◄ What Does Isaiah 53:3 Mean? ►

He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Isaiah 53:3(NASB)

Verse of the Day

The very focus of this passage in Isaiah 53 is the beating heart of the gospel of Christ Jesus Who was sent by God to be the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the whole world.

Jesus was the One Who was despised and rejected of all men. He was a suffering servant, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and yet before we were saved by grace through faith in Him we just couldn't care less. We who were born dead in trespasses and sins, held Him in low esteem and were indifferent to the tremendous sacrifice He made on our behalf. And yet while we were still sinners, God gave His only begotten Son to die on the Cross for your sin, for mine, and for the sin of the whole world.

Christ was the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. The Father purposed to send the beloved Son of His love to be slaughtered as the sin-sacrifice for all who would believe on His name. And Christ loved the Church so much that He willingly gave Himself up for her and meekly offered His life as a ransom for many. The Lord Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb of the most High God: "And the Lord laid upon HIM the iniquity of us all."

Jesus not only paid the purchase price for our sin by His substitutionary death, but He identified with every aspect of humanity's sin and the curse of God's holy Law. He identified with our imputed sin nature, which is the morally ruinous character that is inherent in the whole human race. He identified with our inherited sin nature and the heavy burden of the multitude of sins we commit in body, soul, and mind. Jesus Christ died on the Cross for all mankind as humanity's representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice so that all who believe in Him might not perish but have everlasting life.

The devastating nature of every aspect of mankind's sin-soaked state and its serious and eternal consequences cannot be over-emphasised, and the shocking punishment that Christ received on our behalf cannot be overstated. Sin is transgression against our Creator. Sin is rebellion against a holy God, and sin must be punished in full.

And Christ was smitten of God for our sake. Christ was afflicted on our behalf, and Christ took the full force of God's anger, wrath, punishment, and judgement against my sin and yours. Christ did this on behalf of the entire human race so that whoever believes in Him will not be condemned: "For Christ did not come into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved." And salvation is only bestowed as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Christ.

Jesus bore all our griefs, and Jesus carried all our sorrows in His body on the tree. He was pierced through for our transgressions, and He was crushed under the enormous weight of the accumulated sin of the whole world. And by grace through faith in Him we are healed, forgiven, saved, redeemed, and freed from bondage to Satan, the curse of the Law, and the enormous and eternal consequences of our sin.

My Prayer

Heavenly Father, when I consider the enormous weight of my sin and the eternal consequences of all my transgressions, I stand amazed and in awe that You should love me so much that You gave Your only begotten Son to bear all my grief and carry all my sorrow. I am staggered to realise that in order for me to be redeemed and returned into fellowship with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ was smitten of God and afflicted, out of love for me. To Him be all honour and glory, forever and ever, AMEN.