Part 2-Isaiah 53-Why Jesus Came

Botticelli, “Adoration of the Magi”

Yesterday we started looking at Isaiah 53 and considering why Jesus came to the earth. Let’s continue, He grew up as “a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground.” The One who spoke trees and earth into existence—the One who made it all out of nothing became earthly in His appearance. He just looked like one of us. “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.” This speaks of His outward impression. The One who enjoyed the complete adoration and worship of the angels entered this world, which He made, and took upon Himself a form that did not cause you to take a second glance.

If you were to walk by Jesus in a crowd you probably wouldn’t stop and take notice. He wasn’t the kind of man who would adorn the covers of our magazines. He wouldn’t be voted among the most beautiful. You would expect there to be a “majesty” about Him, but Philippians says “he made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised…” This speaks of the human reception of Him. Notice He was despised—Isaiah says that twice, and He was rejected. He was rejected by the religious leaders—they thought He was a heretic. He was rejected by His family—they came to get Him because they thought He was out of His mind. He was rejected by the people of His day and He is still for the most part rejected by the people of our day. He worked miracles and they wanted more signs. He taught them and they misunderstood Him. He finally hung on a cross for them and they mocked Him. While most people would not be so brazen as to say it their view of Jesus is like that expressed by Kathy Griffin who upon winning an Emmy in 2007 said something along the lines of many people get up and thank Jesus for their award, but “This award has nothing to do with Jesus” and she gave credit to herself. He is still despised, and rejected.

When He speaks of Jesus being a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” he isn’t talking about His own sorrow or His own grief—he is talking about the fact that Jesus would take upon Himself our sorrow and our grief. This is laid for us in verse 4, but we will get to that next week.

The final thing Isaiah says about Jesus is that “he was despised and we esteemed him not.” This moves beyond our impression of Him and our reception of Him—this is the sum of the world’s view of Jesus. It is an accounting term—the majority of men and women of the past and present have reckoned the value of Jesus with the human eye and the human perspective and they have added it all up and come to the number ZERO. He is worth nothing in their estimation. The truth of the matter is sobering—human minds are so corrupted that every avenue they take to try to arrive at a proper estimation of Jesus comes to a dead end. This shows us just how sinful we are—this reveals our spiritual bankruptcy—God came to us and we saw Him as nothing.

How do you see Him? Is the all-glorious and most beautiful One? Keep looking at Isaiah 53 and see just how beautiful He becomes!!