Additional “Spirit” Verses from Isaiah – Malachi
(This is Appendix “C” from Essay #2)
Several verses from Isaiah – Malachi, which deserve some comment, were not included in the main body of Essay #2. These verses were excluded from the primary text because there exists in them some ambiguity about whether the “spirit” in the verse is actually the Holy Spirit, the Spirit’s function in the text may not involve man, or some similar consideration.
Text | “Spirit” Reference | Comments |
Isaiah 30:1 | “not of my Spirit” | This reference speaks not so much of the Spirit’s actions, but Israel’s. Israel was acting on their desires. They had crafted a plan of action that God says was not His and that had not come from His Spirit. The implication is that if God had revealed His plan to Israel that revelation would have come through the work of His Spirit. In other words, His Spirit would have provided some prophetic means of making His plan known to His people. |
Isaiah 34:16 | “his Spirit has gathered them” | This passage indicates that God’s Spirit is involved in the care of the creation. His Spirit has gathered together all of the life of the world and provided for it (vs. 11-17). This stands in contrast to the judgment God had prepared for Edom (v. 5). Even though this text makes no direct statement of the Spirit’s work with man, it is interesting to note, even in this text, the Spirit’s connection to the “book of the Lord” and His “commands.” |
Isaiah 38:16 | “the life of my spirit” | This statement is found in Hezekiah’s praise of God after his recovery from illness. It attributes to God the life found in his soul. |
Isaiah 40:7 | “the breath of the Lord blows on it” | Older translations use the word “spirit” for breath in this text. Breath appears to be the better rendering. It is the breath or wind of God that blows upon the grasses to dry them up. |
Isaiah 40:13 | “measure the Spirit of the Lord” | Notice the second half of the verse: “what man shows him his counsel?” The Spirit of God is the place where “counsel” is found. It is the place of God’s knowledge and revelation (see 1 Corinthians 2:7-16). When that Spirit speaks to man prophecy is the result. |
Isaiah 42:5 | “gives. . . spirit to those who walk” | Again, “spirit” is tied to “breath” here. God’s giving of “spirit” and “breath” is synonymous to his giving life to them. |
Isaiah 59:19 | “the wind of the Lord drives” | Older translations use the word “spirit” here as well. New translations’ use of “wind” better fits the context. It is the “wind” caused by God that is driving the waters of His judgment upon His enemies. |
Ezekiel 11:19 | “a new spirit within them” | Perhaps it could be argued that this verse deserves to be in the main body of Essay 2. However, the reference appears to be more likely a discussion of Israel’s restoration from exile than to the giving of the Spirit in the gospel. The “new spirit” here is attached to the “new heart” in God’s people, not to the Holy Spirit. |
Ezekiel 13:3 | “follow their own spirit” | Here is another text which shows the relation of prophets to spirits. While it is not a reference to the Holy Spirit, it shows that prophets “see” their visions from “spirits.” These false prophets had seen “nothing” from the Holy Spirit and so only had their own spirits to follow. This important truth suggested from this text is that the visions from the Holy Spirit are “seen” – they are distinct and discernible from the “visions” of a man’s own spirit. Many today would do well to respect that truth. |
Ezekiel 18:31 | “new heart and new spirit” | This is similar to Ezekiel 11:19 above. The “new spirit” is connected to the “new heart” needed in man. |
Micah 2:7 | “the spirit of the Lord straitened” (KJV) | Most newer translations remove the “spirit” reference entirely from this text. The ESV replaces it in this manner: “Has the Lord grown impatient? Are these his deeds?” There is no clear statement about the Holy Spirit found in this text. |
Zechariah 6:8 | “set my Spirit at rest” | The NASB95 renders this passage: “See those who are going to the land of the north have appeased my wrath in the land of the north.” In Zechariah’s vision (vs. 1-7) the chariots travelling to the north executed God’s judgment on those places and so satisfied His wrath. If the “Spirit” rendering is correct, it would be in the sense that the Holy Spirit made known to the chariots (i.e. the drivers of the chariots) God’s will regarding the places of the north and so commissioned them to execute the wrath of God against them. |
Jonathan Jenkins
The Holy Spirit Gives Prophecy, Dreams, and Visions
The New Testament’s lack of reference to other specific Old Testament prophecies about the Holy Spirit should be of great concern for those seeking to explain the Spirit’s work without a reference to Joel 2. Essentially, they must create a doctrine about the Holy Spirit’s work from a collection of New Testament verses and do so in a way which does not refer back to Acts 2 or Joel 2. Interpreting Acts 3 – Acts 28 without connecting their references to Acts 2 is flawed hermeneutically and practically.
Your Spirit or the Holy Spirit?
The man of the flesh, the carnal man, and the natural man are all the same person. He is the man who lives after the works-based philosophy embodied by the Pharisaical Judaizer. The man of the spirit is the man who had understood the teaching of the gospel brought by Paul and has rejected that philosophy of works.
The End of Prophecy and Miracles
The seal of the Holy Spirit would last until the coming “day of the Lord” which would bring a baptism of fire upon those that rejected Jesus and would bring a vindicating “day of redemption” upon the true children of God. By that time the revelation would be completed and the need for the continuing miracles of the Holy Spirit would have been met. Once the gospel, and so by extension, the people of the gospel had been redeemed and confirmed – once the perfect had come – the miracles of the Holy Spirit and their “in part” manifestation would cease, vanish, and pass away.
