“‘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, Counselor.’—Isaiah 9:6
Last Sabbath morning we considered the first title, ‘His name shall be called Wonderful:’ this morning we take the second word, ‘Counselor.’
I need not repeat the remark, that of course these titles belong only to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we cannot understand the passage except by referring it to Messiah—the Prince.
It was by a Counselor that this world was ruined.
Did not Satan mask himself in the serpent, and counsel the woman with exceeding craftiness, that she should take unto herself of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, in the hope that thereby she should be as God?
Was it not that evil counsel which provoked our mother to rebel against her Maker, and did it not as the effect of sin, bring death into this world with all its train of woe?
Ah! beloved, it was fitting that the world should have a Counselor to restore it, if it had a Counselor to destroy it. It was by counsel that it fell, and certainly, without counsel it never could have arisen.
But mark the difficulties that surrounded such a Counselor. ’Tis easy to counsel mischief; but how hard to counsel wisely! To cast down is easy, but to build up how hard!
To confuse this world, and bring upon it all its train of ills was an easy thing. A woman plucked the fruit and it was done.
But to restore order to this confusion, to sweep away the evils which brooded over this fair earth, this was work indeed, and ‘Wonderful’ was that Christ who came forward to attempt the work, and who in the plentitude of His wisdom hath certainly accomplished it, to His own honour and glory, and to our comfort and safety.”
–Charles H. Spurgeon, “His Name—The Counsellor,” in The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, vol. 4 (London; Glasgow: Passmore & Alabaster; James Paul; George John Stevenson; George Gallie, 1858), 4: 401.
