THE HOLY TRINITY IN ISAIAH 48:16

“Draw near to Me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there. And now the Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit”

We here have a very clear Old Testament witness to the Holy Trinity. The Speaker is “Yahweh”, and He is said to be sent by another Person, Who is, “Yahweh Elohim”. We are also told that the Holy Spirit is also sent, the Third Person. Though the Holy Spirit is not here referred to as “Yahweh”, or “Elohim”, He clearly is Almighty God, as He is referred to in the Book of Job, as the Creator, “the Spirit of God has made me” (33:4). The Hebrew word, “asah” (made), is used in Genesis 2:4 (and elsewhere) for the completed work of creation. See also the fifth point below.

Firstly, to deny that the Speaker is the Lord Jesus Christ, there are some who suppose that a fresh speaker is introduced with the words, “and now the Lord God has”, and his speech only extends to the end of verse 16. But, who can this new speaker be? Can it be the Prophet Isaiah himself, as some have suggested?. There is no grammatical, or any other reason to suggest any new speaker at this point. All this is nothing but conjecture.

The Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzie (1st cent. A.D. in oral form; 5th cent. written form), reads here:

“The prophet saith: And now the Lord God and His Word, hath sent me” (C W H Pauli; The Chaldee Paraphrase on the Prophet Isaiah, pp.166-167)

This is the earliest evidence for the words ascribed to Isaiah. Note, that “Spirit” has been changed to “Word”. It is also the earliest for the reading that makes “the Word” (or “Spirit”), the second subject. See point 3 below.

The Speaker in this verse, as the passage will show, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

The words in this verse are like those found in verse 3, “I have declared the former things from the beginning”, and verse 5, “I have even from the beginning declared it to you”. In verse 12 and 13 the Speaker says, “Listen to Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called; I am He, I am the First, I also am the Last. My hand has also laid the foundation of the earth”. Language that can hardly be use by Isaiah, or any other human being! Then, in verse 15 we read, “I, even I have spoken, yes, and I have called him”. In the very next verse, we read, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go”. As the Speaker of verse 16 here continues, it is clear that He is Yahweh, Who is Speaking, and not the Prophet Isaiah. This same Speaker also says, “Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The Lord has called Me from the womb” (49:1). In verse 5 He is called “His Servant”, which clearly can only refer to Jesus Christ. None of these things could have been said by the Prophet Isaiah.

Secondly, the order of the words in the last sentence, is “And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit”, which is how the Hebrew, Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), and Latin Vulgate, render it. And not as found in versions like the King James, which reads: “and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.”.It is interesting that the Jehovah’s Witnesses render it, “And now the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sent me, and his spirit”. They have “spirit”, instead of “Spirit”, because they deny the Holy Spirit is Almighty God, as they also deny the Holy Trinity.

The Hebrew Bible published in English by The Jewish Publication Society, Tanakh 1917, reads, “And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit”

A New English Translation of the Septuagint, edited by Albert Pietersma and G Wright, reads, “and now the Lord has sent me and his spirit” (Tr. Moises Silva). The Greek Old Testament version (LXX), is based on Hebrew manuscripts that were about 150 years before the Birth of Jesus, and much older than our surviving Hebrew manuscripts.

The Douay-Rheims Bible, which is based on Jerome’s Latin Vulgate of the 4th century, which was translated from Hebrew manuscripts, reads, “And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit”

The following English versions also use the “Spirit” as the second “object”, and render it, “And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit”

English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible, GOD'S WORD Translation, New American Standard 1977, Jubilee Bible 2000, American Standard Version, John Darby Translation, English Revised Version, Young’s Literal Translation, Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, World English Bible.

Thirdly, there are some who suppose there is some ambiguity in the original Hebrew and early versions. Again, without any justification, other than following the opinion the early Church heretic, Origen (A.D.185-254), “Who is it that saith in Isaiah, And now the Lord hath sent me and his Spirit? in which, as the expression is ambiguous, is it the Father and the Holy Spirit who have sent Jesus; or the Father, who hath sent both Christ and the Holy Spirit. The latter is the true interpretation.” - Origen cont. Cels. lib. 1.

While Origen rightly concludes that the correct reading is, “And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit”, his suggestion that the text is not clear, is not correct, as there is no grammatical objection in taking the “Spirit” as the second “object”, and being “sent”; rather than the second “subject”, as joint “sender”. The word order clearly shows that the Holy Spirit is here also “sent” by the Father, as is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fourthly, it is clear from the New Testament, that God the Father did send both the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the Holy Spirit.

For Jesus Christ we have:

“and the Father Himself, Who has sent Me” (John 5:37, and elsewhere)

For the Holy Spirit we have:

“But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name” (John 14:26, and elsewhere)

There is no Scripture that says the Holy Spirit “sent” the Lord Jesus Christ for the purpose of His Ministry or Work. We do read of the Holy Spirit “anointing” the Lord Jesus Christ for the Ministry. “the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach the Gospel” (Isaiah 61:1). Jesus quotes these words to Himself in Luke’s Gospel: “the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel” (4:18).

It should be noted, that because one Person in the Godhead, “sends” another, that those who are “sent”, and in no way “inferior” to the “sender”. The Bible is very clear that the Father is “God” (John 1:1), and Jesus Christ is “God” (John 1:1, 20:28; Titus 2:13), and the Holy Spirit is “God” (Acts 5:3-4). But, this is not to be understood as “Three Gods”, but rather, Three “Persons”, Who are equally “God”, in the One “Godhead”, as we read of “God” in Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome, “theiotes” (“Godhead”, in KJV, NKJV; and “divine nature”, in NASB, ESV), the latter is what the Greek means.

Fifthly, we see here that the Holy Spirit is also a “Person”, and not as some blasphemously teach, “an active force” of God. The fact that the Father is said to “send” the Son and Holy Spirit, it is evident that both must be equally “Persons”, as both are represented in the New Testament as being “sent”, for specific purposes in the redemption of man. We read also in Isaiah, where the Israelites are said to have, “rebelled and grieved His (God the Father’s) Spirit” (63:10). This also shows that the Holy Spirit is a “Personal Being”, as it is not possible to “rebel” against, or “grieve” something “impersonal”.

Sixthly, The Interpreter’s Bible commentary, among others, have assumed that there is a problem with this text in the passage, and, because they cannot accept the fact that the words are Spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, conclude that the words are “probably a gloss”, which means there are not part of the original Book of Isaiah, but added later, for which there is no evidence.

“And now the Lord God has sent me and his Spirit: The line is a crux interpretum. One might expect an antithesis to what has preceded. But the first personal pronoun is most exceptional (see 40:6). Moreover, and his Spirit is awkward here, and devoid of good parallel in prophecy (61:1; Mic, 3:8 are not relevant here). Various emendations have been proposed. Volz emends to "and now I send him [Cyrus] on his way' Others emend, and “his Spirit”, to mm, "his chosen one." The problem does not admit any solution. This line is probably a gloss”. (Volume V, p.561)

Just because we do not like or accept or understand something that is found in the Holy Bible, we cannot conclude that maybe it does not belong there, or alter it so that it says what we want it to! This is exactly what the Jehovah’s Witnesses have done with texts like John 1:1, were, because of “theological” reasons alone, they translate the final clause, “and the Word as a god”. And the Revised Standard Versions, adopts “young woman” in Isaiah 7:14, instead of what the Hebrew actually says, “virgin”. The Interpreter’s Bible commentary show that many have tampered with the Truth, by “various emendations”, which is quite disgraceful to do this to the Word of Almighty God!

There is not a shred of evidence, that can show that the Speaker in verse 16, as in the entire passage, is not the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is clearly YAHWEH.