Wonderful Counselor

Wonderful Counselor

Isaiah 9:6 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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Intro

 For the past several weeks we have been working thru an expository stud f Isaiah 9:6.

 In three consecutive lessons we’ve covered everything except the names or titles that Isaiah ascribes to Jesus.

 This morning we will cover the first of those names: Wonderful, Counselor

 This is where things start to get interesting from a theological viewpoint as we begin t take the specific language used by Isaiah and scrutinize it for

insight into the character of Jesus.

 The choice of the words used by Isaiah was not his alone but we know from

2 Timothy 3:16 that all scripture is given by the inspiration of God.

 Another passage (2 Peter 1:21) tells us that holy men of God spake as they

were moved by the Holy Ghost.

 The word inspiration used in 2 Timothy literally means breathed.

 Paul told Timothy that all scripture was God-breathed.

 Every word was inspired by God as he, literally, breathed upon the men who

were recording his word.

 So the words, and the meanings behind them become very important.

 We read our bible in English but it was originally recorded in Hebrew and

Greek.

 What we read in English is usually the best possible rendering of the intent

and meaning of the words.

 Sometimes however, there is a deeper, unspoken depth to biblical language

that can be uncovered through a study of the original text.

 We will discover, this morning, that Wonderful and Counselor take on a

deeper meaning when you look into the Hebrew.

 Lets start with Wonderful:

Part 1

This Wonderful Child

 Isaiah’s first description of the Messiah was simply that he is Wonderful.

 Indeed this morning Jesus is wonderful.

 The glory of who he is and what He has done for us should inspire wonder in



 We have talked for several weeks now about the most awe-inspiring, wonder-filled event in human history.

 In the person of that child that was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, God became a man.

 This, in and of itself is full of wonder.

 You cannot really ponder that incredible truth this morning without some

sense of wonder in your spirit.

 God became a man.

 The Lord of all the Universe was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a

manger.

 The one that owns the cattle on a thousand hills and wants for nothing,

surrendered himself to the arms of a teenager mother and relied upon her to

meet all of his basic needs in life.

 What a wonderful savior we have, what an amazing grace he has shown us.

 This is the wonder that the angel declared when Joseph was told, in Mat 1:23,

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall

call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

 This is the wonder that Paul shared with Timothy when he said, in 1 Timothy 3:16, And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

 If you were to attempt to sum Jesus up in a single word, wonderful would have to be on your short list of candidates.

 He is wonderful in who he is, in the glory and beauty of his very nature.

 It is a wonder to understand that he was born of a virgin.

 It is a wonder to comprehend that he is both God and man in one person, that

he would have both the nature of a man that would be tempted via his flesh and the nature of God that would speak to the wind and the waves as the master of all that is and ever will be.

 It is a wonder to grasp the fact that he was completely God and completely man, at the same time.

 The qualities of his character are so full of wonder: his love for people; his sympathy for the sheep that had no shepherd; his humility, meekness, and patience; his wisdom, conduct, and compassion.

 The gospel accounts relate the wonder of his life: the wise men that followed a star to worship this child; the way Joseph and Mary spirited him away, escaping Herod’s plan to kill him; and the way he disputed with the theologians at the temple at the age of 12.