Present Truth
‘and his name shall be called Wonderful’: this means extraordinary, exceptional, remarkable. It is the name of the angel who appeared to Samson’s parents in Judges 13 verse 18 which would indicate that this was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Himself. Psalm 89 verse 6 says, ‘For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?’ In Matthew 21 verse 15, the leaders in Israel ‘saw the wonderful things that he did’, although their response was envy and hatred, as it had been with Joseph as we noted in Acts 7 verse 9. The disciples ‘wondered’ in Mark 6 verse 51, when He walked on the sea. The people ‘wondered’ in Luke 11 verse 14, when He cast out a demon. The more we learn of Him, it makes us amazed. He is superior to angels (Hebrews 1 verse 4); superior to Moses (Hebrews 3 verse 6); greater than Jonah (Matthew 12 verse 41); greater than Solomon (Matthew 12 verse 42).
‘Counsellor’: Isaiah 11 verse 2 reminds us that ‘The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel.’ He can resolve and find a solution to any matter that is raised, so unlike the counsels of men. Divine counsel does not change, Hebrews 6 verse 17. The people realized that He was different. Mark 1 verse 22 records ‘he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes’. ‘In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2 verse 3).
‘The Mighty God’: the word for ‘God’ is ‘El’ in Hebrew, and here, we think of His strength and power. We can think of ‘Eloah’, often used in Job, God as the supreme object of worship, or El Shaddai, the all sufficient God. As for His might, we can consider Isaiah 40: ‘He taketh up the isles as a very little thing’ (verse 15); ‘it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;’ (verse 22); ‘ Hast thou not heard … the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary?’ (verse 28). The Lord is holding all things together with all authority and power as the Creator, otherwise there would be chaos.
‘the everlasting Father’: God’s people will never lack the divine love and care of a true Father and we are encouraged to know that He never sleeps. In Isaiah 40 verse 11 we are reminded of the shepherd character of God, He feeds his flocks and gathers the lambs. We remember that the Lord gathered children into His arms when He walked on this earth. He saw the people as ‘sheep not having a shepherd’ (Mark 6 verse 34). We recall that He wept over the city and would have gathered them ‘as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings’ (Matthew 23 verse 37), which is a lovely picture of His tender and protective care for His own.
‘Prince of Peace’: we know that ‘he is our peace’ (Ephesians 2 verse 14) and that He made peace for us in His death (Colossians 1:20). Richard reminded us that that He brings peace to troubled hearts and when He left the earth, He left us ‘another Comforter’ of the same kind (John 14 verse 16). The world cannot give peace; it makes peace that is transitory and behind it there are impure motives. Even in the garden of Gethsemane, the Lord acted as a peacemaker when He restored the ear of Malchus, and told Peter to put his sword away (John 18 verse 11). Our verse in Isaiah looks forward to an increase of His government and peace. This is not just the millennial reign but beyond that, it includes the eternal state where nothing can disturb us.
Beloved, if I wrote a hundred articles, I could never expound all the truths of our blessed Lord. Let us call these truths to our minds and worship Him:
‘Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created’ (Revelation 4 verse 11).
Alan E Baguley