The Wisest Counsel You Can Hear

Dannah Gresh: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth gives a profound reminder.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: All the wonders of the universe—combined—whether they’re natural or they’re manmade, they all pale into insignificance when compared with the wonder of Christ, who He is, what He has done. His name is wonderful!

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of The Wonder of His Name, for Tuesday, December 10, 2024. I'm Dannah Gresh.

Is your Christmas season calm and peaceful? Does it bring extra time for you to read Christmas books to your kids, snuggle up with some hot cocoa, and enjoy the Christmas lights? Oh, maybe December is when you’re more likely to get up early with your Bible and a journal and bask in the joy of Christ’s incarnation. Anyone? Uh . . . me neither.

In fact, this month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year. It’s fun, but do you ever dread it a little bit? In the midst of the chaos, do you find yourself losing sight of why we celebrate Christmas? I hope you’ll make yourself pause long enough to listen to this series.

For the next few days, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is going to show you why Jesus is so wonderful and what your response should be. She’s starting a series called “His Name Is Wonderful,” looking at Isaiah chapter 9:6. Here’s Nancy.  

Nancy: I have some young friends and perhaps you do, too, who have chosen some really unusual names for their kids. Can you think of any like that? I think of one dear friend of mine who has a little girl named Mahleija. Couples like those friends have chosen those kinds of names for their children because they have a significant meaning, and they want their child to have meaning attached to their name. The name Mahleija means, as I recall, "the tenderness of God." So here’s a little girl whose name is going to remind her throughout all her of life of the tenderness of God.

As I was thinking about the text we will be looking at this week, I thought of the fact that God named His Son 700 years before He was born, and the name—and not just one name, but multiple names given to the Lord Jesus—are specially chosen names by God the Father because they represent what He wants us to know about His Son.

Four of those names appear in the book of Isaiah, chapter 9. We’re going to be looking at just one verse this week. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6—a verse that’s very familiar. This verse is in the context of a prediction in Isaiah 9 of the coming of the Messiah, who we know to be the Lord Jesus.

In that context the Scripture says: “For to us a child is born” (Isa. 9:6). That’s a picture of the humanity of Christ.

“To us a child is born, to us a son is given.” That’s a reminder of the deity of Christ. He became a man, but He is God. A son is given, a child is born—the God-man.

“And the government shall be upon his shoulder.” He’s the King. The Messiah is the King. He wears those kingly robes. He is the King of the whole universe. He’s the King of Israel. The government shall be upon His shoulder.

“And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.”

Today we want to look at that first name: Wonderful Counselor. The phrase when you put it together means "a wonder of a counselor." But His name is Wonderful.

That word as it is in the original language is a noun. It’s not an adjective. It’s a noun. That is His name. It’s not just that He is wonderful. His name is Wonderful. The word means "a miracle," "a wonder," "a wonderful thing or deed."

I just want to remind us that all the wonders of the universe combined, whether they’re natural or they’re manmade, they all pale into insignificance when compared with the wonder of Christ, who He is, what He has done. His name is Wonderful.

Charles Spurgeon preached a series of messages over a period of years in the 1800s on the names of Jesus from this text. He said of this one-word text: Wonderful—he had a whole sermon on this text, just the word wonderful—and he said, “This text is infinite, and one might preach on it forever.”

The Old Testament use of the word wonderful points to God’s miracles, the extraordinary aspects of how He dealt with His people.

So we read in Exodus 15:11:

Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

There’s that word.

Psalm 77:11:

I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

Psalm 78:12:

In the sight of their father, he performed wonders in the land of Egypt.

Amazing things. His name is Wonderful.

Now in the book of Judges, we have what I believe is a pre-incarnate Old Testament appearance of Wonderful, the Wonderful Counselor, the Messiah, Christ, God Himself in the form of an angel who appeared to a man named Manoah. You may remember that Manoah was the father of Samson. The angel came to Manoah to tell him he was going to have a son, who was Samson, and Manoah said, "What is your name so that when your words come true, we may honor you?" And the angel said to him, Judges 13:17, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?"

There’s that word. Some of your translations will say “beyond understanding” or “secret.” It’s the same root word. It means "incomprehensible, wonderful, remarkable." His name is Wonderful.

When we use the word Wonderful as a name of God, we’re saying He is no commonplace God, and He’s not just unusual. He is wonderful. He is awesome.

Charles Spurgeon said in his message on this text,

Those who know Him best will say that the word does not overstrain His merits but rather falls infinitely short of His glorious deserving. The name, as wonderful as it is, doesn’t even begin to describe how wonderful He is.

Now, Charles Spurgeon, who I just referenced, a great preacher in the nineteenth century in England, at that time was probably the most popular preacher in England. The people kept coming from everywhere, particularly the working class people. They loved to hear Spurgeon preach. At one point his church had outgrown one facility after another, so they rented a kind of theater. It was called the Surrey Music Hall. It seated 12–15,000 people. In October of 1856, Spurgeon preached in this rented facility for the first time.

The music hall was packed to capacity and apparently there were thousands more outside who couldn’t get a seat inside the auditorium. As the service started, someone yelled, “Fire!” and pandemonium broke out. Literally, someone just cried out “Fire!” in this crowded auditorium. Seven people were killed in what resulted. Many people were injured. The whole experience deeply affected Charles Spurgeon, as you might imagine, for all of his life. It really just took the life out of him.

Nearly two years after that event, he preached this sermon on “His name is Wonderful.” He finally spoke about what he’d been through and how God had restored him. Here’s what he said:

I may not have told in your hearing the story of my own woe. Perhaps never a soul went so near the burning furnace of insanity and yet came away unharmed. I have walked by that fire until these locks seemed to be crisp with the heat thereof. My brain was racked. I dared not look up to God, and prayer that was once my solace caused me fear and terror if I attempted it.

He went into a deep depression following this accident. Then he said:

I shall never forget the time when I first became restored to myself. It was in the garden of a friend. I was walking solitary and alone, musing upon my misery, much cheered as that was by the kindness of my loving friend, yet far too heavy for my soul to bear, when suddenly the name of Jesus flashed through my mind.

The Person of Christ seemed visible to me. I stood still. The burning lava of my soul was cooled. My agonies were hushed. I bowed myself there in the garden that had seemed a Gethsemane became to me a paradise. Then it seemed so strange to me that naught should have brought me back but that name of Jesus. I thought indeed at that time that I should love Him better all the days of my life.

But there were two things I wondered at. I wondered that He should be so good to me, and I wondered more that I should have been so ungrateful to Him. But His name has been from that time Wonderful to me, and I must record what He has done for my soul.

He is Wonderful. His name is Wonderful. 

Dannah: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth will be right back.

Wonderful is one of those superlatives that loses its meaning by overuse. Nancy’s been putting the wonder back in the word "wonderful."

Now, Jesus wasn’t just named Wonderful. Isaiah 9, verse 6 says that he is our “wonderful counselor.” Nancy’s back to talk more about that. 

Nancy: Meaning He is a wonder of a counselor. He’s an amazing counselor. When we think about the Lord Jesus as a counselor, we realize that we are loving and worshiping and serving a counselor who knows everything, who has all wisdom.

Think of that passage in Romans chapter 11, where the Scripture says,

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? (vv. 33–34)

Did you ever stop to think about the fact that God has never had an unanswered question? There’s never been anything He didn’t know. He never needs to ask anyone to give Him input or to help Him make a wise decision. He never has to say to someone, “So, what do you think I should do?”

 

Now, we have to ask those kinds of questions. Why? Because we’re not God. God is the Wonderful Counselor.

I have a lot of different kinds of counselors in my life and in our ministry. I'm thankful for them. I ask them questions about everything from: what to do with my hair, what to do with my car, what to do with my home repairs, what to do with my money, what to do with the ministry. We have an advisory council, an advisory board. I get lots of counsel from different people about different things in my life.

When I ask someone for counsel, I assume they know more than I do, at least about that subject. If I'm asking someone for help in purchasing a car, or if I have some maintenance needs in my house . . . Right now I have a leak in my basement. But that fact is, whoever I ask and however much they know, their knowledge is still limited. They don't know everything. So other people's counsel may be wise, but it is limited. In fact, it can be, and sometimes is, wrong. Even godly people are fallible.

The only infallible counsel is to be found in the Word of God—the written Word of God and the Living Word of God, Christ Jesus, the Messiah, the Wonderful Counselor.

So when we ask God for counsel, and He speaks to us through His Word, through His Son, we’re going to someone who knows everything, someone who has no limit to His knowledge, no limit to His understanding. His counsel is always right.

Now, in this Old Testament prophecy in the book of Isaiah chapter 9, this is a prophecy about the coming Messiah, and it said that He will be a king. Kings typically have counselors. When you see the word "counselor" in the Old Testament, it often refers to somebody who is a counselor in a king’s court, an advisor to kings. But this King doesn’t have counselors. This King is His own counselor. He is the Wonderful Counselor.

Two chapters later in the book of Isaiah, in chapter 11, we read another prophecy about the Messiah. It says,

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. (v. 2)

The Spirit of God rested upon the Lord Jesus. He is the Wonderful Counselor. He has the Spirit of God's counsel upon Him. But Christ was always a Wonderful Counselor. Before He came to this earth, and once He came to this earth, even as a child, He was a Wonderful Counselor.

Do you remember that story when Jesus was a child and at the temple at age twelve? Luke 2 tells us the account of how His parents left Him behind accidentally in Jerusalem at the temple. Then they came back looking for Him. "After three days they found him in the temple, sitting amount the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers" (vv. 46–47). Why? Because He is the Wonderful Counselor.

This baby who was born in a manger, who grew up, who learned His alphabet, learned His times tables, who went to school, who listened to His parents, who asked questions in the temple; that boy, that child, that son given to us is God—God who knows everything. And He is God who knows everything you need to know. He's come to earth to be your Wonderful Counselor.

Do you remember that story in the Old Testament, 1 Kings chapter 10, about the queen of Sheba who came to visit King Solomon, who was known as the wisest man, the wisest king who lived? Let me read to you just a portion out of that passage and tell us then what it has to do with Christ the Wonderful Counselor.

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. . . . And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon . . . there was no more breath in her. [She was speechless!]

And she said to the king, "The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it, and behold the half was not told me. [Amazing! You are a wonder of a counselor, she was say.] Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!" (vv. 1–8) 

A happy person it is who has a wonderful counselor to be speaking truth into their life.

Now, when we come to the gospel of Matthew chapter 12, Jesus picks up on this story. His listeners would have known the story. His Jewish audience would have been familiar with the story of the queen of Sheba coming to Solomon. They would have known the text I just read, and Jesus said to His listeners,

The queen of the south [the queen of Sheba] . . . came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. (v. 42)

What’s He talking about? He’s saying, “Solomon was a wonder of a counselor, but one greater than Solomon—Christ the Messiah, the Wonderful Counselor—is now here.”

If it was true in Solomon’s day that people came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and if it’s true today that people go to the ends of the earth in search of knowledge, in search of wisdom . . . They read books. They scour the internet. The go across to country to listen to well-known speakers. They pay big bucks to their therapist or their counselor. It’s true! People go long distances and pay lots of money to get good counsel, to get somebody who can answer their questions. And we hear Jesus say, “One greater than Solomon is here.”

Why would we search everywhere high and low to find wisdom when the Wonderful Counselor has come to live with us—Emmanuel, God with us, God in us.

So what’s the “so-what”? What’s the take-away of this name Wonderful Counselor? Jesus is a wonder of a counselor and has come to live with us—Emmanuel, God with us, God in us. What's that mean for us? Well, several things. It means:

• We ought to seek His counsel.
• We ought to ask Him what to do when we have questions.
• We ought to ask Him when we have uncertainty, when we have dilemmas.
• We ought to ask Him when we have problems, when we have confusion.
• We ought to ask Him when we have issues in our own lives or in the lives of those we love.

Ask the Wonderful Counselor. Seek His counsel. Go to His Word. That’s where He’s given us His heart, His mind, His thoughts. Pray. Ask the Wonderful Counselor.

 

Don't just seek His counsel, trust His counsel. It's a wonder; there is none like it. You can depend and rely on His counsel. Unlike human earthly counselors, I don’t care how wonderful they are, or how godly they are, sometimes they will be wrong. Sometimes your husband will be wrong. (You said, "I knew that.") But the Wonderful Counselor is never wrong. You can trust His counsel.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Prov. 3:5–6)

So trust His counsel, and then, this maybe doesn’t sound like so different, but I think it’s important, not only to trust His counsel, but trust the Counselor. Trust Him. His counsel is a reflection of His character. He is a wonder.

Cultivate a relationship with Him, and realize that in Christ and through His indwelling Holy Spirit, you always have a Wonderful Counselor with you. You don't have to worry that it's after 10:00 at night or it is too early in the morning to get through to a friend who can give you counsel. Twenty-four / seven we have a Wonderful Counselor living in us. Trust Him.

Seek His counsel. Trust His counsel. And then so important, take His counself, follow His counsel. That means surrender. That means obedience. That means doing what He says, whether we feel like it or not, whether it makes sense or not, whether the people around us agree with it or not. Take His counsel. You’ll never go wrong with it.

So where do you go for counsel? Who are you listeningn to? Godly people can be a source of good counsel, very good counsel, and we need to solicit and heed the counsel from godly people. But ultimately, whose counsel are you seeking? Do you go to the godly people? Do you go to godly sources or ungodly, worldly, secular sources to get your counsel?

Do you want to know God's will about what you should do in this year ahead, about a job you are considering, or a job change, or a move, or what college you should go to, or what mate you should take? Ask the Wonderful Counselor.

You want to know how to respond your husband, about him not being your spiritual leader, perhaps not a believer? You want to know how to respond to him in those really tough moments of your marriage? Ask the Wonderful Counselor.

You want to know how to rear your children? You want to know how to meet the needs of that special child? Ask the Wonderful Counselor.

You want to know how to deal with that impossible coworker or that strained situation or relationship in your church family? Ask the Wonderful Counselor.

He is a wonder of a counselor. So seek His counsel; trust His counsel, and take His counsel.

Dannah: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been pointing you to the most reliable source of wisdom you could ever find. Will you trust Him to lead you?

You know, that’s the reason Revive Our Hearts exists: to point you to Christ, our Wonderful Counselor. Any wisdom we might share is from God and is meant to help you turn to Him. And we love hearing stories from women who experience that. In fact, Nancy, not too long ago we heard from a woman named Rosaemilia.

Nancy: That’s right, Dannah. She told us how hearing the truth through the ministry of Revive Our Hearts has encouraged her, especially through some painfully difficult circumstances.

Rosaemilia: In February of 2017, Nancy was teaching on Titus 2 and her book Adorned. I was fascinated and excited about all the ways that she was teaching on this topic. I was praying to the Lord and saying, "Lord, I want to be that woman. Teach me to love my husband, my children, and my home in that way." I was so excited about everything I was learning from Nancy's teaching.

Nancy: What Rosaemilia didn’t know at the time was that her husband, who was the senior pastor of their church, was having an affair with a member in the church.

Rosaemilia: I was devastated. I had made up my mind that I wanted a divorce, but I continued to seek God, to pray, to fast, and I continued listening to Revive Our Hearts. I remember one of those days when I was struggling with the decision of staying in the marriage or not staying, Nancy had invited a couple from the Dominican Republic who spoke about their testimony on faithfulness, healing, restoration.

After I listened to that broadcast, I was confused. I was thinking, Oh my goodness, is God telling me to stay in the marriage? I continued to listen to Revive Our Hearts, and I decided to stay in the marriage. One of those days when I was feeling like a fool for staying in the marriage, I remember Dannah Gresh teaching and saying these words:

Dannah (teaching): I say you are never a fool to stay and be part of the redemption story that God is writing in a man's life.

On another instance, I remember Nancy sharing a letter she wrote to a friend who was struggling with her marriage, and Nancy told this friend:

Nancy (teaching): Part of the ministry of marriage is that you are one, not only in your joys, gains, and victories, but also in your humiliations, losses, and brokenness.

Rosaemilia: I remember every broadcast I heard was pointing me to Christ.

Nancy: The messages of truth that Rosaemilia heard on Revive Our Hearts made a difference not only in her marriage, but in her whole life.

Rosaemilia: Nancy, today I just want to say thank you for always pointing women to Christ. Thank you for teaching us truth as Heaven rules, truth like, "Everything that makes me need God is a blessing. You can trust God to write your story." Thank you so much for being an instrument of God. The last thing I want to say is, a month ago God gave us a blessing of having a baby girl. We have three boys, and God gave us a girl, and her name is Gracia Victoria, which means Grace Victory. This name and herself is a symbol of what God has done in our marriage. It's a symbol of the grace that saved our marriage and the victory that only Christ can give us. 

Nancy: How sweet to see how God restored this marriage by His grace and His truth. It's a miracle only God could do. 

Some friends of the ministry have heard from many women like Rosaemilia, whose lives have been changed by the Lord working through this ministry, and they want to be part of helping women thrive in Christ, all around the world.

Dannah: Yeah. In fact, they’re so eager to help that they’re matching every dollar you give right now! That means when you give $100, they give $100. If you give 50 cents; they’ll give 50 cents. In effect, your donation has twice the impact as it normally would. That means that more women like Rosaemilia are able to hear how they can have freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

So, would you ask God whether He wants you to support Revive Our Hearts this month? Maybe this isn’t the right time for you; maybe you are giving to other areas of need—like your local church—and things are too tight to do more. In either case, would you pray for us? That means more to us than you can know!

Nancy: Thank you for prayerfully considering that and for giving as the Lord prompts you. I want to just say we are so grateful for listeners like you who are praying and giving this month so we can continue offering women the gift of timeless truth in every season of their lives.

Dannah: To give, go to ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. 

We talk about world superpowers, but no person, nation, or weapon can compare to the mighty God. Nancy will help you get to know Him tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

All Scripture is taken from the English Standard Version.

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