If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you. --Proverbs 1:23
We are entering the Christmas season. Having cleaned up the Thanksgiving meal, we have likely set about the setting up of the Christmas tree. Today is the first Sunday of Advent, so no doubt in our church services we have begun singing Christmas carols and hymns.
One such hymn was sung in our worship service this morning. The song, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is a haunting tune expressing a longing for the Messiah to come to ransom Israel. One of the verses in that hymn (depending on the hymnbook your church uses, or the translation that the editors chose), goes something like this:
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high
And order all things, far and nigh
To us the path of knowledge show
And cause us in her ways to go
The poetic invocation of Wisdom here is not just a plea for divine knowledge, although the dissemination of that godly knowledge was certainly the divine work of the Messiah. I would urge you, though, to open up your mind a little bit here. Wisdom is the personification of God. Remembering the beginning of John's gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word, was God," Author Chad Bird puts it this way:
"God has wisdom like a father has a son. I mean that the Father begot wisdom, brought forth wisdom to be by His side, to work alongside Him in creation, to teach humanity, and eventually to Tabernacle with humanity. Like the word of Yahweh, the wisdom of Yahweh is a person. Using trinitarian terminology, scholars sometimes cal this the "hypostatization" of wisdom. They mean that wisdom is a hypostasis (person) who, while essentially of God, is also distinguished from God. I would say, more simply, that wisdom is another name for the Father's Son." (Chad Bird The Christ Key 2021, page 36).
If we understand this concept, then we see the book of Proverbs as a Gospel message. Proverbs 1:20-23 says,
Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.
If you can get past the fact that the word for wisdom in Hebrew is a feminine noun, then you can see how the Wisdom that Solomon speaks of in Proverbs is a foreshadowing of the Son of God. Did not Jesus cry out in the streets and marketplaces? Did He not promise to pour out His Spirit on all people?
A more direct image is found in Proverbs 3:19: "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth." There are several New Testament passages that flesh out this thought. 1 Corinthians 8:6 says, "For there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." Jon 1:3 says, "All things were made by Him (the Word), and without Him was not anything made that was made."
Looking further into the New Testament equivalency of Wisdom and the Christ, we see in Hebrews 1:2-3, "In these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power." Colossians 1:16-17 says, "For by Him (Jesus) all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
1 Corinthians 1:30 says, "And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us Wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." I challenge you to read the 8th chapter of Proverbs and not see the work of Christ in almost every verse. "For my mouth will utter truth." (verse 7). "I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me." (verse 17). "For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord." (verse 35).
If you have one of those Bibles that prints the words of Jesus in red, these verses in Proverbs 8 should be red as well. This is the speech of God's Son. He is telling us that He is begotten of the Father. He was "brought forth" by Him. Moreover this was "before the beginning of the earth" (*:23); before anything was created, He was there. But once the Father was forming seas and erecting mountains, what was the Son doing? Wisdom was the "master workman" of architect of creation, "rejoicing in His inhabited world and delighting in the children of man" (8:30-31). (ibid Chad Bird, page 68).
Was it any accident that Joseph, the man who raised the boy Jesus on earth, was a carpenter? Joseph, in all likelihood, trained Jesus in this trade. Jesus probably earned His livelihood by being a carpenter up until age 30, when He began His earthly ministry. Why is this important? The Greek word for "beginning" is arche, from which we get our English word "architect". A carpenter's work will not stand without an architectural drawing, and cannot be completed with a certification from an architect. Not only is Jesus the builder of the universe, He is the architect. He is both the founder and the foundation. Revelation 3:14 says, "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write, 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of God's creation'." John is describing Jesus here; not only is He the Amen (the end), but He is the beginning of creation.
Another favorite song of mine is the hymn Be Thou My Vision. The second verse says this:
Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one
Jesus was the Wisdom spoken of in Proverbs. He is the Son of God who dwelt among us. He bids us all to become children of God. For this reason we sing, "Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to ransom Israel."
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