The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined......For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end,
I came across these verses in Isaiah 9 during my daily reading this past week. A clear prophesy of Jesus long before He as born. Yet, how many times do we just read over verses like this and not take the time to meditate on them and what they mean. So I decided to look up each word describing Jesus and then put the phrases back together to see if we can get a clearer picture of our awesome God. Then, I chose the terms that meant the most to me, but you may choose different terms to define each descriptor. They are all correct, but sometimes we need to remind ourselves of certain attributes of God, attributes that we really need to lean on in our present circumstances. Which terms would you use to describe each attribute of God? And what do they mean to you?
Mighty: Strong, all-powerful, tremendous, exceptional, enormous, tremendous, superior
God: Supreme being, Creator of all things, Eternal Spritual Diety
Mighty God: All-powerful, eternal Diety (Nothing He can't do!)
Wonderful: awesome, wondrous, miraculous, prodigious, astonishing, amazing, astounding, phenomenal, unique, causing wonder, marvelous, lovely, admirable, magnificent, enjoyable.
Counselor: Advisor, Mentor, Advocate, instructor, teacher, guide
Wonderful Counselor = Astonishing guide (He leads me on an astonishing journey!)
Prince: a soverign, a ruler, royalty
Peace: Harmony, freedom from strife or dissention, serenity, tranquility, untroubled, quietness, wellness, calm, ease, order, contentment
Prince of Peace = Soverign of contentment (He is the author of contentment. Without Him, we will never be content!)
And my personal favorite!
Everlasting: Eternal, forever, no end, ageless, constant, enduring, unceasing, imperishable, immortal, continual, durable
Father: Protector, provider, person who cares for someone else, Daddy
Everlasting Father: Eternal protector (He never leaves me. He's always watching out for me!)
I hope you take some moments to ponder these attributes of God and apply them to your own heart, and your own life.
I agree with you MaryLu. I would really like to spend more time meditating on the verses. You never know what might happen when you pay more attention to something that ought to be pondered more on.
ReplyDeleteWell all these words describe God so perfectly. Mighty God- is like He is bigger than anything you can imagine. Our God is so wonderful and powerful He can handle anything. Wonderful Counselor- He is so awesome and you will be so thrown with how His guidance is the journey you want to take. Prince of Peace- God is the King! He will bring peace because that is what He is. Everlasting Father- God will be there until the end. He is a father to all that love Him or dont. God gets us through life and without Him we couldnt do it.
Is that what you were looking for MaryLu? Im not good with words. :)
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!! God Bless your heart!
This is a really neat way to study the names of God, MaryLu - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI have one of those Bibles that breaks down the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramean meanings of many of the words, so I decided to look up these names there. Here's what I found:
*Wonderful Counselor - the word for wonderful here is the Hebrew word pele', which is literally a marvel or a miracle; the word is used almost exclusively in reference to God.
*Mighty God - the word used for God is 'el (God in one person; as opposed to 'elah, which is God in two persons, and the one used in Genesis 1:1 - elohiym - which is the complete trinity). This is important because the word 'el is used all throughout the Bible in conjunction with adjectives of strength, mercy, holiness, etc., so it's not like each branch of the trinity has different characteristics.
*Prince of Peace - from the word 'sar, meaning head, captain, chief, genearal, governor, keeper, lord, master, prince, ruler, or steward. We tend to think of a prince a someone waiting for his turn to rule, but the word here is in the sense of 'in charge right now right now right now!'
Some people say not to put to much weight in the Bible's wording, but I think it really helps the reader understand the context. :-)
-Sapphire
Tori, yes, that's what I was looking for and you are great with words! Sapphire, thank you for looking up this scripture and elaborating on the true meaning of the words! Very helpful. I need to get one of those Bibles.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless, Ladies!
These are very interesting thoughts. I often take an attribute or name of God and pray that He will be that to me for a particular day. I think I'll meditate on these names for this week. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThank you MaryLu. This was a beautiful reminder of who God is. I'm reminded every now and again on how truly wonderful God is, and this was another one.
ReplyDelete~Sasafras