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WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, WONDERFUL CHILD
“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.” ISAIAH 9:6 (ESV)
If it was in your power, how would you go about redressing the tyranny, oppression, and suffering that marks and mars our world? What would your solution look like? We all have our ideas—but here is God’s: His definitive answer to all of the world’s darkness was to send a child.
The people of Israel had long been awaiting the arrival of the one who would embody all of their hopes. The prophets had been declaring the coming of a Messiah, and the expectation of such a deliverer steadily grew. Isaiah added significant fuel to the fire of this longing, declaring that the Messiah would come as “a child,” “a son,” and that “the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Who could possibly fill this description? Surely no one had yet come who lived up to such language. But it was this child—who came not in military might or with flashes of lightning but in a trough, surrounded by animals and shepherds at His birth—who was God’s answer to sin and death. He alone would rule His kingdom “with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:7).
Isaiah says the child-king would be called “Wonderful Counselor.” Kings were known in some measure by their counselors. The extent of their authority and rule was made apparent by the number of advisers they could call upon for guidance. And yet this King would have none. He Himself is the Wonderful Counselor; He has no need of any outside wisdom in order to rule with absolute perfection as well as total authority.
This same Wonderful Counselor is the sole remedy for all expressions of suffering and evil in the world—including those in your life. Are you joyfully submitting to His plans and are you bowing your knee to His rule? Have you entrusted all your ways and all your concerns to His counsel? When His ways and yours are not the same, do you accept that He knows better than you and walk the way He calls you to? God’s gift to His world is no ordinary child. This is Christ the Lord, your wonderful Savior!
- How is God calling me to think differently?
- How is God reordering my heart’s affections—what I love?
- What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?
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About this Plan
At Christmastime, Advent calendars serve as tangible reminders of expectation slowly moving toward fulfillment. Likewise, the Old Testament records how the failures and weaknesses of God’s people created a longing and a need for a perfect King to come. This four-day plan reminds us that Jesus’ birth wasn’t an isolated event but the fulfillment of God’s promise to establish His kingdom forever. In Christ alone we find our long-expected, perfect King.
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