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…
Isaiah 9:6
Christmas speaks to me of some very basic qualities of love, joy, peace, and generosity; all seen in the story of a child being born and a son being given.
From Lukes gospel with see the angel appearing to the shepherds with ‘good news of great joy for all people’. From Johns gospel, we read this son is given because God ‘so loved the world that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’. Ephesians chapter two sets before us Jesus as our Peace. All of this speaks to me of the abounding riches of God poured out through His spirit of generosity which resounds unto Him with great thanksgiving and praises.
We call him Wonderful ~
As I began to search for the definition of ‘wonderful’ both from the Hebrew and English, I found some insights I thought would be interesting to share.
First, the Hebrew word simply means ‘a wonder’ . Then our current English definition has taken on this meaning ~ inspiring delight, pleasure, or admiration; extremely good; marvellous and finally from the Merriam-Webster website, I discovered the fascinating etymology of this word.
“Noah Webster was working on his great dictionary at the time Jefferson’s letter was written, and indeed he only presented one sense of wonderful in his 1828 dictionary:
WONDERFUL, adjective Adapted to excite wonder or admiration; exciting surprise; strange; astonishing. Job 42:3.
He leaves a biblical reference without printing the text (the stingy Yankee presumably wished to save space), but it’s clear that wonderful in this Old Testament passage means “astonishing” and not “extremely good”:
Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
—Job 42:3”
We can understand now as we read the gospels how the Pharisees and Sadducees, even Jesus’ own home town, stumbled over this natural, common man, who had nothing about his personage that was ‘wonderful’ except that he himself was a wonder.
Jesus went about preaching a Gospel about a heavenly Father and His Kingdom, healing the sick, conquering natural elements, he was a sign and a wonder; a stumbling block for many, a living stone for others.
“…while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles…”
Hebrews 2:4
His name shall be called Wonderful is the Fathers declaration, but as we acknowledge His name as Wonderful it serves to hold us in the fear of the Lord. As we move into and through Christmas, let our hearts and minds hold the unending knowledge of His great name and may this Christmas Season restore the Wonder of our Lord and Saviour before us all.
Here’s the website link from the merriaim-webster article “How wonderful lost it’s sense of wonder”, if your interested ~
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/wonderful-word-history-evolution