Christmas

We talk about our Lord’s conception and we say, yes, His name is Wonderful, for our Lord’s divine nature is wonderful. Jesus was a true man; we confess that and we confess it gladly because He became like us in His humanity. He identified with us in all of the sufferings that we know. The Bible says He became like us in every respect, except in the fact that we are sinners and He was sinless.

Jesus’ teaching was truly unparalleled. On one occasion, the chief priests and Pharisees sent the temple guards out to arrest Him, and they came back a while later not having done it. When the religious leaders heard this, they asked, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” The guards replied, “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (John 7:45-46). Can you imagine a policeman refusing to arrest someone whom he was sent to arrest because the man spoke wonderfully? Yet, that’s what happened in the case of Jesus Christ. So wonderful were His words, so wonderful was His teaching, that His enemies were unable to effect His arrest until He Himself brought about His own arrest in order to line things up for His own crucifixion.

Seventh, the Lord Jesus Christ is wonderful in His death for others. First of all, it was a voluntary death. He didn’t need to die. At His arrest, when one of the twelve disciples drew a sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest, Jesus rebuked the disciple and said that if He wished, He could call forth legions of angels. God would send them to His aid to defend Him. We read in the Bible that death is the penalty for sin. Jesus was sinless, and therefore didn’t need to die. Yet He did die, nevertheless, for the sins of others. He did it voluntarily and He spoke about it on numerous occasions.

There are many wonderful texts in the Old Testament that prophesy the coming of Jesus Christ. But one of the most remarkable of all is Isaiah 9:6. It’s part of Handel’s Messiah, so we have heard it sung and no doubt we’ve recited it. We have heard it read many times at Christmas: “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.”

When you begin to ask even the simplest of questions about your own identity, you’ll soon find yourself plunged into a realm that goes far beyond anything you and I could answer by ourselves. Where are we going to find a counselor who can help us with those questions? Isaiah says that there was to be a child born who will give us counsel. Moreover, this Messiah is God come in human form.

Someone might conclude that all of this is interesting, but ask how it is that this term “Everlasting Father” is used of Christ. After all, Jesus is the Son, not the Father. What is Isaiah talking about when He speaks of the coming Messiah as the “Everlasting Father”? By using this name of the child who will be born, Isaiah is identifying this child with Almighty God. We need to remember that toward the end of Jesus’ ministry Philip asked Him to show the disciples the Father. And Jesus’ response was, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8-9). Jesus was affirming the unity of His divine nature with the Father.

When Jesus came to be a wonderful counselor and then by the resurrection and ascension return to heaven, He did not leave us without wisdom. Rather, He continues to provide the wisdom we need. James talks about it. He says, “Do any of you lack wisdom?” Any of us who have any wisdom at all at that point say, “Indeed we do! We lack it a great deal.” And then he says “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who upbraideth not but giveth to all men liberally (or generously), and it will be given him.” And he goes on in that same chapter to say, “Every good gift comes from God.” If you value wisdom, ask God for it, and He will give it to you. It comes through Jesus Christ, our Wonderful Counselor.

In a sinful and increasingly unrighteous world, we may feel that we lack power. It can seem as if the evil all around us is winning. But before Jesus’ ascension, He told his disciples, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8). And with that message and that assurance they literally went out and transformed the world.

Sermon: Four Gifts for Christmas
Scripture: Isaiah 9:6
In this week’s lessons, we look further at the four names of Christ seen in Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the child to be born.
Theme: The Gift of Peace