Wonderful Counselor

“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 Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Two Sundays ago, Chris Gough preached a sermon on this verse. He pointed out how this is the only passage where Christ is referred to as “Counselor,” because all of the others in scripture refer to the Holy Spirit. He also explained how this verse shows that everything that God is – Everlasting Father, Jesus as Prince of Peace, and Holy Spirit as Wonderful Counselor – is wrapped up in this coming child and to be worshipped as Mighty God. As our Wonderful Counselor, Christ is all-present to us and has authority on what he counsels us on. All-present?!? That blows my mind! The God of all creation is willing to be with me at all times to walk with me, advise and counsel me! Not only myself, but with every last person on this planet of 6 billion, and with all who have ever lived and with all who will ever live. He has seen every tear and heard every laugh; he has been in all of the highs, lows and mundane-every-day…and he still loves us! What better Counselor do we have than One who knows and has experienced all?!?

This Christmas season holds a tremendous amount of WONDER as long as we are looking. Wonder is something that is beyond our understanding and requires humility to experience, because it is admitting that we are smaller than the One we are awed by. This is easy for a child, but, as soon as God becomes something that we “get” as adults, then we’re in trouble. Chris said the best thing we can do logically is to understand that we can’t work through everything logically. We live in a word that often has lost a sense of wonder, and has thus become shrunken.

God, on the other hand, can not be limited. Soren Kierkergard said, “If you label me, you negate me.” Oswald Chambers talks of how, “In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion – a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He IS the gospel of God!” Just as we should never limit Jesus to a mere example for us to follow, we also should not limit Christmas to societal norms, or even to a series of motions that come around once a year (although they may be “good”). JESUS IS SO MUCH MORE! C.S. Lewis put it well: "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."