Christ is Life Podcast

So as we continue to reflect on Jesus in this Advent season, we're really going to look at just one scripture today. It's Isaiah, chapter nine, verse six, and this was written about 700 years or so ago, before Jesus was ever even born. Isaiah was a prophet and God, through the Holy Spirit, inspired Isaiah to use him to, first and foremost, kind of declare judgment on the people of Israel for their disobedience and for their lack of commitment, for breaking the covenant that they had made with him. But at the same time, he uses Isaiah to also offer a message of hope, that even though there was darkness in the land and there was disobedience and people were breaking the covenant of God, that he was going to send a great light into their dark world one day in the future that would bring Joy, that would bring triumph, that would bring victory over the darkness. And in Isaiah nine, six, we see how God was planning to do just that. 700 years later, it says this, For to us, a child is born. To us, a child is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Several things to highlight in just this one verse. But again, the very first thing that we see is that he says, For to us, a child is born, a son is given. Underline the word given there if you're following along in your own Bible or device with a Bible app on it, this is a gift. God is saying, I am going to provide a gift for you, the gift of a child that will be born one day. And of course, we can already tell this is not going to be any ordinary child, ordinary son, and we'll get into that in just a moment. But the first thing that we've got to recognize as we see this prophecy was that this was the gift of God. God did not say, in other words, hey, you guys are just going to have to dig yourselves out of this hole you got yourselves in right, get your act together, for crying out loud, and and get things right with your lives and in the world, he goes, No, no, even though you've been unfaithful, I'm going to be faithful to you. I'm going to provide a gift for you and intervene, and it will be a child. And of course, no ordinary child. We see that in the very next thing that was written about him, because after he says for us to bring it to a child is born to us, a son is given. He says, in the government shall be upon his shoulder. What does that mean? That the government would be upon his shoulder? That that phrase upon his shoulder, kind of gives us the the image of a king with a with a kingly robe is on his shoulder. Right? The government is on the shoulders of a of a king. And so that's one of the things that he's saying there. A robe signifies a king's position, his authority, his power. And so this, this child that would be given one day is going to be a king. He's going to rule, and he's going to reign over the people, and over the darkness and the evil that's in the world. And the reason that he would be able to do that is because of the names that he would carry, what we see about him, who this child would be. And when we see these four names listed here, or these four titles, one of the things that we just need to take note of is that when we think about names and the way that maybe you and I pick names today, I mean, sometimes there's meaning involved in the names that we pick out for our children, but a lot of times we just like the way it sounds. You know, I just like that name. There's no real significance behind it. Well, that was not really the case in biblical times, the name expressed a essential nature of a person. I mean, a person's character was in his name. And so these names are important. These are titles that Jesus would carry. This would be a reflection of his very nature and his character. And so let's look at each one of these titles and kind of talk about what they really mean, about who he is, who this child that would be given one day was going to be, the very first thing that Isaiah says is that he would be the wonderful counselor. This is two Hebrew words, two different Hebrew words. The first word is Pele, and of course, it's translated here, wonderful, but it's, it's not like the Hebrew word here means, if you had a really good piece of chocolate pie, you would say, Man, this is a wonderful piece of chocolate pie. I mean, it's very different than something like that, the way you and I might use the word wonderful this Hebrew word. Pele means extraordinary. I mean miraculous. It's, it's surpassing greatness. It carries the idea of even supernatural and exceeding the limits of human understanding. The second word is, is, yo, it's, and it's, of course, translated counselor means one who advises, one who determines, one who guides, one who plans. And so when we see the word, the title, the name, Wonderful Counselor, Pele yo, it's it combines the idea of doing something extraordinary or miraculous with the skill of giving wise advice, making plans, providing direction, giving instruction in certain situations and circumstances. And so the very day that Jesus was born into this world, 700 years after this prophecy, this is who he was, the wonderful counselor. He didn't grow into being the wonderful counselor. One day he was born as the wonderful counselor, because that's who he had always been. When we're talking about Jesus, we're talking about the second member of the Trinity, one who's just always been here. And of course, being God, part of the god head means that he's omniscient, that he knows all things. He's a wonderful counselor, a miraculous, extraordinary counselor, because he knows all things. He's omniscient. But not only does God know all things, know all things possible or actual and possible, he's he's all wise, and so as God, he knows how to take all the knowledge that he has and and use it in the best possible way to make the best possible decisions, to to make the best possible plans about things. We even see this through the act of creation, the God of the universe, the Wonderful Counselor, the extraordinary counselor, was able to come up with all of the knowledge that he had and use it in the wisest possible way to put creation together for life to exist. I mean, he put us just the right distance from the sun, so that we're not too close and burn up and not too far away that we freeze to death. And he just made all of the conditions possible for life to exist. And that happened was spoken into existence way before Jesus was ever born, he was the wonderful counselor. He's always been the wonderful counselor. And so he was born into this world as the wonderful counselor. And then as he grew up, we began to see even evidence of him being the wonderful counselor when he taught. We're told that people looked at him as one who taught with authority. He didn't just share his opinion about things he taught and shared things as if they were the truth, because he determined it to be the truth. He was the source of that truth. And all the things that he was teaching on when he shared instruction and direction and told of plans, he was sharing truth with authority, because he was the Wonderful Counselor, the Pele yoets. The incredible thing is that he's still the wonderful counselor today, and that he still shares his knowledge and his wisdom with you and I, being born into this world as the wonderful counselor, and then, of course, dying on the cross for our sins and being raised from the dead and ascending back to heaven, he sits at the right hand throne of God, ruling and reigning as the wonderful counselor. And if you've put your faith and trust in Him and been forgiven for your sins, then the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in you, uniting you to the wonderful counselor, who is sitting at the right hand of God, and He is Able to counsel you and give instruction to you, give direction to your life, offer you the truth about why you were created and what you were created for, and about what directions you should go all throughout your life, because he's the one who has made The perfect plans for you and your life. And so as we think about that, I don't know what issues you're facing during this holiday season, this season of life, but the Wonderful Counselor, The Wonderful Counselor, is just waiting for you to hand it over to him, to turn to Him and quit trying to make your own plans and your own instructions and fix it in your own ways, and to look for him the wonderful counselor, to give you his direction, his instruction, in his ways, because they're the best ways.
So this is who he is. First and foremost, he's the wonderful counselor. Second Isaiah says that he's the mighty God. This, again, is a combination of two Hebrew words. The first word is El, which means God, the second word Gabor, which, again, is translated mighty. Here it's an adjective. It means superior, strong, mighty. But in other places of Scripture, it's also translated he. Hero, it's translated sometimes champion. It's even translated warrior. God is a hero, he's a champion, he's a warrior. He's superior in in strength. And of course, we know that to be true because he's he's all powerful. God is a warrior God who's full of superior strength and might, because He's omnipotent, he's all powerful. And this was true of Jesus, once again, before he was ever born into this world, we talked about him as the wonderful counselor making the plans for all of creation. But if he wasn't the Mighty God, he wouldn't be able to carry out the plans that the wonderful counselor had put together. And so because he's the wonderful counselor, and he's the El Gabor, the all powerful Mighty God, he could put those plans into existence. He could begin not just to formulate the plan, but to put it in action and for it to work. And of course, he did. God took nothing and created everything, because he is the mighty God. When Jesus was born into this world as a five or six, seven pound baby, whatever he was, he was the El Gabor, The mighty God that Mary was holding in his hands. And we even begin to see that in His earthly ministry, as he grows up and he heals the blind. Who could do that unless you were el Gabor, where he stops the wind and the waves and raises Lazarus from the dead. This was a gift from God to provide us with the Mighty God, His one and only son. And once again, just like the wonderful counselor, if you've put your faith and trust in Him, you're not only in union with the wonderful counselor to give you guidance and direction and plans for your life, you're in union with El Gabor, The mighty God who can carry out those plans in and through you. And so whatever problems you're facing, relational problems or financial problems or certain sin struggle and just certain things that you can't break through in your life if you're in union with the El Gabor, nothing is too big for him to overcome. Whatever it is that's going on in your life and throughout this holiday season, turn those struggles over to him, the problems over to him, your anxiety and fears and worries and anger and lust and all the things, turn them over to the El Gabor, The mighty God can overcome them in you and through you. Isaiah tells us, thirdly, that he is the everlasting Father. Now, a lot of people, especially have been in church for a while, get a little bit confused by that, because we understand that Scripture teaches that God is a trinity, that he exists as three distinct persons in one essence. So we have God the Father, we have God the Son, and we have God the Holy Spirit, three distinct persons, but of one essence, not three gods, one God, three distinct persons, one essence. And so when people read this about this prophecy of Jesus that was to come, and we know that he's the second member of the Trinity, then we go, How can God the son be God the Father? But that's not really what Isaiah is saying here. It's not what the Holy Spirit was inspiring him to write about once again, the Hebrew word here is literally the Father of eternity. Everlasting Father in Hebrew literally means the Father of eternity. It's an idiom that is describing his relationship to time, not his relationship to the other members of the Godhead within the Trinity. It's a reference to His deity. Again, he's he's prophesying that a child was going to come, this gift was going to be given, but with his name being the Father of eternity, he's trying to communicate that even though this baby was going to be born, make no mistake about it, that this baby is not coming into existence at that point in time. He's the father of eternity. He has no beginning point and end point. He's just always been here. In other words, He is eternal. He's self existent. He is life itself, and therefore he's the only one that could give eternal life to anyone else. Only the source of eternal life can give eternal life to other people. And so that's why, when he was born into this world as the Father of eternity, then later on, he could say this in His earthly ministry to Martha in John 1125 where he declared, I am the resurrection and the life. I am the Father of eternity. I am the source of all life. And so that's why John could also write in first John 512 that he. Who has the Son has life, has eternal life, but he who does not have the Son does not have life. And so because Jesus, again, was born into this world because of his finished work on the cross to pay the penalty for all of our sins and offer the gift of forgiveness to us, you and I can have eternal life. The Father of eternity provides eternal life. He gifts it to you if you'll just receive it by putting your faith and trust in Him to be your Lord and Savior. And if you haven't, then it doesn't matter who you are, where you've been, or what you've done, Jesus is offering Himself to you as a gift in this eternal life to you, and if you have what this means for us is that once again, that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us, then you and I are in union, not just with the wonderful counselor, not just with the mighty, all powerful God, but we're in union with the One Who is the Father of eternity. You have eternal life because you're in union with the one who is eternal life. And so you don't have to wait until you die one day to experience eternal life. You get to experience eternal life right here and right now as you depend on him, the one who is eternal life, and that you're in union with all the time. So this Jesus that would come one day is the wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and finally, the Prince of Peace. Jesus says the eternal God is peace itself. Whenever we see in this in Scripture, he's always been peace. This is who he is. And so he was again born into this world as the Prince of Peace, and the only one who anyone would be able to find
real peace in,
as the Prince of Peace, Jesus was born into this world, first and foremost, to establish peace between God and man. There was hostility between God and man because of sin, because sin in the world. Sin is a barrier between man in a in a holy and a perfect in a good and just God, there's a barrier that exists there because of sin. It makes us enemy. There's hostility there. And so there needed to be peace if man was ever going to be in a relationship with a holy and a perfect God. And because the Prince of Peace was born into this world fully God. He had no sin to pay for for himself, and so therefore, he could take your sin and my sin and place them upon himself as a human being. He could represent us, substitute himself in that way, only the wonderful counselor could come up with a plan like this. It's the only way to save the world. I'll go I'll be born into the world fully. God. I have no sin to pay for, and then I can represent them, and I can pay that sin for them, and then I can gift it to them. There's nothing that they have to do, because there's nothing they could do to finally be made perfect and holy again, unless I do it for them. And so he's born into this world as the Prince of Peace, to establish peace between us and through His finished work on the cross, if we put our faith and trust in Him, that peace is there, the sin barrier is broken, and we are once again united to the one who now is always been the Prince of Peace. Not only do you have peace between yourself and God if you put your faith and trust in Him, but you're united again to the one who is peace. You have peace in him. And so whatever situations you find yourself in during this holiday season, whatever circumstances, whatever struggles, whatever conflict is going on, you do not have to get through the conflict in the struggle and onto the other side of it to finally have peace again, because you're in union with the one who is the Prince of Peace. If you turn and fix your eyes on him, you can experience Him as your peace, which is true peace, rather than the manufactured peace that comes from trying to feel like you have made it through the struggle or the conflict in certain situations of life. So once again, Isaiah shares that he is the wonderful counselor, that he's the mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of peace and and he's going to be born into this world as a gift. Well, you know that if someone offers you a gift that it's not really yours, unless you receive it, you're going to open up presents and gifts on Christmas Day, and there could be tongues. The packages that even have your name on it, but until you take the package and receive the gift and open it up and claim it in your possession, it's not really yours. And so the question is, we look at Isaiah 96 today, this prophecy that was given 700 years before Jesus was ever born, the one who would be called The Wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace, and who was born into this world 700 years and then see the evidence of the one that was authoritative and all knowing and an all wise counselor. We see evidence of being the powerful God through the things that he did in His earthly ministry. We see him claiming that he could offer eternal life to people, and again, as the source of life, brought people back to life. And the one who was labeled as the Prince of Peace, if he's come into this world and he's accomplished everything necessary to gift you the forgiveness of your sins in this eternal life that He came to give, the question is, have you received it? If you were to die today, are you 100% certain that you would go to heaven? There's only two correct responses to thinking about that, either the 0% chance you're going because, as First John 512 says, He who has the Son has life. Who doesn't have the son doesn't have life. And so either it's a 0% chance because you don't have the Son, you don't have it, you're not going or 100 there's no in between. So if you put your faith and trust in Him, you can have that assurance today. But if you haven't, don't walk out of this room without that assurance and receiving the gift that God has provided for you, for those of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, as we think about these things that we see written about Jesus here, we've mentioned them all along, but just to make sure we don't miss it one last time, if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus, Your sins have been forgiven. The Holy Spirit has come to dwell in you. You are united in a relationship with Him. He is sitting where at the right hand of God, the Father. So if you're in union with Him, that means you're both here and there. You get to not live for Jesus, but from Jesus, because you're spiritually already a citizen of heaven in union with the one who is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And so you can enjoy all the benefits of being in a union with Him and living here as you live from there with him in the spiritual realm. So fix your eyes on him, the wonderful counselor and his plans for your life. Fix your eyes on him as your source to be the Mighty God and access to his power, his strength to overcome the problems and the struggles going on in your world during this season. Think of him and the union you have with him, the eternal life. And when your feelings tell you otherwise, renew your mind to the truth that you have abundant life in your union with Him and don't have to wait until your situations or circumstances change to experience real, meaningful, abundant, eternal life, and that you have access to experience real, satisfying peace, if you'll just turn to Him because He is your peace one verse. But there's so much that we see about Jesus, and we're reminded about with this particular season and all that he brings and still means for us
today, let's pray,
Jesus, we thank You that You love us the way that you do.
You did not have to leave the glory and riches of heaven to come here, but you chose. You chose to out of your love for us to take on an additional nature and be born into this world so that we could be forgiven and we could receive eternal life. And so Father, for those of us who have put that faith and trust in you, help us to depend upon you, to be our wonderful counselor, to experience you, not just to be in union with you, but to experience you as the wonderful counselor in our lives, to experience you as the El Gabor, The mighty God and your power working through us in our situations help us to experience you as the One Who is the Father of eternity, and that we have abundant eternal life in you, even here and now, and help us to experience your peace that we always have access to in Christ, God, I finally just pray for anyone who's here today and they've yet to receive this gift. Would you continue to i. Turn the lights on for them in their minds and in their hearts to help them see the gift that you're offering them, the truth about who Jesus is, how much you love them, the great plans that you have for their life, the things you can help them overcome the real peace and abundant life you can offer them. And I pray for those who you're moving in their hearts, even in this moment, continue to help them to take that step of faith even right now. If that's you and you're here, you could receive this gift by praying a simple prayer of faith. You can just say, God, I know that I'm a sinner and that my sin separates me from you,
but thank you Jesus for loving me.
Thank you for being born into this world to die for my sins. Thank you God for raising Him from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death forever and right now, in this moment today, December 14, 2025 I want to know for sure where I stand, and so I receive your gift. I receive it. I put my faith and trust in You, Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive me. Please come to dwell in me, and may I experience you as my wonderful counselor, as my mighty God, as the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. Thank you for loving me and saving me right now, in this moment today, it's in Jesus name that we pray amen.