Post by Admin on Feb 20, 2020 7:16:11 GMT
From Messiah, we listened to recordings of No. 11. Air for Bass (The People that Walked in Darkness from Isaiah 9:2) and No. 12. Chorus (For Unto Us a Child is Born from Isaiah 9:6) before we launched the discussion.
The scripture from Isaiah 9 that was the basis of the discussion, and the text for chorus No. 12, is prophecy describing a king. He is at once a human – a child, born like us, destined to sit on a throne – and also more than human: mighty God, everlasting, eternal, omnipotent. And there Isaiah has already captured the truth of Christ: truly Man and truly God.
The first special name for Christ on Isaiah’s list was Wonderful Counselor. We considered the attributes we desire in the person or persons who we turn to for counseling. Often, we turn to a spouse or parent because they meet our expected criteria: they care, they listen, they are trustworthy, they offer their best wisdom, they try to be objective and honest. As the ultimate counselor, Jesus offers those attributes extravagantly. He loves us enough to give His life. His ability to listen transcends hearing words to accepting the feelings in our hearts. We can trust His counsel to be nothing except help for us. His truth is absolute. He can understand the nuances of our situations without any confusion or prejudice. While he is the optimum counselor, the question which we could not answer was how effectively we turn to Him and how often we hear His counsel.
Everyone was asked to put the four labels or names Christ is given (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace) into a personal order, with No. 1 being the title that best describes our relationship with Christ today, and No. 4 being the title that feels the most distant in terms of our relationship with Him today. There was lots of variation among the group, however, a majority suggested that Prince of Peace was the closest descriptor of Christ today, and the most distant was Everlasting Father.
On the theme of everlasting and eternal, the last discussion area was to consider the Kingdom that will be reigned over forever by the prophesized king, what we would today call the Kingdom of God which Christ described. The Chief Apostle’s theme to explore for 2020 is the freedom Christ has brought us. The question then was whether this Kingdom of God, this great eternal time and place of peace and justice, will be a kingdom of freedom or a kingdom with rules. When we truly surrender and become transformed, we will be free of sin and free to live in the Kingdom, rules not necessary. Can that be achieved? Certainly, not without Him.
The scripture from Isaiah 9 that was the basis of the discussion, and the text for chorus No. 12, is prophecy describing a king. He is at once a human – a child, born like us, destined to sit on a throne – and also more than human: mighty God, everlasting, eternal, omnipotent. And there Isaiah has already captured the truth of Christ: truly Man and truly God.
The first special name for Christ on Isaiah’s list was Wonderful Counselor. We considered the attributes we desire in the person or persons who we turn to for counseling. Often, we turn to a spouse or parent because they meet our expected criteria: they care, they listen, they are trustworthy, they offer their best wisdom, they try to be objective and honest. As the ultimate counselor, Jesus offers those attributes extravagantly. He loves us enough to give His life. His ability to listen transcends hearing words to accepting the feelings in our hearts. We can trust His counsel to be nothing except help for us. His truth is absolute. He can understand the nuances of our situations without any confusion or prejudice. While he is the optimum counselor, the question which we could not answer was how effectively we turn to Him and how often we hear His counsel.
Everyone was asked to put the four labels or names Christ is given (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace) into a personal order, with No. 1 being the title that best describes our relationship with Christ today, and No. 4 being the title that feels the most distant in terms of our relationship with Him today. There was lots of variation among the group, however, a majority suggested that Prince of Peace was the closest descriptor of Christ today, and the most distant was Everlasting Father.
On the theme of everlasting and eternal, the last discussion area was to consider the Kingdom that will be reigned over forever by the prophesized king, what we would today call the Kingdom of God which Christ described. The Chief Apostle’s theme to explore for 2020 is the freedom Christ has brought us. The question then was whether this Kingdom of God, this great eternal time and place of peace and justice, will be a kingdom of freedom or a kingdom with rules. When we truly surrender and become transformed, we will be free of sin and free to live in the Kingdom, rules not necessary. Can that be achieved? Certainly, not without Him.