Sunday, November 30, 2008: Jesus: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God

Jesus: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God
Isaiah 9: 1 – 7.


I. Introduction.

I have always had a kind of fascination with the figure of speech known as an oxymoron. This is when we place two opposite words side by side to make a point. This includes phrases like: pretty ugly; jumbo shrimp; deafening silence; holy war; United Nations; top floor; long shorts; Cooperative Baptists; organized religion…

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. This is the beginning of the Christmas season. As Christian men and women, we ought to use these next four weeks to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus.

Since today is the first Sunday of Advent, I can tell you with all confidence that Christmas is only four weeks away! We can’t stop it. Christmas is coming. This means we have only four weeks to get ready for the two greatest oxymorons of all time.

First, we are preparing for Silent Night! Whoever wrote that song did not have small children in his home! In the past 13 years, Christmas Eve has NEVER been a Silent Night in our household.

Second, we are preparing for the coming of the King. Jesus came to earth as the earth’s rightful King. But, he did not come with the expected royal trappings. There was no pomp and circumstance surrounding his birth. The King came to earth as a lowly baby, born in a stable. He lived a humble life and died the death of a criminal. Jesus is a King whose life did not resemble the life of a traditional king.

The birth of Jesus is told in only two of the four Gospels. Matthew tells us part of the story, while Luke tells us another part of the story. Mark and John do not tell us anything about the story of Jesus’ birth. Both Matthew and Luke go to great lengths to connect the dots between the birth of Jesus and the prophecies of the Old Testament. They realized that Jesus’ birth was no ordinary birth. Rather, this was the fulfillment of something promised by God and hoped for by God’s people for hundreds of years.

It was no coincidence that Jesus was born of a virgin…It was prophesied long ago. It was no coincidence that Jesus would be the Incarnation of God…It was prophesied long ago.


Read Isaiah 9: 1 – 7.


II. Context.

In v. 1, Isaiah predicted that a light would one day shine across the dark land…Light is the only universal religious symbol recognized by all major world religions…Light = Good . . . Dark = Evil.

Symbolically, Isaiah was predicting a day when something good or pure would penetrate into the darkness of this world and transform the evil world into a good world…Like the sun rising in the east on a cold dark morning.

The original setting for this passage was probably a celebrative occasion…Jewish tradition interprets this as a song of rejoicing when Hezekiah became king of Judah…Israel and Judah had been divided for a little over 200 years…Both nations had their good kings & bad kings…At times, each had been controlled by other, wicked empires…Specifically, both had fallen prey to Assyria…But the people remembered the promise God had made to David back in the “good old days.”

Judah had a wicked king, Ahaz for the past 20 years…Ahaz had built altars to Damascus gods throughout the land…Ahaz encouraged people to worship in the “high places”…Ahaz had made a treaty with the king of Assyria…Ahaz became even more wicked as he got older.
Now, Judah’s only hope lay in the hands of Ahaz’ son, Hezekiah…At the time of his father’s death, Hezekiah was 25 yrs old.

And Hezekiah did meet the people’s expectations…He restored the Davidic rule by struggling to make Judah independent of Assyria…He restored the proper religious practices to Judah by tearing down all the high places and temples of false worship.

But Hezekiah’s fulfillment of expectations was incomplete to say the least…He could not unite the 2 kingdoms into one nation…His political & religious reforms only lasted a short time, until his son Manasseh became king…He could not bring the everlasting peace that Isaiah & the people hoped for.

This does not surprise you and me, because we have the luxury of 2600 years hindsight…As we look back through time, we know that Isaiah’s prophecies were not fully realized until Jesus Christ came into this world…We know this because, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel writers have interpreted Isaiah as pointing to Christ.

Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the Messianic expectations…Only Jesus can claim to be the True Light penetrating this dark & evil world.

That is why the Gospel of John used several different occasions to describe Jesus as the True Light of the World…John 1: 5, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”…John 8: 12, “Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

But remember, Hezekiah and his 29 years as king were not the perfect fulfillment of the Messianic expectations…Once Hezekiah’s reign ended, the people were back in the same situation they were once in.

It was only after the birth of Jesus that we have true reasons to rejoice…Our slavery to sin & the eternal consequences of sin have been lifted from our shoulders like a yoke…Our battle against this evil world will one day cease.


III. Wonderful Counselor.

Counselor => Someone who gives advice or guidance…Specifically, someone who gives WISE advice—the kind of advice you want to receive…

In the past few weeks, the news media has given us daily reports about President-elect Barack Obama. One of the consistent stories has been Obama’s process of assembling his Presidential Cabinet. These men and women will be advisors and counselors to the new President. This is a newsworthy story, because we believe you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their advisors. If this is true about a President, it ought to be true about us. Who are your “advisors?” Who are your “counselors?”

Advice is a very unique thing. It is the ONLY thing in life we would rather give than receive. But often times, advice is a necessary thing. None of us has all the answers. No one can be an expert in every situation and circumstance of life. But usually, God places people in our lives who have been through similar circumstances. These people can help us to understand and help us to recognize the right and wrong things to do. Anyone can learn from his or her own mistakes. A wise person can learn from the mistakes of others.

Jesus is someone who has been where you are. He has faced temptation and overcome it without sin. He has faced pain and death beyond anything we could ever imagine, and he triumphed over pain and death. Jesus was disappointed by his friends. He felt the pain of broken relationships. He was disowned by his own family and betrayed by a close friend. Jesus has even wept at the grave of someone he loved.

On one hand, Jesus is a Wonderful Counselor, because he has been where we are. On the other hand, Jesus is a Wonderful Counselor, because of his nature. Jesus is no ordinary man. Jesus is God…Or, as Isaiah says…Jesus is Mighty God.


IV. Mighty God.

Make no mistake about it. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus is God. AND, Jesus himself claimed to be God. Now, what are we going to do about that?

I believe Jesus’ claims about himself leave us with only three options. We must decide: Was Jesus a Liar? Was Jesus a Lunatic? Is Jesus Lord?

A. Was Jesus a Liar?

Almost everyone who has ever read the Gospels says that Jesus was a good and wise teacher. In fact, that is what Gandhi said about Jesus. However, Jesus cannot be a good man if he was a liar.

When Jesus claimed to be God, he has forced us to choose between two options. Either Jesus is God, or Jesus is a liar and as a consequence, a bad person. To say Jesus is God is offensive to non-Christians. To say Jesus is a bad person is offensive to Christians. To say Jesus was a good person is an attempt to offend no one. But it is an offense to Jesus.

If Jesus were a liar, then perhaps we can find his motive for lying. Everyone who lies is motivated by some selfish reason. Lying is an attempt to gain money, fame, pleasure or power. But, Jesus got none of these from his claim to be God. Instead, Jesus lived a life of poverty, hated by the world, tortured and eventually killed. Jesus even shunned all attempts people made to enthrone him as a political ruler. Jesus spent his time with the poor and oppressed, not the powerful elite.

B. Was Jesus a Lunatic?

There are people in mental health institutions who believe they are God. Perhaps Jesus did not intentionally lie to us. Perhaps he genuinely believed he was God, but was wrong about it.

People who have what is known as a “divinity complex” demonstrate certain diagnosable characteristics. They are egotistical, narcissistic, predictable and unable to love others. These characteristics do not fit what history says about Jesus. Jesus demonstrated wisdom by the answers he gave to his critics. He considered the needs of other people. He was unpredictable in the ways he lived and responded to others. And, Jesus showed love for other people by the way he ministered to needs and eventually gave his life as a sign of God’s love for us.

C. Is Jesus Lord?

If Jesus was not a Liar or a Lunatic, then we should take him at his word. He is the Son of God, who lived as an example for us and died to give us forgiveness of sin. God sent his Son to search for you. All of our efforts to search for God will fail. But God’s effort to search for us will succeed in our answer to the question: Who do you believe Jesus is?


V. Conclusion.

Christmas is coming. That means Jesus is coming. Of course, there are lots of people who don’t really want to admit that. They change the word Christmas to the word X-Mas or Holiday. Some people exchange greetings like “Happy Holidays.” Sadly, they think they can keep Christ out of Christmas. But they can’t. Jesus is coming.

Wal-Mart cannot keep Christ out of Christmas. They cannot stop his coming. In fact, none of us can stop Christ from coming. He is coming either as our invited guest or an as unwelcomed intruder. But Jesus is coming.

Let’s welcome him as our Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God.