His Name . . . Wonderful.
ix. 6. His name shall be called Wonderful, &c.
I. Christ is wonderful in His nature. He is wonderful, 1. In respect of His essential Godhead. 2. In respect of His perfect manhood. All excellencies were combined in him as a man, unlike even His most eminent servants, who are distinguished for the possession of special graces, which too often are clouded by some opposite defect. 3. In respect of the union in Him of Deity and humanity (1 Tim. iii. 16).
II. Christ is wonderful in His offices, at once Prophet, Priest, and King. 1. As a Prophet, what wonderful disclosures He has made to us of the Divine nature and will, and of human duty and destiny; with what wonderful authority He spoke; with what wonderful completeness and beauty He fulfilled all His own commandments! 2. As a Priest, how wonderfully He was at once sacrifice and offerer: how wonderfully He still carries on the work of reconciliation (Rom. viii. 34). 3. As a King, how wonderfully He rules, with omnipotent power, yet with lamblike gentleness.
III. Christ is wonderful in his relation to His people. 1. In the care He exercises over them (Ezek. xxxiv. 11–16). 2. In the abundance of the grace which He ministers to them (2 Cor. xii. 9; John i. 16; H. E. I. 936). 3. In His condescending thoughtfulness for each one of them (John x. 3, 14, 15).[1] 4. In the perfectness of His sympathy with them. He identifies Himself so entirely with His people, that they have not a single care, trial, or temptation of any sort, but it is as much His as it is theirs (H. E. I. 952–961).—J. H. Evans, M.A.: Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii. pp. 336–348.
We are continually struck with one marked contrast between the greatness that is human and the greatness that is Divine: human greatness the more it is examined the less wonderful it appears, but Divine productions, the more closely they are investigated the more brightly they shine. We shall see that Christ is wonderful, if we consider—I. The excellences that compose His mediatorial character. God and man! Nor is this a wonder to men only (1 Pet. i. 12). II. The stupendous blessings He bestows on His friends. III. The reserves of glory which He waits to exhibit in now unseen and future worlds.
Behold Him, and 1. Never hesitate to acknowledge Him as your Saviour and Lord. 2. Yield a ready obedience to His authority. 3. Anticipate His coming in glory.—Samuel Thodey.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Oh, how “wonderful” must He be, that suits Himself to the cares of all, as if He had but one! cares for each as much as He cares for all, and cares for each as if he were all! We are lost in this deep. I sometimes get some light from this thought:—Why, the sun can shine into the attic as well as into the Queen’s palace; it occasions no difficulty to the sun. Blessed Jesus! there is no difficulty for Thee to supply all our minutest wants; in Thee there is the abundance of power, and quite as great an abundance of love.—J. H. Evans, M.A.