The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
This section of Isaiah (as many others) is speaking of Jesus Christ. As I’ve written before, the prophet Isaiah lived hundreds of years before the "Baby in the manger", and what he is prophesying about here is exactly what we see take place about 700 years later in the Gospel accounts. Once Jesus was grown and ready to start His ministry, the Spirit of the Lord literally and visibly rested upon Jesus, just after He was baptized by John.
We read this in Matthew 3:16 - 17:
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Talk about the ultimate Stamp of Approval!
Now, I don't think you and I should expect something quite so dramatic manifested for us when the Spirit comes upon us, but that is not saying we do not or cannot have the Spirit rest upon us. You, me, everyone who believes in and trusts Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior will be given this amazing Gift from God!
Acts 2:38 says it clearly:
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Notice Peter does not say “And you can receive…” or “And you might receive…” or even “And you will be entered into the final round of contestants to receive….”
God isn’t into lotteries; He is into promises! “And you WILL receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” – PERIOD!
So this means if you have truly repented - meaning you felt true remorse and turned away from your life of sin (not saying of course that you’ll never sin, but you will live in it no more – “the old has passed away” – baptism = DEATH of who you are and LIFE of who God is making you) and are baptized for the forgiveness of your sins in the name of Jesus Christ…. You are guaranteed this gift!
And we all know that the best gifts are meant to be shared... So "go and make disciples" so we can see the Holy Spirit do His thing!