“HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL”
ISAIAH 9: 6
By Pastor Mark Taylor
When you were planning a name for your child, you may have looked at many names and the meaning of those names. God told the prophet Isaiah 740 years before the birth of Christ what His names would be.
Today, I would like to examine one of those precious names of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – “Wonderful”
Why do you think Jesus’ name would be called “Wonderful”? I am sure there are many reasons, but I would like to express some of the reasons I think His name was and is still called “Wonderful” today.
Every ordinary thing He touched became “Wonderful”. When He touched water it turned into the best wine and became wonderful. When He touch ordinary bread and wine, it became the extra ordinary symbols of His Body and His Blood that would be broken and given for us, and it became wonderful. When His Body touched the “Old Rugged Cross”, it turned a dreadful sight into the wonderful picture of sacrifice and love. When His Body touched the empty tomb, it became our wonderful symbol for our hope of the resurrection.
Everyone He touched changed from ordinary into “Wonderful”. At His presence, the blind would see, the deaf could hear, the lame could walk, and the dead could be raised from the dead. When Jesus came by, people felt His “wonderful” presence and everyone He touched received something “Wonderful” from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus said this about Himself:
"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." (Luke 4:18-19).
Everything He did was “Wonderful”. He fed thousands of hungry people with His “Wonderful” miracles. He ate and fellowshipped with the outcasts and unlovable in His community. He brought the message of eternal life to all who would hear and receive it. He received and ministered to children, tax collectors, demon possessed people, social outcasts, and anyone who would come to Him. They would have certainly described their time with Jesus as “Wonderful”.
Everything He said was “Wonderful”. He talked about living forever with Him in Heaven. He talked about having rewards for living a good and righteous life. He talked about forgiveness for all the sins we have committed. He talked about His love for us and the need for us to love others. His words made everyone that followed them feel “Wonderful”, as it will for you and me. He said His words would last forever: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
Everything He has planned for our future is “Wonderful”. He has planned on giving you and me eternal life that we would never die. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26). “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:11-12).
He has planned on giving us a “Wonderful” place to live with Him: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4).
I hope all of us will not just think about how “Wonderful” He is. He is “Wonderful” all the time, because that is His name. If He is living inside of you through the Holy Spirit, you too can live a “Wonderful” life. He will allow your words, your relationships, and your actions be “Wonderful” to others as you go through this next year. The next time you hear someone say that you are “Wonderful”, then you can know it is because Jesus is living inside of you. “His Name Shall Be Called Wonderful”!!
