1. My text tonight is found in Isaiah 9:6, 7 – “and his name shall be called Wonderful.”
2. Some one said:

“Isaiah calls Him ‘Wonderful,’
How well this prophet knew
His person and the works of love
That He on earth would do” — Marie C. Turk.

3. We use the word “wonderful” often, especially around this time of year.  We hear songs about a “Winter Wonderland.”  (But we preachers do not find it so wonderful when it snows on Sunday and people stay home from church!)
4. Isaiah 9:6, 7 is a very important Messianic prophecy. Jesus is a child born – this has reference to His human nature. He was born of a virgin.  “For unto us a child is born” (Isa. 9:6).
5. “Unto us a son is given” (9:6). This has reference to our Lord’s divine nature – His eternal co-existence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit; His pre-existence; and His incarnation.  He was given and He was born.
6. Rather than expound upon the entire passage, tonight I would like for us to focus on, “And his name shall be called Wonderful.”

I. CHRIST IS WONDERFUL IN HIS BIRTH

1. The Lord Jesus Christ was wonderful in His birth – conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, worshipped by the heavenly host, humble shepherds, and wise men from the east. 
2. Billy Sunday said, “Mark how He might have come – in all the pomp and glory of the upper world.  It would have been a condescension had He been born in a palace and rocked in a golden cradle with angels for nurses; yet He gave up all that glory, was born of a poor woman and cradled in a manger.  Think about what He came to do!  To bless, not to curse; to lift up, not to drag anyone down; to save drunkards, thieves, blasphemers; to dry the tears, bind up the wounds; to give rest for the weary; and yet there was no room for Him at the inn.”

II. CHRIST IS WONDERFUL IN HIS LIFE

1. The Lord was wonderful in His life – “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26).
2. Think of the compassion of Jesus!   Weeping over the city of Jerusalem, and crying at the tomb of Lazarus.
3. This is why His followers have gone all over this world building churches, schools, and hospitals.
4. The Lord was wonderful in His works – He healed the sick, gave eyesight to the blind, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead, cast out devils, rebuked the religious hypocrites, calmed the raging storm, comforted the poor and broken-hearted, and forgave sin.
5. Jesus was wonderful in His words – The officers said to the Pharisees, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). 
6. The woman at the well told the men in her city, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29).
7. Our Lord said to the religious hypocrites of His day, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58).
8. “Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:59).  That is wonderful!

III. CHRIST IS WONDERFUL IN HIS DEATH

1. Christ was wonderful in His death – He died on the cross for our sins, “the just for the unjust.”  Peter, quoting Isaiah 53:5, wrote: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (I Peter 2:24).
 
2. The hymn-writer put it this way:

Christ has for sin atonement made,
What a wonderful Saviour!
We are redeemed, the price is paid!
What a wonderful Saviour!

3. Our Lord predicted His own death and resurrection.  In fact He predicted His betrayal, and His trial too.  Only the sinless Son of God could do that.
4. Our Lord was wonderful in His death.  He prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
5. This was a fulfillment of Isaiah 53:12, “and he was numbered with the transgressors,” and “he…made intercession for the transgressors.”
6. Christ fulfilled many OT prophecies.  That too is wonderful.

IV. CHRIST IS WONDERFUL IN HIS RESURRECTION

1. Christ was wonderful in His resurrection – and because He rose from the dead, we too shall rise.
2. The apostle Paul wrote, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (I Cor. 15:14).
3. He was wonderful in His ascension into heaven, wonderful in His present ministry as our great High Priest, interceding for us right now, and He will be wonderful when He returns to earth for His bride.
4. This brings me to my final point.

V. CHRIST WILL BE WONDERFUL WHEN HE RETURNS

1. Our Lord said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
2. Isn’t that wonderful?
3. The Bible says, “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (I Thess. 4:16).
4. The Bible says, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:17).
5. There were many prophecies fulfilled when Christ came the first time – He was born in Bethlehem, He was born to a virgin, He was from the tribe of Judah, and descended from King David.
6. He died on the cross for our sins and He rose from the dead.  All of these OT prophecies were literally fulfilled. 
7. Therefore we can be certain all of the OT prophecies concerning His second coming will likewise be literally fulfilled.
8. Jesus is coming again.
9. Are you ready?

CONCLUSION:

1. I never thought I’d live to see the day when it would be controversial or unacceptable to say, “Merry Christmas” here in America.
2. I’m glad we can still say it freely around here: “MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
3. Christmas is a very special time of the year. But in my opinion, Christmas becomes much more special when you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
 
4. Then Christmas becomes very wonderful indeed.