“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53:3-4
Remember that Isaiah wrote these words more than 700 years before Christ was born. “Despised and rejected” is a description of the behavior of not only the religious leaders, but Jesus was betrayed and forsaken even by His closest friends.
“A man of suffering and familiar with pain” includes not His alone, but the sorrows and condemnation of all people. His griefs and sorrows were not “the due reward” of His deeds, for “this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). He knew no sin, but He knew better than anyone the havoc that sin brings into human life. But because He is a “Man of suffering,” He is able to comfort those who experience sorrow.
“Held Him in low esteem” was a prophecy that even included the disciples when they learned that Jesus was the Messiah. They fled from the horror of His arrest and the cross, which initially convinced them He was not the Messiah.
“Our pain” is a description of illness and disease, the consequences of sin, which Jesus bore for us.
There is irony in the fact that the Jews considered this Servant (Jesus Christ) to be “stricken by God”. The Jews thought this because the law said, “…anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse” (Deuteronomy. 21:23). They failed to realize that His suffering was not for His sins, but for the sins of all people. He was not wounded for His transgressions or crushed for His iniquities but for everyone else’s. The Savior Jesus came to suffer and die for the sins of others, including each of us.
Blessings on your day…