerve my car to avoid being sideswiped by another driver who swerved out of his lane, I am not delighted in any way. But we are to fear displeasing the Lord. We are to be delighted whenever we overcome self and move forward to serve the Lord under biblical mandates.
We are to judge (that’s the key word), but our judgments are not sourced in ungodly biases and prejudices like the unsaved. Our “judgments” are based on the Spirit of the Living God, not on perceptions formed and/or transmitted merely by our five senses and our “thinking.” Here, the messianic revelation of Jesus Christ is so important. Isaiah was addressing the Old Testament crowd who were seeing and hearing through the eyes of Torah, the Mosaic Law, but Isaiah says that in total anticipation of the Messiah, who in his person and in the revealed teachings of the New Testament will provide a standard of “knowing” that is higher and more reliable than those of Torah. The inner man or women in Christ is informed by the Word, whose understanding is guided by the Holy Spirit, and engages not only our five senses but also our intentions, attitudes, motives, and aspirations.
We don’t react merely on the basis of our “information culture” or some telegenic beauties telling us this or that is true. Here we are called to Godly perspective. Are we righteous in a Godly sense, or is our righteousness a “go along to get along” expression of Christianity, that is, a pseudo-application of God’s Word? Are we merely using our Christianity to justify ourselves? Or is our ultimate goal to liberate mankind from spiritual poverty by application of the Truth? Do we give to any inspiring Christian ministries, or do we throw their requests in the garbage? Do we occasionally make baloney sandwiches and give them away to some benighted souls lying in the gutters of our city? Is our charitable giving orchestrated by homosexual pastors who falsely tell us that God loves everybody – failing to distinguish between loving the sinner but not loving the sin, i.e., calling us to repentance — or that bingo on the church lawn on Sunday afternoons is godly activity.
Isaiah pointed to Jesus and the path of life lived in holiness, followed by eternal life in Heaven. We are blessed with the opportunity to serve the prophesied Holy One.
Jeffrey Ludwig
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