HIS NAME WILL BE CALLED…WONDERFUL COUNSELOR
If you would like the Power Point to this contact me at coolguybri@verizon.net
The language in Isaiah 8 is ominous and dark and foreboding. People are rejecting God’s ways and are walking and living in darkness. Despair is rampant in the nation, distress is common and the pressures or an enemy attack lurks in every shadow.
The people are afraid and stressed out.
Why are they afraid? Was it because they had an enemy poised on it’s border, the nation called Assyria, power and vicious? Is that why they were afraid? Is that we are afraid?
NO!
They were afraid because they had totally lost sight of God, that is why God sent Isaiah, to help them recover their sight.
- The days of God’s nearness – GONE
- The days of God’s great works – GONE
- The days of God’s glory – GONE
- The days where a word from the book brought comfort – GONE!
In their desperation where do they turn?
Isaiah 8:19-22 (RSV)
19 And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the wizards who chirp and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! Surely for this word which they speak there is no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry; and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse their king and their God, and turn their faces upward; 22 and they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness.
Looking for answers they thrust themselves further into darkness and hopelessness by having their palms read and checking out Madam Balboa’s astrological charts and the whole time cursing God!
It is interesting, but God says in verse 20 that all they need is the teaching and the testimony, in other words, just look in God’s word and that’s all you will need.
But lets understand something; the recent uprising of palm reading, witchcraft, séances, horoscopes and psychic fairs in this community is not only Satanic and evil, it is just one more evidence of the total lostness of people around us everyday.
This was the culture of Isaiah’s day, and how little things seem to have changed today!
The next several verses in Is. Indicate that God was going to do something new and significant. These are the exact words that many people are needing to hear today…if we can listen…
Isaiah 9:2-5 (NLT)
- Those in darkness will see a great light…
2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light—a light that will shine on all who live in the land where death casts its shadow.
- Joy will replace despair
3 Israel will again be great, and its people will rejoice as people rejoice at harvest time. They will shout with joy like warriors dividing the plunder.
- The enemies power will be broken
4 For God will break the chains that bind his people and the whip that scourges them, just as he did when he destroyed the army of Midian with Gideon’s little band.
And then Isaiah says that this will all be fulfilled because of the birth of a baby who will be named Jesus Christ.
Can Jesus really be all that?
Can Jesus really do all that?
Let me say as a reminder that this whole book is about Jesus and the greatness of God. It is all about how life apart from Jesus is
- meaningless
- clueless
- fatiguing
- empty and dark
W/O Jesus there is no reason, no purpose, no way, no path, no hope for the future and no forgiveness for the past. That’s what we believe!
He is the light and the life! He is the definition of life, the defining moment of life, the sustenance of life and the reason why everything exists. That’s what we believe!
If you meet this Jesus you will be forever changed.
- you are different then you were before
- going to a place you weren’t before
- filled with something you didn’t have before
- the difference is equated in scripture with the difference of being DEAD AND ALIVE! That’s what we believe!
WE WANT TO INTRODUCE YOU TO JESUS!
Here is Isaiah 9:6 Jesus is given a name, let’s read it…(how did you name your baby?)
Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
What was your process in naming your child? (Precious the dog)
Our focus the next couple of weeks will be on a few of these names, today we start with Wonderful Counselor. What does this mean? What does it mean that Jesus will be known as the Wonderful Counselor?
JESUS, THE WONDERFUL COUNSELOR MEANS…
That Jesus, this one God was sending into the world to fix things, would be so extraordinary that He would rise above the highest, holiest and loftiest thought, idea or conception of Him. OTHERWISE…we haven’t even scratched the surface yet when we think of Him!
He surpasses all expectations and is other than anything else in all of creation!
WONDERFUL…what does this mean?
WONDERFUL what does this mean? The biblical meaning of this word means that Jesus is;
- beyond anything we have ever seen, singularly unique
- extraordinary, so vast that we can’t understand the full meaning
- that Jesus would be beyond the bounds of all human expectations.
That’s who Jesus is, Wonderful.
And the Bible says that HIS NAME IS WONDERFUL. That just the name of Jesus is extraordinary. That just the name of Jesus represents all the vast power and grace of Jesus Himself. That just His name is beyond all that we expect.
Listen to this…
Phil. 2:10 At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Lord
Acts 3:6 In the name of Jesus get up and walk
There is salvation in no other name…
What ever you ask in my name I will do it…
His name is
-power to the believer, a threat to governments, the guarantee of prayer and a menace to the devil. It is wonderful, it has power!
You want to know it’s power? Look at the enemies of the name! They want the name Jesus or Christ removed from America. It is a threat, but to us it is sweet and powerful.
The wonder or wonderfulness of Jesus is certainly observed in His life…
In the NT the word “wonderful” seems to be replaced by the word “Amazed.” People were continually being AMAZED at the wonder of Jesus.
Their amazement and astonishment came because jesus had no limitation! He brought a fresh face to God, He said, “if you have seen me you have sent he Father.”
- he brought the fresh power of God that had become a memory
- he brought the fresh teaching of God that had become stale
- he brought the fresh grace of God that had been replaced by rules
Listen to all they were amazed at in the NT as Jesus worked…
Mat. 7:28 Amazed at His teaching, it was powerful and new
Mat 8:27 Amazed that the winds and waves obeyed Him
Mat 13:54 Amazed at who He was. “Where did he get all this?”
Mat 15:31 Amazed at His healing power when a mute spoke
Mat 21:20 Amazed that a tree would obey his orders
You see, Jesus had no limitations! Whatever words rolled off his tongue reordered reality, made broken muscles, tongues, bones, winds, clouds, demons obey Him.
Mk 1:27 Amazed at how demons obeyed Him
Mk 2:12 amazed at how paralyzed bodies sprang to life
Mk 6:51 amazed that he walked on water
But the most amazing thing is something we call “Amazing Grace.” Amazing grace is that Jesus didn’t come to the earth to show off, but He came to give you what you can’t get in your own power, to do what you cannot do by your own works, to take where you cannot go by your will, he came to give you grace.
Grace is the undeserved, unearned favor of God. It is Jesus Christ dying for you, forgiving your every sin, reconciling you to God and the way God meant it to be, and you taking this gift having done noting to deserve it.
Not only did Jesus meet and surpass all expectations, not only was there no limit to what He could do, but as a counselor He applies His limitless knowledge to our lives.
But He is not only that…add the word COUNSELOR
He is the sum total of all knowledge. All wisdom, all guidance, all direction, all truth, all counsel and insight…He knows everything about everything and is never wrong.
All knowledge of the past present and future, of all things, of all purposes and plans belongs to Him. He even knows what is in your heart!!
COUNSELOR…
Everyone needs a counselor at sometime, someone to talk to, someone to bounce off ideas off of.
Think about what it means that Jesus is a counselor. He could be YOUR counselor, YOUR advisor!
HE KNOWS THE DEPTHS OF SCIENCE…He made the atom, the atom awaits His order every day to keep going.
HE KNOWS THE DEPTHS OF CREATION…he knows exactly how big the sun needed to be, how hot and how far away from the earth so that we don’t freeze of burn.
He created the eyeball…the heart…he knows all this stuff
HE KNOWS THE DEPTHS OF TRUTH…he is the truth! Truth is unchanging and unwavering and never plays favorites. The truth doesn’t care how you feel about it, it jiust stands and works and cannot be defied.
…even if the government outlawed the truth it changes nothing!
HE KNOWS THE DEPTH OF TIME…the past, present and future He is there already.
HE KNOWS THE DEPTH OF OUR HUMAN CONDITION…he knows about our weakness.
HE ALREADY KNOWS THE PLANS OF ALL MEN AND DEVILS…His counsel is so good because He takes into account what is going on in places and conversations that He ihears but you have no idea about. THAT”S COOL!
His counsel is so outstanding that it is:
- Joy in spite of a hostile world.
- Peace in the midst of storms
- Ageless and timeless
- Always works, 100% of the time
- And takes into account all that we don’t know because he already knows about it all!
He will be known to His people as the WONDERFUL CONSELOR – our friend, our savior.
Listen to this verse about God’s knowledge…
Romans 11:33-36 (NIV)
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
35 "Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Oftentimes the disciples of Jesus would scratch their heads at what Jesus was telling them. The just couldn’t see God’s perspective because it was so foreign to what they grew up with. They even told Jesus how it should be sometimes.
But this scripture says that:
- God’s mind is so deep you’ll never get to the bottom of it
- God’s mind is so complete that His plan is perfect though it is confusing to us.
- God’s mind is so unsearchable that you cannot fathom what He is doing, He may be doing something today that won’t bear fruit for 50 years!
- God’s mind is beyond us. We are limited to what we see, hear, experience and know. Not Him.
We try to give advice to God…
Because we are dumb and selfish and limited to time and space. But He is all knowing, eternal, in control and nothing is hidden from Him.
We are way out of our league when it comes to trying to figure out the plans of God. That is why we should learn to TRUST!
He is the wonderful, amazing counselor!
According to Isaiah, the light we have in the darkness, the thing that is going to lift our load, our ability to rejoice is all wrapped up in the wonderful counselor.
IT’S NOT BECAUSE WE KNOW SOMETHING, IT’S BECAUSE WE KNOW THE ONE WHO KNOWS SOMETHING.
Jesus will not be to His people a puppy dog, a stained glass window, a wimp, a great teacher, a crutch, a Sunday routine a or just a prayer before our meals…
BUT HE WILL BE an absolutely incomparable light and friend that we will willingly and humbly bow before and yield total control of our life to.
There is no alternate, no substitute and no one who can compare to Him.
He is the wonderful counselor!
John, at like 90 years old, penned these words…
1 John 1:1-5 (MSG)
1-2 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in— we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. 3 We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!
5 This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.
He is just as impressed, just as excited, just as alive as he was when it all started. He knew Jesus as the Wonderful Counselor! There was noting stodgy, worn out, old and stale about THIS JESUS THAT JOHN KNEW! Never!
I close with 2 thoughts…
1. Jesus is the real deal.
Listen…
John 1:14 (NIV)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This Jesus is the real deal! We saw His glory, the kind of glory you would expect from a wonderful counselor.
- He was everything we expected.
- He was full of grace and that drew us to Him even with our load of sin and failure.
- He was full of glory! He is prominent, the ranking power, radiant. He was no disappointment.
- He lived up to everything we expected. He was authentic and you could count on
2. It’s all about the supremacy of Jesus
Jesus is not an option, a casual acquaintance, He is the LORD!
And every knee will bow to Him; every tongue will confess that He is Lord, that His way is right…
Every knee….including Hitler, Madonna, Ghandi, Mohammed, Marilyn Manson, Ted Turner, Ted Kennedy,
All on their faces before Jesus Christ.
Fact is, we will either bow before Jesus today and call Him wonderful, counselor, and submit to Him, or, we will fall and recognize him as judge later.
Which will it be? Trust this amazing, wonderful counselor today!
What concerns me today is that some of you do not know Jesus as wonderful counselor. You know Him as a something far less then someone who is worthy of all that you give Him.
