"Wonderful Counselor" Series

Isaiah 9:6 is a prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah into the world. Through it we learn many things about our Messiah, Jesus Christ.

1. Isaiah prophecies about our Lord’s coming.

A. He speaks of His first coming -

1) Telling of His humanity - "For to us a child is born..."

2) Telling of His divinity - "... to us a Son is given..."

Jesus is the Only Begotten Son (John 1:14; John 3:16), which means there is no one else like Him. He is the God – man, the unique person of the universe.

B. He speaks of His second coming – "... and the government will be on his shoulders."

This theme is amplified for us further by the prophet in verse 7. It’s as though Isaiah is standing on a mountain peak, looking over and seeing two other mountain peaks - the first one being the 1st coming of Christ and the second one being the second coming of Christ.

2. Isaiah prophecies about our Lord’s character.

In the Scripture, one’s name often denoted something about their character. That is why when one had a life altering experience with God, they would often take a new name, like Jacob (deceiver), whose name was changed to Israel (prince with God).

Likewise, the prophet Isaiah, in seeking to tell us something about the character of the Messiah to come, employs the use of names to tell us about Him. But in so doing, he lets us know that one name alone is not sufficient to sum up what we need to know about the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this series, we will take time to consider each of these names given by the prophet to our Lord. The first one we will think on is "Wonderful Counselor."

As we consider why the prophet would be inspired to describe Jesus as "Wonderful Counselor," there are two thoughts we can glean from Scripture. Jesus is the "Wonderful Counselor" because...

1. He is our Advocate -1 John 2:1-2

The Scripture tells us that Jesus ever lives to "make intercession for us" (Romans 8:34). As such, He is our advocate, our counselor, our defense attorney, when it comes to defending us against the accusations of the evil one (Revelation 12:10), who is constantly seeking to convince God that those who have trusted in Christ are not worthy of eternal life…

Note the three things we are told about our Wonderful Counselor, our Advocate:

A. He is a present advocate - "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks... in our defense..."

John says we HAVE an Advocate. Jesus is ready to take on your case! If you simply name Him as your defense attorney here on earth, He will begin representing you before the Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32).

Jesus as our attorney knows everything about the case. Some lawyers don’t have all the facts, but He knows all and still chooses to represent us because the case is rock solid. Not on what we have done but on the finished work of Christ.

"Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." ~ Romans 8:33-34

B. He is a positioned advocate - "... we have one who speaks to the Father..."

We have an Advocate with the Father. Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand. Always ready to make our case whenever you choose to give it to Him.

C. He is a perfect advocate - "... Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

John shares with us two reasons why Jesus is a perfect advocate for sinful men and women. He is a perfect advocate,

1) Because of His approach to defending us - "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins ..."

While the devil seeks to accuse us of being unworthy of salvation and guilty of offending the law of God, our Lord, unlike an earthly attorney, doesn’t plead our innocence. Instead, He admits our guilt, but also acknowledges our acceptance of His provision, which is more than adequate to cover our sins and make us acceptable to the Father, the judge of all the earth.

Satan is constantly reminding God of our sin day and night. I can just hear what he is saying now, "God, they are nothing more than vile wretched sinners, and according to the law they must die. You said yourself that the wages of sin is death, so make your word good and put them to death."