The Sevenfold Spirit in Isaiah 11:2

Question 4129

The sevenfold Spirit of Isaiah 11:2 is a description of the one Holy Spirit in his fullness resting upon the promised Messiah, not a picture of seven separate spirits. The prophet writes of a shoot from the stump of Jesse on whom the Spirit of the LORD shall rest, and then unfolds that one Spirit in six further phrases, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. Counting the opening phrase, the Spirit of the LORD, together with the six that follow, we arrive at the seven descriptions that have given the passage its traditional name.

It is important to say at once that the sevenfold Spirit is not seven Spirits but one Spirit described in the rich completeness of his work. The number seven runs through Scripture as the figure of fullness and perfection, and here it signals that the Spirit rests upon the Messiah without lack and without measure, equipping him perfectly for the kingdom he will bring.

The promise of the sevenfold Spirit

Isaiah 11 opens with the failure of the old order. The stump of Jesse is what remains when the royal tree of David has been cut down, and out of that apparently dead stump God promises a living shoot, a Branch that will bear fruit. This is a prophecy of the coming King, and the first thing Isaiah tells us about him is that the Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him. Before the King acts, the Spirit equips him. The six attributes that follow fall naturally into pairs, wisdom and understanding for the mind, counsel and might for action and rule, knowledge and the fear of the LORD for his relationship to God. The portrait is of a ruler perfectly fitted by the Spirit to reign in righteousness.

That the Spirit shall rest upon him is significant language. In the Old Testament the Spirit often came upon a man for a time and then departed, as the anxious prayer of David in Psalm 51 reminds us. Upon the Messiah the Spirit rests, settles, remains. John the Baptist saw exactly this at the baptism of Jesus, the Spirit descending and remaining on him (John 1:32 to 33), which is the New Testament fulfilment of Isaiah promise. The selective, temporary comings of the Spirit in the old era are taken up further in our study of the Spirits work in the Old Testament and the New.

The sevenfold Spirit fulfilled in Jesus

Everything Isaiah promised came to rest on the Lord Jesus. Luke tells us that as a boy he grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and that the favour of God was upon him (Luke 2:40). At his baptism the Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, and he returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1). He began his ministry by claiming Isaiah anointing as his own. John tells us that God gives the Spirit to him without measure (John 3:34), which is the very fullness the sevenfold description was reaching for. The wisdom, the understanding, the counsel, the might, the knowledge and the fear of the LORD that Isaiah foresaw were all visibly present in the way Jesus taught, ruled the storm, confounded his opponents and walked in perfect reverence before his Father. The Spirits role throughout the life of Jesus is traced in our answer on the Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus.

This tells us something about the kind of King we have. The Lord Jesus did not rule by raw divine power alone but as the true man on whom the Spirit rested in fullness, and in this he is the pattern for his people, who receive the same Spirit, though in measure rather than without measure. The deity and personhood of this Spirit are set out in our answer on who the Holy Spirit is.

The sevenfold Spirit and the seven Spirits of Revelation

The book of Revelation picks up this imagery when John greets the churches with grace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne (Revelation 1:4), and when he sees the Lamb having seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth (Revelation 5:6). These seven spirits are not a company of angels or a band of lesser deities but the one Holy Spirit portrayed in the same fullness that Isaiah described, perfect, complete, sent into all the earth. The number seven again signals completeness rather than plurality. The Spirit who rested in fullness on the Messiah is the Spirit who now goes out in fullness into all the world through the risen Lamb. The heavenly imagery that surrounds these scenes is discussed in our answer on the living creatures in Ezekiel and Revelation.

Reading the sevenfold Spirit and the seven Spirits together guards us against two errors. It keeps us from imagining a multiplicity of spirits, which would fracture the unity of the one Spirit who is fully God. And it keeps us from flattening the richness of the Spirits work, as though we could reduce him to a single function. He is one, and he is gloriously full.

The six attributes of the sevenfold Spirit

The six descriptions that follow the opening phrase fall into three natural pairs, and each pair tells us something about the King the Spirit equips. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding has to do with the mind, the capacity to see things as they truly are and to grasp how they fit together. This is the discernment that marked the Lord Jesus when he answered the traps of his opponents and read the hearts of those who came to him, never deceived and never at a loss.

The Spirit of counsel and might has to do with rule and action, the ability to decide rightly and the power to carry the decision through. A king needs both, for wisdom without strength is helpless and strength without wisdom is dangerous. In Jesus the two were perfectly joined, so that he could set his face toward Jerusalem with unshakable resolve and accomplish the redemption he came to bring. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD has to do with his relationship to God, an intimate knowledge of the Father and a reverent delight in him that governed everything he did. Isaiah even says that his delight will be in the fear of the LORD, so that reverence was not a burden to him but a joy.

Taken together, the sevenfold Spirit paints a portrait of a ruler fitted in mind, in action and in devotion to reign in perfect righteousness. These are not seven powers competing for room but one Spirit whose fullness touches every part of the Messiah life, and the same Spirit is at work, in measure, forming these very graces in the people who belong to the King.

We should not miss how this shapes our prayers. If the Spirit who rested in fullness on the Lord Jesus is the same Spirit given to his people, then the wisdom to see clearly, the counsel to choose rightly, the strength to follow through and the reverent knowledge of God are not distant ideals but graces the Spirit delights to work in those who ask. James tells us that if any of us lacks wisdom he should ask God, who gives generously. The believer who comes to the Father in the name of the Son may ask for the very equipping that Isaiah saw resting on the Messiah, confident that the Spirit who formed these graces in the Head will form them, in measure, in the members.

So, now what?

The sevenfold Spirit reminds us first to look at the King. The same Spirit who rested in perfect fullness on the Lord Jesus is the measure of what the Spirit is and does, and the more we see the Spirit at work in Christ, the more we understand the Spirit we have received. Worship the King on whom the Spirit rests, and you are worshipping in the Spirit who points always to him.

Take heart, too, that the Spirit given to you is the same Spirit who equipped the Messiah, though given to you in measure. The wisdom, understanding, counsel and reverence that marked the Lord are the very graces the Spirit is forming in his people, and you may ask the Father for them, knowing that he gives the Spirit to those who ask.

Let the fullness of the sevenfold Spirit lift your eyes above a small and partial view of the Christian life. The Spirit you have is not a fraction or a force but the full and personal gift of God, sent out into all the earth and dwelling in you.

“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 the fear of the LORD.” Isaiah 11:2