Until the beginning of the vision, or the burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos saw, his entire prophecy was about Christ, a prophecy that we want to explain piecemeal lest the ideas and discussions thereof together confuse the reader’s memory. The Jews interpreted the branch and the flower from the root of Jesse to be the Lord himself because the power of his governance is demonstrated in the branch and his beauty in the flower. But we understand the branch from the root of Jesse to be the holy Virgin Mary, who had no shoot connatural to herself. About her we read above: Behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son.^[1] And the flower is the Lord our Savior, who said in the Song of Songs, I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys.^[2] In place of root, which only the Septuagint translated, the Hebrew text has geza, which Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotus interpret as kormon, that is, stem. And they translated flower, which the Hebrew text calls nēṣer, as bud to show that after a long time in Babylonian captivity, no longer possessing any glory from the sprout of the old kingdom of David, Christ would rise from Mary as though from her stem. The educated of the Hebrews believe that what all the ecclesiastics sought in the Gospel of Matthew but could not find, where it was written Because he will be called a Nazarene,^[3] was taken from this place. But it should be noted that nēṣer was written here with the [Hebrew] letter ṣade [צ], the peculiar sound of which—somewhere between z and s—the Latin language does not express.

By the fruit of the root he will graft us onto his tree.

This shows in an obvious way that the birth of Christ would be from the root of Jesse, who was the father of David. This points toward the birth which the Gentiles would follow, having been prophetically announced by way of signs.

It is prophesied that one will come forth of the seed of Jesse, that is to say, of David, many years after the death of both David and Solomon.

In him dwelt the fullness of the Spirit; therefore I acknowledge him to be the rod of the stem of Jesse. His blooming flower shall be my Christ, upon whom has rested, according to Isaiah, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and of the fear of the Lord. Now to no man, except Christ, would this diversity of spiritual proofs suitably apply. He is indeed like a flower for the Spirit’s grace, reckoned indeed of the stem of Jesse but thence to derive his descent through Mary.

The same rule of truth^[1] teaches us to believe, after the Father, also on the Son of God, Christ Jesus, the Lord our God, but the Son of God—of that God who is both one and alone, namely, the Founder of all things, as already has been expressed above. For this Jesus Christ, I will once more say, the Son of this God, we read of as having been promised in the Old Testament and we observe to be manifested in the New, fulfilling the shadows and figures of the Old Testament types, being the embodiment of truth. For as well the ancient prophecies as the Gospels testify him to be the son of Abraham and the son of David. Genesis itself anticipates him when it says, To you will I give it, and to your seed.^[2] He is spoken of when Scripture shows how a man wrestled with Jacob; he too, when it says, There shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a leader from between his thighs, until he shall come to whom it has been promised; and he shall be the expectation of the nations.^[3] He is spoken of by Moses when he says, Provide another whom you may send.^[4] He is again spoken of by the same, when he [Moses] testifies, saying, A prophet will God raise up to you from your brothers; listen to him as if to me.^[5] [Moses] bears witness of him, finally, when he says, You shall see your life hanging in doubt night and day, and you shall not believe him.^[6] Isaiah also refers to him: There shall go forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall grow up from his root. The same also when he says, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.^[7]

Jacob also prayed when he returned back from Laban, and he was rescued from the hands of his brother, Esau. He prayed as follows, confessing and saying, With my staff have I crossed this river Jordan, and now I have become two camps.^[1] Wondrous symbol of our Savior! When our Lord first came, the staff left the stem of Jesse, just like Jacob’s staff; and when he returns from his Father’s house at his second coming, he goes back to him with two camps, one from the people [Israel], the other from the peoples [nations]—just like Jacob who returned to his father Isaac with two camps.

Just as when a lion is born from a lion, the nature is not changed but is shown to have a common source, so also one who is born from God cannot be anything other than God. But he calls him a lion’s cub for the purpose of signifying the Son. Indeed, he adds from a sprout, my son, you have gone up,^[1] because he wants to show us that Christ came from the sprout of Judah, as it was also said through the prophet Isaiah: there will come forth a rod [virga] out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will go up from his root. This Jesse was the father of David, from whose root, that is, source, the Virgin Mary [maria virgo] was born. That Isaiah refers to a rod [virga] and to a flower from the rod suggests that the flower which is Christ would be born from a virgin [virgine].

He is the son of Mary, however, and not the son of Joseph. He did not appear in the body from any other lineage, except from David.

The root of Jesse the patriarch is the family of the Jews, Mary is the rod, Christ the flower of Mary, who, about to spread the good odor of faith throughout the whole world, budded forth from a virgin womb, as he himself said: I am the flower of the plain, a lily of the valley.^[1]

Scripture also expresses the Son’s incarnation beautifully: from a bud you have gone up,^[1] for like a plant of the earth he was to be conceived in the womb of a virgin. And like a fragrant flower sent forth from the maternal bosom in the splendor of the dawn, he was to go up for the redemption of the whole world, as Isaiah says: There will come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will blossom from his root. The root is the family of the Jews, the rod is Mary, and the flower is her Christ. It is right, therefore, that the rod which is of royal lineage from the house of David, whose flower is Christ, who vanquished the foul odor of worldly filth, poured forth the fragrance of eternal life.

Also in Isaiah is it written: There will come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will go up from his root. The root is the family of the Jews, the rod is Mary, and the flower is her Christ. When he blossoms in our land, makes fragrant the field of the soul, and flourishes in his church, we can no longer fear the cold or rain, but only anticipate the day of judgment.

Elsewhere, the Holy Spirit also speaks of the Virgin about to give birth when he says, There will come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will arise from his root. The rod from the root of Jesse signifies the Virgin Mary, who found her origins in the stem of Jesse through David. For, as the Evangelist or apostle reveals, out of the tribe of David came the Virgin Mary, from whom the flower of human flesh arose in Christ.^[1] This is the rod which, having been placed in the ark of testimony to be a sign for everlasting memory, has now by a new and wonderful mystery, without moisture from the earth, brought forth the fruit of the almond.^[2] It is by this miracle that Aaron’s priesthood was confirmed.^[3]

The land that before brought forth thorns, hears in Isaiah the blessing: A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. You have turned away the captivity of Jacob.^[1] The Lord has come, therefore, to proclaim pardon to captives. There is a parallel to this in another passage of Scripture: He led captivity captive,^[2] that is, we, who in former times had been captured by the devil to perdition, now are led away by the Savior to salvation.

David was the king of Israel and the son of Jesse at a certain time in the Old Testament, when the New Testament was still hidden there in the Old, like a fruit in its root. For if you seek the fruit in its root, you will not find it. But neither would you find the fruit in the branch, unless it had first come from the root.

At that time, then, the first people had come from the seed of Abraham carnally. The second people, those who belong to the New Testament, also belong to the seed of Abraham, but spiritually. Those first people who were still carnal, therefore, among whom very few prophets understood both what was to be desired from God and when to announce it publicly, foretold this future time and the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Insofar as Christ himself was born according to the flesh, he was hidden in the root, in the seed of the patriarchs, and was to be revealed at a certain time, like fruit appearing on the branch, as it is written: A rod will bloom from the root of Jesse. The same is true of the New Testament, which was hidden in Christ throughout those earlier times and was known only to the prophets and to a very small group of godly persons, not as the manifestation of present realities but as a revelation of future events. For what does it mean, brothers, if I can remind you of one specific event, that Abraham, sending his faithful servant to betroth a wife to his only son, makes him swear to him and in the oath says to him, Put your hand under my thigh and swear?^[1] What was in the thigh of Abraham upon which the man put his hand and swore? What was there, except what was then promised to him: in your seed, all the peoples will be blessed?^[2] The thigh signifies the flesh. From the flesh of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob and, without naming everyone, through Mary, came our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe, therefore, in the immortal and invisible God, not in him whom the infidels have fashioned to be God, who is both an adulterer and a thunderer, but in the true God, Creator and Ruler of all the world.

We also hold to Jesus Christ his Son, formerly promised through the prophets, and we know that the promise has been fulfilled. Yet, because we were not present when it was fulfilled, we are also commanded to believe it. The Jews were present then, however, from whose race the Savior himself chose apostles through whom the faith has reached us. As a member of the very race in which and from which he deigned to be born, the prophet Isaiah predicted a long time ago: Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb and will bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us.’;^[1] And elsewhere [we read]: There will come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will go up from his root. The branch signifies the Virgin Mary, and the flower of the rod represents the Son of the Virgin, the Lord Jesus Christ. Before these things took place, the Jews read about it and did not understand. . . . Christ was born from a virgin like a flower from a branch, without the involvement of any seed. He was born a small infant and a great king.

The prophet Isaiah bears witness that our Redeemer had to be conceived in Nazareth when he says, A nazareus will ascend from his root. The term nazareus has the meaning of flower or clean.^[1] The Son of God made incarnate for us can properly be named by this term, both because he adopted the nature of a human being clean from all vices and because in him the font and origin of spiritual fruits came forth for all believers, since to them he both pointed out examples and granted the fruits of living properly and blessedly.

Now [Mary] saw that she herself, who had arisen from the stock of Jesse, had conceived God’s Son of the Holy Spirit.

For it is history when something is reported as having been done or said in plain discourse according to the letter; for example, the people of Israel, after they had been delivered from Egypt, are said to have made a tabernacle for the Lord in the wilderness. It is allegory when the presence of Christ and the sacraments of the church are designated by mystical words or things; by words, certainly, as when Isaiah says, A shoot [virga] shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up from his root, which is to say openly, The Virgin Mary will be born from the stock of David, and Christ will proceed from his lineage; and by things, as when the people delivered from Egyptian slavery through the blood of the lamb signifies the church freed from the devil’s domination by the passion of Christ.

The seven lamps^[1] are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, all of which remain in our Lord and Redeemer forever and are distributed in his members (that is, in all the elect) according to his will. Therefore the seven lamps are set upon the lampstand because upon our Redeemer, the firstborn from the root of Jesse, rested the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the Spirit of knowledge and of godliness, and he was filled with the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. As he himself also says through the same prophet, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me.^[2]

The prophet Isaiah testified that it was necessary that our Redeemer be conceived in Nazareth when he said, There will come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a nazareus will go up from his root. Nazareus can be translated either as flower or as pure. The Son of God who was made flesh for us can rightly be called by these names because he assumed a human nature which was pure of every vice and because he is the font and source of spiritual fruit for all who believe in him, to whom he also both showed an example and granted the gift of righteous and blessed living.

The Scriptures state that these gifts of the Holy Spirit were bestowed upon him, not as though he were in need of them but as though they were about to rest upon him, that is, to come to an end with him, so that there would be no more prophets among [his] people as of old.

Moreover, the apostle Paul says, Having the same Spirit; as it is written, ‘I believed, and therefore have I spoken’; we also believe, and therefore speak.^[1] He is therefore one and the same Spirit who was in the prophets and apostles, except that in the former he was occasional, in the latter always. But in the former not as being always in them, in the latter as abiding always in them; and in the former distributed with reserve, in the latter entirely poured out; in the former given sparingly, in the latter liberally bestowed; not yet manifested before the Lord’s resurrection, but conferred after the resurrection. For, he said, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, that he may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth.^[2] And, When he, the Advocate, shall come, whom I shall send to you from my Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from my Father.^[3] And, If I do not go away, that Advocate shall not come to you; but if I go away, I will send him to you.^[4] And, When the Spirit of truth shall come, he will direct you into all the truth.^[5] And because the Lord was about to depart to the heavens, he gave the Paraclete out of necessity to the disciples; so as not to leave them in any degree orphans,^[6] which was hardly desirable, and forsake them without an advocate and some kind of protector.

For this is he who strengthened their hearts and minds, who marked out the Gospel sacraments, who was in them the enlightener of divine things; and they being strengthened, feared, for the sake of the Lord’s name, neither dungeons nor chains, nay, even trod under foot the very powers of the world and its tortures. For they were henceforth armed and strengthened by the same Spirit, having in themselves the gifts which this same Spirit distributes and appropriates to the church, the spouse of Christ, as her ornaments. This is he who places prophets in the church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, gives powers and healings, does wonderful works, often discrimination of spirits, affords powers of government, suggests counsels and orders and arranges whatever other gifts there are of charismata. . . . This is he who, after the manner of a dove, when our Lord was baptized, came and abode upon him, dwelling in Christ full and entire, and not maimed in any measure or portion; but with his whole overflow copiously distributed and sent forth, so that from him others might receive some enjoyment of his graces: the source of the wholeness of the Holy Spirit remaining in Christ, so that from him might be drawn streams of gifts and works, while the Holy Spirit dwelt richly in Christ. For truly Isaiah, prophesying this, said, And the Spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest upon him, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and piety; and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him. This selfsame thing also he said in the person of the Lord himself, in another place. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he has anointed me, he has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor.^[7]

The fear of the righteous, therefore, is the complete, golden foundation of prudence. It is also a tribunal for the teaching of Christ and for the apostolic word. The word of the saints is a good likeness of the same: an image of truth, as it were. See how the fear of the saints is made to be their golden foundation.^[1] Read Isaiah and see how he elevates fear to make it blameless and good: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of holy fear. He elevates fear that he might possess what can follow from it, for holy fear is shaped by wisdom, instructed by understanding, directed by counsel, empowered by strength, ruled by knowledge and adorned with piety. Take up the fear of the Lord. Irrational and foolish fear belongs to the fighting without and fear within^[2] which would have afflicted Paul, had he not taken the Lord for his consolation.

So, then, the Holy Spirit is the river, and the abundant river, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah.^[1] This is the great river that flows always and never fails. And not only a river, but also one of copious stream and overflowing greatness, as also David said: The stream of the river makes glad the city of God.^[2]

For neither is that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, watered by the channel of any earthly river, but that Holy Spirit, proceeding from the fount of life, by a short draught of whom we are satiated, seems to flow more abundantly among those celestial thrones, dominions and powers, angels and archangels, rushing in the full course of the seven virtues of the Spirit. For if a river rising above its banks overflows, how much more does the Spirit, rising above every creature, when he touches the low-lying fields of our minds, as it were, make glad that heavenly nature of the creatures with the larger fertility of his sanctification.

And let it not trouble you that either here it is said rivers^[3] or elsewhere seven Spirits,^[4] for by the sanctification of these seven gifts of the Spirit, as Isaiah said, is signified the fullness of all virtue; the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the Spirit of the fear of God. One, then is the river, but many the channels of the gifts of the Spirit. This river, then, goes forth from the fount of life.

A person would not have wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of God unless, according to the prophet’s words, he had received the spirit of wisdom and of understand-ing, of counsel and of fortitude, of knowledge and of godliness, and of fear of God. . . . And a person would not have power and love and sobriety, except by receiving the Spirit of whom the apostle speaks: We have not received the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of sobriety.^[1] So also one would not have faith unless he received the spirit of faith of which the same apostle says: But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written, ‘I believed, therefore I have spoken,’ we also believe therefore we speak also.^[2] Thus he shows very plainly that faith is not received because of merit but by the mercy of him who has mercy on whom he will,^[3] when he says of himself: I have obtained mercy to be faithful.^[4]

For if Paul had said only Jesus Christ,^[1] he would have included Jesus Christ according to his divinity, according to his being the Word who was with God, Jesus Christ the Son of God. Yet children cannot receive what is said in this manner. How, therefore, do they who are fed milk receive it?^[2] Jesus Christ, he said, and him crucified. Feed upon what he did for you, and you will grow to know him as he is. Some ascend the ladder,^[3] therefore, and some descend on it.^[4] Who are those that ascend? They who make progress toward the knowledge of spiritual realities. Who are those that descend? They who, although enjoying as great a knowledge of spiritual realities as is possible for humans, nevertheless descend to the level of children to speak of such things that children can understand, so that those who had been nourished with milk might be made fit and strong enough to receive spiritual food. Isaiah, brothers, was himself among those who descended to us, for the steps upon which he descended are obvious. In reference to the Holy Spirit, he said the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God rested upon him, he began from wisdom and descended toward fear. See how the teacher descended from wisdom toward fear; you who learn, if you are to make progress, must ascend from fear to wisdom. For it is written, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.^[5] Listen, therefore, to the psalms.

The Holy Spirit is denoted in Scripture principally by the number seven, whether in Isaiah or in the Apocalypse, where the seven spirits of God are referenced most clearly under the sevenfold operation of one and the same Spirit. The Spirit’s sevenfold operation is also indicated through the prophet Isaiah: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God rested upon him. This fear of the Lord should be understood as pure, enduring forever.^[1]

The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.^[1]

That the Holy Spirit is suggested by the number seven anybody knows who can read. But listen anyway, those of you who read carelessly, or perhaps cannot read. This is how God presents the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah: The Spirit, he says, of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God. This is the sevenfold Spirit who is also called down upon the newly baptized. The law is the Decalogue; the Ten Commandments, you see, were written on tablets, but stone ones still, because of the stubborn hardness of the Jews. After the Spirit came, what does the apostle say? You yourselves are our letter, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart.^[2] Take away the Spirit, the letter kills, because it finds the sinner guilty, doesn’t set him free. That’s why the apostle says, For we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as coming from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of the new covenant, not in the letter, but in the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit brings to life.^[3] So add seven to ten, if you wish to fulfill all justice. When you are commanded by the law to do something, ask the Spirit to help you.

Now in respect of this passage of the apostle, we must be on our guard against supposing that we have not received the spirit of the fear of God, which is undoubtedly a great gift of God, and concerning which the prophet Isaiah says, The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon you, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of the Lord. It is not the fear with which Peter denied Christ that we have received the spirit of, but that fear concerning which Christ himself says, Fear him who has power to destroy both soul and body in hell; yes, I say to you, ‘Fear him.’^[1] This, indeed, he said, lest we should deny him from the same fear which shook Peter; for such cowardice he plainly wished to be removed from us when he, in the preceding passage, said, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.^[2] It is not of this fear that we have received the spirit, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.

The seven lamps are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, all of which remain in our Lord and Redeemer forever and are distributed in his members (that is, in all the elect) according to his will.

As we said earlier, the seven-formed Spirit has been denoted here, as you easily infer by calculation and recognize by his activity. But we must regard this Holy Spirit as one and the same as him whose virtues are known by Isaiah’s witness to be the same seven which we have mentioned: the Spirit of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of courage, of knowledge, of piety, of fear of the Lord; and he distributes these to each as he wills. It should not trouble you that everywhere Isaiah ascribes the words to the voice of the Holy Spirit, for clearly voice is associated with the whole Trinity. We read of the Father’s voice when he says, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,^[1] and again of the Son’s voice in the words Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?^[2] Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles we read of the Holy Spirit: Separate for me Paul and Barnabas, for the work to which I have called them.^[3]

Scripture testifies that a great and strong angel exclaimed in heaven: Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seal? No one was able to open the book or to look at it, neither in heaven nor on earth nor under the earth.^[1] John wept and lamented that none of all the rational creatures in the universe was found worthy to open the book to look at it. One of the elders consoled John as he wept and said, Do not cry, John. Behold, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, was victorious in opening the book and breaking its seal.^[2] What, I ask, is this book which no one was ever able to receive from the hand of the living, except he who walks without sin and does justice?^[3] It is not enough that he walk without sin or that he be a lamb, but he must be a slain lamb who crowned purity with the witness of the passion of life, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God. These undoubtedly are the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. What, therefore, is this book? It is the book of judgment, I believe. For the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son.^[4]

Indeed, seven children are born to us when, through the conception of a good thought, seven virtues of the Holy Spirit arise within us. The prophet enumerates these interior offspring of the Spirit’s impregnation of the mind when he says, the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him.

There are seven steps to the gate because the way to heavenly life is opened to us through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit.^[1] Isaiah locates this sevenfold grace in our Head himself, or in his body which we are: The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him. He is speaking here from the perspective of heaven, clearly numbering the steps in descending rather than ascending order: wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety and fear. Because it is written, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,^[2] the way consists beyond doubt in ascending from fear to wisdom, not in regressing from wisdom to fear, for wisdom surely has perfect charity. It is also written: Perfect charity casts out fear.^[3] The prophet, therefore, because he reasoned from heavenly realities to the lower things, began with wisdom and descended toward fear.

We, however, who strive from the earthly toward the heavenly, enumerate the same steps in the ascending order to enable us to make progress from fear to wisdom. In our minds, then, the first step on the way to heaven is the fear of the Lord, the second godliness, the third knowledge, the fourth strength, the fifth counsel, the sixth understanding, and the seventh wisdom. For the fear of the Lord is in the mind. But what kind of fear is it if it is not accompanied by godliness?

You know that in the Old Testament every work is prescribed by the Ten Commandments, but in the New Testament the power of the same work is given to the increased number of faithful through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit. The prophet foretells this when he speaks of the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and devotion, and he will fill him with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. A person acquires the ability to work in this Spirit who acknowledges faith in the Trinity, believing that Father and Son and the same Holy Spirit are one power and confessing that they are of one substance. Because there are seven commandments, given, as I have said, more widely by the New Testament, and ten given by the Old Testament, all of our power and work can be fully comprised by ten and seven.

Only of the mediator between God and humanity, the man Jesus Christ, can it be said truthfully, And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him. Each of the saints, on the other hand, receives not the fullness of his Spirit but receives from his fullness only as the Spirit grants it, for to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit, to another the grace of healing in the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another different kinds of languages, to another the interpretation of words. One and the same Spirit operates all of these gifts, dividing to each person as he wills.^[1]

We read in Isaiah that the Spirit of the Lord descended upon the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and piety. It is in reference to this same Spirit of the Lord who descended upon the Savior in a holy outpouring that the Son said through Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,^[1] and that Matthew the Evangelist said, Behold, the heavens opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending upon him like a dove.^[2] Luke the Evangelist, moreover, clearly teaches that the Spirit of God whom the Savior received in baptism is the Holy Spirit: Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan.^[3]

As the Son is the Angel of great counsel, so, too, is the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Counsel, that you may know that the Counsel of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is one. Counsel, not concerning any doubtful matters, but concerning those foreknown and determined.

It seems to me, therefore, that the sevenfold operation of the Holy Spirit, of which Isaiah speaks, coincides with these stages and maxims.^[1] However, the order is different. In Isaiah, the enumeration begins from the higher, while here it begins from the lower; in the former, it starts from wisdom and ends at the fear of God. But the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.^[2] Therefore, if we ascend step by step, as it were, while we enumerate, the first grade is the love of God; the second is piety; the third is knowledge; the fourth is fortitude; the fifth is counsel; the sixth is understanding; the seventh is wisdom. The fear of God coincides with the humble, of whom it is here said, Blessed are the poor in spirit.^[3]

If we say that faith goes before and that the merit of grace is in it, what merit does a man have before faith so as to receive faith? For, what has he that he has not received? And if he has received it, why does he glory as if he had not received it?^[1] Just as a man would not have wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of God unless, according to the prophet’s words, he had received the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, of counsel and of power, of knowledge and of godliness, and of fear of God. In the same way, he would not have power and love and sobriety, except by receiving the Spirit of whom the apostle speaks: We have not received the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of sobriety.^[2] So also he would not have faith unless he received the spirit of faith of which the same apostle says, But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: ‘I believed for which cause I have spoken,’ we also believe for which cause we also speak.^[3] Thus he shows very plainly that faith is not received because of merit but by the mercy of him who has mercy on whom he will, when he says of himself: I have obtained mercy to be faithful.^[4]

In truth, not all the saints receive the fullness of his Spirit, but they receive from his fullness, insofar as he grants it.

About this text you should first take care to observe that Isaiah does not say that the spirit of fear shall rest upon him but shall fill him. The power of it is so abundant that if once it possesses a person in its strength, it possesses his mind to the exclusion of all else. Linked with the charity that never fails, it fills and permanently possesses the soul whom it has seized, and it cannot be lessened by the temptations of any this-worldly happiness.

Isaiah signifies that the Spirit was indeed one and indivisible, but his operations diverse.

I think Isaiah loves to call the activities of the Spirit spirits.

In Christ alone he dwells fully and entirely, not lacking in any measure or part; but in all his overflowing abundance dispensed and sent forth, so that other men might receive from Christ a first outpouring, as it were, of his graces. For the fountainhead of the entire Holy Spirit abides in Christ, that from him might be drawn streams of grace and wondrous deeds because the Holy Spirit dwells richly in Christ.

He [Christ] does not esteem the learned above the simple, nor the rich above the poor.

Hence, when Isaiah said he will judge the poor with justice, he was without doubt speaking of those very persons to whom it was said, Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.^[1]

That the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son, the prophetic and apostolic teaching shows us. So Isaiah says concerning the Son, He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Concerning him the apostle also says, Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth.^[1] The one Son of God himself, showing who the Spirit of his mouth is, after his resurrection, breathing on his disciples, says, Receive the Holy Spirit.^[2] From the mouth, indeed, of the Lord Jesus himself, says John in the Apocalypse, a sharp, two-edged word came forth.^[3] The very Spirit of his mouth is the sword itself that comes forth from his mouth.

And Paul, speaking of Antichrist to the Thessalonians, says, Whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of his mouth.^[1] And Isaiah says, By the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. This, therefore, is the two-edged sword issuing out of his mouth.

At all times let us stand firm, but especially now, although many afflictions overtake us and many heretics are furious against us. Let us then, my beloved brothers, celebrate with thanksgiving the holy feast that now draws near to us, girding up the loins of our minds,^[1] like our Savior Jesus Christ, of whom it is written, Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

He is not speaking of a literal, physical belt, for all the language in this passage he employs in a spiritual sense.

Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and truth the girdle of his loins. As a king has a belt made of gold and precious stones, so in a prophetic manner, he speaks about the belt made of righteousness and truth. By the belt we may also understand the divinity of the Word, because he is righteousness, according to the apostle: He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.^[1] He is also the truth, according to Evangelist: I am the way, and the truth, and the life.^[2] The Word being the righteousness and the truth that comes from the root of Jesse, his waist [belt] points out to his attribute as king and warrior as the Word who conquers the invisible powers and hosts.

The others are easy to understand according to the vivifying spirit. For Paul the wolf, who first persecuted and lacerated the church, about whom it was said, Benjamin is a rapacious wolf,^[1] lived with a lamb—that is, either with Ananias, by whom he was baptized,^[2] or with the apostle Peter, to whom it was said, Feed my lambs.^[3] And the leopard, which first did not change its spots, once it was washed in the fountain of the Lord lay down with the kid—not the goat on the left^[4] but the one that is sacrificed at the pasch of the Lord. It is also to be noted that the lamb and the kid will not dwell and recline with the wolf and the leopard, but the wolf and the leopard will imitate the innocence of the lamb and the kid.

The lion, previously most ferocious, and the sheep and the calf lingered together. We also see in the church today that the rich and the poor, the powerful and the humble, kings and peasants, remain together and are ruled in the church by small children, whom we understand to be the apostles and apostolic men, men who are unskilled in rhetoric but not in knowledge. When they are federated among themselves by the discipline of the Lord, such that their families also are united, then the saying will be implemented: Their young will lie down together. The lion, moreover, will not eat meat but hay, because it feeds on simple food. Observe also that the cow will not eat meat, but the lion will eat hay. I believe that hay in sacred Scripture is understood to be simple words, as is wheat, the inner marrow, the meaning which is found in the letter. And it frequently happens that secular men unacquainted with the mysteries are fed by a simple reading of the Scriptures.

The infant also, who is a child with respect to evil,^[5] places his hand in the hole of the asp and demons flee from the besieged bodies of men. One who is weaned no longer takes nourishment from the milk of infants but now feeds on solid food.^[6] He puts his hand in the den of the serpent, that is, the habitation of Satan himself, and extracts him from it. Hence the apostles were given power to tread on serpents and scorpions and every strength of the enemy.^[7] And venomous beasts were previously unable to harm or to kill those who will have lived on God’s holy mountain, which means the church, about which it is said in the Gospel, A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.^[8]

The prophet also foretold the kinds of people from whom the church would be established. Not only the meek and the mild and the good would form the church. The wild, the inhuman and men whose ways were like those of wolves and lions and bulls would flock together with them and form one church. Hear how the prophet foretold the diversity of this flock when he said, Then a wolf shall feed with a lamb. And by this he showed the simplicity of the way of life the church ’s rulers would live.

[Isaiah] continues prophetically to show the transformation of all different races of humanity, barbarian and Greek . . . through the teaching of Christ. . . . The irrational animals and wild beasts in the passage represent the Gentiles, who are naturally like animals. One who comes from the seed of Jesse will rule over the Gentiles. This is the genealogy of our Savior and Lord, in whom the Gentiles now believe and hope.

When he says, Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the rough ways shall be made smooth,^[1] he is signifying the exaltation of the lowly, the humiliation of the self-willed, the hardness of the law changed into easiness of faith. For it is no longer toils and labors, says he, but grace and forgiveness of sins, affording great facility of salvation. Next he states the cause of these things, saying, All flesh shall see the salvation of God,^[2] no longer Jews and proselytes only, but also all earth and sea and the entire human race. Because by the crooked things he signified our whole corrupt life, publicans, harlots, robbers, magicians, as many as having been perverted before afterwards walked in the right way: much as he himself likewise said, Publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you,^[3] because they believed. And in other words also again the prophet declared the selfsame thing, thus saying, Then wolves and lambs shall feed together. For similarly here by the hills and valleys, he meant that incongruities of character are blended into one and the same evenness of self-restraint, so also there, by the characters of the brute animals indicating the different human dispositions, he again spoke of their being linked in one and the same harmony of godliness.

I am aware that some try to refer these [prophecies] to fierce people of diverse nations and of different kinds of behavior, who have believed, and when they have believed have come to agree with the righteous. But although this is now true of various kinds of people who have come from different nations to the one conviction of the faith, nevertheless [it will also be true] in the resurrection of the just with reference to these animals.

Not of course that the ox may learn ferocity from the lion but that the lion may learn docility from the ox.

I have heard many saying, The threats of a king are like the wrath of a lion;^[1] being full of dejection and lamentation. What then should we say to such? That he who said, The wolves and the lambs shall feed together; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, will be able to convert the lion into a mild lamb.

And I will strike for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and with what crawls on the ground; and I will destroy the bow, the sword and war from the earth; and I will make them sleep in safety.^[1] According to the Septuagint, And I will arrange for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and with what crawls on the ground; and I will destroy war from the earth; and I will make them live in hope.^[2] When all talk of false religion is removed from the people who confess the Lord and, he said, when they call me my husband,^[3] no longer daring to cry to Baal (which means my idol), then I will strike for them a covenant and an agreement with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the sky and with what crawls on the ground. Of this moment Isaiah also speaks: The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf, the lion and the lamb will remain together, and a small child will lead them. The cow and the bear will feed together and relax with their young; and the lion will eat hay like the ox, no longer desiring to eat flesh and blood at all, but enjoying its food with the pure and simple. To enable him to receive Cornelius from the Gentiles, it was revealed and commanded to Peter that he could eat any animal and that he should consider nothing to be unclean when, after being seized with thanksgiving, he later heard: What God has purified, you must not call common.^[4] At the coming of the Lord our Savior, therefore, after the triumph of his resurrection and ascension to the Father, two walls will be joined at the cornerstone by him who made both one.^[5] He called her pitied who was once called not pitied,^[6] and he called them his people who was once called not my people.^[7] And the bow, the sword and war will be destroyed, granting peace to all. For instruments of war are unnecessary when there is no one to wage war. Israel will be joined to the Gentiles, and what was said in Deuteronomy will be fulfilled: Rejoice, Gentiles, with his people.^[8] For God is known in Judah, his name is great in Israel.^[9]

For behold, we who appear clothed in a religious habit have come together from various states of life in the world for the sake of faith in the omnipotent Lord and for hearing his word. We were gathered from many kinds of iniquity into the concord of holy church to make it seen clearly that what was said through the prophet Isaiah about the promise of the church has been accomplished: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid. For it is through the organs of holy charity that the wolf will dwell with the lamb, since those who were plunderers in the world now rest in peace with the meek and the tame. And the leopard will lie down with the kid because the person who was stained with the multitude of his sins now agrees to be humbled with the person who despises himself and confesses himself to be a sinner. Isaiah also adds, and the calf and the lion and the sheep will remain together. One who prepares himself as a daily sacrifice to God through a contrite heart, and another who once raged with cruelty like a lion, and yet another who remains in the simplicity of his innocence like a lamb have all come together in the folds of holy church. Behold the kind of charity that enkindles, consumes, melds and reforms such a diversity of minds as though into one species of gold.

The promise will be fulfilled when kings, peasants and the poor all gather equally around the one table of Christ (believed and seen by us); according to the prophet Isaiah: Then the wolf will dine with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the cow, the lion and the lamb will eat straw together, and a small child will feed them.

Where and when, therefore, will this blessing^[1] be accomplished except in the kingdom of God, where grain, wine and oil are in abundance? The earth will yield its fruit generously and every evil will be destroyed, as Isaiah said: In those days, the lion will eat straw with the ox, the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and a small child will put his hand in the den of an asp without being harmed. In his kingdom, God will recreate the world as wonderfully as it was made at the beginning, before the first man sinned. For after he violated the word of God, all things were corrupted, profaned and cursed when God said, Cursed is the ground because of your works.^[2] The passing form of this world,^[3] therefore, will become the kingdom of the saints and the liberation of creation.

The gift of water is so great that it causes both oxen and lions to feed, in correspondence with that prophetic saying about the holiness of the church: Then the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw with the ox. Nor is it any marvel that water operates the same way in the church, such that thieves whose sins were washed away may be compared with the innocent.

For when Isaiah observed the life of sinners devoured by the ancient and insatiable enemy, he said, The lion shall eat straw like the ox. But what is signified by the words hay and straw except the life of the carnal? Of which it is said by the prophet, All flesh is hay.^[1] He then who here is Behemoth,^[2] is there a lion; they who are here called hay, are there called straw. But the mind strives to enquire why this lion in Isaiah, or Behemoth as he is called by the voice of the Lord, is in both passages compared not with a horse but an ox. But we ascertain this the sooner, if we consider what is the difference of foods in the two animals. For horses eat hay, however dirty, but drink clean water only. But oxen drink water, however filthy, but feed only on clean hay. What then is it, for which this Behemoth is compared with an ox, which feeds on clean food, except that which is said of this ancient enemy by another prophet; His food is choice.^[3]

It is also added here: and a small child will lead them. Who is this small child, if not the one about whom it was written: A child is born to us, a son is given to us?^[1]

Happily the Creator has promised by Isaiah to give this power even to little children, of putting their hand in the cockatrice den and on the hole of the young asps without at all receiving hurt. And, indeed, we are aware . . . that under the figure of scorpions and serpents are portended evil spirits, whose very prince is described by the name of serpent, dragon and every other most conspicuous beast in the power of the Creator. This power the Creator conferred first of all upon his Christ, even as the ninetieth psalm says to him: Upon the asp and the basilisk^[1] shall you tread; the lion and the dragon shall you trample under foot.^[2] So also Isaiah: In that day the Lord God shall draw his sacred, great and strong sword (even his Christ) against that dragon, that great and tortuous serpent; and he shall slay him in that day.^[3]

Hear how the antidote was administered to the flesh: the Word of God became flesh, put his hand into the serpent’s den, removed the venom and took away sin. In other words, from sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.^[1]

But now, to all the earth has gone forth their voice, and all the earth has been filled with the knowledge of God,^[1] and the disciples have made disciples of all the nations,^[2] and now is fulfilled what is written: They shall be all taught of God.^[3] And then what was revealed was but a type; but now the truth has been manifested.

The successful spread of the gospel message all over the world was also predicted.

Paul testifies to our Redeemer when he says, He was made a curse for us.^[1] The wood of the cross is also announced through the prophet, who said, The Lord reigned from a tree,^[2] and again, Let us put wood in his bread.^[3] But the wood of the cross is explicitly revealed through the gospel, where the prophesied passion of the Lord is described.

This very same cross is also maintained in words and works through the apostles, as when Paul writes, The world is crucified to me and I to the world, and again, May I glory in nothing except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.^[4] For us who strive to reach the eternal homeland, therefore, sacred Scripture is the sea in its four aspects. It announces the cross because it bears us on a tree to the land of the living. Had the prophet not found a likeness between sacred Scripture and the sea, he never would have said, The earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord, like the waters covering the sea. It follows, then: The four had one likeness and their appearance and work was like a wheel within a wheel.^[5] The four had one likeness because what the law proclaimed, so also did the prophets; and what the prophets announced, the gospel set forth; and what the gospel set forth, the apostles proclaimed throughout the world. The likeness of the four is one, therefore, because even though the divine words are distinct with regard to time, they are nevertheless unified to those who hear them.

And their appearance and work was like a wheel within a wheel.^[6] The wheel within a wheel is the New Testament within the Old, as we have already said, for what the Old Testament signifies, this the New Testament displays. Let me speak succinctly of complex matters. What does it mean that Eve is produced from a sleeping Adam if not that the church is formed from the dying Christ? What does it mean that Isaac bore wood as he was led to be sacrificed and that he continued to live after he had been laid on the altar, if not that our Redeemer himself bore the wood of the cross as he was led along and that he died in sacrifice for us according to his humanity but nevertheless remained immortal in his divinity?

Now Jesse was the father of David, and the promise with an oath was made to David. The prophet would not have spoken of the Lord Christ as a rod growing out of Jesse if he had only known him as God.

Here is the meaning: his death will be glorious so that what the Savior prayed in the Gospel might be fulfilled: Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world came to be. This was said about his nativity and about other sacraments in the public view. He came to death who was not accustomed to bearing the name of the dead but because perpetual life was in Christ, it was called rest. But we, in order to make the meaning clear to the reader, replaced rest and dormancy with another word of the same meaning: sepulcher.^[1] At that time therefore, when the gospel of Christ shines in all the world and the earth is filled with the knowledge of God, like waters of the sea covering the land, the root of Jesse and he who arises from his stem will be a sign to all the people, that they might see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.^[2] He will have a horn in his hands, in which are hidden his strength, that when he is exalted he might draw all things to himself.^[3]

Long before this tomb [of Christ] was hewn out by Joseph,^[1] its glory was foretold in Isaiah’s prediction, his rest shall be glorious, meaning that the place of the Lord’s burial should be held in universal honor.

In that day, that is, at the time of which it was also spoken above, when the root of Jesse will arise as a sign for the peoples, or to rule the nations, the Lord will send forth his hand a second time that all of Israel may be saved at the end of the world when the fullness of the Gentiles will enter,^[1] by no means according to our Judaizers. But we should understand all these things as pertaining to the first advent. For since only one day is indicated both here and above, we are unable to refer the former to the first advent and the latter to the second, such that the events that follow and those that preceded would not be referred to Christ, whom the Jews contended had not yet come, but would still come in the future. After the calling of the Gentiles, therefore, who were formerly thought to be the tail,^[2] Israel will be known as the tail, that the Lord may put forth his hand a second time and take possession of the remnant of his people, about whom we also read above: not all of Israel but that portion of Israel to be saved, which will remain from Assyria and Egypt and diverse parts of the world. For first the twelve apostles and the seventy^[3] and the one hundred twenty souls^[4] and the five hundred to whom the Lord appeared at once,^[5] then the three thousand^[6] and the five thousand^[7] are Jews who will have believed in the Lord.

He [the Antichrist] shall be proclaimed king by them, and shall be magnified by all, and shall prove himself an abomination of desolation to the world.

It is said, as Paul witnesses, And from sin he condemned sin.^[1] He bound his tongue with a cord, because by means of the likeness of sinful flesh he swept away all his deceitful arguments from the hearts of his elect. For behold, when the Lord appears in the flesh, the tongue of Leviathan is bound, because, when his truth had become known, those doctrines of falsehood were silenced.

For where is now the error of the academicians, who endeavor to establish on sure grounds that nothing is sure, who with shameless brow demand from their hearers belief in their assertions, when they declare that nothing is true? Where is the superstition of the mathematicians, who, looking up at the courses of the constellations, make the lives of men to depend on the motions of the stars? Though the birth of twins often scatters their doctrine to the winds; for though born at one and the same moment, they do not remain in the same kind of life. Where are those many false teachings, which we abstain from enumerating, for fear of digressing far from the course of our commentary? But every false doctrine has now been silenced, because the Lord has bound the tongue of Leviathan by the cord of his incarnation. Whence it is also well said by the prophet: And the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the Egyptian sea. For the tongue of the sea is the knowledge of secular learning. But it is well called the Egyptian sea, because it is darkened with the gloom of sin. The Lord, therefore, laid waste the tongue of the Egyptian sea, because by manifesting himself in the flesh, he destroyed the false wisdom of this world. The tongue of Leviathan is, therefore, bound with a cord, because the preaching of the old sinner was bound by the likeness of sinful flesh.