He Shall Be Called: Wonderful Counselor
Well, good morning. If we've not met, my name's Josh, and I'm glad you're here today. I know this is the time of year that a lot of us tend to come back to church or come to church for the first time. And if you're a guest with us today, special welcome to you. I just ask you to do one thing.
It's an easy thing. If you go out these doors to the information desk and introduce yourself, they would love to meet you, answer any questions that you have. So if you'd like to take a step here, that's the best step to take. Christmas season's officially here, guys. It is here.
And listen, at our house, you might know Heidi, my wife, does not mess around when it comes to Christmas decorations. We have 10 Christmas trees decorated and up in our house. Yes, it's a little crazy. It's also beautiful and pretty fantastic. Our house is like winter wonderland this time of year.
And probably like many of you, we did. This is so good. I love this day and age we live in. We did almost all of our shopping online during Thanksgiving break. It was pretty fantastic.
Which, of course, means that the Amazon guy is going to come to my house soon so many times over the next few weeks that we will know him by name and we'll probably get him a stocking. I'm excited. Heidi and I talked about it. We're gonna get him matching PJs so we can get a Christmas car picture together.
But here at church, all the decorations are up. They look beautiful. Thank you to our team of volunteers. Thank you. Thank you.
We've already had a little snow. It's still lingering outside. There's just a buzz in the air this time of year, isn't there? But for those of us who are in Jesus, we know that there's something even more, something greater, something more potent under the surface of all of this, underneath all the sparkle and tradition, there's something even better. Christmas for us marks the most pivotal moment in human history since God said, let there be light.
It's the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus, our Savior, Immanuel, God with us. And the danger for those of us who have been around this story for a long time is for us to just kind of drift into December, lulled to sleep by the melody of Christmas, kind of wrapping ourselves in the blanket of Christmas, like this warm, familiar blanket that we've wrapped ourselves in a thousand times. And so we take the Nativity story and we retell it, we sing it, we decorate with it. And if we're not careful. We become so familiar with this story of a baby in a manger that the wonder and the amazement seem to fade.
This incredible miracle becomes ordinary, or even worse. It feels more like us, if we're honest, like a fairy tale rather than a reality. So today, in this new series and as over the next couple weeks and into Christmas Eve, I want to try to reset our wonder a bit and start start by pulling back, zooming out a bit and putting into context why it's such a big deal that Jesus came at all. So we'll look at the prophecy from Isaiah, chapter nine, where over 700 years prior to the birth of Jesus, Isaiah proclaims to the world the Kash King that's on the horizon. Here's what it says.
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. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness. From that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. These are probably very familiar titles to us. We sing them.
They're on our favorite Christmas mug. They might be embroidered on a sweatshirt. But these aren't just pretty titles or Christmasy lyrics. These names reach all the way back to the book of Genesis in the Garden of Eden and point all the way forward to a child who will be born to us, fulfilling the oldest promise in scripture. And then all the way to the heavenly king who will return and set all things right once and for all.
So let's start in the garden. God finishes creation. And it's good. He says it's good. He makes Adam and Eve, and he says it is very good.
And he gives them only one boundary. You can't eat of the fruit of this one tree. But they can't resist the temptation. Now imagine that moment that they're caught, Adam and Eve standing there with like kids with their hands in the cookie jar, chocolate all over their face, their cheeks packed with the first bite. And God says, adam, Eve, did you.
Did you take one? Panic and fear, holding their hands behind their back. You know, Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent. And with one single act of rebellion, the entire cosmos is fractured.
God pronounces a curse on the serpent, on Eve, and on Adam. And as he sends them out of the garden, out of the light of his presence. And just as darkness seems to settle over everything, he also gives them a glimmer of hope. Now, they couldn't possibly have understood what he meant, but he promises that one day a child will be born that will finally and once and for all, crush the head of the serpent. Now, I have to imagine in the shock and the shame of the moment, that's not what they heard.
Adam and Eve barely even heard the promise. The volume of being cast out of God's presence, the volume of the shame roaring and blaring around them, would have just drowned out this tiny little glimmer of hope.
Just a tiny little glimmer of light in what felt like overwhelming darkness. And that tiny little glimmer of light won't come into focus for a very, very long time. It shows up faintly throughout the Old Testament. It shows up in God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 that he will be the father of many nations and that they will be blessed so that they can be a blessing to others. It shows up in Genesis 49, this little blip when God cryptically promises that a king will come from the tribe of Judah.
Just a faint whisper until the promise pops into view with a little more clarity. In 2 Samuel, chapter 7, the prophet Nathan gives King David a promise. It says, you, house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. It's cryptic, but it's there.
God tells David that his royal line will reign forever, that it will be an eternal throne. And that sounds great for David, but even these words don't yet give us a glimpse of the Messiah. Almost immediately after this promise, things really get sideways. David's son Solomon becomes king. He starts his reign with incredible wisdom and devotion.
Things are going very well, but he ends his life chasing after the false gods of the nations around him. And because of Solomon's disobedience, God tears the kingdom into to the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And once again, darkness covers nearly everything, while the small glimmer seems to disappear in over 270 years. Israel's history is marked by instability and idolatry and corruption and spiritual decline. There are a few bright spots, but it's mostly darkness.
It mostly feels like the flame of that promise is all but snuffed out. And then fast forward. 12 Kings after David Ahaz becomes king of the southern kingdom, and his reign becomes one of the darkest, most fearful moments in history. And it's in this deep darkness that God chooses to blow on that tiny little coal of his ancient promise. Let's set the scene.
Ahaz is king over the southern kingdom, ruling in Jerusalem on David's throne. A descendant of David, the northern kingdom of Israel, has joined forces with the nation of Syria, and together they plan to attack the southern kingdom, Ahaz in Jerusalem. God's people fighting against themselves with the help of a pagan nation. This is not good. They plan to overthrow the southern kingdom and King Ahaz and then form an even larger army to deal with an even greater problem, which is the superpower of Assyria to the northeast.
Assyria has already invaded the northernmost tribes of the northern kingdom, captured cities, and carried off tens of thousands of people into exile. And the ruler of Assyria is a ruthless king named Tiglath Pileasar III. We will affectionately refer to him henceforth as TP3.
To get to know TP3 a bit, here is what he had inscribed on a wall. He paid some guy to come and put this on the wall in his palace. This is what it reads. The palace of Tiglath Pileassar, the great king, the mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world, the hero, the warrior. I mean, it just goes on and on and on and on.
He's looking in the mirror every day and going, you are so handsome.
He thought he was a big deal. Quite frankly, he was a big deal. So again, Ahaz is the king of the southern kingdom, and he's faced in the north by an army of his own people. And from the northeast. TP3 and the Assyrians are coming too.
For the line of David, this is a moment of deep despair and darkness. And it's into this darkness once again that God sends the prophet Isaiah to give Ahaz a message. Here is that message. Isaiah 7, verse 1. When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, marched up to fight Against Jerusalem, verse 3.
Then the Lord said to Isaiah, go out, you and your son. Sheer Jashub. Shirjeshub means a remnant or a leftover piece will return. Now, this is the only mention of Isaiah's son in the entire Bible. And his name means something.
That means something. So file this away because this matters. So he says, go, you and your son to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool on the road to the launderer's field say to him, be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood. Because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.
God says, hey, don't worry, don't worry, I've got this. These two, they look like a huge fire. They're really just smoldering stubs. Verse 7. Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says.
It will not take place. They will not come. This will not happen. It will not happen. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand firm at all.
God says, trust me. And in his grace. He also tells Ahaz to ask for a sign. He's like Ahaz, if you don't believe me, just ask for a sign. I'll give you a sign.
Whatever you want. And Ahaz refuses. He says he won't ask cause he's already made up his mind. The odds are against him. God can't save him.
Now that his only choice is to preemptively align himself with with Assyria. Isaiah tries one more time to plead with him to trust God. He even reminds him of God's promise to David. Isaiah 7, verse 13. Then Isaiah said, hear now, you house of David.
He's like, you come from the line of the promise. You are a great great, great, great, great great grandson of David. He made the promise, don't forget. Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?
Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. You didn't ask for a sign. He's going to give you one anyway. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel. Now I imagine Ahaz has no idea what this guy's talking about.
A virgin having a son named God with us? That sounds crazy. Assyria's breathing down his neck. His own people are against him. The darkness is so thick.
Thick. The glimmer of a promise is so faint. So Ahaz makes an agreement with the Assyrian king. TP3 that echoes Adam and Eve's decision to align with the serpent in the garden. And things only get worse.
We read about this in 2nd Kings 16. Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria, I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel who are attacking me. And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the Temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. Ahaz symbolically and literally robs the temple of God.
He turns his back on God and he runs after the power of this world. And as if it weren't enough, after the king of Assyria defeats Ahaz's enemies, Ahaz goes to visit TP3. And when he does, he sees that the Assyrians worship a different God and they have a different kind of altar. And he draws a sketch of it because he thinks it looks pretty nice. And then he sends word back to the priests over God's holy temple in Jerusalem.
And he says, build a temple like this, and we're going to start worshiping this other God.
And not only that, they put that altar in the temple. He says, shove the old temple out of the way. We will put this temple where that one stood, and we will now make all of our sacrifices to a new God. He literally pushes God's altar out of the way. He's completely turned his back on God.
How much darker could things be? It's in this extreme darkness that God gives Isaiah a continued message. Isaiah 8:20.
Consult God's instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land. When they are famished, they will become enraged and looking upward, will curse their God and king. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom.
And they will be thrust into utter darkness. Merry Christmas.
Now our Bibles have a chapter break right here between chapter eight and chapter nine. Those were added much later than the writing. And I think this is a bad chapter break because it's so clear. Chapter 9, verse 1 is immediately connected to this. And they will be thrust into utter darkness.
9:1 nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. We'll talk about that in a minute. But in the future, he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan. Isaiah is recalling how the Assyrians have already come and attacked the northernmost tribes, those two tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali.
And they have taken captive people off into Assyria. But he says, a day's coming where God's going to flip this script. And when he flips this script, he's going to redeem things in reverse order.
Now he says he's going to bring redemption first to the northern region of now. If you know your Bible in history, then you know that Jesus is called Jesus of Nazareth. Well, Nazareth is in Galilee. And we see the echo of the promise coming. Isaiah says one day God is going to restore what has been broken.
And here's what he says it will look like in the next verse. The people walking in darkness have seen a great on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned. And then in verse 4, Isaiah compares this moment to a moment in history that felt very much like this, where God's people were without hope, without light. If you were here for our Gideon series, then you'll remember this story where Gideon and his people were surrounded by the Midianites and they were outnumbered 450 to 1. Impossible odds, Isaiah says in Isaiah 9, 4.
For as in the day of Midian's defeat, because Gideon won, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors. If you remember the story, then you remember that God sent Gideon and his tiny little army under the COVID of darkness. And he sent them with trumpets and torches and a pot to cover the torch. And the instruction was, at the right moment, break the pot and the light will break into the darkness. And through that light, God will bring redemption.
Impossibly. Do you see the beautiful imagery here? If you remember that story, you can see Jesus coming and you see that the whole Bible is all about him from COVID to cover. This, Isaiah says, is what it will be like when the Messiah comes. But even with this promise on the horizon, within 10 years, the northern kingdom completely falls to Assyria.
The southern kingdom is plagued with unfaithfulness, evil and detestable kings over more than 100 years, until after countless warnings, God raises up another superpower, the Babylonians. And they come and they capture and it brings judgment on God's people. And they carry them away to captivity. And the light has faded so much, it is so dark. 70 years of captivity, the promise of an everlasting throne seems impossible.
There's no temple, there's no throne, there's no nation of Israel at all. Surely things are too far gone. Surely the darkness has overcome the light. And then for 400 years, there's silence. It's what we call the intertestamental period.
It's the period of 400 years between the end of the New Testament and the beginning, or, I'm sorry, the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament, where it looks like God is doing nothing, it's just silence. But remember the name of Isaiah's son. A remnant will return. A leftover peace will remain in the middle of all this political chaos and spiritual compromise and generational collapse. God promises through Isaiah.
And notice it's a promise that's written in present tense, even though it will not be fulfilled for 700 years. Isaiah 9:6. 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.
God doesn't promise a bigger army or a louder king. He doesn't say, I'll send someone to take out Assyria and get them out of your way. He doesn't say, I'll send a warrior who matches darkness with more darkness. God promises a child. Not a tyrant, not a warlord, not a king who's dark enough to beat the dark.
A child. And this child will shoulder a government, will sit on a throne that can never be overthrown, will rule over a kingdom that can never be conquered, with a peace that cannot be snuffed out. And Isaiah tells us this child will come as light. Pure, piercing, unstoppable light. In the first chapters of the New Testament, despite this, what looks like 400 years of silence, we see that the promise that God gave to Adam and Eve in the garden, it's been echoing and echoing and echoing, and it's echoed again through Isaiah and it keeps echoing and echoing and then, bam, it bursts into view.
John 1:1 in the beginning was the Word. This is all the way back at creation. The Word is Jesus, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made.
Without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. The Word Jesus became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, who, full of grace and truth. And we read in Luke chapter two, the shepherds are keeping watch over their flocks. At night it's dark, and into the darkness the pot of the sky breaks open and light pours in with an angel army proclaiming the coming of Jesus. Just like Gideon's jars broke into the light and brought salvation, suddenly the sky is broken open. Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled.
The people walking in darkness, those living in the land of deep darkness, have seen a great light. A great blinding, explosive, earth altering light. Not a flashlight. The most brilliant light into the most darkness that we could fathom. This is the coming of the Messiah.
Jesus himself, the Promised One, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And it's just like Isaiah said it would be. A child. A child. Isaiah 9:6.
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.
We've now officially made it through my intro.
I'm only partly kidding, but in the time we have left today and over the next couple weeks and Christmas Eve, I want us to look at the titles, these titles that Isaiah proclaims about the coming light, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Notice, they're all proclamations that kind of echo the titles that kings like TP3 gave to themselves. But these titles are very different for a very different kind of king. So today, Wonderful Counselor, the title, this title in Hebrew is two words, just like it is in English. The word wonderful is pele.
But this isn't our modern word for wonderful. Like, you hear a great story and you're like, oh, that's wonderful. This is very different. This is a word only used to describe God himself. It's not a word for people, it's a word for deity.
It's extraordinary, impossible, miraculous, beyond comprehension. The Messiah is an extraordinary, miraculous and beyond comprehension kind of counselor. And that word counselor is Yaats. It's one who advises with wisdom, one who guides and consults and gives counsel. And so this title together, the Wonderful Counselor is one who guides, consults, and counsels with miraculous, extraordinary ability.
Now, of course, we don't go to a counselor unless we think we need help, unless we're willing to trust someone, unless we believe that the person across from us is safe. And this is where Jesus is different from anyone else in our lives. He is the only counselor who knows everything, yes, everything out there in the entirety of the universe, all throughout time. But he also also knows the true reality of everything inside of us, things that we don't even understand. No earthly counselor sees us in whole as we truly are and fully understands the cosmos.
And what's more is he knows all of that and still loves us with a more complete love than anything we've ever known. Tim Keller has a beautiful quote. He's talking about marriage but it applies right to this. He says, to be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.
But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. To be fully known and fully loved is what all of us deeply long for. And that's exactly what our wonderful counselor does. He is the only one who knows us entirely and loves us completely. Romans 5:8 says, While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Not after we got cleaned up, not once we got our act together or after we proved our worth to him, while we were still in the dark, bathing in darkness, while we were still hiding, while we were enemies of God. Psalm 139 says, he knows every thought that we have before we think it, every word before we speak it, every fear we carry, every moment we've tried to hide. There's no darkness too thick for him to see through and see us, no secret too heavy for him to heal. And unlike every earthly counselor, Jesus doesn't just sit across from us. Jesus stepped into the darkness with us.
Hebrews 4 says, he sympathizes with our weakness and has been tempted in every way, yet remained without sin. He understands he's experienced this world, too. He understands we need help. He understands we're frail. He understands we need healing.
He understands what it feels like to walk in the dark, to be tempted. So he came for us.
Advent is a season where we wait in the dark until the beautiful moment when the light of the world bursts onto the scene.
So do you know him as a wonderful counselor?
Not a distant God, not a childhood story, not a holiday ritual, but as the one who knows you fully, loves you fully, knows everything there is to know, and wants to be your guide.
Do you believe he is the wonderful counselor? Do you believe he has something to say to you?
Maybe harder. Do you believe that his voice is greater than your own voice of fear or your past or your shame or your mistakes? Or the voices, the many voices of this world that are just saying, I'm big and strong and powerful and I can save you. Just sell your soul.
Many of us are walking through darkness right now. The ache is real. The loneliness is heavy. The anxiety is strong. The grief is so debilitating.
Marriage is strained.
The shame feels suffocating. And all of that. Into all of that, Jesus, our wonderful counselor, says, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The great Prince of Peace. There's one more wonderful thing about this counselor.
He went to the cross taking on our sin and shame, bearing the weight of the darkness in our lives, and pouring out through his blood an endless river of grace. I say this, I need you to hear this. There is grace enough for you too. There's grace enough for you too. Yes, there is grace enough for you too.
You cannot out sin the level of grace, endless grace that God cannot wait to lavish on his children.
We cannot out sin his grace. Hebrews 4:14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest, Jesus himself, who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness. But we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet tempted did not sin.
Let us then don't miss this. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with fear and anxiety and shame and weakness. No, it says, let us approach his throne of grace with confidence. As those who know that we know that we know that his grace is enough so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Not the throne of shame, not the throne of condemnation.
The throne of grace. The throne of grace is where light breaks through.
This is where the wonderful counselor meets us. This is where healing begins. So I want to invite you to come. Come. Step out of the shadows, step out of the darkness.
Step into this light of grace and approach God's throne of grace with confidence that the blood of Christ is simply enough. Because he is the Promised One. He is the light in the darkness. He is our wonderful counselor. So come with your wounds and your failures and your doubts and your secrets and come to the one who fully knows you and still fully loves you.
Come. Today we're going to sing another song. We'll have some folks down here at the bottom of the ramp. Our prayer team, they'd love to to pray with you, pray for you. But come, whatever that looks like, maybe that looks like just turning to the person you came with and saying, today's the day, no more shame.
I'm stepping toward the throne of grace with confidence that Christ's blood is enough. Maybe it looks like coming to talk to one of us. Maybe it looks like coming to receive prayer. Maybe it looks like to talking to someone at the information desk. But whatever it looks like to step toward that light, the light has come, Church.
The light has come and he is willing and able and he has finished the work. So come. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. And that light is here. His name is Jesus.
Our wonderful counselor. Will you stand and we'll pray together?
Wonderful counselor King Jesus, there are still so many pieces of this that our minds can't even comprehend. But we come to you in faith, knowing that you can step toward us as we step toward you. And we ask you to come with all of your light and all of your grace and all of your blood and all of your body giving for us.
Would you shed your light on us today? And for those who are walking in great darkness among us, listening online around us, God, we pray that you will crack into this, that you will break the pot covering the light, and you will break into our lives with light.
The Savior of the world has come. Thank you, King Jesus, our wonderful counselor. Amen.