Here's a very familiar verse which we more often than not, hear read and recited around Christmas time,
"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, Evelasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6 NIV).
This is a prophesy of the Messiah's coming that Isaiah wrote about 700 years before Jesus was even born into the world. Imagine how each generation looked for this Anointed One and expected Him to come during their lifetime. When He finally came, not many recognized Him. They expected something grand especially with names like this. They expected a great warrior king who would get them away from the Romans or from whomever had them in captivity at the time. They expected Him to be rich and richly clothed. Outward appearance. They did not expect a person from a poor family and lowly circumstances and especially not born in a stable or who lived in Nazerath!
Take a good look at each of those names of Jesus and think them out as to how they reflect who Jesus is. We can use these names to worship Him, and when we pray. You know the Lord's prayer that Jesus taught His disciples "Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name..." is a good beginning to our prayers. Mostly when people pray they begin something like, "Heavenly Father..." or "Our God and Father..." or "Almighty God" which are good. As you think of each of those names Isaiah wrote about, in turn we can use them as we understand them.
Wonderful Counselor - an advisor, someone who gives advice. The Holy Spirit is our counselor who brings God's words to our minds . However, we will only know God's word when we read it often and meditate upon it. When we know it and understand it and obey it, then we are counseled. Yes, other brothers and sisters-in-Christ can counsel us too but we need to be sure that the advice is based on the Word of God in context. That is why He is so Wonderful a Counselor. When you receive His counseling you can thank Him and begin your prayer, "Wonderful Counselor..."
Mighty God - He is strong and powerful, He speaks words and people are healed, or raised to life, He also spoke and the world was created. When we see the stars and all His handiwork, we see His power, splendor and might. When Jesus got into the boat with the disciples after having just walked on water that had huge waves and with the wind blowing hard, the waters instantly calmed. His power and might over the wind, weather and waves, is mighty. When He does something mighty in our lives, we can worship Him in this attribute and aspect of God and Jesus in our lives, beginning our prayer and praise with greater understanding of what we are claiming, "Mighty God..."
Everlasting Father - We can depend on good fathers (I know there are horrible abusive fathers), that's what they are supposed to do, be dependable. Jesus is God our Heavenly everlasting Father. He cares for such as you and me. He is everlasting too. My father is gone on to be with Jesus, other people's fathers up and leave their families, abandoning them, some fathers are physcially present but hide behind a newpaper or sit glued to the football game, the news and more. Physically present but not engaged with his family - unreliable and unrelatable.
But God...but Jesus...is everlasting, He is always with us. As we also read and hear a lot at Christmas time, Emmanuel, God with us. Before the world began, God is. Jesus is. The Holy Spirit is. For eternity past, then God created time, as we know it, like a parenthesis in the middle of eternity, then the end of the world will come and eternity future is ahead of us Eternity...Time...Eternity although to God 'time' is incorportated in that. For us we only see now and eternity to come. Jesus is everlasting. This can boggle the mind. We can see how great, mighty and dependable He is by reflecting on His everlastingness. He is always with us. This is something more to praise and worship Him for.
Prince of Peace - He came to die for us, redeeming us and buying us back to bridge the gap and separation our sin made between us and God. He came to bring peace for us. Jesus is the prince of that. No one can surpass Him. We can have peace of mind and heart despite the troubles and difficulties of life. I love this. When we know His peace, we can praise and worship Him for it, beginning, "Jesus, my Prince of Peace, you are worthy of all my praise..."
The title 'Christ' or 'Messiah' means 'Anointed One'. In the OT only prophets, priests and kings got anointed with olive oil at their inauguration ceremony. The very first was Aaron, Moses' brother. Moses anointed Aaron and Aaron's sons, to be the High Priest and the priests, respectively, to begin the ministry of the animal sacrifices in the Tabernacle of the Israelite worship God set up for them to do.
They were responsible to lead the nation in worshiping God and teaching and keeping His commandments, and way of life. Jesus, prophesied to be the "Anointed One", is our King of kings and Lord of lords. Like I mentioned earlier, they waited for Him for hundreds of years. It was difficult though for them to recognize Him for who He was.
They listened to His preaching and saw all His miracles, the healing of the people and even the casting out of demons from people. Still, it was difficult for the people to comprehend who He was, their Christ. Their Messiah. To this day, many Jews will not acknowledge who Jesus is. Many do though, praise the Lord. Do we? When we do, we need to praise Him and be obedient to His will and ways in our lives in order to be His good disciple.
Yes, Peter, one of the inner circle disciples, did become devoted to Jesus. He was the more outspoken of the disciples. I like him. He realized who Jesus was...their Messiah! Their Son of God! It is profound. How did an uneducated, lowly fisherman recognize Jesus where the religious leaders of his day did not, or would not. It was noted in Matthew 16:17 that the Father revealed it to Peter. Sometimes when we have 'revelations' we still don't or won't believe or do anything about it. Dear ole Peter, believed and declared it. When we realize who Jesus is in our lives, we will declare it too and live accordingly.
When we read the New Testament (NT) it is often necessary to refer back to the Old Testatment (OT) to get the connections of the customs, and more, as they relate to and help explain some of the things we learn of in the NT. As the NT is the new testament or covenant that God has with His human beings, you'll find some things are different now, eg. we no longer need to do animal sacrifice to atone for our sins as Jesus is the Lamb of God who died on the cross for our sins. His ONE sacrifice is good for all our sins, for all time and for all people and we no longer need to repeat such. Anyway, I think this is more than enough for now.
Jesus, the Son of God...let us bow down and worship Him, our Redeemer, Savior, Friend and One who is fully God as well as fully man.
~ERC February 2023~
Based on Navigator's Knowing Jesus Christ, Book 1, Chapter 1.
Sing, How Great Thou Art, along with Hillsong Worship.
For further explanation re: eternity and time, see Lord's Day Devotion - Eternity (.....) Eternity.
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