From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part 25 of a series. Read part 24.

Is Jesus the Messiah "Wonderful" to you? Do you understand that the Gospel of Christ consists, as Acts chapter 2 tells us, of "the wonderful works of God" alone and nothing of ourselves?

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. (Isaiah 9:6)

Having considered the deity of the Messiah and the nature of His eternal kingdom, we now move on to consider His names as they are given in Isaiah 9:6.

An Encounter With the Pre-Incarnate Messiah

The first of the names given to the promised Messiah is "Wonderful" - or literally, "a wonder." But this is not the first time the Holy Spirit uses this term as the name of Messiah. A form of the same Hebrew word appears in the historical record of the judges of Israel over 400 years before Isaiah's prophecy.

In Judges chapter 13 the Angel of the Lord - the pre-incarnate Messiah - visited the parents of Samson to announce the coming birth of their son, who would be one of the last judges of Israel before the institution of the Davidic kingship.

At first Manoah, who would be Samson's father, did not realize who had come to his household. Manoah wished to prepare a goat as a meal for his visitor. But the Angel of the Lord instructed him to offer the goat as a burnt offering to Jehovah. Manoah then asked,

"What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?" And the Angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is Wonderful?"

And indeed, the Messiah who rules the rulers of this world is worthy of that name. The record continues:

So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on - it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar - the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.

When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord.

And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!" But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time."

So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. (Judges 13:17-24)

The Marvel of Mary and Joseph

There are dozens of references to the "wonderful" works of God in both the Old and New Testaments. And as the Messiah came into the world as Jesus the God-man, He was the object of great wonder and marvel.

Mary and Joseph marveled when they heard Simeon's prophetic words when the Messiah was only an infant of eight days:

And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, [Simeon] took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

"Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel." And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. (Luke 2:27-33)

The Marvel of the Multitudes

From the earliest days of His public ministry, the Messiah caused amazement by His ability to discern the unspoken thoughts of men, and to perform the attesting signs of healing, control of demons, and power over the created order:

But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" - He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!" (Matthew 5:22-26)

But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!" (Luke 8:23-25)

Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons." (Matthew 12:22-24)

The Messiah was also a Wonder to the people because of the words He taught, and the way in which He taught them. Matthew records these words at the end of the three chapters containing the Sermon on the Mount:

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Matthew 7:28-29)

The Essential Marvel of the Gospel

When the 120 believers in the upper room at Pentecost were anointed with the Holy Spirit, they immediately began to preach the Gospel. And how is the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah described?

And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused [i.e., bewildered], because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs - we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?" (Acts 2:5-12)

How Is It With You?

Dear reader, how is it with you? How do you view Jesus the Messiah? Do you call His name Wonderful? Is He himself a wonder to you?

Is it a continual source of wonder to you that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us" (John 1:14)? Is it a continual wonder to you that God the Father would send His only Son into the world to live the perfect life you could not live, and to die the death you deserved to die, taking the wrath of God in your place? Is it a source of wonder to you that He now sustains the entire universe by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3)?

Is the Gospel of Christ a wonder to you? Do you understand what it truly is - "the wonderful works of God" alone? That it was "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5)? Do you say this, with the Apostle Paul?

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17)

Truly Jesus the Messiah is Wonderful:

And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints. (Psalm 89:5)

Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. (Psalm 96:3)

Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth (Psalm 105:5)

How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:3)
 

Next: Messiah the Counselor

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