Unto Us a Son is Given - “COUNSELLOR” is His Name. Read more...

• With whom took God Counsel, and who Instructed God? - Consider this awesome description of God in Isa 40:12-15, as this passage declares God’s unparalleled creative power and His infinite wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. As one looks around at this beautiful world and the seemingly infinite universe we are awed at the One who brought this fantastic creation into existence by His Word. Isa 40:14 poses this rhetorical question:“With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?”. The infinite chasm that exists between God’s thoughts and man’s is addressed in Isa 55:8-9: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. God created the universe and established His physical, moral, and spiritual laws according to His infinite wisdom and sovereign will. He enforces His rules for His righteous purposes and for His glory according to His standards of perfect justice. Likewise Isa 45:20-24 reveals His “re-creation”, or “regeneration” power through salvation. It is His Word that accomplishes the salvation of a sinner as Isa 55:11 declares: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it”. Isa 25:1 affirms this: “O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth”.

Isa 40:12-15 “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 14With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 15Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”

Col 1:15-19 “Who [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”

Isa 45:20-24 “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. 21Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 23I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”

• The Counsel of the LORD Standeth for Ever - Pro 21:30 declares “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD”. Deu 32:4 proclaims, “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he”. Not only is God the Truth, but in every aspect of His Divine personality He flawlessly operates on that same basis as He purposefully executes His plan with meticulous care to redeem each of His lost sheep for His own glory and honor. In Psa 105:8-10, God alludes to the everlasting covenant of the “promised land” – the land of Canaan, a picture of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God (Heb 11:9-10 and 16), as He spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and, by extension, to all true Christians (Gal 4:28, Gal 3:29): “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant …”. The Living God is the very essence of Truth as Heb 6:16-19 highlights: “... Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability [unchangeableness] of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation ...”. Mic 7:20 further adds, “Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old”. Mal 3:6 affirms, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed”. Psa 146:5-6 states: “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever …”. In Isa 46:9-10 God states: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure …”. The pleasure of the Lord is accomplished by the atonement work of Christ as Isa 53:10-11 declares: “... thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin ... and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand”. The Lord Jesus is even typified by the pagan king, Cyrus, in Isa 44:28, “… He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid”. 2 Cor 6:16 informs us that believers “… are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people”. Heb 10:7 (quoting Psa 40:7) proclaims: “… Lo, I [Jesus Christ] come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God”.

Heb 6:16-19 “For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability [unchangeableness] of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”

Psa 33:10-11 “The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.”

Jer 23:5-6 “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”.

• Unto us a Son is Given: His Name shall be called “Counsellor” - Isa 9:6 is a passage that is quoted frequently at Christmas time and is sung in Handel’s “Messiah”: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. “Counsellor” is the second title given to the Lord Jesus Christ in this familiar passage, which is the prophetic utterance that Christ would take upon Himself a human nature and still retain His eternal position in the Godhead. We are confronted in this passage with the sheer magnitude and glorious majesty of God Himself as it lists five of the Lord Jesus’ names: Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. In Psa 119:24 one learns that God’s Word is the counselor : “Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors”. Actually, the Bible is filled with the “counselors” we so earnestly need. Pro 11:14 says, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors [which is the Bible] there is safety”. It is His Word that created this infinite universe, it is His Word that accomplishes the salvation of a sinner and it is His Word that leads and guides us to eternal life. One of the most marvelous truths of Scripture is the “incarnation” (“in the flesh”) of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Word personified as we see in John 1:1,14 : “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us ...”. John 1 continues in verses 3, 4, 9: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men ... That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”. Simeon under the inspiration of Holy Spirit, also spoke of Lord Jesus in Luke 2:32 as: “A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel”. 1 Cor 1:24 reminds us, “… Christ the power [dunamis:G1411] of God, and the wisdom of God”. The Greek word for “power” is dunamis, and we can get us some idea of the amazing “power” God possesses when we realize that the English word “dynamite” was derived from this Greek word. However, the greatest demonstration of God’s power is seen in Rom 1:4, “And declared to be the Son of God with power [or dunamis, G1411], according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead…”. We must not forget the vital role of the Holy Spirit (as a person of Triune God), as well as that of God the Father and God the Son in transmitting, preserving, and interpreting the God-breathed words of Scripture for each child of God (1 Cor 2:12-14, John 14:26, John 16:13). Even the mystery of the Trinity is revealed in this verse Isa 9:6, as God the Son, Jesus Christ, is called the “Counsellor”, “the Mighty God” and “the Everlasting Father”. The Scriptures declares in Col 2:9, “For in him [Lord Jesus]  dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”. Hence, God the Son boldly asserted in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”.

Isa 41:28-29 “For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counselor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word. 29Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.”

Isa 42:1-8 “Behold my servant [or the Lord Jesus], whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. 5Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: 6I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. 8I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”

Luke 4:17-19 “And there was delivered unto him [Lord Jesus Christ] the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me [Lord Jesus Christ], because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Luke 2:25-33 “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 28Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel [Israel of God or the Elect]. 33And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.”