Isaiah VII
…and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6b ESV)
Names
Our names do not usually describe we Westerners. But other cultures have different practices. Some ancient people did not assign names until character was displayed, and was then noted in that person’s name. Other ancient people officially added descriptors to names, when circumstances distinguished the indivuals… Ethelred the Unready, and Charles the Bald, for instance.
The Messiah was named Jesus. That is His name.
But His name is also Wonderful Counselor… Jesus teaches and guides His people with God’s wisdom, that is wondrous because it is beyond, far beyond, what we can understand without Him.
His name is also Mighty God… Jesus is not merely a human, but He is God Himself. The God revealed from Genesis to Malachi, and then also from Matthew to Revelation. Mighty God because He is all-powerful. Mighty God because there is nothing that He cannot do.
His name is also Everlasting Father… Jesus is smack dab in the Trinity. We saw that also in His name, “Wonderful Counselor,” the Holy Spirit. But in this name we see that Jesus is also the Father. And has been those three persons forever.
His name is also Prince of Peace… Jesus was born, incarnated, to resolve the conflict between sinful mankind and holy divine. That conflict has wracked the universe since Adam’s fall. And the Prince of Peace came to reconcile us to God. To fix what was broken. To reforge the world.
Jesus has great names, eh?