What's In A Name

December 8, 2002

Morning Service

Text: Isaiah 9:1-7

Subject: The Names of Jesus

Title: What’s in a Name?

What’s in a name? When you hear a name spoken you immediately get a picture of that person in your mind. Or you might just think about that person?s personality. When I hear the name Casey I might think of someone who is soft spoken. If I hear the name Gene I might picture an industrious person. When I hear the name Imogene I might just laugh - thinking about all the cheerful banter that goes on between us.

There was a time back in the 70’s when the Haight - Ashbury district of San Francisco became high rent territory, that the hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. Many of them got married, had children, not necessarily in that order. But they didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett. The people in the area grew accustomed to hearing names like Moonbeam, Earth, Love, Precious Promise, even Time Warp or Spring Fever.

That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met little "Fruit Stand". Every fall the parents would pack up their kids and put them on the bus to send them to school for the first time. Each child had a clip on nametag. Fruit stand was no different. Sure it was an odd name but the teachers tried not to make a big deal of it.

"Would you like to play with the blocks Fruit stand?" or "Fruit Stand, how about a snack?" By the end of the day the name didn?t seem much odder than Heather of Sun Ray.

At the end of the day the teachers took the kids out to the buses. "Fruit stand, which one is your bus?"

He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. Kids with those funny names often were shy about it when they saw kids with normal names. They learned to adjust. Besides it didn’t matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of the school bus stops on the reverse of the nametag. The teacher just reached over to fruit stand and turned the tag over and there, neatly printed was the name, "Anthony".

Today, our passage in Isaiah speaks of the coming Messiah. In the passage we see how He would come, the type of ministry He would have, and the names that He would be known as. These names give us a really good understanding of the true nature of the Messiah.

What’s in a name? Today we see that the name Jesus = The Lord saves.

Let us read Isaiah 9:1-7 and be amazed at the prophecies about our savior that were written over 700 years before His birth. Let us be in awe of God’s love for us, His plans for us, and His promise for us. Today we want to focus on the names of Jesus, but I also want you to listen to the promises as I read through the passage. Remember, the baby is a king.

I. He is Wonderful Counselor. Some translations separate these two words. Wonderful/Counselor. That doesn’t change the meaning. Wonderful specifically deals with the supernatural abilities of the savior.

Wonderful in the Hebrew is "pele" and is used only of God, and it means, "To accomplish things that are too hard, hidden, things too high, to do or show marvelous works, miracles; to perform, to be, or to make great, wondrous things." John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?" Luke 7:21-23, "At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So He replied to the messengers, ’Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

These are not things that man can perform.These are things done with supernatural power. We couldn’t even begin to think up the things that God can do. I Cor. 2:9, "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." Ephesians 3:20, "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever." God confirms His word with signs and wonders following.

He is "Counselor." Who is the Counselor? John 14:15-16, "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth." Another _ (Greek_ allos) - means one who is exactly like something else. Jesus is saying that He and the Holy Spirit are exactly alike. The Counselor is the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, One who walks alongside of you, who guides you, who teaches you. Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor (supernatural, wonder working, beyond our imagination, above what we can even think, guide, teacher, intercessor)