Jesus the Counsellor

In Isaiah 9:6; the prophet predicts great things about Jesus. One of the roles that is predicted of him is that he will be a wonderful counsellor. The function of a counsellor in the ancient world was to provide the ruler with insights and assessments of situations and advice for future actions. It was recognised that it was better to have a group of counsellors in order to have collected wisdom, but often that variety of opinions could lead to confusion. It would be far better to have an infallible counsellor from whom all other counsellors would learn what to say. 

In the kingdom of God, there is one counsellor, and that is Jesus. He is a wonderful counsellor because since he is also divine he knows the mind of God. Moreover, the matters he deals with are far beyond a creature to grasp fully because they have to do with the growth of the worldwide kingdom of God. 

How do we discover his wisdom? Jesus told his apostles that the Holy Spirit, whom he would send to them, would lead them into the things of Christ and reveal those details to them. In turn, he enabled his servants to compose the Bible in which all the wisdom we need to know is found. And by the same Holy Spirit, Jesus provides gifts to his church to help them understand his Word.

Some counsellors in the ancient world were very reliable and their rulers relied on them safely. Think of Daniel who gave counsel to Nebuchadnezzar. But one thing that was not true of those counsellors was their ability to die for their people and in doing so to guarantee that all their wisdom would continue to be delivered by them to their people. Jesus, the wonderful counsellor, knew that his death and resurrection was essential for the endless existence of his kingdom and therefore he instructed his disciples about the centrality of his sacrifice. Initially they did not listen carefully to what he was teaching them, but after his death and resurrection they discovered why he had to die and rise again.

So we listen to and are instructed by the wonderful counsellor who teaches us from his Word by the Holy Spirit. We can use the prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 119:33: ‘Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.’