His Name Shall Be Called: Wonderful Counselor

Text: “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. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6–7).

How many here have heard of the professional wrestler called Hulk Hogan? Many have heard of him. But “Hulk Hogan” is not his actual name. The reason people call him “Hulk Hogan” is that this title describes his intimidating physical appearance.

How many of you have heard of the musician named Johnny Cash? Most have heard of him. His music is even more popular now that he’s dead. However, Johnny Cash is called by another name: “The Man in Black.” This title describes the color of the clothing he usually wore.

Most of you also remember the famous singer named Elvis Presley. But Elvis is also known as “The King.” People call him “The King” because he became known as the king of rock and roll music.

Now, I could spend all night giving you examples of unique titles given to people who already have names. These titles are given to them in addition to their actual names because those titles describe something about themselves or their work. The same is true for Jesus. He is given a number of names in scripture. Each of those names points to who He was and what He came to do.

When the angel appeared to Joseph, for example, the angel said to him, “[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). It may not quite come across to us today, necessarily, but what the angel is saying is that the Child’s name will be Jesus because the name ‘Jesus’ means “God saves.” And that is what Mary’s child has come to do.

Or take another example: the name ‘Immanuel’. Even though Isaiah lived about 800 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah was able, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to prophesy that one day in the future a virgin would give birth to a son whom some would call “Immanuel”—again, a name that tells us about who Jesus would be, since it means “God with us.” Even though this child’s actual name would be “Jesus,” the name “Immanuel” also tells us something about His person and His work.

That is also the point of these verses from Isaiah 9— Isaiah 9:6 “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.” The prophet Isaiah gives us this list of names in order to describe who Jesus would be and what He would come to do. And that will be our focus for these three Wednesday nights.

So, tonight, we start with that first title in Isaiah 9:6—“Wonderful Counselor.”

Why would people call this child “Wonderful Counselor”? That question is answered fairly easily when we look at Jesus’ ministry. Think about how often Jesus amazed His hearers with His wonderful teaching.

At twelve years old Jesus was in the Jerusalem Temple teaching the teachers. Luke says that everyone who heard Jesus was amazed at His understanding and His answers.

People were even more amazed at His counsel years later. After Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, Matthew records the following about the crowds who heard Jesus’ sermon: “The crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:28–29).

The people were amazed because Jesus taught them as though He were God Himself giving wonderful counsel to His own people. As you heard Jesus say in our Gospel, “Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24–27). After hearing Jesus speak those words, the crowds may have thought of these words from Isaiah chapter 26: “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock” (v. 4).

He is, without a doubt, Wonderful Counselor.

That, itself, is important to remember. It is even more important when you consider the competing voices that are all around you.

The evil one is constantly working to deceive and mislead you. The world constantly tempts you with its foolishness and tries to drown out the wonderful counsel of Jesus. That’s not a new battle. There is no question that Isaiah fought it, for example. Later on in Isaiah chapter 9, we read: “Those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up” (v. 16). However, God preserved a few faithful men, such as Isaiah, and they preached and taught God’s Word in its truth and purity. Sadly though, many people in Isaiah’s day despised God’s wonderful counsel.

And the battle is not just ‘out there’. Scripture teaches that “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. . . . The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 1:18; 2:14).

You and I are all guilty of turning away from God’s wonderful counsel. God’s counsel is clear. He tells you, in the 10 Commandments, what this life was intended to look like when Adam and Eve lived in paradise. But your sinful nature insists that it knows better.

You also see it in how viciously the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh stand between you and hearing God’s Word. I don’t doubt that, many Sundays, it seems like one obstacle after another is standing in your way; like forces are conspiring to keep you from holding God’s Word sacred and gladly hearing and learning it. They really are. They want desperately to separate you from God’s Word. Because God’s counsel to you in His word is that “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” (v. 2). And the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh will not allow you that hope.

God commands you to gather for worship because it is there, in His Word that God comes to you and speaks to us His wonderful counsel by which the Holy Spirit turns us away from the lies of the devil and gives us faith in the Gospel of Jesus. As Paul says, the Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing. But then Paul goes on to say that for us who are being saved the Gospel is the power of God! (See 1 Corinthians 1:18.)

When God commands you to hear, read, and study His Word, it is not because He needs something from you. It is because you need His counsel. The Spirit uses God’s Word to convict us of sin so that we might repent and put our faith in Jesus, who was born to save us from our sins. The Spirit uses God’s Word to cleanse our minds from the foolish counsel of this world and replace it with the wonderful counsel of the Lord Jesus.

One of the, arguably underrated themes in the New Testament, is that Jesus came to make know the eternal purpose and wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:9-10). It “brings to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things” (Ephesians 3:9).

One of the greatest examples of this is in Isaiah chapter 53:

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. . . . Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the righteous one, My servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (vv. 4–6, 10–12)

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to you who are being saved, it is the power of God. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you call Jesus your “Wonderful Counselor” because His Words are the rock and solid foundation of our lives—now and for eternity.

Jesus’ wonderful counsel says that He loved you enough to be conceived in the womb of the virgin where His little hands and feet developed and grew so they could one day be nailed to the cross where He suffered and died for your sins.

Jesus’ wonderful counsel says that He also conquered death for you by His resurrection so that you can face death knowing that you have the hope of the resurrection of the body and eternal life in God’s love.

Of course, you don’t rejoice in God’s wonderful counsel because His Word makes sense to your reason. St. Paul says in our reading from Romans: “How unsearchable are [God’s] judgments . . . who has been His counselor?” (vv. 33–34). Therefore, the reason you rejoice in God’s wonderful counsel is that the Holy Spirit has given you hearts of faith which trust God’s Word even though His ways are not your ways.

The baby boy conceived in Mary’s womb was given the name Jesus because He is the eternal Son of God who saved us from our sins. But we do not only call Him “Jesus.” We also call Him “Wonderful Counselor”—and you will continue to be blessed by His wonderful counsel as you hear, read, study, and believe His Word.

Amen!

(Adapted from “His Name Shall Be Called” by CPH, copyright 2024)