“And His Name Shall be Called: WONDERFUL COUNSELOR (Isaiah 9:1-6)” | 11/27/22
Isaiah 9:1-6 | 11/27/22 | Will DuVal
Well, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, and that’s thanks in no small part to those of you who helped with the Hanging of the Greens yesterday, but I ESPECIALLY want to highlight and thank our wonderful Christmas decorating team who LED the whole effort: Allison Dozier, Julie Jostrand, Lindsay Stewart, Jess Freiner, John Dozier, & Pastor Brian; will you join me in thanking them for their time and work…
And while we’re recognizing folks, I also want to give a shout out to Megan Burridge, who painted this morning’s special featured artwork; Pastor Brian had the cool idea to reach out to some of y’all who we know have the gift of artistry, to put your own artistic spin on the various names for Jesus that we’re gonna be studying together over the next four weeks. And our name of the day this morning is “Wonderful Counselor”, and I think we have a zoomed in picture for those of you in the balcony… beautiful. So please join me in thanking Megan for sharing her gift with us as well…
Christmas is supposed to be “the most wonderful time of the year.” And not just because of “the kids jingle belling” or the “Marshmallows for toasting”, but because of the “SPIRIT of Christmas”. I think of the 4 Advent themes that we celebrate this time of year - right here on our walls: HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE - you don’t even have to believe in JESUS, the true “reason for the season”, to long for “hope, peace, joy and love” at Christmas time, do you?
But as we take an honest look around us at the world today - an honest look WITHIN us, at our own HEARTS - we have to admit that we’ve got a problem. A FEW of them, actually.
We’ve got a LOVE problem. The Bible calls us to “love God with ALL our hearts, minds, souls, and strength” (Luke 10:27). But instead, we have rebelled against God. Whether out of ignorance of God’s word, or outright REJECTION of it, we may pay LIP-service to God, but we give our hearts to lesser, NON-“gods” instead. We don’t FEAR God. In fact, His word is even considered OFFENSIVE today. Why? Ultimately because of our PRIDE. We are SO prideful, we’ve even created our own religion, the fastest growing religion in America, named after US - Humanism - the belief that WE, humans, are the solution for all the world’s problems today. We don’t love God; we love US.
But we’ve also got a JOY problem. The Bible promises that “GOD fills [us] with ALL joy in BELIEVING” (Rom 15:13), that “in [GOD’S] presence there is fullness of joy” (Ps 16:11). So when we reject Him, we reject TRUE joy, and we settle instead for the fleeting pleasures of SIN. We try and cover over our joylessness with PARTYING, with sexual immorality, with materialism and greed, and with injustice; our “joy” is selfish.
I probably don’t have to even try to convince you that we have a PEACE problem. We may not QUITE be “more divided than ever” (because, you know: the Civil War…), but we’re divided nevertheless. And you don’t have to look outside the church - or even outside the EVANGELICAL church - to prove it. Jesus’ last prayer on earth to His Father for His Church was that we might be perfectly one, so that the world might know that God had sent Him (Jn 17:23). So I guess it’s no wonder, as Peter Wehner explains in his article “The Evangelical Church is Breaking Apart”, that Christianity is so quickly declining in America today. Because every election cycle - heck, every time some of us sign on FACEBOOK! - we prove to the world that the gospel that is supposed to unite us is apparently NOT as strong as the politics and tribalism that divides us.
And ALL of this leaves us with a HOPE problem. For the first time in the history of our country, a majority of those surveyed believe that their grandchildren have a WORSE future ahead of them than the life they have lived. We’re running out of HOPE.
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Well, DIRE as our situation may be, at least it isn’t UNIQUE. As a matter of fact, the prophet Isaiah lamented nearly IDENTICAL conditions in his own day, in his own nation, some 2,700 years ago. While God was punishing the northern kingdom of Israel for their wickedness by sending the Assyrian army to conquer and exile them, God simultaneously sent Isaiah to confront the SOUTHERN kingdom of Judah about THEIR sin, and warn them to repent and turn back to God, lest they suffer the same fate as Israel. And just LISTEN to the similarities between the civic and moral degradation in 8th c Judean society and our own culture today; every one of these quotes comes from the first 8 chapters of Isaiah; this is the context behind our Scripture passage from Isaiah 9 for these next 4 weeks of Advent:
Like us, Israel had a LOVE problem; God opens the book of Isaiah by grieving: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me” (1:2). Like US, they had grown ignorant of God’s word: “my people go into exile for lack of knowledge” (5:13). OR, they just outright REJECTED it: “they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.” (5:24) Like us, they preferred gods of their OWN making: “Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands…” (2:8), and over time, their “religion” became nothing more than empty ritualism: “even though you make many prayers, [The Lord says] I will not listen” (1:15). Like us, they feared MAN instead of GOD: “Do not fear what [the nations] fear… But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear” (8:12-13). Like us, Israel had strayed SO far from God, that He’d even become “a stone of offense” to them, “a rock of stumbling” (8:14).
Why? Ultimately, because of their “lofty pride” (2:11) - like us, they were convinced that they knew better than God; he cried: “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes” (5:21). But they became gods unto themselves; they INVENTED humanism, despite God’s command to “Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?” (2:22). So God warned them: “[you] shall be brought low… [you] shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted.” (2:11)
And because of their love problem, like us, Israel had a JOY problem too. They too had exchanged the joy of the Lord for the fleeting pleasures of SIN: “Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity” (1:4). They loved to party (“Woe to those who… tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them!”; 5:11), they loved sexual immorality (“How the faithful city has become a whore”; 1:21), they loved GREED (“Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures”; 2:7); they loved to put on AIRS in their VANITY (“the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks; 3:16); but they did NOT love justice and mercy (“Everyone loves a bribe… They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them”; 1:4).
Like us, Israel had a PEACE problem too. Centuries before Isaiah, Israel’s civil war had resulted in these TWO separate nations: Israel and Judah. And they were SO divided, they’d started forming alliances with foreign empires to fight against each OTHER! That’s why Assyria was invading Israel in the first place; cuz Judah had begged them to. But that was only after ISRAEL had teamed up with SYRIA to try and destroy JUDAH first!
And ALL of it left them, like us, with a HOPE problem. It left them in DESPAIR - “Your country lies desolate… as overthrown by foreigners” (1:7) - and it left them in DARKNESS - Isaiah will open our passage in just a moment by describing a “gloomy” people “in anguish”, a “people who walked in darkness”.
BUT: here is the GOOD news of Isaiah, friends, the good news of Christmas: that on THEM, “the people who walked in darkness”... on US, “those… in DEEP darkness”, “a great light has shown”. And what is God’s great answer for our Love problem, our Joy problem, our Peace problem, our HOPE problem?
It’s a BABY. This is Isaiah’s great announcement: “For unto us a child is born”. And lest the Christmas story become so familiar to us that we miss the full FORCE of it, just imagine Isaiah trying to relay his prophecy to US today; imagine him saying, “Hey, I know the culture has gone TOTALLY off the rails - no one loves God, sin is RAMPANT, the CHURCH may be more divided than ever, and there doesn’t seem to be much HOPE of things getting any better… but guess what: God spoke to me, and He told me He’s gonna fix ALL of it, and here’s His solution; it’s… a BABY.”
We would say, “Isaiah: you could find something more help-LESS, more power-LESS; we’ve got REAL problems to deal with here, problems that even the wise and powerful amongst us don’t seem to know how to fix, and you’re telling me…”
But Isaiah would interrupt and say, “Wait a minute; you didn’t let me finish. This isn’t gonna be just ANY baby: “unto us a son is given”. This baby is going to be God’s own SON. GIVEN - not just “sent”, but “given”; given UP, given OVER, as a sacrifice for sin, on our behalf.
And “his name shall be called”... FOUR things. Four names that God gave HIS son, Jesus, in this passage we’re FINALLY about to read. And each of these names conveys something distinctive and important about who Jesus IS, and what He accomplished for us through his life, death, and resurrection. One pastor I listened to this week preached a similar Advent series he titled “A Name for every NEED”. What do people like the Israelites, people like US, who are trapped in “deep darkness” need?
Firstly, this morning, we need a “Wonderful Counselor”. That means two things: first, we need WISDOM (counsel, guidance), and second, we need WONDERS (frankly, we need nothing short of a MIRACLE). And praise God, that’s exactly what He sent us on Christmas morning.
Would you stand with me… Isaiah 9:1-3 & especially v6:
“But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy…
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
This is the word of God… Let’s pray…
Now, quick disclaimer: this will be more of a topical sermon series. Typically we prefer expository sermons that take a single passage of Scripture and exposit, or explain it, in depth. But every now and then, there’s also value in topical sermons that take a theme or idea or a NAME - like “Wonderful Counselor” - and trace it throughout the whole Bible. So in our remaining time today, and over the next 3 weeks of Advent, that’s what I hope to do.
And we might BEGIN by tracing this name throughout the rest of the book of ISAIAH, because he connects these two needs of ours - wisdom and wonders - in two additional messianic prophecies; these are passages where God, through Isaiah, is telling us what the Messiah, will be like:
ch11, v2: “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might”; now, as we’re gonna see: “wonderful” doesn’t just mean “really nice”; it means “full of WONDERS”, miracles, power, MIGHT.
Then a second time in Isaiah ch28, v29, we hear:
“the Lord of hosts… is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.”
So for Isaiah, these two concepts - wonderful and counselor - they go hand in hand. But not JUST for Isaiah; I wanna show you this morning how they go hand in hand all THROUGHOUT Scripture. Moreover, I wanna show you how our need - for both wisdom and wonders - was perfectly fulfilled in our Messiah, Jesus.
And as I thought more about the best way to go ABOUT it, I decided to make some changes to the outline you see there in your bulletins. I had originally planned to treat these two names - Wonderful and Counselor - separately, like the 2-point outline you see there, and then tie them back together quickly at the end. But the more I studied this week, the more I realized that the two are intentionally intertwined here. So we’ll start by defining each of them separately, but I wanna quickly move, secondly, to showing you how they work in tandem with one another, particularly, throughout the OLD TESTAMENT - how God Himself proved time and time again to BE Israel’s “Wonderful Counselor” in their times of need. And then thirdly and finally, I wanna take you to the NEW Testament to show you how JESUS has become our Wonderful Counselor to meet our greatest need of all.
So first, let’s define. The English translation “Wonderful” is misleading here for TWO reasons:
First - grammar quiz: what part of speech is the word “wonderful”? It’s an… ADJECTIVE. It modifies a noun. It tells you what KIND of counselor the Messiah will be, namely, a “wonderful” one. But the word Isaiah uses here in Hebrew - peh-leh - is a NOUN. So you could argue we’re studying not one, but actually TWO names for Jesus this morning: first name “Wonder”, second name “Counselor”. (Bob Fyall, ESV, 79)
But the Second reason it’s misleading, I already mentioned: we commonly use the word “wonderful” to mean “really nice”, like: “I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving,” by which we mean, “I hope the food was good and you enjoyed your time with family.” But in HEBREW, the word “peh-leh” means more like “full of WONDERS”, as in “signs and wonders”, as in “MIRACULOUS”. Now, some of you might argue that your family making it all the way through Thanksgiving dinner without a FOOD FIGHT breaking out is in fact a miracle. But to be a real, biblical “wonder”, you’d have to actually THROW that food straight at Uncle Bob’s face and then witness the turkey regrow its wings halfway there, and fly off course. THAT’s a miracle.
Commentator Bob Fyall (79) explains: “‘Wonder’ implies ‘supernatural,’ something beyond human power, the term is used [most often in Scripture] of the acts of God.”
Other commentaries suggest synonyms like “incomprehensible”; “a phenomenon lying outside the realm of human explanation”. They point out that “the same word - pehleh - is used in Psalm 139:6: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.” (OurDailyBread; https://ourdailybread.org/resources/wonderful-counselor/)
It’s used again “in Judges 13:18 when Manoah, Samson’s father, asked an angel of the Lord what His name was, and he responded, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” In other words, “...it’s beyond your understanding?”” (Gotquestions.org; (https://www.gotquestions.org/Wonderful-Counselor.html).
THAT’s what ISAIAH has in mind, when he calls the Messiah “Wonderful”. Literally, he will be full of WONDERS. Miraculous. A wonder-WORKER.
Now, defining “Counselor” is a little easier; it’s just a participle from the verb “yaw-ats” meaning “to counsel” or “ADVISE”. To impart WISDOM.
But there is a secondary yet important, related meaning to the word: to determine, guide, plan, or purpose. And interestingly, of the 15 times that Isaiah uses this verb, yaw-ats, NINE of those times it assumes this secondary meaning, like Isaiah 14:24
“The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, [yaw-ats] so shall it stand”.
Because God is SOVEREIGN; He doesn’t merely advise, He actualizes. He doesn’t just direct, He determines. He doesn’t just encourage, He establishes. He doesn’t just guide, He governs.
Got it? So now let’s put them together: when we call GOD our “Wonderful Counselor”, we don’t just mean He “gives us really nice advice”; we mean He LEADS us supernaturally! He is our Miracle-working Shepherd.
And that’s probably one of the very best descriptions of who God is for His people, as we survey the entire Old Testament. Of course we don’t have time to consider ALL of it this morning, but I want to at least highlight God’s “Wonderful Counselor”-ness, His miraculous Shepherding of His people, before Jesus even showed up on the scene. Think of this as your highlight reel - I hardly ever watch entire games anymore, of sporting events; I watch the highlights; I watched every play of the Michigan-Ohio State game in 15 minutes, after they edit out all the huddles and commercials; I can watch every important play of the Grizzlies games in under 10 minutes; heck, you can watch the World Cup SOCCER highlights in under 5 minutes (not a lot of scoring usually, or even scoring chances!). So this is your 5 minute highlight reel of the Old Testament, and how God revealed Himself as “Wonderful Counselor” there:
We start, of course, “in the beginning”, in CREATION. The paradigmatic, foundational example of God’s wonder-working wisdom.
Proverbs 3:19 declares “By wisdom The Lord founded the earth”.
Psalm 104:24 “How many, O Lord, are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all”
But it was of course miraculous wisdom:
Romans 1:20 declares that God’s “eternal power and divine nature [are] clearly perceived… in the things that [He has] made,” in Creation.
Later in Isaiah, ch45, God Himself declares “it was my hands that stretched out the heavens; I commanded all their host” (v12) - God determined, ordained, engineered ALL of creation, out of nothing, by His omnipotent wonder-WORKING power.
But He’s not just a transcendent God; He is also imminently personal. And He proved it especially to a man named Abraham. Who God called - counseled - to leave his homeland and follow God’s lead out into the unknown, with nothing but the promise of a land, a people, and a blessing. And God miraculously provided for Him, by opening the womb of his barren wife Sarah at the ripe old age of 100, to give them a son, Isaac.
And some 500 years later, when Abraham’s descendants found themselves enslaved in Egypt, God raised up for them a “counselor”, a shepherd, Moses, through whom God would lead His people to freedom. And how did he DO it? With WONDERS, miracles! A burning-but-not-burnt bush, a shapeshifting staff-turned-serpent, 10 preter-natural plagues, and arguably the most pivotal miracle in ALL of the Old Testament: the parting of the Red Sea. If ever there was a picture of God’s wonder-working WAY-making in the OT, it is the Exodus story. But God didn’t stop there, because once they were out of Egypt, in the wilderness, He continued to guide them supernaturally and personally, as a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. All the way to Mt. Sinai, where he met with Moses to deliver what Jews still consider to be God’s greatest miracle, and what we BOTH agree is God’s clearest case of “COUNSEL” in the Old Testament: His LAW, the 10 Commandments (and then 603 additional ones to help clarify them). God’s law IS his counsel to us - Psalm 119:24 “Your [commandments] are… my counselors” - and it IS wonderful indeed; Psalm 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul”.
Under Joshua, God would lead His people BACK into the Promised Land, performing even more miracles to crumble city walls and conquer enemy armies. God continued to guide them through the counsel of the Judges, and at times, using additional direct, divine intervention. But more than any other office in the OT, the duty of counseling was most associated with the role of KING. The prophet Micah even used the two terms interchangeably: “Now [Israel] why do you cry aloud?
Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished?” (4:9)
Micah has in mind a king like SOLOMON, the wisest of ALL human counselors in the OT, of whom we read “people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon” (1 Kings 4:34), that “all Israel… stood in awe [WONDER] of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him” (3:28); God wonderfully counseled his people THROUGH wise kings like Solomon.
But only when they would LISTEN to Him. Which, it turns out, was not very often. So for almost 500 years, as the kings got more and more depraved and the kingdom got more and more divided and debased, God raised up NEW counselors, called PROPHETS, like Isaiah, to confront the kings, and call the people back to the Lord. And once again, He did so miraculously by putting His own words directly in their mouths, to supernaturally shepherd his people.
But like stupid, stubborn sheep, they refused to listen. So God prophesied of another, better, coming “Wonderful Counselor”. One better than Moses, better than Solomon, better than ALL the prophets, because he would be God in the FLESH: “Immanuel”, Isaiah called him, ‘God with us’ (7:14).
“Behold, your God… will come and save you”, Isaiah foretold (35:4). And how would we know Him when He arrived?
First, by his WISDOM: Isaiah 42: “Behold my servant… I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations… [who] wait for his law,” his teaching, his wisdom, his COUNSEL (vv1-4).
But we will especially know him by his WONDERS!
Isaiah 35: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” (vv5-6)
He will be our wonder-full, wisdom-full MESSIAH.
You wanna guess the two things Jesus devoted himself to during his 3 ½ year ministry here on earth? Take a guess…
Matthew 4:23 - Jesus was “teaching in their synagogues… and healing every disease… among the people.” Teaching, and healing. Wisdom, and wonders. Oh, and by the way, I left out the full verse; Matthew said he DID it “throughout all Galilee”. Ring any bells? Isaiah 9:1 “in the latter time [God] has made glorious… Galilee of the nations”. 700 years earlier, Isaiah had TOLD us: this is where the Messiah will come.
And Jesus FILLED those around him with awe - with WONDER - at His WISDOM. Even as a young CHILD, we read that Jesus “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom.” (Lk 2:40) That when he was only 12 years old, with no formal Torah training, he sat amongst the brightest teachers in the Temple for 3 days and taught THEM, and “all who heard him were amazed [filled with WONDER] at his [wisdom]” (Lk 2:47). Not just because he was so young, but as Matthew explains: because “he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” See, all the wisdom in Jesus’ day was second-hand wisdom. As we already observed, God had given his COUNSEL in the OT in the form of his LAW, to Moses. So the rabbinic teachers in Jesus’ day derived their authority to the extent they were able to learn and interpret and help explain the Law. But Jesus filled them with WONDER because taught like one who possessed authority inherently… like he was Wisdom INCARNATE; 1 Corinthians 1:30 - he “became to us wisdom from God”. Colossians 2:3 “in [Jesus] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ”
But he filled the crowds with wonder not ONLY at his wisdom, but at his MIRACLES: “they were astonished and said, ‘Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?’” (Matt 13:54). And Jesus performed FAR too many “signs and wonders” for us to try and list them all here - 37 of them, to be exact. But let me at least quickly show you how he fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy that he would be Immanuel - God HIMSELF, with us.
We said God “wonderfully counseled” us in CREATION; the Gospels tell us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… [and] All things were made through him”; Colossians 1:16 “by[f] [Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created through him and for him.”
We said God “wonderfully counseled” Abraham, by calling him and forming his covenant with him. Hebrews 8-9 declares that Jesus has mediated a BETTER covenant for us, making atonement for us with God through his perfect blood shed for us on the cross.
We said God “wonderfully counseled” his people through Moses, miraculously freeing them from bondage. But Jesus is the BETTER Moses, who miraculously frees us of our SPIRITUAL bondage, and leads us from DEATH to LIFE.
Jesus is the better JOSHUA - he supernaturally defeated our GREATEST enemy: death itself. Jesus is the better DAVID, the better SOLOMON, who never wavered in his wisdom due to sin. Jesus is the better ISAIAH, who didn’t just WARN people about their sin, and TELL them to return to the Lord; Jesus actually PAID for our sin, and RECONCILED us back to right relationship with the Lord!
Friends: Jesus is THE Wonderful Counselor. And he is still performing miracles today, as he remakes hearts and leads sinners to salvation in His name. And he still GUIDES us, counsels us, today through His word and His Spirit. The only question for us is: will we LISTEN. Will we receive His counsel; do we still ASK and EXPECT to see his wonders in our midst?
Examples…
Greatest wonder of all: that we can be saved.
Greatest counsel He ever shared with us: “Believe in me and live” (Jn 3)