A Man of Sorrows

Isaiah 53 is the heart of the great prophecy of Isaiah. The entire book looks forward to this chapter. From the beginning, God’s people were rebellious and stubborn, and they were brought under divine judgment because of their sin. Finally, in the fortieth chapter, the message came: “Comfort, comfort my people.” Later we were told it is the Lord himself who will comfort his people, but we were not told how. Now we are shown the way of salvation in Isaiah 53.

Comfort and salvation are coming to us through a man of sorrows-a despised man, a rejected man, a man people considered worthless.

The Suffering Servant

Isaiah 52:13-53:12, which is the fourth and final servant passage, speaks about the servant’s suffering. The passage begins: “See, my servant. . . .” We are given the same command in 42:1, “Behold my servant!” We must look to this servant in order to be saved; salvation cannot come from anyone else. In 53:11 we are told, “By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many.”

This servant is the servant of the Lord, the chosen one in whom the Lord fully delights. He is the Spirit-anointed one (42:1) in whom the Lord displays his glory and wonder. He is the covenant for Israel and a light for the nations (42:6). Though he will be despised, he will also be exalted; kings will rise up before him and princes will bow down to him (49:7). He is the disciple of the Lord who will never be rebellious. Yes, he will be beaten, humiliated, mocked, and spat upon, but the Sovereign Lord will help him in his messianic mission.

It is he who will speak a word to comfort the weary, something no scientist, psychologist, or philosopher of this world can do. It is he who will not break a bruised reed or put out a smoldering wick. He is the hope of the world, and in him the will of the Lord will prosper.

This passage speaks about the servant’s complete humiliation and total exaltation. This righteous servant will bear the iniquities of all elect sinners and will justify many by means of the atoning sacrifice of himself.

There are at least seven passages in the New Testament that relate Isaiah 53 directly to Jesus Christ: Matthew 8:17; Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37; John 12:37-38; Acts 8:32-33; Romans 10:16; and 1 Peter 2:24-25. This suffering servant of the Lord is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us now consider Isaiah 53:1-3.

The Arm of the Lord

Another title is given the suffering servant in Isaiah 53:1: “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” As the “arm of the Lord,” all the power of God is in this One.

The concept of “the arm of the Lord” was spoken of many times by Isaiah previously. In Isaiah 40:10 we read, “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him.” Isaiah 48:14 tells us “his arm will be against the Babylonians,” meaning against the enemies of God’s people. Isaiah 51:5 says, “My arm will bring justice to the nations,” and in Isaiah 51:9 Zion prays, “Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord.” Isaiah 52:10 declares, “The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.”

The arm of the Lord accomplishes salvation and justice to Israel and the whole world. That is the very mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 2 we read, “He grew up,” which is speaking about the incarnation of Jesus. He alone is the promised Messiah, the promised arm of the Lord-not Krishna, Vishnu, Mohammed or anybody else. There is only one arm of the Lord, one suffering servant, one anointed Savior of Israel and the whole world-the Lord Jesus Christ.

Throughout the history of Israel, the outstretched arm of the Lord performed many wonders effecting Israel’s deliverance from her enemies. Yet the arm of the Lord remained invisible. Now, in Jesus Christ, the arm of the Lord is revealed in all its power. In the incarnation of Jesus Christ the “arm of the Lord” appeared in human form.

The Unbelievable Message

Isaiah, representing all the prophets and witnesses, asks, “Who has believed our good news, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed in salvation?” The expected answer is, “Not many.” In fact, no one can believe this good news about the servant, the arm of the Lord, without being given supernatural revelation.

Professor George Marsden of Notre Dame recently stated that Jonathan Edwards believed that by the year 2000 everyone in the world would be a Christian. But Edwards was wrong. Jesus Christ said that only a few shall find this narrow way and walk in it. Not many will believe and trust in this good news.

“Who has believed our message?” Isaiah asks. This word “believed” also appears in Genesis 45:26. When Joseph’s brothers found him in Egypt, they brought the good news back to their aged father Jacob. We are told of his reaction: “Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them.” What was the message? That his son Joseph was alive, that he was the prime minister of Egypt, and that he personally had sent his brothers to bring his father Jacob to Egypt. This was unbelievable to Jacob.

Who has believed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Let me tell you, the vast majority of people in the world refuse to believe. Jesus said, “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). In 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 Paul says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.'” Paul continues: “But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (vv. 23-25).

Yes, only a few will believe-those to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed by the Holy Spirit in effectual calling. There must be a revelation of the person of this Messiah in the interior of every elect sinner. Only then will that person acknowledge who the arm of the Lord really is.

The Humble Servant

We must note that this servant is a humble servant; he is the Lord Jesus Christ in his humiliation. In verse 2 we are told, “He grew up before him,” meaning before the Lord. He is the Lord himself in human form, yet he is distinct from the Lord; he is the second Person of the Trinity. He is the one Isaiah spoke about-the virgin-born Immanuel, the Mighty God, the child that is born, the son that is given, the everlasting King on David’s throne. He is the Word who is God, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us, whose glory the apostles beheld.

“He grew up before him.” Jesus grew up and was cared for by the Lord. He was obedient, always doing what was pleasing to his Father. So the Father said concerning him, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him!” It is a wonderful thing to grow up before the Lord, knowing that he is watching us, caring for us and directing us. When we follow in obedience, the Lord goes before us to defend and deliver us.

Verse 2 continues, “. . . like a tender shoot.” Because of their rebellion, Israel and the Davidic dynasty were cut down; they are merely a stump, as we are told in Isaiah 6:13. Yet in Isaiah 11:1 we are told, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” The idea here is that a sucker, a tender shoot, is coming up from a stump.

This shoot is weak and struggling to survive. The servant of the Lord is not likened to a mighty oak, but to a weak sucker that is in constant danger of being snipped off. He is further compared to “a root out of dry ground,” like a small shoot coming off of an exposed root in a waterless place.

This describes the precarious existence of the Messiah. The very survival of this servant of the Lord is in doubt. We wonder if he will make it in the dry ground of foreign domination, unbelieving Israelites, and extreme poverty. He was born on the way to Bethlehem; his parents laid him in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn. He later said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). Then King Herod tried to kill him, so his parents escaped with him to Egypt. Mary and Joseph were very poor, so when they returned to Israel, this Messiah grew up and labored as a carpenter.

No Beauty or Majesty

Not only that, we are told this servant has “no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.” This Messiah was not handsome or well-built; there was nothing in his outward appearance to attract us to him. He was no Eliab, whom we read about in 1 Samuel 16. When Samuel went to anoint one of the sons of Jesse, he “saw Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord'” (v. 6). There was no question about it, for Eliab was tall, handsome, powerful, and charismatic. He had to be the chosen of the Lord! But God rebuked Samuel, saying, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (v. 7).

The Messiah was not Eliab. When men looked at him, they saw no beauty, no majesty, no charisma. They looked at the Messiah and despised him.

The Messiah was no Absalom. Second Samuel 14:25 tells us, “In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him.” Neither was he a King Saul. We are told in 1 Samuel 9:2 that Saul was “an impressive young man among the Israelites-a head taller than any of the others.” Samuel said to him, “And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you?” (v. 20).

In Genesis 29:17 we find the same descriptive adjectives used to speak positively about Rachel. She was “lovely in form, and beautiful.” But we are told about the Messiah, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Outwardly there was no splendor or glory about the Messiah that anyone should look at him. In the estimation of the people of his time, he was undesirable. The powerful saw him as worthless, as a loser. He lacked all the qualities of one who makes things happen. He was not arrogant, self-centered, power-grabbing, or dominating. He appeared to many as one destined to failure.

Despised and Rejected

How did people treat this humble servant? First, we are told twice in verse 3 that he was despised. Of course, Jesus was welcomed gladly by sinners, but the powerful and the self-righteous held him in utter contempt. (PGM) He was despised, as Esau despised his spiritual birthright, as Michal despised her husband David when he danced before the Lord in worship, as Goliath despised David when he saw that David was only a boy.

Second, this passage tells us this servant was rejected. John 1:11 tells us, “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” First Peter 2:4 says he was “rejected of men but chosen by God and precious to him.”

This servant was treated worse than Job. In Job 17:6, Job says, “God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.” How much more was Jesus Christ mocked, spit upon, and treated with contempt! Job 19:14-19 says, “My kinsmen have gone away; my friends have forgotten me. My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger; they look upon me as an alien. I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own brothers. Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me. All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.”

But however poorly Job was treated, Jesus was treated infinitely worse. So while he was hanging on the cross, I am sure Jesus was meditating upon Psalm 22:6: “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.” Not only that, for a moment his own Father rejected him, so he cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani – My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

This servant was despised, rejected, and finally, Isaiah says, “we esteemed him not.” Even Zion, the chosen people of God, esteemed him not. It is an interesting Hebrew accounting term. All people, including the elect, looked him over, evaluated him, found no significance in him, and declared him worthless. They summed up this Messiah, the suffering servant, the arm of the Lord, as a big zero.

Isaiah then says he is “a man of sorrows.” The Messiah, the arm of the Lord, is characterized by grief and sorrows-physical, mental, and spiritual. Never think that God does not understand our suffering and pain. He is a high priest who can sympathize with our condition because he has experienced it. He was “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.”

His Treatment Then

What was the response of the people to such a Messiah? People hid their faces from him. They did not want to associate with a loser. “This Messiah is repulsive. Keep away from him,” they said.

This reaction to the servant of the Lord reveals the total depravity of man. Aesthetically, they did not see any beauty in him; that shows the depravity of our emotion. That they fully rejected this perfect God/man displays the depravity of the human will. And, finally, their estimation of him as a “zero” proves the depravity of human intellect.

Look how the unbelieving Pharisees treated Jesus. In John 8:41 they declared, “We are not illegitimate.” What were they insinuating? That Jesus was illegitimate. They called him a Samaritan and a friend of sinners. They labeled him a blasphemer because he claimed to be the Son of God who came from the Father. They thought he was a revolutionary against Caesar. They said he was demon-possessed. Notice the depravity of human beings! They looked upon the God/man, the Messiah, the suffering servant, the Savior of the world, and declared he was a demon!

Remember what Nathaniel said when he found out Jesus was from Nazareth? “Can anything good come from there?” Or consider what happened to him in Nazareth: “When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?’ they asked. ‘Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?'” (Matthew 13:53-55) They saw him only as the poor carpenter, the nobody of Nazareth, and the Scripture says they took offense at him.

What did Herod think about Jesus? Herod was troubled by him and wanted to kill this “root out of dry ground.” And John 7:3-5 tells us even his own brothers mocked him because they did not believe him.

The people decreed he was a violator of law, worse than Barabbas. “Give us Barabbas!” they cried. “Crucify Jesus!” That tells us the estimation of the people. Then, as he hung on the cross, they sneered at him, saying, “You wanted to save people? Why don’t you save yourself? You say you are Savior of the world? Why don’t you get down?”

The people of Jesus’ day saw him as a false Messiah because they judged him by mere outward appearance. That is a problem all of us are afflicted with; people have always judged by external appearance. Racism is just one example. Just remember the time in our own country when a Negro slave was counted at three-fifths the worth of a free white man! Selecting a spouse is another. How many people are in troubled marriages because they made decisions from an external, worldly point of view! Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10:7 are true of all men: “You are looking only on the surface of things.” That is why Jesus makes the accusation in John 8:15, “You judge by human standards,” and warns us in John 7:24, “Stop judging by mere appearances.”

In Isaiah 55:8 the Lord declares, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” As fallen human beings, we suffer from total depravity. Without the help of the Holy Spirit we cannot in any way appreciate the person and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So the people of Jesus’ day despised him, rejected him, and esteemed him not. Seeing him as a man of sorrows, familiar with sickness, they hid their faces from him. They declared the Messiah, the arm of the Lord, to be a loser.

His Treatment Today

Unfortunately, the Messiah is not getting any better treatment from today’s world of sophisticated men. On the lips of so many people, the name of Jesus is merely a curse word. First Corinthians 12:3 tells us it is only by the inspiration of an evil spirit that a person can say “Jesus be cursed.”

Many people do say pleasant things about Jesus. They praise his ethics and speak highly of the Sermon on the Mount. They praise his teaching, saying he is a good man, a social reformer, who thought he could change the course of history, but he could not. To them he is a man who died, was buried, and that is it.

Oh, modern man wants to discover the “historical Jesus”-a man like any other, a man who lived and died a miserable death. They pity him and reject his claim that he is God; that he is perfect, sinless man; that he is the only Savior of the world, the glory of the Jews and the light of the Gentiles. They deny that he came to save sinners by his life and death in their place. They do not believe that he was raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he ascended into the heavens and is seated on the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords. They refuse to accept that the Holy Spirit applies Christ’s accomplished redemption to every elect sinner. They will not admit that Christ is coming again to judge the world, and that all people must stand before him to give an account of what they thought and said, of what they did and did not do.

But the fate of such unbelievers is revealed in Matthew 25. First, King Jesus says to the believers on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (v. 34). But then he tells the unbelievers on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41). “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (v. 46).

Application

How do you treat this Messiah? Do you despise him? Do you reject him? Do you hide your face from him? Or do you believe the good news that Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification?

Jesus asked the question, “Who do you say that I am?” This is the most important question in the entire world, because the most important event in history was the coming of the Messiah into the world to save sinners. Who is he to you? With your intellect, mind, and emotions, do you understand and acknowledge that he is the Savior of the world?

Understand this: No one confesses “Jesus Christ is Lord” except by the aid of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus asked in Caesarea Philippi, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter cried out, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That is a good confession. But Jesus told Peter he did not say that by his own inspiration, but because the heavenly Father revealed that truth to him.

Nathaniel, who said, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” suddenly made the confession, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:46, 49). The Samaritan woman, a terrible sinner, ran back to the city and said, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (John 4:29) And when the Samaritans came, they confessed, “This man really is the Savior of the world” (v. 42). How did they get that revelation? The Holy Spirit supernaturally gave that understanding into their minds.

Thomas at first did not believe, but then he confessed, “My Lord and my God!” Mary the mother of Jesus confessed that he is King, the Son of the Most High, the Savior. The shepherds confessed that he is Christ the Lord. As Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus to extinguish Christianity, he was arrested and transformed by an encounter with the risen Christ. He later said, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

No one can confess Jesus Christ as Lord except by the Holy Spirit. He is the one who applies redemption to every elect sinner. He reveals to us the beauty, wonder, majesty and glory of Jesus Christ, that we may esteem him as God, man, Savior, King of the universe, the Messiah, the arm of the Lord, and the suffering servant. I pray that God will so reveal himself to you this day, that you too may trust in him and be saved. Amen.