Unto Us Is Given

Isaiah 9:6 has been sitting in the Daily section of our Scripture Memory box lately.

For unto us a child is born
Unto 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

As we have been working on memorizing this passage, the descriptions of our Lord that are given there have become precious yet again.

Take a moment and consider with me what those names mean to us as homeschool moms—what has been given to us in this Savior, Whom we celebrate at Christmas time.

He is our Wonderful Counselor. When we are puzzled about how best to nurture a son or encourage a daughter or calm a fear or answer a question, we can get counsel—wonderful counsel— from the One Who knows everything. We have the treasure of His Word, with its depths of wisdom, and we have the privilege of prayer.

He is the Mighty God. On those days when we feel like we can’t do this anymore, our mighty God bolsters us with His strength. When we berate ourselves for failing once again at forming that new habit in our own lives, His strength gives us hope. And we can cling to His promise that His grace is sufficient.

He is our Everlasting Father. Though everything around us seems unstable, we have a Heavenly Father Whose kingdom is unshakable, Who is everlasting. His constant love and provision will support us throughout the changes of life, as only a perfect Father can.

He is the Prince of Peace. When fears beset our souls and worries try to settle in our heads, He offers a deep-seated calm to all those who keep their minds stayed on Him. We can have peace, though the billows roll around us, as we keep our eyes fixed on our Lord.

Yes, we have been given many wonderful treasures in this Savior of our souls. If you haven’t recently studied the names of our God, I encourage you to embrace that pleasant task this coming year. Read, ponder anew, and be blessed.

Merry Christmas from SCM

Our wish for you this Christmas is that you
listen to the Wonderful Counselor,
draw strength from our Mighty God,
find security in the Everlasting Father,
learn to rest in our Prince of Peace.

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5 Comments

  2. This is one of my favorite verses! But I would like to point out that there is a comma after Wonderful, which means it is separate from Counsellor. He is Wonderful, AND He is our Counsellor.
    What a great big loving God we serve!

    Merry Christmas to all!
    Kim

    • Thanks Kim. It’s one of our favorites too.

      That passage in Isaiah was originally written in Hebrew, as was most of the Old Testament. English translations of the Bible have varied in wether they include a comma or not. We quoted one that does not include a comma.

      Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple as checking the original Hebrew to see if it had a comma because the Hebrew language doesn’t have punctuation like we do in English. However, Hebrew is a very structured language and the cues come from the context. All of the other titles have modifiers, so “Everlasting” and “Father” go together, “Mighty” and “God” go together, and “Prince” and “Peace” go together. The context of that structure actually makes it difficult to not have “Wonderful” as the modifier for “Counselor” in the same way, which is why the majority of translations leave the comma out.

      Regardless, He is the “Wonderful Counselor” of Isaiah, and from the whole of scripture we can still say that He is also very much “wonderful” and our “Counselor”!

  3. I homeschool my 6 & 9 year old children & work part-time coordinating a Sunday school program for K-5 children. Last Sunday, we wrapped up a study of 4 Advent prophecies with this verse. A fourth grader approached me afterward, wondering why there are so many names for Jesus anyway. I mentioned sad people calling on Jesus for comfort, lonely people turning to Jesus as “friend,” frightened people praying to Jesus as a source of courage. She nodded that she understood, but I felt my explanation had been inadequate & too far afield of the lesson.

    Then came “Unto us is Given.” I sent it to my student and her mother, with prayers that this will be something to ponder that will help it to make sense.

    Thank you.

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