One day Alexander the Great was reprimanding one of his soldiers. He asked the man his name, and the man said “Alexander.” Then Alexander the Great said, “Listen soldier – either change your behavior, or change your name!”
In Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah speaks of the coming Messiah by saying, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us…And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
Now this verse is speaking about Jesus, but the interesting thing to note is that Jesus Christ was never specifically called by any of these names. He was called Jesus, Christ, Lord, Rabbi – but he was never called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, or Eternal Father, or Prince of Peace. Does this mean that Jesus did not fulfill this prophecy? Well, no, not at all!
This word, “called” is a Hebrew word that means “to call; or call by name.” But it can also carry the idea of identifying something, like when someone says “I call it the way I see it.”
In fact, Merrill F. Unger the Hebrew scholar wrote, “’His Name’” is a Hebrew idiom, which means that He would not actually bear these names, but that He would deserve them, and that they would be descriptive designations of His person and work.” So our Lord was called these names in the sense that they are descriptive of who He is. He is deserving of what each of the names means. “…And His name will be called…”
Say – have you discovered Jesus to be the Wonderful Counselor? How about the Prince of Peace?