Jesus, our Wonderful Counselor

God as Counselor in OT

Jesus as Counselor in NT

The Holy Spirit as Counselor

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This is the first Sunday of Advent, and for the next 4 Sundays at least, I would like to leave the Gospel of John, and focus on the foretelling of the coming of the Messiah.

And for this Advent season, I want to focus in particular on Isaiah 9.

Isaiah 9:2–7 (ESV)

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;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

4 For the yoke of his burden,

and the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian.

5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

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.

I have to tell you, I often get goosebumps when I read this passage.

This description of the coming Messiah is vivid and powerful, full of conviction that what is foretold WILL come to pass

What an amazing King! What incredible names! What a government!

It’s a King that I want to follow. It’s a government and rule that I want to be under

In this prophecy we find 4 names for this Messiah

Four names which describe what kind of King He will be

The first one that we read is Wonderful Counselor

Did you know that the average person makes over 35,000 decisions or choices per day?

So says the really smart people who study these things.

35,000!

1,458/hour

24/minute

Some of these choices or decisions happen in a split second. We aren’t even aware of doing them. They may be more like reactions.

Like you pop over a hill and there is a buggy in front of you and there is an oncoming car. Do you slam on the brakes, or do you have time to go out around him?

It’s a choice, but you put very little thought into it. You just act.

Some choices that we make are a little more deliberate, but they may have very little effect on the outcome of your day, and certainly no outcome on your life

Like you had a rough night, and it feels like you just dropped off to sleep when that alarm blares. Do you hit the snooze, or do you grab yourself and pull yourself out of bed?

There are all kinds of choices that we have to make

And many of them have life-changing consequences. These are the big choices, and it’s when we come to these decisions, that we often find ourselves hesitating perhaps.

Not sure which way to turn. Should I go left? Should I go right?

And it’s in these big choices, that we often turn to a counselor, someone to help us.

Some of them have to do with relationships.

When I was in high school, I was totally smitten with a young lady. I was trying to gather up my courage to maybe ask her out on a date.

I knew her father was pretty protective. I wasn’t sure what to do. So I went and talked to my folks about it. Got their counsel

(she turned me down)

I was wondering what to do with my life. I was interested in aviation but wasn’t sure how to pursue it.

I talked to my uncle, who told me about Moody

(he doesn’t remember having the conversation)

Heidi and I have sought counsel in our marriage, regarding our relationship, and situations we have been in that we weren’t sure what to do with.

I believe strongly that this is part of how God has created us: to rely on each other.

To be able to turn to each other, (parents, colleagues, brothers and sisters in church) and say, “Can you help me? I’ve got this situation that I just don’t know what to do with.”

The thing with human counselors, you sometimes aren’t sure if the counsel that they are giving you is good or bad.

And too often, we neglect turning to God for counsel.

Kings and rulers and other leaders have always had counselors.

Presidents have had counselors, good and bad.

The father-in-law of Moses counseled him to choose men to help him lead

That was good counsel

King David had a counselor names Ahithophel.

And Ahithophel got mixed up in the rebellion of Absolom

And the confusing part about it was that the Bible says that both Absolom and David regarded the counsel of Ahithophel as the word of God

Well, turns out that the counsel that Ahithophel gave Absolom wasn’t followed, and he was so distraught that he went home and hung himself

in our passage from Isaiah, we are familiar with the back story here.

The Israelites, in particular, King Ahaz, found themselves in a bad situation.

It wasn’t a particularly new situation for them. Seems like the kings of Israel had a knack for following bad advice and making poor choices.

Starting with Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, who followed bad advice and decided take a heavy-handed approach with his people, resulting in the division of the nation

What followed was years of bad advice and poor choices.

And Ahaz was full of bad choices, no doubt enforced by bad advisors. You can read his story in 2 Kings 16.

The people did not, and still do not seek the counsel of the Lord

They were the chosen people of God, the all-knowing, wise counselor

Yet, they so often failed to turn to Him.

Isaiah 28:29 says that the Lord of hosts is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom

Jeremiah 32:18-19 describes God as being “great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds

Would you seek out a counselor who knew your heart inside and out? Would you seek out a counselor to whom it would be impossilbe to lie

Isaiah foretells the coming Messiah and says that He will be The Wonderful Counselor.

And we see in Jesus the fulfillment of this prophecy.

He had understanding

Even from a young age.

We read in Luke 2 that his parents found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

“And all were amazed at his understanding and answers”

He had authority

And again in Luke 4, that all people were amazed at him because His words had authority. He didn’t simply teach and fill people with head knowledge like the scribes. But He taught like someone who knew what they were talking about.

This was new for them

He had knowledge

We read that Jesus knew what was on people’s hearts before they said anything.

It was impossible to “put one over on him”, as we tend to do with human counselors.

Sometimes it’s easy to say what we think our counselors want to hear, and we try to manipulate them in that way

Impossible to do with Jesus. He saw directly into the hearts of people and addressed them in that way

He refused to be sidetracked by things that didn’t really matter

His words brought life

And the way that Jesus taught captured the hearts of his disciples.

Do you remember in John 6 when He got into the discussion about being the Bread of Life, and it resulted in everyone forsaking Him?

He looked at His disciples and said, “Are you going to leave me too?”

Do you remember their response?

“Lord, where would we go? You have the words of life.”

You have the words that go right to our hearts and bring life.

Jesus truly was the Wonderful Counselor!

And then what did He say when He was preparing to leave this earth?

I’m going to send you another Counselor

I’m going to send you someone to be with you and do for you what I have been doing.

He’s going to give comfort and companionship, reveal truth, remind you of what I have taught you, give you peace

And He’s going to abide with you forever

People spend a lot of time and money going to see their therapist.

They find themselves in a bad situation, and they need to schedule something with their counselor.

And sometimes that does need to happen

But this counselor will be with you forever. He is the Wonderful Counselor

Why is Jesus called Wonderful Counselor?

Because when He speaks, He speaks directly to the heart.

The Bible says that He knows the heart of man. He knows what’s in there.

This is something that our human counselors can’t do. Even the most godly, spirit-filled, discerning, and wise counselors among us cannot see into the heart the way that Jesus can.

He knows when we are being less than honest.

He knows when there are things on our hearts that we just don’t know how to put into words

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A man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out.

A Christian Scientist came along and said, “You only think you are in a pit.”

A Pharisee said, “Only bad people fall into a pit.”

A fundamentalist said, “You deserve the pit.”

A charismatic said, “Just confess that you’re not in a pit.”

A Social Gospel pastor came by and said, “We brought you some food and clothing while you are in the pit.”

A Calvinist said, “This was no accident, you know.”

An optimist said, “Things will get better.”

A Pessimist said, “Things will get worse.”

Jesus came along, grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the pit.