The endowments of the Lord Jesus for his hea- venly commission were also communicated to him from the same source ; as the Prophet Isaiah very distinctly foretold : " The Spirit of the Lord God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under- standing, the spirit of counsel and of might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LordV Indeed our Lord himself, when enter- ing upon his ministerial office, purposely referred to another passage in the same prophet, expressive of the same truth, and declared to his audience, that that very Scripture was then fulfilled in their ears : " 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 Lord1."
The solemn consecration also of the Lord Jesus to his office at the time of his baptism, was visibly attested and confirmed by this same divine Agent : " The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him ; and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased"1."
Further, it was " by the Spirit that he was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil11;" and by that same Spirit, was enabled to vanquish that mighty foe ; as our Lord himself declared : " If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you0." By the same divine Agent also was he assisted in offering himself a sacrifice upon the cross ; for " through the eternal Spirit, he offered himself without spot to Godp:" by him also was he afterwards raised up from the grave, to which his crucified body had been consigned : " He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit'1"
k Isai. xi. 2, 3. J Luke iv. 18, 19. with Isai. lxi. 1, 2.
m Lukeiii. 22. n Matt. iv. 1. ° Matt. xii. 28.
p Heb. ix. 14. i 1 Pet. iii. 18.