His Name Shall Be Called Wonderful

By Philip Martin

It’s amazing to me how a little thought can be so important, and if we take time to catch it, it can open into a whole world of ideas. And, on the other hand, if we aren’t aware of it, we can miss something that the Lord is trying to reveal to us.

The last student I pick up while driving my bus is always late. Because he goes to a different school than the rest of my students, I drop them off first and come back around and pick him up. For some days now he has been down—really down. As they say, “If he got any lower, he’d have to reach up to scratch a caterpillar’s belly.” So in an effort to get his mind on something else, the other day I asked him what the first day of spring—“the spring equinox”—meant, and if he understood the significance of it.

In typical fashion, he didn’t answer, so I went on by faith anyway. Often I’ll just talk to him and trust that it’s having an effect on his mind and spirit, as the Word never returns void, even if there isn’t any initial response or reaction.

I began by telling him that it comes from a Latin word meaning equal night, and basically it is when the length of the night and the length of the day are roughly equal. I then explained that there are two equinoxes, one in March for the beginning of spring and one in September for the beginning of autumn. Next I told him about the opposite of an equinox, a solstice, and how they also appear twice in the year—in the middle of winter to mark the shortest day, and in summer to mark the day with the most hours of daylight.

I told him about the universe being like a great big clock and how wonderful it was that it all ran in perfect time. I asked, “If I gave you all the parts to a Rolex watch in a jar all taken apart and told you to shake it until it made a watch, with all the parts moving together in perfect order and able to keep perfect time, do you think that would ever happen?”

“No!” he replied. I’d finally gotten a word out of him.

Then I said, “Isn’t it crazy then that people actually think that the infinitely more intricate watch of the universe just created itself?”

He didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was thinking. His eyes were sort of looking up at the top of the bus in thoughtful wonder. We arrived at the school, and my little talk must have had a profound influence on him because he said “Good-bye!” as he got off the bus.

Maybe it was that look of wonder that he had in his eyes when I told him about the universe being a big clock that triggered my thinking about the word “wonder.” The verse Isaiah 9:6 came to me: “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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Was Wonder one of God’s names?

I find it helpful to compare different translations of the Bible. When I looked this verse up in other translations, out of the twenty that I checked, eight quoted the verse as saying, “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,” with no comma after “Wonderful,” thus making it an adjective describing the noun Counselor instead of a noun depicting one of the names of God.

To check and see which one was the right translation, I went to my trusty touchstone for Bible meanings, The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible.1 When I looked it up, I found the original Hebrew word that was translated as Wonderful in the Bible was Pele and it was indeed a noun, not an adjective. Derived from the word Pala, it means to be distinguished, or be singular, to be miraculous. He goes on to make a special note of Isaiah 9:6 and says, “This is one of several titles for the Messiah, showing that Jesus would continue the work of God.”

Then I began to think about nature and all its wonders, and the human body, the human mind, and what wonderful creations they are. The flowers, birds, bees, the moon, the tides, everything; in fact, all of creation was created to inspire wonder, which thus leads us to worship and praise the Creator whose name is Wonderful. He’s full of wonder.

Then my thoughts turned to evolution, and I realized how the belief in an unplanned world takes the “wonder” out of God’s beautiful world. If it all just sort of happened, with no divine planner or designer behind it, where’s the wonder in it? No magic, no breathtaking, awe-inspiring worship. It just sort of happened. Big deal!

No! God’s creation was designed to inspire wonder. It’s wonderful, full of wonder, and we, His born-again children, are to see His loving concern in His handiwork, and this should inspire us to praise and worship Him, our wonderful Creator. God is wonderful! Nature is wonderful.

*

O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.—Isaiah 25:1 

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!—Psalm 107:8 

He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.—Psalm 111:4

God’s whole creation is a work of art and continually portrays His message to all of us ... pictures which tell the story, portraits which portray the truth.

Do you know what God’s greatest credentials are, the genuine proof of His authority? His creation. His glorious creation is a constant testimony of the existence of a divine designer and Creator, as Romans 1:20 says, “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made (His creation), even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”

Those who refuse to see God in His creation are like the farmer the first time he saw a giraffe and said, “There just ain’t no such thing!” But just because they won’t believe it doesn’t make it not so.

All you have to do is sit outside and look at the trees and the birds and watch the squirrels and you’ll know that it wasn’t an accident. Too much planning went into all that.

Does God love you? You can see it and you can feel it in the beautiful world He’s given you to live in. Just to look around you at this beautiful creation is to see the love of God. Just look at the world and you know that God loves you. His love is obvious from all that He’s made for you to enjoy. When we think about the marvels of God’s glorious creation and how He runs it, it makes us praise Him all the more.—Compiled excerpts from David Brandt Berg 

Posted in: creation, guest contribution, witnessing

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