The Zone Gathering

Isaiah 9:6 — “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” (NASB)

As we enter the Advent season and anticipate the celebration of our Savior’s birth, let’s look at the prophecy given by Isaiah about the coming Messiah. For the next four weeks, our Bible Drill Wednesday will focus on the names of Jesus given in Isaiah 9:6, beginning with Wonderful Counselor. How did Jesus fulfill this prophecy? What does Scripture reveal about our Wonderful Counselor?

In some translations of the Bible, “Wonderful” and “Counselor” are given as two separate names of God. The New American Standard translation uses “wonderful” as an adjective to describe the kind of Counselor Jesus would be. The Hebrew word for “wonderful” is pele, which means “wondrous; astounding; marvelous.” It comes from the verb pala, “to be surpassing or extraordinary.” What an apt description of our Savior!

Yaats, the word for “Counselor,” means an advisor. Jesus is our advisor, our counselor, and His wisdom and counsel are extraordinary and surpass the wisdom of men. He is the One who guides us. The apostle Paul tells us that in Jesus “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). The prophet Daniel claims that wisdom and power belong to God, who “reveals the profound and hidden things” (Dan. 2:22b-22a). Indeed, the Bible is filled with exhortations concerning the wisdom and counsel of the Trinity.

Romans 11:33-34 — “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?”Job 12:13, 16-17 — “With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding….With Him are strength and sound wisdom, the misled and the misleader belong to Him. He makes counselors walk barefoot, and makes fools of judges.”

Jesus’ counsel and wisdom were evident in His many teachings. Consider how He used parables to explain, in ordinary terms and understandable examples, profound truths about the kingdom of God and His mission as the Messiah. Read through some of the parables in the gospels and trust that you will have a renewed appreciation of Jesus’ wondrous and marvelous counsel.

Jesus also offers sound wisdom and advice for daily living. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) He gives counsel concerning several topics, including dealing with anger, adultery, divorce, loving our enemies, spiritual disciplines (fasting, prayer, giving), money/treasure, anxiety, and judging others. Isn’t it curious (and heartbreaking) that we spend so much time looking for answers in the world around around us when the Wondeful Counselor stands ready and willing to guide us with His supernatural, marvelous, extraordinary wisdom?

Christmas is a time for us to ponder the gift of Jesus to the world, to sinners, to us. God took on humanity to deliver us from sin. But in addition to being our Savior, Jesus Christ is our Wonderful Counselor. His counsel is revealed to us through Scripture and through the Holy Spirit, who “will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that [Jesus] said to you” (John 14:26).

Jesus Christ is the Wonderful Counselor, the infinite wisdom of the Lord. Without trusting His wisdom, we will either be prideful of our own successes or depressed over our failures. But we can rely on the Wonderful Counselor — we can trust Him with every detail of our lives and what is going on around us. As we celebrate His birth, let us celebrate His marvelous wisdom — He will never lead us wrong.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 at 7:57 am and is filed under Bible Drills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.