The Presence of the King

Bobby Howell

Advent 2023 • Sermon • Submitted 5 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

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The Presence of the King

We come to an end of our Advent Season, and this Sunday we light “the Christ Candle,” the candle representing the coming of Christ in human flesh.

He has arrived, the King has come. Our Advent reading provides two distinct blessings of what happens when we are graced with the presence of the King:

Salvation from Sin

Fulfillment of prophecy and hope for the future

These are remarkable, unimaginably good blessings in the presence of the King!

However, as we consider the Presence of the King this morning, we will take Isaiah 9:2–7 as our guide of specific blessings of the Presence of the King, specifically found in 9:6.

I. The Presence of the King Provides Counsel

The child to whom the prophet refers is called “Wonderful Counselor.” These two words convey a marvelous truth about the presence of the King.

Looking at this from the perspective of the twofold blessings from our Advent reading, we have salvation from sin and hope for the present and future.

The Wonderful Counselor tells us what we need to address our state in sin.

The Wonderful Counselor also informs our hope for today and tomorrow.

These are indeed glorious blessings from the presence of the Wonderful Counselor! But they are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

Counselor

Let us consider the Counselor first and then see how it relates to Wonderful.

The word counselor means one who counsels, or offers advice. In the Old Testament counselors offered help to kings waging war, they provided strategies for dealing with conflicts, and so forth.

Today the idea of counselor is slightly different, but basically conveys the same message. We go to counseling for help with a variety of problems.

The Presence of the King provides the Wonderful Counselor, as we learn from such precious passages as Hebrews 4:14–16. When we are faced with a difficulty, or problem, or overwhelming trial, we have Someone to whom we can run for advice, encouragement, and correction.

This Counselor does not hold regular office hours, His door is open 24 hours a day. His office is always open, though He may have a million patients, this Counselor is such a Counselor to provide you with the attention as if you were the only one in existence.

Perhaps you are worried about the fees? He does not charge, and in fact welcomes those who know they cannot afford His practice.

Furthermore, this Counselor will never refer you. He has a great deal of wisdom and knowledge, infinite amounts, to be precise. The problems you bring, though completely overwhelming to you, are not too difficult for Him.

All of these are true and in and of themselves make Him a truly Wonderful Counselor, do they not?

Wonderful

Wonderful is describing the Counselor. He is a Wonderful Counselor.

The word for Wonderful is a fascinating word. It is used in Exodus 15:11 ““Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”

Isaiah 25:1 “O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.”

Isaiah 29:14 “therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.””

Psalm 77:12 “I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.”

Psalm 78:12 “In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.”

These handfuls of texts give us a glimpse into the meaning of Wonderful. It is miraculous, an awesome display of God’s salvific and redeeming power. And it is applied to His counsel. His counsel, then, is miraculous, unbelievable.

Take, for example, a husband who has engaged in adultery. His wife of 20 years is devastated, and from our perspective the hope of their marriage surviving are abysmal.

However, though having sinned greatly, this husband knows the Wonderful Counselor, as does His wife. Though hopeless from our eyes, the Wonderful Counselor provides reconciliation, first to God and then to the couple. It is miraculous. And that is one example of the myriad ways in which the Presence of the King provides counsel.

But His presence, though inviting and gracious as it is, is a Powerful Presence.

II. The Presence of the King Provides Power

This Wonderful Counselor, contrary perhaps to our views of a nerdy, weak, and physically unimpressive sight of a human counselor, is the Mighty God.

In this couplet, we see the Warrior-like divinity of the Wonderful Counselor.

God

Jesus is God. He is divine. Our BF&M2000 states, “There is one and only one living and true God. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.”

The Jewish people could not get past this in the earthly presence of Jesus.

John 8:48 “The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”” In particular, Jesus plainly identifies Himself as “I am” in John 8:58 and they respond with the goal of stoning Jesus.

Why is this important? What blessings does this God provide?

We have mentioned the twofold blessings from our Advent reading of salvation from sin and hope for today and tomorrow.

It would be impossible for us to be saved without the assistance of the Divine. To take one example, Christ, if He were not God, would not “live forever to make intercession for us,” as stated in Heb. 7:25.

All His counsel, miraculous as it may be, would be worthless if He had not the power to change and save and redeem. But He is God, and His power is mighty.

Mighty

The word is consistently used to depict a warrior, a fighter. I really do not like the majority of pictures of Jesus (for more than one reason) because they depict him as effeminate and weak. Jesus is the Mighty God. He is the Warrior God.

When humanity fell in sin, it did not catch Him by surprise. Neither did he stand on the edges of heaven hoping that we would come to Him in salvation.

No, He is the Mighty God, and He came from His throne in heaven as a conquering King to save His people.

His Presence is Power. It is at His Name that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That sin which so easily begets us, which seems too powerful to resist, is less than a worm under the boot of our Mighty God.

That conflict, or problem, or heart ache is less than nothing compared to the power of our Mighty God.

All the while on our journey through this life, we fear not, not because of anything we have, but because of the Presence of the King, the Mighty God. And it is precisely because He is the Mighty God that we have protection.

III. The Presence of the King Provides Protection

He is the Everlasting Father. Now, I will only briefly say that the word Father is normally referring to God the Father, but in this case it is used to describe Messiah as a Father to His offspring, His people.

Father

John Gill, “Christ is a Father with respect to chosen men, who were given him as his children and offspring in covenant.”

Like a Father, He provides protection to His people. Generally speaking, earthly fathers are protective of their children. They watch out for them and defend them. So too, our Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God is also our Protector.

Our three main enemies are sin, the devil, and the world. The Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God is also our Father, our Protector. He has fought and defeated sin, the devil, and this world. These are broad victories, but personally they remain true.

Christ has defeated your sin. He is the protector against your sin.

“God takes away the guilt of sin by pardoning grace, and the power of sin by mortifying grace.”—Thomas Watson

Christ has defeated the devil. Colossians 2:15 “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” And 1 John 3:8 “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

The Devil to us is a roaring lion, but to our Protector he is but a defanged, declawed, and de-maned kitty, or a naked-mole rate.

Christ is defeating the world. 1 Corinthians 15:24–25 “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”

Christ reigns, protecting us from the influences of the world as He expands His reign.

Everlasting

But He is not just Father (protector), He is Everlasting Father. Thomas Watson describes three aspects of “being”

“Such as had a beginning; and shall have an end; as all sensitive creatures, the beasts, fowls, fishes”

“Such as had a beginning, but shall have no end, as angels and the souls of men”

“Such as is without beginning, and without ending, and that is proper only to God.”

Why does Everlasting matter? His protection is timeless. There is not beginning nor ending of His protection. He is ever-protector, ever-present, ever- vigilant.

Such an ever-living Father grants protection for all His people at all times, whether it be through the Wonderful counsels or the protections of the Mighty God. Or, as the last couplet describes: the Prince of Peace.

IV. The Presence of the King Provides Shalom

He is the Prince of Peace, the Head of Peace.

Watson describes Scripture’s depiction of peace as “two silver streams,” peace external and peace spiritual.

Through the Prince of Peace, we have external peace unfolding throughout His reign, a point of which we have already noted. But we also have spiritual peace, freedom from the rule and reign of sin, Satan, and the world.

He is the Commander of peace, if you will, and He divvies it out as He sees fit.

The Presence of the King gives us Counsel, Power, Protection, and Shalom (peace) through His rule and reign.