“…and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears.” Isaiah 11:3
The book of Isaiah is probably one of the greatest books ever written, not by virtue of the manner in which it was written, and the vastness and power of its message, but because of its origin, that being the Spirit of God. When Isaiah had his vision of God in heaven upon His throne, somewhat like the experience of the Apostle Paul who was blinded by the sight of the light, then receiving his sight, like scales falling from his eyes, ” Isaiah’s perspective was changed, and everything about it. The kingdom was the same, as was the situation he found himself in after the death of King Uzziah. But when the vision came of the holiness and sovereignty of God, the scales of unbelief, misconception, and certainly the misconceptions of men, fell from his heart. He saw everything in a new light, with a fresh and new conviction, one which would change the world, many people and nations in it. There would be revealed by that vision of God a power of perception that uprooted false, and insignificant ideas and concepts of the heavenly. Perhaps that which would give a mighty, and all-inclusive, practical application of the vision to the life of Isaiah is revealed in what the Spirit of God gave him to write in the eleventh chapter of his book. He was speaking of Christ, the Messiah, specifically of “…a Branch” which would grow out of the stem of Jesse. Isaiah would then write concerning the absolute KEY to the life of the Messiah, the coming King. It would be the Spirit of God, that same Spirit declared by Christ in a synagogue of Nazareth, when He said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty, them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19) What was it about this Spirit of God that came upon Him when He was baptized in the Jordan River, that special anointing for His ministry, that was so crucial, so very significant? The answer is found in WHO the Spirit of God IS, and specifically what He had come to accomplish in the anointing of the Savior.
In chapter eleven of Isaiah, we find Isaiah writing: “…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.” (v.2) Here we have presented to us the very essence of the Spirit of God. When Christ came among us, taking the form of a man, a body of flesh, he accepted the limitations of the attributes of a man, though not a sinner. To fulfill His ministry, the Lord Jesus would of necessity need to believe and receive from the Father, by the Spirit, the wisdom and understanding, counsel, might and strength essential to the task. He would need also the knowledge of the Father, and the all dominatingl attitude of reverence of the Father, though resisted in an unbelieving world. Christ was alone in one sense, except for this anointing and the revealed presence of His Father. The Spirit was the key, and means, by which He would be enabled to fulfill his mission, accomplishing perfectly His work of salvation.
Isaiah writes further concerning the Spirit by saying, “And (He) shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears.” (v.3) Though the perfect, godly man, Christ was absolutely dependent upon the faithful Spirit to quicken, strengthen Him in his perfect faith, refusing to judge by what He saw naturally, nor affirming the truth by hearing alone.
Dear Father, Make us to see. In Jesus’ name, Amen.