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Wonderful Counselor
Mother Wilson….”Ain’t God a wonder?”
When I say the word wonderful, what comes to your mind? 
Wonderful – inspiring delight, pleasure, or admiration; extremely good; marvelous.
(AMAZING, beyond understanding.)
How about the word Counselor?
Counselor –  a person trained to give guidance on personal, social, or psychological problems.
(to advise, consult, purpose, devise, PLAN.)

Tonight we are going to read a passage of scripture are all very familiar with. If nothing else we have heard it. We will read this passage every Wednesday night until Christmas. We are going to break down its meaning in the Hebrew and the Greek so that it will be more impactful to us during this Christmas season and for our lives in general as Christians. 
Isaiah 9:6-7 NKJV
6For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Lets start with Wonderful:
Part 1 This Wonderful Child
Isaiah’s first description of the Messiah was simply that he is Wonderful. Indeed Jesus is wonderful. The glory of who he is and what He has done for us should inspire wonder. But often we speak of the awe-inspiring, wonder-filled event in human history as if it is a fairy tale or even worse as “normal” or (sound of average).
But in the person of that child that was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, God became a man. This, in and of itself is full of wonder. You cannot really ponder that incredible truth without some sense of wonder in your spirit. God became a man. The Lord of all the Universe was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The one that owns the cattle on a thousand hills and wants for nothing, surrendered himself to the arms of a teenager mother and relied upon her to meet all of his basic needs in life. What a wonderful savior we have, what an amazing grace he has shown us.
This is the wonder that the angel declared when Joseph was told, in Matthew 1:23 New Living Translation
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
    She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
    which means ‘God is with us.’”
This is the wonder that Paul shared with Timothy when he said,
1 Timothy 3:16 New Living Translation
16 Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith:
Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit.
He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.
If you were to attempt to sum Jesus up in a single word, wonderful would have to be on your short list of candidates. He is wonderful in who he is, in the glory and beauty of his very nature. It is a wonder to understand that he was born of a virgin. It is a wonder to comprehend that he is both God and man in one person, that he would have both the nature of a man that would be tempted via his flesh and the nature of God that would speak to the wind and the waves as the master of all that is and ever will be. It is a wonder to grasp the fact that he was completely God and completely man, at the same time.
The qualities of his character are so full of wonder: 
His love for people; his sympathy for the sheep that had no shepherd; his humility, meekness, and patience; his wisdom, conduct, and compassion.
The gospel accounts relate the wonder of his life: the wise men that followed a star to worship this child; the way Joseph and Mary spirited him away, escaping Herod’s plan to kill him; and the way he disputed with the theologians at the temple at the age of 12.
His life was a continued series of wonders: 
His baptism in the Jordan; his temptations in the wilderness; his doctrines and miracles, and his transfiguration on the mountain.
His death was also filled with wonder: 
that he who is the Lord of Glory would die at all is wondrous; and that by his death he brought us life -- the world knows no greater wonder.
Our hope of salvation is fully vested in his death, burial and resurrection and all of it this evening is filed with wonder: 
He died, was buried, laid in a borrowed tomb, for he is the only one that as the power to borrow a tomb and then return it in three days.
The wonder of his resurrection is beyond our ability to tell: they sought him among the dead, but he had risen with the keys to death, hell and the grave.
Unto him all power was given to set the hopeless captive free.
How wonderful our savior is this evening.
If we never delved any further into it, just the wonder of his life, the wonder of who he is and all he’s done should be enough to inspire us to worship and adore him.
We truly have a wonderful savior.
Part 2 This Wonderful God
However, as I’ve already mentioned, there is a greater depth to the original language that remains unseen by the casual observer.
To flesh that out we need to visit another passage of scripture for a moment. 
The patriarchs of old often inquired about the name of God. 
Manoah, the father of Sampson, had an encounter with the angel of the Lord in Judges 13. When that encounter was concluded Manoah said to his wife, in verse 22, we
Judges 13:22 New Living Translation
22 and he said to his wife, “We will certainly die, for we have seen God!”
Manoah recognized that the angel of the Lord that he was having an encounter with was God, much the same as Joseph did at Bethel. Once Manoah realized who he was dealing with, that insatiable desire to know the name of God got the best of him and he enquired, in verse 17,
17 Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you.”
The response is what interests us this evening.
18 “Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too wonderful for you to understand.”
This is important to us because when the original Hebrew audience read the Hebrew passage of Isaiah 9:6 and came across the word wonderful ascribed to the child that would be born in Bethlehem, they understood that this word, “wonderful”, was how God described his own name to Manoah.
Just as much as the terms “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father” make the reader aware of the diety of this child, so also does the word “wonderful” cause the original reader of this text to reflect upon the hidden name of the one true God.
While Isaiah was relating to us how wonderful, awe inspiring, this child would be he was also communicating in biblical language that this child was, indeed, God manifest in the flesh and that his name, the name given unto him, would be the wonderful name of God that Manoah, Joseph and other sought after for so many years.
This evening we should praise him for he is truly wonderful!
PART 3 THE COUNSELOR
Isaiah goes on to speak of him next as a counselor. That child that was laid in a manger is our Counselor:
Jesus is the only one that is qualified to direct our lives and he is a great resource to you as a counselor in the midst of life’s struggles. When you’ve got nowhere else to turn, you should take great confidence that you can turn to Jesus. Take your cares, your worries and your burdens to the master in prayer and there you will discover the wisdom of his counsel. As we kneel in prayer, as we cast our cares upon him, his sweet grace overshadows us and the comfort of his presence ministers to us. 
How many times have we found direction when we stopped to pray?
How many times have we received a much sought after answer when we turned our hearts to Jesus and inquired of the great counselor?
Isaiah said that the child that was born at Bethlehem was a counselor, and my friend, how often we need a counselor. And not just any counselor, but a righteous counselor who gives counsel we can trust.
We have no shortage of counselors in this life, you don’t have to look very far to find someone that is willing to tell you how you should handle a particular situation or circumstance.
However, what we lack is Godly counsel. We have a lot of friends, social media, Hollywood, government, Movies, Music, and Culture that would merrily lead us down the path to destruction with counsel for our lives. What we need is a righteous counselor, one who speaks truth, and leads us in the paths of righteousness.
Can I tell you that the greatest counselor you have is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the one you should consult before every major decision. He is the one you should turn to as you endeavor to work thru life’s problems and opportunities. He’s the one that will provide you with direction, meaning, and purpose for your life.
This evening, we need a counselor, we need the counsel that Jesus brings to us.
Consider this, it was by a Counselor that this world was ruined. Satan disguised himself in the serpent, and counseled Eve with subtle craftiness, that she should partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, in the hope that she would become like God. It was this evil counsel that provoked Eve to sin and further caused Adam to purposefully rebel against his Maker in order to remain with his bride. Eve, the scripture said, was deceive, but Adam sinned willfully, with his eyes wide open, understanding what he was doing. So, by the counsel of the serpent, and the complicity of Adam, sin and death were loosed in this world.
How wonderful is the grace of God!
What was set in motion by an evil counselor, Isaiah said, would be corrected by the righteous counselor.
My friend, we need a counselor in our lives. We need to know that there is one we can turn to in times of trouble that we can trust. We need to know that there is one that can provide us with direction and wisdom that we can lean on.
Isaiah has declared to us that Jesus is that counselor. His counsel will withstand all scrutiny, extend to every generation and remain forever true. 
His counsel is always available to us and will guide us:
Psalm 73:24 New Living Translation
24 You guide me with your counsel,
    leading me to a glorious destiny.
His counsel never wavers and is never withdrawn
Hebrews 6:17 New King James Version
17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,
Immutable means unchangeable. God’s counsel doesn’t change. How many times have you sought advice only to find that the advice that you are given keeps shifting and changing with the circumstance? The counsel of Jesus is unchanging, he is the same yesterday, today and forever.
The key to living a blessed life, the Psalmist tells us lies in the source of your counsel:
Psalm 1:1-3 New King James Version
1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
If you want to prosper in this life, build your life upon the counsel of righteousness, that unchanging counsel of Jesus.
The writer of Colossians tells us
Colossians 2:3 New Living Translation
3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Do you want wisdom and knowledge for your life? Turn to Christ!
We have been given a great counselor, one that we can turn to in times of trouble and one that we can trust to guide us and direct us at all times in our lives.
PART 4 THIS WONDERFUL COUNSELOR
Once again, however, the original language gives some further insight into the passage.
Many scholars believe that the words Wonderful and Counselor were intended to be read together as a single phrase where wonderful modifies counselor the same as the other phrases in the verse: the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.
As a matter of fact the Greek translation of the Old Testament that the disciples, and particularly Paul, studied and quoted from contains that kind of translation of Isaiah 9:6 where “Wonderful Counselor” is a single title.
This kind of rendering takes nothing away from the fact that he is wonderful, and he is counselor but rather applies the wonder of Jesus to his counsel. This should cause us to see again just how amazing the counsel of Jesus really is.
Just as wonderful as his birth, his life, his death and resurrection, also is his counsel wonderful.
This rendering also agrees well with 
Isaiah 28:29 New King James Version
29 This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.
Further insight is to be gained from the original language from which the word Counselor is translated. 
The word does not mean simply an advisor, but rather it implies someone who makes a plan that he intends to carry out.
Isaiah 25:1 New King James Version
1 O Lord, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
That word “counsels” is from the same root as counselor and is translated in modern translations as plan.
New Living Translation
 O Lord, I will honor and praise your name,
    for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
    You planned them long ago,
    and now you have accomplished them.
The Message
God, you are my God. I celebrate you. I praise you. You’ve done your share of miracle-wonders, well-thought-out plans, solid and sure. 


What Isaiah is saying when he calls this child the Wonderful Counselor is that he is more than just an advisor in our lives. He is the one who made the plan and set the events of our lives in motion. And he is the one that will carry his plans through and bring all things to completion. 
Philippians 1:6 New Living Translation
6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
We can trust his counsel because he is the one that sees the end from the beginning. Remember this, there is nothing that happens in your daily life that wasn’t first devised in heaven. The footsteps of a good man are ordered by God and no trial or temptation ever enters your life that God hasn’t already made a way for you to come through it. God directs our lives and orders our paths, where else would you turn in times of uncertainty?
Remember the Jews who wandered in the desert for 40 years. In a relatively small wilderness, they wandered about as they were led and directed by God. If you could trace their route on a map, you would find them zig-zagging over the same piece of real estate over and over again. To the casual observer it would seem to have been a pointless directionless existence, but it was divinely directed by God and what appears crooked and convoluted to us was a direct path and a straight line to God. He was taking the Israelites on more than just a journey from point to point but also a journey of faith where they would grow in their faith and reliance on Him. He was establishing a people that would place their trust in him and allow him to govern their lives.
Sometimes the events of our lives seem convoluted and confused and we can’t make any rational sense of what is going on but rest assured, my friend, that God has a direction and plan for your life and he is taking you on journey that is to him a straight path from where you are now to where he wants you to be.
You can trust him to provide you with counsel and direction as you make your way through this life for, He is the Wonderful Counselor.
Close
Isaiah said of this child in: 
Isaiah 11:2 New King James Version
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
This is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.
“Wonderful Counselor” means that the child that was more than just wonderful, more than just a counselor, but he was a wonderful counselor.
The Ancient of Days, the one who knows the end from the beginning, the one that cannot lie yet speaks of things that are not as though they were.
That child that was born in Bethlehem was God manifest in the flesh and he possessed the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of Counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
The wonderful counselor is here. In fact, 
Jesus told his disciples in John 14 (AMP) this: 
16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive [and take to its heart] because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He (the Holy Spirit) remains with you continually and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans[comfortless, bereaved, and helpless]; I will come [back] to you.

Why don’t you come together and let us call on his name.