"I Have Put My Spirit in Him"

Through Isaiah, Jehovah prophesies the coming of a servant whom he himself will choose:  "Look! My servant, on whom I keep fast hold!  My chosen one, whom my soul has approved!  I have put my spirit in him.  Justice to the nations is what he will bring forth.  He will not cry out or raise his voice, and in the street he will not let his voice be heard.  No crushed reed will he break; and as for a dim flaxen wick, he will not extinguish it.  In trueness he will bring forth justice in the earth itself; and for his law the islands themselves will keep waiting." -Isaiah 42:1-4.

Who is the Servant referred to here?  We are not left in doubt. We find these words quoted in the Gospel of Matthew and applied to Jesus Christ.  (Matthew 12:15-21) Jesus is the beloved Servant, the "chosen one."  When did Jehovah put his spirit upon Jesus?  In 29 C.E., at the time of Jesus' baptism.  The inspired record describes that baptism and says that after Jesus rose  from  the water, "the heaven was opened up and the holy spirit  in bodily shape like  a dove came down upon him, and a voice  came out of heaven:  "You are my Son, the beloved; I have approved you.' "  In this way Jehovah personally identified his beloved Servant.  Jesus' subsequent ministry and the miraculous works  that he performed proved that Jehovah's spirit was indeed upon him. -Luke 3:21, 22; 4:14-21; Matthew 3:16, 17.

Next time: 'He Will Bring Forth Justice  to the Nations'

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II, 2001