King Of The Jews - Part 19"For unto us a child is born, a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God. The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 Jesus is reduced to "a good man", "a prophet", "a teacher" or even given the lofty title of "ascended master" by many religions. Voodoo practitioners and Santerians and occultists of every stripe amalgamate Jesus into their systems, but always demoting him to the status of other gods or spirits in their pantheon of idols. This is utter blasphemy. As C.S. Lewis put it so succinctly and I paraphrase as best I can remember his statement, "Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord of all, you can't have it more than one way". Finally, as regards Jesus' name, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved". Acts 4:12. And "That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord...". Philippians 2:10 Yes, He has a name. One compelling reason I have for sharing the information and shedding light on the darkness of New Ageism, is that many Jewish people have been seduced by its lure. One of the names of Messiah as mentioned is "Wonderful". The Hebrew word for "Wonderful" is "Secret". When the "Angel of the Lord" appeared to the parents of Samuel, He used that name; "Secret"/"Wonderful", in answer to the father's question. The "Angel of the Lord" is widely regarded to be a "Theophanic Appearance" or a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. "...the angel of the lord ascended in the flame of the altar", in other words, he arose into Heaven. Samuel's father declared, "...we have seen God". Judges 13:20&22 For now, the name of Jesus is perhaps "Secret" in a spiritual sense to many Jewish people. But Jesus Himself made this "Wonderful" promise. "For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid, that shall not be known". Luke 8:17 It is my prayer today and everyday that to those Jewish people to whom the name of Jesus is a "Secret" spiritually, that they will come to know Him as Lord and Savior, King of Kings and Everlasting Father who loves them and cares for them deeply. That they might say as the prophet Isaiah, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:...upon them hath the light shined". "For unto us a child is born...a son is given...his name shall be called Wonderful...". Isaiah 9:6 "Counsellor", the term Isaiah employed embodied the idea of the perfect wisdom the Messiah would manifest. Problems and perplexities arise, but we have a Counsellor. He offers to lead us into all truth by His Spirit. "Where no counsel is the people fall..." Proverbs 11:14. "Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee". Exodus 18:19 "The Mighty God", proclaims unequivocally that the Messiah would be God in Flesh, the son that was given Israel and by extension all of mankind. "El" is the Hebrew word used by Isaiah, which denotes absolute deity. Jesus confirmed, "I and my Father are one". John 10:30 "The Everlasting Father"; Jesus enraged the Pharisees with the declaration, "Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am". John 8:58. "I am" denotes always existing, no beginning and no ending, the name which God told Moses to tell the Israelites when he went back to Egypt to lead them out. "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you". Exodus 3:14 "The Prince of Peace"; All foreshadowings of Messiah in the Old Testament impart the idea of peace. "Peace" dominates Messianic prophecy. David named one son Absalom, meaning "Father of Peace", Solomon likewise implies "peaceful". This peace was not only meant for Israel, but for the world. "He shall speak peace unto the heathen". Zechariah 9:10 Again, let me re-emphasize the lost and hopeless condition of all those outside the House of Israel prior to the coming of Messiah. The Gospel of Salvation by Grace through Faith in the Substitutionary Sacrifice of Messiah on the Cross and the complete fulfilling of the Law of Moses, brought such a monumental shift in God's relationship to the Gentiles that it is in some ways easy to understand the bewilderment of the Jewish people. I believe the story of Jonah depicts with great accuracy, the state of affairs in the hearts and minds of God's Chosen People in relation to the Salvation of the Gentiles. It is predictive of Israel's future. Jesus spoke of "The sign of Jonah" and I see His identification with Jonah as also being intertwined with Israel because God loves Israel and identifies Himself with her repeatedly. When the Pharisees told Jesus, "Master we would see a sign from thee...he answered...there shall be no sign given...but the sign of the prophet Jonas". For as Jonas was three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth". Matthew 12:40 The Book of Jonah tells the story of a literal person who received a word from the Lord to go to the wicked city of Nineveh and preach repentance to them lest He destroy them. But Jonah rebelled and fled from the presence of the Lord. To me this presents a picture of Israel declining to carry out their mission to be a "light to the Gentiles". Everyone knows the story of how Jonah was cast from the ship, just like the Jews have been thrown out of nation after nation. Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and remained in its belly three days and nights. "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice". "And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land". Jonah 2:1,2&10 Of course Jesus did not rebel against the word of the Lord, but Israel did. And as mentioned they were in the grave for "two days" and arose to Nationhood on the "third day". Now, Jonah, after his miraculous "re-birth" went and preached in Nineveh, a picture of the Gentiles, and as a result of his preaching, "...the people of Nineveh believed God...And God saw...that they turned from their evil ways...". Jonah 3:5&10. Because of their repentance from sin, God stayed His judgement and destruction of Nineveh. Jesus fulfilled the "Sign of Jonah", by His death, burial and resurrection. And as a result of the rejection of Him, "The Light" was given to the Gentiles. However, during the Great Tribulation, I believe that Israel will also fulfill the "Sign of Jonah" as the 144,000 Messianic Jews will evangelize the world just as Jonah preached repentance to Nineveh, resulting in a spiritual revival. Jonah's expressed excuse for initially refusing to preach to the city of Nineveh was that he was concerned that they would repent and God would spare them. "I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness...". Jonah 4:2. That seems to mirror the Jewish resistance to allowing the Gentiles "Dogs" into the family of God under the economy of Grace. In a way, it sounds as if Jonah was "jealous" of the knowledge of Jehovah God and resisted sharing Him with the Heathens/Gentiles. Paul wrote insightfully of Israel's resistance to the Gospel of Christ. The rebellion by Israel, he sums up in this way. "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them (the Jews) to JEALOUSY". Romans 11:11 (emphasis added). It remains a mystery, as to how the Gentiles' Salvation through Christ will provoke the Jewish people to jealousy, but one thing is certain; God has declared that Israel has a future, a destiny, that He is guiding and shepherding, leading them certainly into his fold. "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins". Romans 11:26&27. God changed Jacob's name, which means "deceiver and supplanter", to Israel, which means "God's Warrior". "I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King". Isaiah 43:15. "Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb;...he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified". Isaiah 49:1-3. The sword and arrow bespeak weapons. Now the Lord, through Isaiah seems to shift from speaking of Israel, to speaking of the Messiah, "...thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I WILL ALSO GIVE THEE FOR A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES". Isaiah 49:6 (emphasis added). Though Israel has suffered greatly, in pogroms, the Holocaust, in myriad persecutions in the great Diaspora, God has promised to preserve the believing remnant. "But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me". Isaiah 49:14. But God replies, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? They may forget, yea will I not forget thee". And in my opinion, the most touching and prophetic lines ever uttered, God concludes his promise with these words. "Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands". Isaiah 49:16. Additional names of God:
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