What’s in a name?

Steve Brown:
Hey, what’s in a name? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life exists to communicate that the deepest message of Jesus and the Bible is the radical grace of God to sinners and sufferers. Because life’s hard for everyone, grace is for all of us. Our host is seminary professor and author, Steve Brown.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hey Pete.

Pete Alwinson:
How you doing man?

Steve Brown:
What? It’s not Friday? What are you doing here?

Pete Alwinson:
I know. I’m in here cause Christmas is coming and I know you’re excited about that.

Steve Brown:
You know, I get kidded around here. In fact, my associate, Cathy, who does a lot here. Her titles are many, and her work is very valued, except at Christmas. She, brings the Christmas tree, last year she put the Christmas tree in here, in the studio. And I told her, take it away or you’re going to lose your job.

Pete Alwinson:
And why did you do that? Steve? You must explain that.

Steve Brown:
I’m filling a role of scrooge. Actually, I’m not that way. I’m, there’s something supernatural about Christmas and I don’t begrudge the vendors selling their stuff, that’s where they make their living for a whole year. And I don’t even mind that I get tired of it. The carols that never mention Jesus, played throughout the malls because it would be inappropriate and unpolitical to put the name of Jesus in it, and that can be irritating. But, you know, I love the family and I love, and my favorite service is Christmas Eve.

Pete Alwinson:
You know, mine too, mine too. And I miss leading that as a pastor.

Steve Brown:
I do too.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
I really do. And if you say, I said that, I’ll say you lied, but you know, no I’m not as bad as people think I am, but I’m worse than people wish I would be. Hey, what we’re going to do is going to be interesting. We’re going to, Pete and I are going to take the time this week and we’re going to, we’re going to be with you for five days at Christmas, during the Christmas week. And we’re going to go to Isaiah 9 and we’re going to look at the prophesied names of Jesus. And before we talk about that, let me pray for us and then we’ll get down and talk about Christmas in a little bit different way.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Great.

Steve Brown:
Father, we do rejoice at this season, not just because of the decorations and the music and the family and the food and the presents, but you’re cool to let us have that, but because you came. You entered time and space and you loved us. And Father, we worship you. And then Father as Pete and I teach on this particular subject, we ask that you would annoint us and give us freedom and bless us and your people, as we do this in Jesus name. Amen. Now, Pete in a little bit, you’re gonna read a wonderful text from the book of Isaiah, but I think it’s good to remember that Isaiah was written some 700 years before Jesus came. And he was very specific, very clear about Jesus. In fact, you can read a chapter from, I think 51, from Isaiah on the suffering servant is that 51?

Pete Alwinson:
53

Steve Brown:
53. Well, I was two, two from a hundred, still gives me an A.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
So, and you can read that to your pagan friends and say who’s that? And every time they’ll say, oh, that’s Jesus. I don’t believe in him, but that’s Jesus. And then you can say, with great power, did you know that was written 700 years before Jesus was born? So, what we’re going to do is that Pete and I are going to dip into the book of Isaiah in the ninth chapter. And then we’re going to talk about the prophesied names of Jesus during this week. And it’s, and we’ve been looking, we’ve been planning this and looking forward to it for weeks, so we’re glad you’re going to be a part of it. So, Pete, why don’t you read that text from Isaiah and then we’ll start talking.

Pete Alwinson:
Sounds good. Sounds good, Isaiah 9, very familiar text for you, if you have been in the church for a period of time, Isaiah 9, verse 1.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice you and with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Steve Brown:
And he did.

Pete Alwinson:
And he did.

Steve Brown:
And he did. Alright. Well, we’re going to, let’s talk about those names and we will spend, we’re not in any hurry. We’re just going to look at what Isaiah prophesied, how it came true and how that works out in our lives. And the first one, by the way, if you’re using a King James Version, you don’t have four names of Jesus, you have five because they put a comma there, a comma between then his name shall be called Wonderful, (comma) Counselor, (comma), Mighty God, (comma), etc. And, but there’s no comma there, that’s, there are only four names. And the first name is Wonderul Counselor.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Now, let me make a statement and then I want you to talk about it because I’ve heard you teach on this and it’s so good, but Wonderful, the Hebrew word means that’s like supernatural. Like, wow, look, look at, that’s amazing kind of stuff. Wonderful and Counselor means wisdom, the font of wisdom. And so, what Isaiah is saying 700 years before Jesus is born, is that Jesus is going to be a lot of things, but one thing you’re going to know is that you can trust his wisdom in your life because he is the supernatural font of all wisdom. Now, you talk some about it.

Pete Alwinson:
Wow, really in a nutshell, you said it, I mean, if we would grasp that and let ourselves meditate on that, that would help us a lot, that he is a wonder, a wonder of a counselor, we could take it literally that way too. Right?

Steve Brown:
Yeah.

Pete Alwinson:
And so, you know, it’s kind of like, when you think about, I went to a play this morning of my granddaughter. And she recited these words and she was wonderful. She was wonderful, but it was precious in that way. And that’s not what this means, when he says Wonderful Counselor. So, my granddaughter’s wonderful. Probably better than your granddaughter.

Steve Brown:
No, not even close.

Pete Alwinson:
Alright. Okay. We fight over that. But, but yet when parents say, oh, that’s wonderful, sweetie. Don’t take it in that light, a wonder of a counselor and it’s intended to convey that idea of awe, isn’t it?

Steve Brown:
Yeah, it is.

Pete Alwinson:
And it brings us to the nature of who Jesus is.

Steve Brown:
Do you, have you, that’s so important, you know, when you read the gospels, You’re just amazed. C.S. Lewis said, you read the gospels and you’re aware that this is coming from somebody who knows. It hasn’t been edited. It is real. It is wisdom for the ages and if you follow it, it’ll make all the difference in the world.

Pete Alwinson:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that’s what people felt when they heard Jesus speak, you know, they said, Ooh, he speaks as one with authority. There’s a wonder to it. There, you know, in Colossians says, that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And that’s how they responded. Who is this? Who is this? He’s a wonder of counselor.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, that’s a dynamite thing. And then, you know, he doesn’t just do that in the gospels. He gives us his Spirit,

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Steve Brown:
who will teach us all truth.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
Which will lead us to the wisdom of how we live and how we walk and how we can be forgiven and how much we’re loved.

Pete Alwinson:
I love that because it’s so easy for us to think, that Jesus is gone. And so, we don’t have that Wonderful Counselor now. Oh, we do because of the Spirit, right?

Steve Brown:
So, this Christmas, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas for a lot of reasons, but lean on Jesus and lean on him hard. And listen with your heart and your head for his wisdom. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
That was Steve Brown and Pete Alwinson teaching us from Isaiah about the prophecies that foretold the coming of Jesus. How cool is this? Right. And we’ll be doing this all week. So, make sure you join us for the special week of teaching. Well, we just heard about who the Old Testament prophets said the Savior would be, but what did Jesus say about himself? Well, we talked about that often overlooked subject on Steve Brown Etc, with author Dane Ortlund. We also talked about his book called Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. That program was so good that we would love to send it to you on a CD, for free. Get it right now by calling 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] and ask for that CD. If you’d like to mail your request, send it to

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