“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:6
Seven centuries before the birth of Christ, God granted the great prophet Isaiah a glimpse of the Lord’s earthly ministry. Peering down the long corridor of time, Isaiah saw a unique and mysterious Son being given, a child being born. The Bible is precise on this fact. In the light of New Testament revelation, we understand that the Second Person of the blessed Trinity was the Son of God before His mysterious incarnation in the virgin’s womb. The Son of God was given but a child was born. This child was the promised “Seed of the woman” (Genesis 3:15). He was the Son of God incarnate. He was God in the flesh (John 1:1-3, 14). Isaiah wrote that the mysterious child to be born would be called “Wonderful.” In other words, He would show Himself to be extraordinary, even mysterious and hard to explain. This certainly describes our Lord Jesus, the One in Whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). If we are having trouble understanding how this can be, it may help to know we are in good company. The apostle Paul confessed, “without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). Our Lord is not only Wonderful in His preexistence and incarnation, but He showed Himself wonderful at His birth. Our Sovereign God used human agency to ensure that the child Jesus would be born at the precise time and place as predicted in the Holy Scriptures (Genesis 49:10; Matthew 2:4-6; Luke 2:1-4). God incarnate grew to show Himself wonderful in His teachings (John 7:46) and in His works (Mark 6:2). The Lord was Wonderful at death as He prayed for His murderers (Luke 23:34), secured care for His mother (John 19:26-27), and promised a repentant sinner paradise (Luke 23:42-43). Supernatural sign miracles attended the Lord’s death also (Matthew 27:45-54). Mysteriously, wonderfully, at His death our blessed Savior conquered Satan and all the forces of darkness on our behalf (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14-15; Romans 16:20). Our Lord showed Himself wonderful at His resurrection to glory, the supreme vindication of every radical claim He had ever made about Himself (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21; Acts 17:31). The Lord Jesus is Wonderful in the love He has for us (John 15:9), the peace He provides us (John 14:27), and the future He has promised us (Matthew 25:32-34; Revelation 2:7; 3:12, 21). Praise our wonderful Lord for who He is, what He has done, and what He promises yet to do.
God bless you,
Pastor John
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