The 53rd chapter of the prophet Isaiah paints a striking picture of our Lord as the suffering servant who was despised and forsaken by men and who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Peter reminds us that the prophets spoke not only of the glories of the Messiah in His kingdom but also of the sufferings He endured beforehand (1 Pet. 1:11). His path was a path “through suffering to glory” – just as the life of Joseph foreshadows for us.
We sense that we are on “holy ground” in this unique chapter. We can only approach the statements about our Lord inspired by the Holy Spirit with caution and reverence. With this in mind, the following thoughts on some of the details of the Man of Sorrows should be understood and considered.
- “He was despised”: Someone who is despised is held in low esteem; he is not honored. This is exactly what people did to Christ – in our verse, this refers above all to the high-ranking people of Israel. All honor belonged to Him. He came as the King of His people. Nevertheless, He was misjudged. It was precisely the leaders of the people who did not want Him. Not only did they ignore Him, but they despised Him as no man had ever been despised before. They were not afraid to call Him a “glutton and a winebibber” (Matthew 11:19). What is more, they called Him, who had never committed a single sin, a sinner with full conviction (John 9:24) and accused Him of being born through fornication (John 8:41).
- “He was forsaken”: Never was a man so lonely and misunderstood as our Lord. Although the crowds surrounded Him daily and His disciples shared everything with Him for three years, He was still a heavenly stranger. The people did not understand Him and His disciples could not enter into His thoughts either. When He spoke of being crucified in Jerusalem, they did not understand. This was especially true for the spiritual leaders of the people. They of all people should have known who He was from the Old Testament. But they did not want to recognize Him. They did not want to accept Him. The psalmist of Psalm 102 uses three images from the animal world to make his loneliness a little more tangible for us: “I am like the pelican of the desert, I am like the owl of the wastelands. I watch and am like a lonely bird on the housetop” (Ps 102:7, 8).
- “He was a man of sorrows”: The sufferings our Lord endured from man were spiritual (inward) and physical. His entire path was characterized by such sufferings, which people inflicted on Him, and for the most part this was done deliberately. The sad climax was what happened around the cross, where people did not miss an opportunity to torture Him. It was both His own people as well as the Roman soldiers. Jews and Gentiles took all their malice out on Him. They beat Him, they scourged Him, they nailed Him to the cross. They showered Him with scorn and mockery. Our Savior endured all of this without defending Himself. On the contrary: as He hung on the cross, He prayed for His enemies (Luke 23:34).
- “He was acquainted with grief”: Pain hurts. Suffering is depressing. Being familiar with suffering means that it was a central part of His life. He not only suffered from time to time, but His whole life was a life of suffering. Here we distinguish between the Savior’s atoning sufferings for sin (1 Pet. 3:18) and His sufferings that people inflicted on Him. The atoning sufferings are limited to the three hours of darkness. Only there did He suffer “for sins.” But when it comes to the sufferings that people inflicted on Him, His whole life was characterized by them. He was prepared to take these sufferings upon Himself in order to leave us an example (1 Peter 2:21).
- “… as one from whom men hide their faces”: Whoever turns away from someone and hides his face signals that he wants nothing to do with that person and refuses to help him in any way. When our Lord was in need, no one wanted anything to do with Him. The people to whom He had only done good turned away from Him. They even loudly demanded His death. For His love, He reaped hatred, enmity, and rejection. Never was a person as devoted to others as He was, and He personified the “kindness and love” of our Savior God (Titus 3:4). And it was precisely He who had to experience how people hid their faces from Him in the end.
- “He was despised”: Once again it is repeated that He was despised. But now it is no longer only the high people (the spiritual leaders), but now it is said in general. Almost everyone who had anything to do with Him during the crucifixion treated Him with contempt. Instead of honoring Him, crowning Him, and bowing before Him, they had only mockery for Him. They crowned Him with a crown of thorns and nailed Him to a cross.
- “We esteemed Him for nothing”: To esteem someone for nothing expresses that you shun them completely as if they did not even exist. It is extremely painful to experience something like this. It was a bitter reality for our Lord. Although He was the Creator, His creatures ignored Him and treated Him like air. What they had left for Him was a cross. Then they wanted to bury Him. Yes, they had “appointed His grave with the wicked.” But God made sure that in His death He was “with a rich man” (Is 53:9).
It is striking that this is the first time the word “we” is used in this verse (“we esteemed Him for nothing”). It is the Jewish remnant of the future who will make this confession when they realize that it was the Messiah they ignored back then.
We are grateful that the sufferings of our Lord are a thing of the past. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Now He is surrounded by glory: “His glory is great in Your salvation; honour and majesty You have placed upon Him. For You have made him most blessed forever, You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence” (Ps 21:5,6). So now we see Him with the eyes of faith and rejoice that God has raised and exalted Him—the once suffering servant. He is now very high (Is 52:13). At the same time, we wait to see Him soon “face to face.” Then He will be given all the honor that has been denied Him here on earth.
“Behold, my servant will act with understanding; he will be lifted up and exalted and be very high.” (Isaiah 52:13)
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