During Advent, then, we remember with great joy that Jesus came to a world of folly to show us how to live with wisdom from God. When we follow his paths—when we listen to his teaching—we gradually become more and more like him, the true Wise One from on high.

O come, O Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show
And teach us in its ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

“That was a silly mistake!” “How could I have been so dumb?” “Stupid is what stupid does.” Each of these phrases captures what we all know to be true once we’ve spent about half an hour in the real world: humans are not always the brightest! Yes, we have electric cars and send people into space. But from putting aluminum foil in the microwave to stealing candy from our teacher’s prize jar, we all make incredibly foolish missteps in life—even older people who should know better by now.

We need someone to show us our folly and lead us on a wiser path of life. The second stanza of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” provides a beautiful reminder that Jesus Christ has done just that.

Wisdom from on High

One of God’s greatest gifts is enabling people to have great wisdom, which is not simply knowing facts and figures (2+1=3) but making sound judgments about life (“a threefold cord is not quickly broken,” Ecclesiastes 4:12). Numerous people in the Bible had great wisdom, but the most famous was Israel’s King Solomon, who lived in the 900s BC and attracted people from all around the world to come hear his wise words (Matthew 12:42). But even he acted foolishly at the end of his life, showing us that the wisest person on earth is not perfect.

So who is? The only truly and fully wise one is God in heaven above; he is infinite in wisdom and never makes a mistake. All wisdom comes from God himself, who is enthroned in heaven above all creation (see Proverbs 21:30; Job 15:8; 28:12, 20).

Therefore, the New Testament stuns us with the revelation that “Christ Jesus…became to us wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30) and, indeed, is “the wisdom of God” in bodily form (1 Corinthians 1:24). In fact, the Gospels record Jesus teaching this idea in two distinct ways that help clarify it. In one Gospel, he says, “the Wisdom of God” will send forth prophets and apostles (Luke 11:49), while in another he says, “I am sending” them (Matthew 23:34). In other words, Jesus puts himself in the shoes of the Wisdom of God who has come from heaven down to earth (John 3:31).

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