the wonder of the wonderful one

S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace
Isa 9:6

However you look at it you are wrapped in the power of that verse. It might come as a surprise to you, but this verse explains the first five verses. When it says that the people that dwelt in darkness have seen a great light he was referring to this Son that is given. He is also the light that shines upon the land of the shadow of death. The focus is neither on the people walking in darkness, nor those in the shadow of death. The core thought is the intense light introduced by the Son that is given - the child that is born.

This reminds you of John who says that the light shines in the darkness.

I want to draw your attention to a simple fact – his name shall be called wonderful.

If language means anything then the prophet Isaiah leads us into the root system of all scriptural wonders – the child born who is also a son given. You understand that according to the way this is phrased the real wonder is Christ Jesus. This is the zenith of wonders, greater than the deliverance from Egypt, than the parting of the red sea or those mighty wonders that abound in the word of God. The word made flesh is the greatest wonder of all. That is God participating in our humanity, it is the earth-bound journey of something heavenly and supernatural. Let me put it this way to juggle your thinking – no bible wonder holds any meaning outside of a proper understanding of this son who is given. In giving him, the father unlocks for our benefit all the mysteries of the eternities!
To be identified with him is to become a wonder yourself, for that is all that pours out of him by his Spirit into you.
There are wonderful thoughts in the mind of the Father God for each of us. These wonder-thoughts become a reality in Jesus, the wonder of the ages.

Unto us a wonder is born. Unto us a wonder is given.

According to the bible he is the first born of a new type of humanity. This is a wonder, producing wonders of which you are one – you belong in this inner caucus of wonder-men in Christ.

The thing to note is that he is given as a son in order to make us sons. He is born as a child in order to provide our birth as children. It gets exciting – God is going to deliver the whole world and he is going to use a child! It takes the child in us all to grasp this beautiful thing presented to us in the form of a wonder. Often the adult knows it all and is too formed in his way to stand in awe of and be wowed by a wonder.

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven
Mt 18:3

A child appreciates, delights in and is relaxed in things wonderful. The Lord Jesus Christ instructs that except you become as a little child you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. He is not presenting a problem, He is stating the facts and presenting an answer. He is using the easily understood language of birth to drive home his point - you can only enter that which you have been introduced into. This introduction is basically a birth. The same way a child enters into the earth through the process of birth, is the same way that only a birth takes you into the things of heaven.

This opens you up to the ways of the child - an ability to be awed by a wonder.

The more you try to figure him out the more entangled you get in your reasonings, but receive him as a wonder and it all begins to make sense. This is also true of you, the more you try to figure out who you are, the more you get entangled in the opinions of men and the label that others have put on you or maybe you have put on yourself. There is only one way to rise above all that, it starts by receiving your wonder-identity in him. This is a secret – you are a wonder! When you receive the revelations that flow from the wonderful one, you unconsciously begin to understand who you are. For as long as you do not receive this wonder-identity from him, you will build around you structures that will limit and trap you into a mundane existence defined by human philosophies and ideas.

Unconsciously you get angry with those who label you because you do not have a clear revelation of the wonder that lives within you. He is whispering things to you that will lift you into the very heart of God. The more you listen to the wonder within, the more those other voices fade into the background. The answer is not fighting the “labellers”, if they knew better they’d address you better. Truth is if you also knew better you’d know to receive the testimony of the child that has made a child of you.

Your anger is more symptomatic of mistrusting your true identity. The people around you are confirming things you have often feared were true – they are not the problem. What you need is already given. Trouble is people give you labels that might only change when you conform to their expectation of you. This in effects means that they are demanding performance from you before they can accept you, but the Father gives you acceptance in the form of a wonder and all he asks is so simple you stumble over it – he just wants you to accept what he has already accepted.

The government of God is not upon your shoulders. The wonder guarantees that. He has unburdened your shoulders so that you are now free to be a wonder yourself because the wonder lives within. This unlocks all that you thought were impossible. The government has the resources to dissolve all doubts and unravel all mysteries.

So you wish you could start over again? Well, you can. Let the wonder lead the child into his government of peace and glory.

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life 1 John 5:12

You see it is so simple. Christ is your life now. What you have is the son. He that hath the son has the life. You are not so much after life as a thing in itself you are after the son – when you have the son you also have the life, that is the wonder and genius of it. In Isaiah the son was given in prophecy, but it is now no longer prophecy for he is presented to us in the gospel as our actual possession. He is no longer a promise but ours in the now and forever. You and God have a joint sharing in the son. Co-owned in the wonder of love. You now have the full supply of God for a son is everything. A son is life. According to the apostle it is no longer I that live but Christ [the wonder] now lives in me.

All he will be in you is wonderful. All he will do in you is wonderful. He will release into your being wonder-instructions and you will flow along because you and the wonder are now one. Folks around you will think you are the one at work, but don’t you join them in such folly – you know it is the working of the wonder within you.

Do not forget that simple fact – you have the son. The son doesn’t give you life as something separate from himself. He is life. He doesn’t lead you along a path that you call the way. He is the way. He doesn’t give you abundance – he is all the abundance you need! This is wonderful. We thank him for this and we flow along in him fully assured and fully satisfied.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints
Eph 1:18

There are vast possibilities available to us in the indwelling life of God. We are prone to ask him to do more, thinking that the limitations we feel are due to his limited performance. We are so convinced this is the case so our prayers are replete with persuading the Father to do that which he hasn’t thus far done.

The truth is that it is not the Father’s government that has not supplied. Our eyes set the limit. That verse shows that the eyes of understanding need to become enlightened. The supply is available, but I do not see it. My prayer is not so much about the father supplying the need as it is about him supplying vision. Vision requires light. I am an abundance-spirit, a house of wonder indwelt by the king of the kingdom; my eyes need to open in this new world. I don’t see it, so I think it doesn’t exist already – but it does.

My vision only affects my experience it doesn’t define the boundaries of God for he is unbounded and rich still. As my understanding catches up with the realities of the full supply I carry within as a gift the gap between my experience and his provision diminishes.

The wonder within changes everything. The things that I think that I need are really misplaced. How can I need, when I have him? I have all that I need for I have the son. He has been given; I cannot ask the father to give him again. I receive from this boundless supply as I adjust my understanding in the light of his love.

It might help you to realise that your lack doesn't exist in God. It draws its life from ignorance and blindness. Seeing and receiving the things of Christ by his Spirit within you dispels the darkness and releases the reign of light through revelation.

…to be continued