Until the Spirit Comes from on High

…the flocks of shepherds, that is, of the unclean spirits. So too the blessed David, framing his words as about Israel as a vineyard, says to God the Savior of all: “You brought a vine out of Egypt; You drove out nations and planted it” (Psalm 80:8). Then he adds: “Why have You broken down its hedge, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar out of the forest has ravaged it, and the solitary wild beast has fed on it” (Psalm 80:12-13).

For just as owners neglect the parts of their lands that have gone barren, and take no thought for them even if every kind of damage comes upon them, so too our God, who loves virtue, lets a soul go and leaves it stripped of all His sparing care, if it becomes empty of the fruits that make for good works.

“Until a Spirit from on high comes upon you. And Chermel will be a wilderness, and Chermel will be counted as a forest. And judgment will rest in the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in Carmel. And the works of righteousness will be peace, and righteousness will hold rest, and they will be confident for ever. And His people will dwell in a city of peace, and will dwell there in confidence, and will rest with wealth” (Isaiah 32:15-18).

He makes clear also the time at which the disobedient race from Israel will be empty of spiritual fruitfulness. For he turns the discourse, I mean, toward those who have honored our Lord Jesus Christ by their ready obedience, who have been cleansed through faith in Him and have come to share in the Holy Spirit. For what was foretold will come to pass, he says, and Israel will be laid waste for its unruliness, until a Spirit from on high comes upon you.

For as we read in the Acts of the holy apostles: “They were all gathered together in one place about the days of holy Pentecost. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a mighty wind rushing, and it filled the house where they were gathered; and there appeared to them tongues dividing, as of fire, and they sat on each one of them, and they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).

So when, he says, the Spirit of God from above and from on high comes upon you who believe, then Chermel too will be a wilderness. Chermel, or Carmel, is a very large mountain in Judea, thickly covered with dense woodland. So he likens to Chermel both Jerusalem itself and all the country around it, since it too had a countless multitude of inhabitants.

But it will be, he says, a wilderness, and will be counted as a forest. By forest he means wild woodland, which is of use for burning. For the untamed trees are cut down, and flame…