Wonderful Counselor
by Sarah Wootten Corinth Missionary Baptist Church
“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,” (Isaiah 9:6, ESV).
How we describe someone is never perfectly accurate because our perceptions of an individual are limited. For example, most people call me an introvert, while my family calls me an extrovert. Why the discrepancy? My family is comparing me to themselves, and truthfully, I am more social than they are. I rarely give up the opportunity to visit a friend. Yet, others would look at me and say, “You just took a week-long trip by yourself and weren’t tired of being alone. Of course, you’re an introvert.”
Our opinions about ourselves and others are often meager and inaccurate.
Thankfully, God’s character isn’t defined by our whims or our limited perceptions. God defines Himself for us in His Word, and what He says about Himself is trustworthy. In Isaiah 9, God is telling His people through the prophet that they have reason to hope, despite the anguish that surrounds them, because a child will be born to them who will be their king. This king will be like no other. In fact, He will be called “Wonderful Counselor.”
What does it mean that Jesus is Wonderful? Unfortunately, we have cheapened the definition of the word to mean we had a good meal or good day, but the Bible places a higher value on the word. It’s used to describe something that is out of the ordinary or something that can only be explained as having miraculous or divine origins. In Exodus 15:11, the word is used to describe God’s rescue of His people from slavery in Egypt.
Imagine standing on the sand by a massive sea. An enemy surrounds you with weapons drawn. There’s no escape and no mercy in sight. And then as you cry out in anguish, the sea splits open with massive walls of water on each side. The ground isn’t muddy, but as dry as an Alabama summer. And through the dry, dusty ground found at the bottom of the sea, you are brought to safety. That’s a miracle. There is no other possible explanation of what took place other than to say that it must have been an act of God. It was an exodus full of wonder.
There is so much about Jesus’ life that can only be described as a wonderful act of God – the virgin birth, His sinless life, His resurrection. But it’s not just that He is Wonderful (which is very true), it’s that He will be a Wonderful Counselor. Great wisdom is needed to be a king who will reign with both justice and righteousness (Isaiah 9:7). The person who sits on the throne shapes the lives of those who live in the country. Their well-being depends upon the decisions that the king will make.
And even King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, ended up acting so foolishly that the kingdom was divided and the people suffered (1 Kings 11). If the child who is promised will sit on David’s throne FOREVER, we desperately need him to be a wise king, a wonderful counselor, who will lead us onto paths of life.
Then came Jesus. During His earthly ministry, the people who heard Him teach were filled with amazement, wondering where such wisdom could come from (Mark 6:2). He knew the thoughts of man (Matthew 12:25), so He always responded with exactly what the person needed to hear. Unlike us who need counsel from other people, He needs no counselors because in Him are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” (Colossians 2:3b, ESV).
Jesus is still that Wonderful Counselor. He never leads us astray, and every word of His can be trusted.
In fact, there is great joy to be found when we trust and obey Him in everything. When we do that, we find that our Counselor is far wiser than we could have ever dreamed, and no one compares to Him. So this Christmas season, let’s marvel at the wisdom of our Savior and be confident in the hope that we have that one day we will live in a kingdom with a Wonderful Counselor as our King who reigns in righteousness and justice. He came the first time two thousand years ago, and He is coming again. Guaranteed.
