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."
After Satan has finished his argument, God says, "Is there anyone here in their defense," and up steps our advocate. He says, "Your honor, everything that he has spoken is true. They are nothing more than sinners, and he is right that the penalty for such a crime is death. I am not here to argue that they did not commit the crime. I am here to offer up evidence that the penalty has been already carried out. If I may, I would like to present four exhibits to prove my case.
Please note -
Exhibit A: my nail-scarred hands,
Exhibit B: my spear-scarred side,
Exhibit C: my nail-scarred feet, and if that is not enough I offer,
Exhibit D: my very own blood.
You see your honor, the penalty for their crime has already been carried out because I offered myself in their place."
After the arguments have been made, as always, the great judge of heaven and earth declares that the charges against us are to be dismissed.
2) Because of His adequacy to deliver us – "... and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
Through His sacrifice, Jesus has provided enough grace and forgiveness to cover the sins of the entire world, much less mine. The grace provided through the cross is sufficient to meet my every need and Satan’s every accusation.
John Blanchard noted, "For daily need there is daily grace; for sudden need, sudden grace, and for overwhelming need, overwhelming grace."
No wonder the prophet called Him "Wonderful Counselor!" But not only is Jesus our advocate,
2. He is our Advisor - John 14:16-18
Through the person of the Holy Spirit, Jesus has come into our lives to guide us and enable us to live lives that are pleasing to the Father.
Interestingly enough, the word translated "counselor" here in John 14:16 is the same word John uses in 1 John 2:1 to speak of our Savior’s work as our advocate before the Father’s throne. The word, literally means, "one called along side."
The point that we need to make is that our Savior is a Wonderful Counselor, not just because He in heaven to speak for us and defend us, but also because He is in our hearts to speak to us to direct us.
There are two thoughts that John shares with us here about our Savior’s adequacy to advise us in our daily life:
A. His counsel will always be relevant -
Jesus promises to be in us and with us through the person of His Spirit forever. This means that He is walking in our shoes, seeing what we see, hearing what we hear, and feeling what we feel. His advice is always relevant because He knows right where we are and what guidance we need.
A former director of the George Muller Foundation tells an amazing story God’s awareness of our every need. The Foundation had been requested to commence a new child-care project which would require a great commitment in time and resources. The trustees decided that they couldn’t go ahead unless they received clear direction from the Lord, and so they committed the need to God in prayer. The day came for a decision to be made, but no definite leading had been received.
Then on the day of their meeting a substantial sum was received from a donor earmarked for such a project - and what was more remarkable was that the gift had been designated over 20 years before but because of legal problems over the estate it had just become available.
B. His counsel will always be reliable -
Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as "the Spirit of Truth." In other words, the advice we will receive from our Lord who resides within us will always be truthful, not sugar-coated, or condescending. He will always "tell it like it is." He will be truthful in convincing us about what we should do and He will be truthful in convicting us about what we should not do.
Christ, your advisor is seeking in countless numbers of ways to speak to you, to guide you. What you must be willing to do to in order to be in a position to discern His guidance and then follow and benefit from His direction is to surrender your life to Him.
Many years ago, executives of the Time-Life publishing organization discovered that the company’s profit margin had shrunk to an alarmingly low level.
Consequently, they began an intensive effort to try to cut costs. Efficiency experts suggested that substantial savings could be affected in the renewal department. There were 350 people working full time sending renewal pleas to readers whose subscriptions were about to expire.
In any case, enormous quantities of these letters were being prepared manually. It was calculated that if a machine could be found to replace the manual labor, millions of dollars in overhead would be saved. In time, IBM came to the rescue with a computer run system, which was bought by Time-Life and installed.
The name of each subscriber was put on a separate little plate and run through the vast machine. Whenever a nameplate came along that was within six weeks of expiration, a series of dots and dashes at the top of the tab triggered an electronic impulse that caused it to drop into a slot. The name was then affixed to one of the renewal appeal letters which was then folded, stuffed into an envelope, labeled, stamped, and dropped down a chute to the basement where a United States Branch Post Office was set up—all without a single human hand touching the operation.
The system worked flawlessly for a while, until that fateful, hot, humid, sticky day in New York City when one of the nameplates stuck in the machine. A few days later a lone sheepherder in Montana received 12,634 letters asking him to subscribe to "Life" magazine.
The sheepherder, who hadn’t received a letter in years, took his knife, carefully slit open one of the mailbags and began reading his mail. Three weeks later, red-eyed, weary and up to his hips in 12,634 opened pieces of mail, he made out a check for $6.00, filled out a subscription coupon and sent it to the President of Time-Life personally, with the following note: "I give up!"
Conclusion; In what ways is the Lord trying to get your attention today? Is He calling you to allow Him to become your advocate?
"While Christ "s death is sufficient for every sin of every person who ever lived or ever will live, it becomes effectual only for those who confess their sin, accept the sacrifice, and embrace Christ as Lord and Savior." ~ Martin Luther
Is he calling you to allow Him to be your advisor?
A missionary told about their harrowing journey out of the war-torn Yang Chen in China during the Communist take-over. She faced one morning with no apparent hope of reaching safety. A 13-year old girl tried to comfort her by saying, "Don’t forget what you told us about Moses in the wilderness," to which the missionary replied, "Yes, my dear, but I am not Moses." The young girl replied, "Yes, but God is still God."
Indeed, God is still God and He desires to guide you through the difficulties of life, if only you will allow Him to be you advisor.
