WONDERFUL COUNSELOR
Isaiah 9:6
Isaiah 9:6
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(NIV)
What does a counselor do? A counselor comes alongside you.
A marriage counselor who comes alongside of you and your spouse to listen to your problems within your marriage and advises you on what actions you should take to make your marriage better.
A mature-looking lady had an appointment with a marriage counselor, and told him flat out: "I would like to divorce my husband." To this, the counselor replied, "Well, do you have any grounds?" She answered, "Why yes. We have almost an acre." The puzzled counselor asked her, "You don’t understand. What I want to know is do you and your husband have a grudge?" The lady answered, "Actually, we don’t, but we do have a nice carport." At this, the counselor shook his head and said, "Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I just don’t see any reason why you should divorce your husband." The lady looked at the counselor and said to him, "It’s just that the man can’t carry on an intelligent conversation."
Another marriage counselor really came alongside a couple he was counseling. After an hour of listening the counselor got up, walked around the desk, lifted the wife up out of her chair, and gave her a kiss that took her breath away. He turned to the husband and said, “That’s what I prescribe 3 times a week for the next 30 days.” The husband said, “Well, I am pretty busy, but I can I bring her in on Mon. Wed. and Fri.?”
A Christian counselor, when asked about what she would consider the best method for counseling, replied: “Having my doctorate in counseling and having studied all the different techniques and methods for counseling, I have found that the only one that works is Christian counseling. All the others may treat a few symptoms, or teach you to holler softer when you’re upset, but only Christian counseling deals with the root of the problem, your heart and your relationships with Jesus Christ. You got to have “your Jesus right”, or nothing else will work.”
The prophet Isaiah, even though he is preaching hundreds of years before Christ would be born, got his Jesus right! Isaiah called Jesus such a fine counselor that it would cause His counselees to be full of wonder at His expertise, wisdom, and advise.
A counselor recognizes who you are. In order for a counselor to give you the kind of direction that can change your life, the counselor must know who you are, evaluating what you tell them. Sometimes the counselor will question your motives behind your actions, probing and prodding until the real you is exposed.
Bruce Larson, in There’s A Lot More To Health Than Not Being Sick, writes:
“Behavioral sciences in recent years have expounded the simple truth that "behavior that is observed changes." People who are accountable by their own choice to a group of friends, to a therapy group, to a psychiatrist or a pastoral counselor, to a study group or a prayer group, are people who are serious about changing their behavior, and they are finding that change is possible, because they have to be accountable.”
Only when the real “me” is exposed can real life change happen!
Psalm 139:1-4, 13-17
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
(NIV)
The Counselor also recognizes who you can become. Like a good coach, a counselor sees your potential and will not give up or let up until you have become your best.
Isaiah 9:6
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(NIV)
What makes this Child born to us such a Wonderful Counselor?
Not only does He know us but “the government will be on His shoulders.” What does that mean? It means that He has the authority to make us what we need to become! Used throughout the history of the Hebrew language, this verb occurs in the Hebrew Old Testament approximately 80 times. It denotes one of honorable rank; one who is suited to stand near princes and kings as their adviser. It is expressive of great wisdom, and of qualifications to guide and direct the human race.
No wonder He says to us:
Isaiah 1:18
18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
(NIV)
Another definition of counselor is one who gives advise in law and manages cases for clients in court. In the United States of America, the term counselor-at-law designates, specifically, an attorney admitted to practice in all courts of law. A counselor recognizes what you’ve done and knows the requirements of the law and is prepared to stand in your defense.
Civil cases are labeled “Jackson vs. Johnson” or “Smith vs. Jones”. When crimes against the state or city are involved, you may hear, “The People vs. Sims” or “The City of Bossier City vs. Higgenbothem”. But at the final judgment, every case will be “God vs. I”. And this court is already in session!
You see, your sin and mine has wronged God and we stand guilty before Him.
Romans 3:10-18
10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips."
14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know."
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
(NIV)
It does no good to compare ourselves with others. Everyone is in the same boat!
Romans3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(NIV)
Since the Court of Heaven is the Highest Court and the Judge’s verdict is final, there will be no appealing His decision!
We have two options: Throw ourselves on the mercy of the court, or Get a good lawyer!
May I recommend to you a good lawyer? One who is better that Kirby Kelly or Morris Bart will ever be! He’s not only a good lawyer, He’s a WONDERFUL one. He stands ready to defend you and has already satisfied the righteous requirements of the law for you.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(NIV)
I John 2:1-2
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
(NIV)
In his book "Eternity In Their Hearts," Don Richardson tells of how God implants His plan for mankind’s eternity into their culture. In one section, he wrote about the difficulty missionaries had in communicating the good news of Jesus Christ to the Chinese people. But one day, there was a breakthrough.
Richardson, writing about a missionary, said, "He was studying a particular Chinese word, the one which means "righteous." He noticed that it contained an upper and lower part. The upper part was simply the Chinese symbol for a "Lamb." Directly under was simply a second symbol, the first person pronoun, "I" or "me."
"Suddenly, the missionary discerned an amazingly well-coded message hidden within the ideograph: "I under the lamb am righteous!"
"This startled the Chinese people. They never noticed it, but once the missionary pointed this out, they saw it clearly. The asked, "Which lamb must we be under to be righteous?"
The missionary replied with John 1:29, which is a description of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist:
John 1:29
29 "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
(NIV)
"I under the Lamb of God am righteous." That is God’s solution to mankind’s sin problem.
That’s why Jesus came: To take away our sins. To save us.
Matthew 1:21
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
(NIV)
Hebrews 7:25
25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
(NIV)
“To get ready for Christmas, God undressed. God stripped off his finery and appeared – how embarrassing – naked on the day he was born.
God could not be God-with-us if he wasn’t flesh. Too often we have focused on the saving death of Christ but thrown out the Incarnation in our Christmas wrappings.
As we cover God with Christmas, we hide what is most distinctive about Christianity. And this is the tragedy: What many don’t know about Christianity is that God has chosen to identify with their pain, their humanness, their flesh.
God got undressed in order to put on our clothes. That’s Christmas: God got undressed in order to dress Himself with our filthy rags so that we might be dressed with His glory!
What a wonderful counselor! What a wonderful Savior!
Would you make Him yours today? Come and reason with Him!
Are you confused about your relationship with God? He’s the Wonderful Counselor!
Do you need direction for your life? He’s the Wonderful Counselor!
Do you need a good lawyer? He’s the Wonderful Counselor!
Don’t just put Him on a retainer! Don’t try to get Him on your side “just in case” you need Him! You need Him NOW!
