He Shall be Called: Wonderful Counselor

November 27, 2022

We’re beginning a new message series for Advent called: He shall be called. It comes from the book of the prophet Isaiah 9:6 “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.” That’s a beautiful verse. And of course, we hear it most at Christmas time. It makes us think of Jesus: he is the child who will be wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.

It is a verse filled with hope, written 700 years before Jesus. Jesus is all those things. But Isaiah wrote this for the people of his day, because of the trials they were going through. Jesus was still 700 years in the future. We hear beautiful quotes from Isaiah, especially at Christmas. Like Isaiah 11: “the wolf will dwell with the lamb…and a little child shall lead them.” You start to think, what a beautiful book Isaiah is! Until you read through it. Which we did in our Bible study this year. And rather than the book of Isaiah being filled with beautiful Christmas verses, Isaiah is really more like depressing verses of God’s punishment and judgement of the people of Judah and the kings of Judah for their sinful ways. For instance, Isaiah 7:14 says “A virgin will give birth to a son and call him Immanuel.” Then Isaiah goes right into destruction, about how before this child is old enough to tell right from wrong, the king of Assyria is coming to destroy your nation. It’s depressing.

I don’t tell you this to get you down. I tell you this to let you know, we are not the first people to go through difficult times. We aren’t the only people to live in a time of uncertainty. Worried about inflation. Concerned about the health of ourselves or a loved one. Or not sure what to give a family or friend for Christmas! I have a really hard time knowing what to buy for someone.

Isaiah was a prophet; he told the king and the people what God wanted them to do. The king, King Ahaz, didn’t listen to what Isaiah told him God wanted. King Ahaz trusted human allies instead. And God’s judgement came through the foreign army of Assyria. The Assyrian army invaded and brought destruction and despair. The people were suffering and needed hope.

That’s when God spoke words of hope through Isaiah, telling of a new king, who would be an innocent child. God would bless the people with this new king, who would be the opposite of their present, sinful, corrupt king. The idea of a new king brought hope for TODAY for the people. This new king, He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Each Sunday we will look at another name for this new king, another name to give us hope! So, today’s message is, “He shall be called Wonderful Counselor!”

The king, King Ahaz, was not a wonderful counselor. He didn’t listen to God’s counsel. He didn’t listen to what God wanted. Things were uncertain: how could he protect his nation? There were bigger nations with armies, how could he help the nation of Judah survive? He decided he knew best, better than God. He didn’t listen to Isaiah, and that ended with the Assyrian army invading. As a comparison maybe we can think of how Russia invaded Ukraine. Judah was not destroyed, but they experienced devastation.

The idea of a new king brought hope that this wonderful counselor would give good counsel and act rightly, because in uncertain times, he would not make up his own scheme. Instead, he would follow God and listen to God. It is hard making decisions as a king when you don’t know what to do. But wisdom was available from God. Uncertainty is a permanent part of life. Hope comes from following God.

Jesus would be a wonderful counselor. He listened to God. He would often go off to pray. When he didn’t know what to do, he would ask God. When he was about to be arrested, beaten, and crucified, he prayed and asked God: is it ok if I just don’t do this? But he knew God’s way was best. So, he said, “Whatever your will is, I will do it.” Because Jesus listened to God, God said at his baptism: this is my beloved son, LISTEN TO HIM! God was saying, Jesus is a wonderful counselor. Do what he says!

Today’s gospel reading from Mark 10:17-31 tells about a man who ran to Jesus and knelt before him, asking for good counsel. He asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus told him to keep the commandments. The man said, I have kept them since I was a boy. Jesus looked at him and loved him and said, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor. Then come, follow me.”

And the man was like whoa, whoa, whoa there! There’s no way I can do that! And he went away sad, because he had great wealth. This passage is pretty scary, right? Giving up everything is really hard, that’s absolutely true. But think about it, this man was just invited to become a disciple of Jesus. But he said, “No way. I have a lot of money, and God is not THAT important to me.” And he went away sad. He knew he had just missed the opportunity of a lifetime!

He didn’t listen to Jesus. He didn’t listen to the wonderful counselor. Sin talks to us, and says, “You have to look out for yourself. If God asks you to do something difficult: just say no. After all, you want to be in control. You know what’s best.” The rich man listened to sin, and not to God. Following God requires us to exercise some faith when we’re not sure how things will turn out. Uncertainty is a permanent part of life. Hope comes from following God.

Sometimes we don’t listen to the wonderful counsel of doctors, or we don’t even go see them in the first place! Sometimes our parents, or our kids, or someone close to us, give us wonderful counsel, that we don’t follow. 32 years ago, I had a spot on my skin that bled. I wasn’t worried about it and didn’t call a doctor. But Kevin went to a dermatologist about something he had. And when he did, I thought, well, then I guess I’ll go. It’s a good thing I did! I had a malignant melanoma skin cancer, and I’m alive today because I sought counsel! You don’t know what will happen when you go to the doctor, but it’s usually best to go to that doctor and listen to their counsel.

Doctors can be really helpful. Even better is the counsel of Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor.

My homework for you this week is ask Jesus, the wonderful counselor, “What are you leading me to do?”

2700 years ago, the kingdom of Judah had a king who did not listen to the counsel of God. He thought his way was best. That led to a disaster for his country. Sometimes we don’t listen to wise counsel because we think we know best. Listening to wise counsel can make life better, it can be lifesaving! Listening to the Wonderful Counselor leads to blessing upon blessing now, and gives hope in an uncertain world, that God is leading you forward. Amen.