By Pastor Anthony L. Scott
In the Bible names always meant something. The name Peter meant a “rock” the name Abraham meant “Father of many nations”, the name Jacob meant “supplanter”, the name Samson meant “son-like”, and the name Solomon meant “peaceful”. Jesus is given at least two hundred and twelve names in the Bible and each name expresses something in His character. He is called the Lamb, the Lion, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, the One Altogether Lovely. But Isaiah sums it all up when he tells us that Jesus is “Wonderful”!
The ancient people selected the seven wonders of the world. You can add all the wonders, both ancient and modern, and all of those in heaven and on earth, and these combined cannot equal the wonders of Jesus. Place all the wonders of the world on one side of a scale and Jesus on the other and He far outweighs the world.
His Births was Wonderful! In Genesis we are told He would come forth as the “seed of the woman”. Man would have nothing to do with His birth; it was to be all God. The nature of His Birth was most wonderful of all. Isaiah said that He would be born of a virgin. His birth was so wonderful that God hung a star in His honor leading wise men to His place of birth.
His Life was Wonderful! You may pick out a very fine person whom you admire greatly, then say they lived such a wonderful life. But when you come closer to the person, you find that they are not perfect. But look at Jesus from every standpoint and the verdict of the ages will be just as Pilate asserted, “I find no fault in this man.”
His Message was Wonderful! What was Christ’s message? It was not simply the Golden Rule or the Sermon on the Mount, nor the four Gospels. The whole Bible is His message. Christ is the center of all. No human teacher has ever given such a message to the world. The people listened to His message and marveled. After one of his messages the people were said to be astonished. In Greek the word astonished carries the idea of a “knock-out”. This simply means that the words of Jesus were a spiritual knock-out. His message was wonderful and still is wonderful.
His Love is Wonderful! The love of Christ is so wonderful that we can never measure it. The Apostle Paul tried to measure it as he told of the breadth, length, depth, and height of that love. His love extends from eternity to eternity, includes all races, tongues, and people groups of the world. It is so deep that it reaches down to the deepest sinner and lifts them up toward heaven.
His Death was Wonderful! The world has never looked upon such a scene as was presented that day on Calvary. It is wonderful to know that He even considered us enough to want to die for us. The most wonderful thing about Christ’s death is what it accomplished. Because He died, because He tasted death for everyone, we can come to Him and have eternal life.
His Resurrection was Wonderful! When Christ rose from the grave, when He conquered death, He proved that everything He had ever said was true. How wonderful that a man could live, die, be buried, then could burst the bonds of death and the grave. This is why Jesus came and what Jesus did. He is Wonderful in His Resurrection.
It was in a small California church that Audrey Mieir wrote her most famous song. She was 43 years of age at that time. It all happened on Christmas Day – on a Sunday. She said, “We wanted to do something special in our little church, Bethel Union Church in Duarte, California. We were using the young people in a Christmas play. Mary was a teenage girl and the angels were young boys. The ‘baby’ was a doll. The whole place smelled of pine boughs, which we used to decorate the church. The atmosphere was charged. It seemed that the whole room was filled with the presence of the angels of God. People were wiping tears away, remembering many other Christmases gone by. At the conclusion of our play I took my place on a pew near the front. The pastor, Dr. Luther Mieir, my brother-in-law, stood up and slowly lifted his hands toward heaven and said, ‘His name is Wonderful!’ Those words electrified me. I immediately began writing in the back of my Bible. As I wrote I was thinking that God has something he wants said. I wrote a simple chorus and I sang it that night for the young people around the piano. They sang it immediately.”
His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful, His name is Wonderful, Jesus my Lord!
