Isaiah 53:1-3 – The Unexpected Saviour
In contrast to the nations, the people of Israel do not and cannot believe that the One Who is the Servant is, indeed, the Messiah of God. Even though He had been promised in all His Mediatorial offices, even though the time had been announced in Daniel 9:24, the people would not believe God’s Word. The truth is that the Arm of the LORD must be revealed. That is, it is by sovereign and effectual calling alone, that enables a person to believe the reports (John 6:44-45); to believe the Word of prophecy and the portrayals of the ceremonies of the Old Testament.
He was altogether unlike what the Jews of His own day expected in their distorted misunderstanding of the Scriptures. They expected One Who would come with great glory, splendour, majesty, and power. He grew up as a plant out of dry ground; the Branch rooted out of the House of David, which house was sadly degenerated and pretty much lost track of by the general population and the Jewish leaders of the time. Unlike the expectation of the Jews, He was born in obscurity and poverty, and His childhood was largely anonymous. He did not look distinguished, as so often people desire their leaders to be. He was not tall and imposing, as Saul, or even ruddy and athletic like His forefather, David. He looked incredibly average. He did not look the part, thus many rejected Him. He came to His own, and His own received Him not, as we read in John 1:11. Instead of looking to Him and being saved, they looked at Him, found Him not to their taste, and looked away to their own righteousness and later to false “messiahs”. Consequently, instead of acclamation and allegiance, He is despised and rejected – by the leaders and all too many of the common people, as we see in the Gospel accounts. All along this happens, culminating at the “trial” before Pilate. The rest of the Jews’ history in Bible times is an outworking of that rejection.
The next phrase we meet is one we know well, but seldom think of. What were the sorrows and griefs He carried? They were the common hardships of man, but they were far more. He had none of the sorrow and grief we all experience for our own folly and sin, but He did have that of knowing the fallenness of the world far more than we do, and He bore all that which His people would have brought upon themselves. Instead of receiving, and loving, and adoring, and submitting to Him, they, and we, were we left to ourselves, were ashamed of Him and repelled by Him.
Question
- What does this tell us about the appearance of Jesus?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would look to Jesus.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.