“Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD revealed His powerful arm?
My Servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance, nothing to attract us to Him.
He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way, He was despised, and we did not care.”
- Isaiah 53:1-3
In our journey toward Christmas, I wanted to walk through some of the prophecies that foreshadow Jesus and highlight His importance. I immediately went to Isaiah 53, and thought of doing one verse this weak and then moving to another prophet next week. But then I saw a perfect structure to work with. Isaiah 53 contains 12 verses that are neatly organized into clumps of 3, allowing for four weeks of Isaiah 53 devotionals that foreshadow Jesus and highlight His importance.
We’ll be walking through Isaiah 53 line by line instead of verse by verse so we can follow through this vision of the Suffering Servant that is Jesus Christ.
The Son Revealed:
While the Suffering Servant section begins in Isaiah 52:13-15, I start in 53, because all that is written beforehand is the message spoken of in verse 1. The powerful arm of the Lord saves Israel from Babylonian captivity (Isaiah 52:1-12). This powerful arm is the Son who has come to redeem the world and startle the nations. It’s a message of the Kingdom of God and it's startling because it's so different than any other nation.
Most nations prosper at the expense of another, whether due to violent oppression or the other's graciousness (but mostly the former). Yet God’s Kingdom is through faith in God, spreading through the message of a Son. A Son who is revealed to all the world as a suffering servant.
In God’s Presence:
Yet, this Son was raised in the presence of God. Now we believe Jesus has always existed, in the beginning, He was with God. He is mutual and equal in God the Father and Holy Ghost in His divine nature, but they hold certain distinctions. We do believe in a Holy Triune God, 1 nature in 3 persons. Jesus was raised in nourished in the very presence of God. This made Him blameless. It sets Him apart from every human. He is greater than David, who wrote,
“’I will establish your descendants as kings forever; they will sit on your throne from now until eternity.’”
- Psalm 89:4
The suffering servant was raised up to be Holy, Divine, and rule for eternity.
Appearing Ordinary:
Though raised and begotten by the Father, with no limit to His connection to God’s presence, Jesus appeared like any one of us. For 30ish years He played like any of us would as a child. Jesus used His hands for work like any of us would. Jesus traveled and built relationships with others. Jesus went to school. Jesus had a job. Jesus knew well the world around Him.
He was not some shiny golden myth of a man who was clearly God in a human body. He did not have perfect features, nor was He anyone special in appearance. He was extra ordinary. If Jesus appeared today, I think he might be the common blue-collar factory worker or a barista at your favorite coffee shop. He was normal and relatable.
Knowing Sorrow:
Despite His grand and divine Kingship, and ordinary life, He knew well grief and sorrow. He was a Man of Sorrows. He was someone who knew suffering in His ordinary life. Then it was multiplied on the cross, as He bore the sorrow, guilt, and shame of all humanity through all time.
Jesus is called a Man of Sorrows also grants us a glimpse at the heart of God. God was acquainted and familiar with grief. I believe in every miracle performed, a bit of it was an extension of God’s grief for humanity. He grieved for those stuck in addictive sins. He grieved for those who are possessed by the demonic. He grieved for those who choose the world over His love. He grieved those who are plagued by health misfortunes and lived marked by oppression, abuse, and evil.
Rejected:
When He is despised and rejected, He empathizes with everyone who has ever been despised and rejected. All who have ever felt alone and the world was against them, Jesus has literally been left alone and had the world against Him.
Part of our personal discipleship journeys is to recognize when we have turned our backs on Jesus. When we have chosen our own pursuits over the Good News of Jesus Christ. When we have chosen to identify with Him as King and never as the Suffering Servant. When we try to do something extraordinary instead of being ordinary. When we think He could never possibly understand what we go through, despite Him being acquainted with all our grief.
Final Blessings:
This is just the beginning of Isaiah 53. Our Man of Sorrows who though mutual to God, took on ordinary flesh and suffered more greatly than most of us. A Man of Sorrows with grieves for us and with us, as God’s suffering servant, who came to save all who have even turned their backs on Him.
Now may the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breathe, and every heartbeat of your journey.
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