The Christmas Wonder

(Written by Julie’s husband, Steve)

The mother looked up as her precocious four-year-old asked her for paper and crayons. “I am going to draw a picture of God” explained the girl.

Smiling, her mother asked, “You know that no one knows what God looks like, don’t you?”

Unfazed, the girl declared, “They will when I’m through.”

Of course, we have no pictorial record of what Jesus actually looked like, but we do get some powerful images of Him from the Old Testament prophets. They paint a portrait, not of what he looks like, but of his character.

The book of Isaiah contains some of the most descriptive prophecies of Israel’s Messiah. Many point to his birth: the virgin who is pregnant, a baby called Immanuel (literally, “God with us”), and the great joy for all humankind over the child born to bring peace.

In Isaiah 7:14, we are introduced to the sign of his coming, “Behold the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.” Two chapters later, in 9:6, Isaiah writes that this child “will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

When Isaiah uses a title like this and says the child will be called a Wonderful Counselor, he does not mean people will actually refer to him using that as a name. Rather Isaiah is stating a quality which is true of him–a trait which characterizes and defines him.

The English translation may sound like he is being endorsed as just a very good counselor. But the original Hebrew does not imply this at all. The thrust of this title is that he is a wonder of wonders. The same word is used in Psalm 78, calling the miracles of God a “wonder.” The miracles recounted there are the miracles involved in the exodus from Egypt. God performed such extraordinary acts through Moses that it blew the minds of the Israelites. Similarly, Isaiah is prophesying the Messiah will blow our minds with the incredible things he will do.

In Judges 13, the angel of the Lord (an appearance of God Himself) tells Manoah that his name is wonderful (the identical Hebrew word), meaning his name was beyond Manoah’s ability to comprehend.

Isaiah 9:6 tells us that the one born to Israel would be wonderful, for he himself would be a wonder. This wonder of wonders will end all oppression, hatred and warfare, and he will give cause for great joy and celebration. The One to be born would be distinct and unique from anyone else born into our world.

Additionally, when Isaiah speaks about the Messiah later on in chapter 11, he describes him as having the Spirit of the Lord resting on him, including “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; the Spirit of counsel and strength.” Not only is he beyond our understanding in his grandeur, but he is a counselor that will guide and direct his people, establish the kingdom, and provide wisdom where it could never be found before.

The Christmas season is a grand celebration of the coming of the One who is a Wonder of a Counselor, far beyond our comprehension and more glorious than we can imagine. He brought light to us who have lived in darkness and brought life where there has been only deadness and despair. Jesus stands ready to give eternal life. He wants to bring his presence into our lives and invites us to let him in. If we lack wisdom, James 1:5 tells us he invites us to simply ask for wisdom and the “wonder of a counselor” will provide it.

Ask him in. He delights in performing wonders.

Revelation 3:20
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”