Season 5 - Episode 12

To listen to an audio version of this post, visit www.covenantchurch.ca/podcasts/covenant-weekly.

I hope and pray that as you have started this week, you have been able to see and notice glimpses of God’s light in the world. And I pray you’ve been able to participate in helping that light to shine in the world! Today, I want to reflect a bit more on exactly what is promised in Isaiah’s prophecy. Or, better put, who is promised. It is evident by the diversity of activity and opinions in the world that not all Christians think the same way about what God is doing in the world. And considering how Isaiah describes the one who has authority on his shoulders can give us some clarity as to what our kingdom partnership should look like. We’ll talk about that in this Covenant Weekly for November 18, 2025.

In the 1840’s, German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach made some radical statements about theology and religion in his influential book The Essence of Christianity. To be clear, Feuerbach was not a Christian. His book was a critique of what he observed in Christianity as he understood it.

Among the claims in his book, include the argument, “God did not, as the Bible says, create man in his own image; on the contrary, man created God in his own image.” And Feuerbach suggests, “What man wishes to be, he makes his God… God is the outward projection of a man’s inward nature.”

While I radically disagree with Feuerbach’s suggestion that God did not create humanity in the image of the divine. I completely understand where he’s coming from when he suggests that people tend to create God in our own image. While I believe God is far more than the outward projection of a man’s inward nature, I do believe that for many what we believe about God is very much shaped by a projection of our inward nature. This is why many who claim to be Christian find that their God likes all the same people they do and God hates all the same people they do!
I don’t know if there is any way to fully release us from our tendency to see in God what we want to see. But one way to help us on that journey is to look at how God is embodied and described as it relates to Jesus.

Let’s take a moment this morning to see how the Isaiah 9:6 prophecy about Jesus describes the promised king. Isaiah says, “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

In these four descriptors, or names of the coming king, Isaiah taps into four interconnecting aspects of God and God’s engagement with the world. We see these embodied in Jesus in the gospels. And, taken together, they may help us discern what around us and in our own hearts is truly aligned with Yahweh. Let’s look at each of them.

• Wonderful Counselor - This name gives us a glimpse into how God engages humanity. God doesn’t engage with us as a dictator or a slave driver. God comes with wisdom and counsel, inviting us into a way of living and being that aligns with the divine heart. Yes, we are to obey. That is a consistent call in the Bible. But it is an invitation to obey because God has our best interest at heart. Jesus came as our wonderful counselor.
• Mighty God - To be clear, this is not the proper name of God. The Hebrew word used here is a generic word for god. The claim of Isaiah here is that among all those who claim divine strength, whether a divine being or a human claiming to gain strength from divine beings, this coming king is the one with the true divine strength. This is parallel to Old Testament language that describes Yahweh as the “God of gods and Lord of lords,” and the language in Revelation that describes Jesus as the “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Jesus has strength over all and should receive our loyalty above all. After all, as he says in Matthew’s gospel, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Going back to the previous name, we see that he doesn’t wield this authority with coercion, but he is the mighty God.
• Everlasting Father - This gives us a deeper glimpse into the heart of God. God comes to us not as just any wise sage giving us advice for how to live. God comes to us relationally, claiming us as beloved children and heirs. The prodigal son story shows what this kind of crazy, pursuing love looks like in the flesh. And as an everlasting or eternal father, that love never ends.
• Prince of Peace - This shows us what the promised one, Jesus, came to foster in his kingdom as it is established in the world. He is the prince of peace. And it is important to recognize that peace is far more than just the lack of conflict. A tenuous stalemate with people being civil to each other because they know the other has a big weapon is not peace. The Hebrew word here is shalom and carries connotations of things being truly right and whole in the world–a genuine unity and cohesion.

Eugene Peterson’s rendering of these names can maybe help shake us out of our familiarity and open our hearts and minds to a deeper understanding. He translated it to say, “His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness.”

Those things, all wrapped up together, are what Jesus came embodying and bringing. We can’t just take “Strong God” and use that descriptor for our purposes without also holding onto “Prince of Wholeness.” Neither can we claim God as our “Eternal Father” without acknowledging the guidance for life that comes from the “Amazing Counselor.”

Jesus broke into the world, embodying God’s presence in all of these ways. May this reminder encourage us as we consider how we discern and embody God’s presence in our world.