“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

His name is what He is!  Wonderful Counselor.  Poor sons of Israel, descendants of King David, torn apart, confused, bombarded by all sorts of promises and judgments. There was no lack of counselors. One voice after another added to the babble.  God, through the Prophet Isaiah, had some very sound advice, “Do not listen to human solutions; listen to God, the Wonderful Counselor.”

If there were many voices in the days of Isaiah there are even more today, each offering solutions to our problems, some better than others. I do believe that we will not find the answers to human need by turning an ear to tantalizing human solutions.  I hear, “bomb the daylights out of them!”  “Isolate and destroy our enemies.  Keep them away from us, the good people.” We hear another voice, God speaks, “Listen to the child, the son, whom I send to you. He is the only reliable counselor, he is the Wonderful Counselor.”

Jesus Christ is Almighty God.  At first this strikes us as strange, a human being is Almighty God? Jesus is God in the flesh. To realize that is the beginning of wisdom.

Jesus Christ is Eternal Father.  That is even more difficult to comprehend. The son is the father!  It is only when we realize that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one, that this word from heaven makes sense.

Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace.  At time loud voices are raised that sound like Jesus Christ is a military general!  They tell us, peace is assured by military might. If so, arm to the teeth.

The Son of God, Jesus Christ, is born to us, a new creation, a new way of walking with God, the Savior and Lord for all who would believe.

As the Advent season begins, I need to focus more and more, not on the clamoring voices, but on the voice that speaks in glory. Let the voice of God reecho in our ears, that startling voice from heaven as Jesus was on the mountain top.  “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.”  Mark 9:7