The Spirit Poured from on High

Isaiah 32 shifts from woe to hope with a picture of righteous government: "Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice." Every leader "shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land." The text does not name this king. Christians see its fullest meaning in the Messiah. In the New Testament, Hebrews 1:8-9 calls the Son's scepter a scepter of righteousness.

Under righteous rule, moral clarity returns. Spiritual blindness and deafness are healed, and "The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected." The fool speaks folly and leaves the hungry empty, but "the noble devises noble things." Isaiah then warns the careless women who were "at ease" that the grape harvest would fail.

The turning point is the gift of the Spirit: "until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field." Then "justice will dwell in the wilderness," and "The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever." In the New Testament, Peter preaches the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:17-18, quoting Joel 2), and Paul lists peace as fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).