“And His Name Shall Be Called: Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”
Isaiah 9:6

Click for Audio

Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Fourth Sunday in Advent—December 24, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

During the Advent and Christmas seasons this year we are focusing on the real “reason for the season” by meditating on the meanings of some of the hundreds of names and titles given in Scripture to the Babe of Bethlehem, whose birth we are celebrating:

“This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.”

“The Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

“You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . .  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

When each of our children was born, Terry and I sent out birth announcements with pictures of our newborn child to all of our friends and relatives.  Like a proud parent, God the Father also wants the whole world to know his Son.  And so, through the prophet Isaiah he proclaims, already six centuries BEFORE the birth of his Son into our world, the joyous news of his birth:

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

There is so much meaning packed into this one verse that in the year 1532 Martin Luther preached a series of five sermons on these descriptive names or titles which Isaiah gives to the Messiah.  Like the pictures we sent out with our birth announcements, with these five names of his Son, God the Father is actually giving us a PICTURE, of WHO his Son is and WHAT his Son will do.

“And His name shall be called Wonderful”

The word wonderful literally means “wonder-full,” something that causes you to be full of wonder.  In this sense, Christmas is a “wonder-full” celebration in more ways than one.  For, though the story of Christmas is well-known to us, and it has a familiar simplicity and beauty, when we more deeply ponder this story it causes us to be “wonder-full” about many things: How could the Lord of the universe be contained in baby, born of a mother’s womb?  How can he be both God and man?  Why would he be born in such humble circumstances, in a stable and laid in the animals’ feeding trough?  Why would the Almighty God personally come into our world at all?

Paul explains in Galatians the reason WHY the Almighty God personally came into our world: “The Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin . . .  the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.”  There was only one way to set you free from your sins, and the death and damnation which your sins deserve.  The Son of God came into our world on a rescue mission, for you.  As Jesus declared, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

That is why he was born in such humble circumstances, to signify that he was coming into our world, not be served, but to serve, and ultimately to give his life as a ransom for many.  “What Child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping? . . .  Nails, spear, shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you.”

“And His name shall be called Wonderful”—The Babe of Bethlehem is “Wonderful” not only because he grew up to do these wonderful works of salvation, but also because his very nature is a wonder, a mystery beyond our comprehension: God and man united together in one Person.  As Paul says in Colossians, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,” and in 1 Timothy, “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body.”

“And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor”

Jesus is your “counselor” in several different ways.  First of all, think of a courtroom setting, with the lawyer or “counselor” for the defense, pleading with the judge on behalf of his client.  John says, “We have an Advocate who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ the Righteous One.”  Paul says in Romans, “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

So, Jesus is first of all your counselor as your defense attorney in the heavenly court, pleading with God the Father to have mercy on you and forgive you, to have mercy on you and forgive you because your defense counselor himself already paid all the penalty, for you.  The Good News is, for the sake of his Son, God declares you fully pardoned, your sins all forgiven.

Jesus is also the ultimate personal counselor, with you always to comfort you:  “Lo,” Jesus says, “I am with you always.”  “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  “Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” 

Finally, Jesus is your counselor by giving you guidance for your life.  Luther says that he dispenses a word of counsel that you can get from no mere earthly counselor.  For, the counsel of the Son of God to you is nothing less than the Gospel itself, the Good News that your sins are all forgiven and you are at peace with God.  When you are troubled in your life and in your soul, your heavenly counselor dispenses through his Word and the Sacraments the soothing Good News of God’s love and your forgiveness.

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor , The Mighty God”

Earning the salvation of the world would be beyond the power of any mere human.  For, we are all sinners, as Paul says in Romans, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Because of our sin, we all deserve the punishment of eternal death and damnation.  We couldn’t possibly earn even our own salvation, let alone salvation for others, and certainly not salvation for the whole world.

But, Isaiah foresees that the Messiah will be not ONLY a human.  He will have mighty, divine power to save others, to save the whole world, because he is also “The Mighty God.”   As we confess in the Nicene Creed, he is “very God of very God . . . who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”

The child that is born to us is the Mighty God, in Hebrew “El Gibbor,” the great Conquering-Hero God. The emphasis in this name is on his divine power and omnipotent might. Big things do come in small packages. The power of the infinite God comes down to us in the weakness of the little child. There is more power in the tip of this child’s little finger, than in all the atom bombs and armies of the world.

But, that is not how the Mighty God exercises his power. For, his life in this world begins with him lying in a manger, a humble feeding trough, and ends with him nailed to a cross. That is how the Mighty God comes to do battle against the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil: by humbling and sacrificing himself.  As Hebrews says, “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. . .  We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

The little Babe lying in a manger and the stricken, smitten, and afflicted Rabbi hanging on a cross is “El Gibbor,” the Mighty God, the great Conquering-Hero God, who conquers for you over sin, death, and the devil by the sacrifice of himself.

“And His name shall be called . . . The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”

When I’ve sung this part of Handel’s “Messiah,” it always seemed odd at this point that the SON of God is called “The Everlasting Father.”  However, “The Everlasting Father” is not a description of the Messiah’s role in the Trinity.  It’s rather a symbolic title, representing an aspect of the Messiah’s character.  “The Everlasting Father” symbolizes that the Messiah has deep love and care and concern for us—unchanging, everlasting—like the love of a parent for a child.

Not only is this Child who is born to us a Wonderful Counselor, and the Mighty God and Divine Conqueror, but he is also like a loving Father. He does not come to those who trust in him as a harsh judge or a angry tyrant, but as a kind and loving Father, who protects and comforts his beloved children.

“Let the little children come to me,” Jesus says, “and do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”  Jesus is talking not just about children according to age, but children according to faith, all who trust in him.  The little Child in the manger is actually the Father of us all. For, the Scriptures tell us that through him all things were created, and he sustains and orders all things.

The ultimate sign of his being our everlasting Father is that he lays down his life for his children, like a father who sacrifices himself or his children.  To make you born again as a child of God, Jesus loved you to death, death on a cross.

“And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah saves the greatest title for last. The child born to us is, in Hebrew, the sar shalom, The Prince of Shalom, The Prince of Peace.

This final name tells us the result of the Messiah’s work: peace, peace between you and God.  As the angels sang the night of his birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”  That is the Gospel, the Good News of Christmas: on account of Christ, God’s attitude toward you is not anger and wrath, but peace and goodwill.  As Paul says in Romans, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

At the Last Supper he proclaimed, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” His coming brought peace, “not as the world gives,” but a unique peace, which only this unique Child could give. Eternal peace with God.

Our concerns tend to be focused on temporal peace, peace among ourselves and peace within ourselves. We would like peace in our households, peace in our lives, peace in our world, peace in our hearts.

But before we can have peace among us and peace within ourselves, there must be peace with God. Peace, shalom, is that all-embracing word in Hebrew that means everything in harmony, everything in its place, everything the way it’s supposed to be. Where Jesus reigns there is shalom. Everything is in order again. God and man are reconciled. The Good News of Christmas is YOU are at peace through the Prince of Peace.

Amen.