'Wonderful Counsellor'
- Dec 6, 2024
- 6 min read
Christmas is the celebration of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing God came to earth as a helpless baby. This unfathomable doctrine is at the heart of the Christmas story - of the Christian faith. So, we begin the most famous story of all time; told and re-told, year after year, by tinsel-wrapped angels, tea-towel clad shepherds, and by grumpy innkeepers in our nativities. (Seen one yet this year?)
Isaiah describes the story in this way...
Isaiah 9:6: "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 Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace."
Dr. Bruce Waltke said: "The world is lost without a sense of God. Men and women everywhere desperately need to know that there is Someone in charge of life, and that there is a Source to whom they can turn for help and for deliverance. The world needs to know that Jesus Christ is God. If Jesus is not God, then I do not have a Saviour."
Yet isn’t it sad that we as His children can go about Christmas as if He hadn’t come and transformed our lives.
In His discussion with His disciples in John 15, Jesus spoke some thought-provoking and indeed challenging words. Just for a moment consider a possibility: what if He’d not come to earth? “If I had not come and spoken to them” (v22). “If I had not done…” (v24).
What if He had not been born in Bethlehem? What if He had not walked on earth? What if He never died on the cross? What if He never rose from the dead? Where would we be? And what kind of world would this be?
McPherson said: “If Christ had not come, the promises of God would be unfulfilled. The world would still be in darkness. There would be no bridge across the gulf of sin, we would not know that God is love. But he did come and all of history has been changed forever.”
Please just stop and thank God today that there are no "ifs" in his-story!
God’s promise and His coming to us at Christmas may be past our understanding, but it is not beyond response. How do we react to such a world-changing gift? We must come again and allow the Christ of Christmas to change us.
Incarnation theology - Christ being there - in the unexpected; in this dark world; all that we will face this Christmas. It’s the Christ of Christmas, not past but present of His powerful presence in our lives.
Jonathan Edwards referring to Isaiah 9:6 says, “It shows a wonderful conjunction of excellencies, that the same person should be a Son, born and given, and yet be the everlasting Father, without beginning or end; that he should be a Child, and yet be he whose name is Counsellor, and the mighty God; and well may his name, in whom such things are conjoined, be called Wonderful.”
Isaiah 9:6 declares both the humanity (“A Child is born”) and the deity (“A Son is given”) of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, I have one name ‘Harry’ (I know people have given me others!).
Did you know there are over 700 names and titles given in the Bible for Jesus? He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express. Another amazing thing is that He always lives up to His names.
In Isaiah 9:6, God revealed to Isaiah the truth of who Jesus is. It must have been a reminder to Israel of the first song they sang that’s recorded in the Bible:"Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exod 15:11).
Isaiah is saying again that Israel’s only hope was the “Wonderful Counsellor”.
Wonderful Counsellor
These two English words come from two Hebrew words, pele (wonderful) yo'ez (counsellor). ‘Pele’ means beyond understanding. When Isaiah was describing the Saviour of the world, he didn't have enough words to describe Him; He is beyond description!
As I was preparing, this song came to mind.
He’s too wonderful for words. Isaiah used a word that said there are no words great enough to tell you of how great this ‘awesome baby God’ is!
‘Yo'ez’ means to advise or to consult, or to guide. Isaiah states, one day a son will be born, a child will be given to us, his name will be ‘pele yo'ez.’
Isaiah is saying that our only hope is the “Wonderful Counsellor” whose plans, purposes and designs for His people would be marvellous.
He is the Wonderful Counsellor and brings hope and healing, and yet so many today choose to stay in the place of hopelessness and brokenness.
Wonderful Counsellor is so appropriate for us today. It seems that never before have there been so many people searching for help and counsel; so many confused, discouraged, frustrated, fearful, hopeless, anxious people.
And never before have there been so many claiming to have the answers! Yet, there is only one that can fill the void, heal the hurts, restore and renew our hearts - His name is Jesus.
Philip Yancey expressed it well: "Understand what great implications there are in God becoming a man. He understands our pain because He has experienced it. He has confronted our fears and overcome them. He has faced our temptations and gained victory. He is NOT a distant detached ruler in some ivory tower someplace. He has not abandoned us."
So when the Scriptures refer to Jesus as a “Wonderful Counsellor”, it means that He understands things which are beyond the ability of our finite minds to comprehend. He knows things which only God can know.
In Jesus, we have someone who is abundantly qualified to guide and direct our lives today. Someone who always knows exactly what to do, someone who is always there and will never let us down.
Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.”
Peter Greig (24/7 Prayer) tells the story of how Robert Cumming the art critic studied an amazing painting by Filipino Lippi. He stood in London’s National Gallery gazing at the painting of Mary holding baby Jesus with saints Jerome and Dominic kneeling nearby. But just as it had troubled many art critics before, Cumming could see fault everywhere in the painting. Cumming was not the first to notice these things but he was probably the last because at that point he had a revelation. He suddenly realised that the fault might be his. The work was never meant to come near a museum. Lippi’s painting had been commissioned to hang in a place of prayer. Cumming made the decision to fall to his knees. And as he did, he suddenly saw what generations of art critics had missed. From this place of kneeling he found himself gazing up at a perfectly proportioned painting. The foreground had moved naturally to the background, while the saints seemed settled; their awkwardness, like the painting itself, having turned to grace. Mary now looked intently and kindly directly at him as he knelt at her feet.
It was not the perspective of the painting that had been wrong but the people looking at it. Robert Cumming on his knees in a position of worship had found a beauty that Robert Cumming the proud art critic could not. The painting only came alive to those on their knees in prayer.
So, come humbly to our Wonderful Counsellor and find a new perspective of all that He is for us in our day-to-day life. It is here Isaiah tells us that defeat can be turned to victory; sorrow can be turned to joy, and light can come into our darkness.
Tim Keller wrote: “When we find something to be beautiful… we dwell on it and stand before it because it is satisfying in and of itself. And so the reason we should obey [Jesus], not simply because we have to but also because we want to, is that, in light of all he is and has done for us, he is wonderful.”
May you know the ‘Wonderful Counsellor’ this Christmas as you draw close to Him in humble adoration and praise.
Prayer
‘May the rumbling anticipation of Christmas celebrations cause you to open your heart and life expectantly to God. May the invasion of the incarnation inspire you to deeper faith and greater hope. May the comfort of Christ caress your soul and bring you strength.’
Malcolm Duncan
As I began to read Isaiah 9:6, I stopped at the words Wonderful Counsellor, realising how I had skipped over these words in the past. Before getting to to part of the Hebrew meaning behind these words I began to ponder on them. I often find difficulty expressing praise to God because of who He is and that He is beyond understanding, so I am taking away that Isaiah too did not have enough words. That God came down in weakness as a baby, yet fully in control guiding the steps of hiis earthly life is such an encouraging truth that thr same God guides us too, we/I just have to hear and walk in obedience. I know Jesus w…