Wonderful Counselor Series

“And he will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor.”

I want to talk you through just that phrase for the next fifteen minute in the hopes that you will never again look at a manager scene without appreciating the wonder of the person who was in it.

Just to give you your full money’s worth, Isaiah didn’t write his book in English, he wrote it in Hebrew. And in Hebrew, “Wonderful Counselor” is…

Pele’ yo’hetz = Wonderful Counselor

“Pele” means wonderful, but it goes beyond that. It’s used dozens of times throughout the O.T. and it tends mean “wonderful” in the sense of ,

Pele’ = “a cut above.” Or, “better than anyone else could expect to do”

Because it usually describes something so great only God can do it, almost all the Bible’s references to pele are referring to God.

Job uses the word when he says that God, …performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. – Job 9:10

David says about God, …you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. – Psalm 86:10 And that word “marvelous” is pele.

See the sense of it?

“Yo’hetz” means counselor, but in our day and age, when we think of a counselor, we usually picture someone sitting across the room asking us things like, “So, how did you feel about that?” and “Tell me more about your family growing up,” and then taking notes on us.

Up until about 100 years ago, when the modern science of psychology was develop and Sigmund Freud went out and got his patients a couch, counseling was a far different trade than it is today.

Counselors weren’t therapists, they were strategists. They gave people they were counseling advice how who to run a war, or win a political campaign, or organize a new business venture. Counselors didn’t listen to your inner child, they gave advised a king or other person of importance about the best course to take given whatever circumstances they were facing.

So “Yo’hetz” = to give advice, to guide.

And whenever you see Jesus meeting with people, that’s the kind of counselor he was. He wasn’t pulling people aside and saying, “So let’s talk about your past.” He said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, “don’t do it anymore.” It was good counsel.

In Luke 19, Jesus set up a lunch appointment with a crusty, financially-driven businessman named Zacchaeus. During the lunch He helped Zacchaeus see what that type of driveness was doing to the people around him. His counsel changed the course of Zacchaeus’ whole life. It was a cut above. It was better than Zacchaeus could have expected from anyone else.

In my early years, when I was far from God, I wasn’t experiencing God’s input or guidance in my life. But since the day that I invited Christ to play a leadership role in my life, He has been a wonderful counselor to me.

- In my teenage years, He steered me away from destructive dating patterns.

- When I was trying to figure out a career, He made it very clear to me that I ought to prepare myself for doing church work.

- As I was trying to figure out what college to attend, one day I had a very clear leading from Him that I should apply to a school I had previously never heard of. The experience and learning I gleaned from that school continues to reap dividends in my life.