Why Was Jesus Rejected? (Isa. 53:1-3)

This sermon was preached on 2/9/2012

C. H. Spurgeon once wrote, ‘This fifty-third of Isaiah is a Bible in miniature. It is the condensed essence of the gospel. I thought that our beloved friend, Mr. Moody, answered with extreme wisdom a question that was put to him when he came to London some years ago. A number of ministers had come together to meet Mr. Moody, and they began to discuss various points, and to ask what were the evangelist’s views upon certain doctrines. At last, one brother said, “Would Mr. Moody kindly give us his creed? Is it in print?” In a moment the good man replied, “Certainly; my creed is in print, it is the 53rd of Isaiah.” It was a splendid reply. How could a man come closer to the very essentials of the faith than by saying, “My creed is in the 53rd of Isaiah”? I trust that many of you, dear friends can not only say, “This is my creed,” but also, “This is the foundation upon which I have built all my hopes for time and for eternity; this is the source of my sweetest consolation; this is the sun that makes my day, and the star that gilds my night.” In these twelve verses there is everything that we need to teach us the way of salvation; God, the infinitely-wise Teacher, has revealed to us, within this short compass, all that is necessary to bring peace to troubled spirits.’

It is sometimes said by people that if they had lived during the time when Jesus was living on earth they would have no difficulty in believing his claims. Yet these verses in this Servant Song say otherwise because they are a prophecy about people who did reject Jesus. The prophecy mentions two reasons for their rejection. But before we look at those reasons, we will briefly consider the complaint of Isaiah regarding his preaching (v. 1) because it is intriguing that a chapter which has been the means of bringing many to the knowledge of Jesus should contain such a complaint.

Isaiah, the Forlorn Preacher

Sometimes we imagine that preachers with a special calling will have significant success. Isaiah had a very impressive calling by God to function as a prophet and its details are recorded in Isaiah 6. At that time, the Lord, who was Jesus  in his pre-incarnate state, informed Isaiah that he would not see wide acceptance of his message (Isa. 6:9-13). He had been called to serve God during a time when the Lord was about to bring judgement on his people because of their sins, a judgement that was fulfilled in the Babylonian Captivity.

Nevertheless Isaiah had three comforts in addition to knowing that he was obeying the will of God. First, he proclaimed a great message about the coming Messiah and all the benefits he would bring. Second, he was aware, along with other prophets, that he was in fact serving a future generation of believers who would appreciate his message (1 Pet. 1:10-12). Third, he appreciated the company of his colleagues in his calling (note the plural pronoun ‘us’); in the schools of the prophets there were those who shared his outlook. These comforts are not limited to Isaiah’s day, but have been known by many other preachers up to the present time.

Although Isaiah had received a divine commission that stressed divine judgement, he was not a stoic, unaffected by the rejection of his message. He felt in his heart the disappointment of few converts, he longed for his listeners to receive God’s mercy, and he regretted how little he saw. Of course, he was faithful and he will receive God’s commendation.

Who can understand the prophet’s pain? Obviously his fellow prophets would. Even more wonderful is the fact that Jesus would also experience this strange spiritual dilemma. Recall his response concerning Jerusalem, a city which he knew would yet receive divine judgement: ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”’ (Luke 13:34-35). Those words are full of pathos.

Another who was aware of this combination of declaring divine judgement and having powerful concern for those facing it was the apostle Paul. His heart concern for his own people is expressed in Romans 9:1-3: ‘I am speaking the truth in Christ –I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit – that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.’

The arm of the Lord

Isaiah uses an interesting image when he describes the divine side of the act of preaching as the revelation of the arm of the Lord – the human side is the words of the prophet. What we have here is an Old Testament statement that says the gospel is the power of God. What truths does this picture indicate we should want the Lord to do during a sermon?

First, an arm is used when reaching out towards another person. So in a sermon we want God to reach out to us; indeed a true definition of a sermon is God reaching out to the listeners.

Second, we should desire the Lord to reach out in power during a sermon. A weak person is very grateful when a strong person stretches out his hand to help, who shares his strength with him. Whenever we listen to a sermon we are weak for a variety of reasons – our sinfulness, our current temptations, our difficult providences. We come to listen to God and receive his power. Sometimes we wonder in what ways God can display his power. Amazing miracles come to mind. Yet I would suggest that the most awesome display of God’s power is a sermon, not because of the eloquence or brilliance of the preachers, but because of what God is doing in a sermon. Often a sermon is an occasion of salvation.

Third, we should desire that the Lord will reach out in tenderness and love. Coming to a sermon, we remind ourselves that we deserve his judgment. If he were to use his power in that way, we would have no hope. But we realise that he can use his power tenderly in order to express his love. We long for God to caress our souls in a sermon and this he often does as he warms our hearts with the sweet story of the Saviour’s love or by reminding us of the many promises of the Bible or by assuring us of the glories connected to his eternal purpose.

Fourth, we should want the Lord to reach out, pointing out to us where we should go, through what is preached. In other words, a sermon is often the occasion when the Lord stretches out his arm in guidance. We come to the sermon in a confused state, puzzled by what is happening, whether in the world, in our country, in our denomination, in our community, in our congregation, in our lives. We need the Lord to give his assessment of where we are. It is good to get the wisdom of friends, or even to recall the insights we may have received from God in the past. But often when we come into the presence of the Lord we get a fresh word of guidance from him in a sermon.

Therefore, during a sermon we should encounter the arm of the Lord reaching out to us in power and tender love, giving us spiritual help. The sermon is often his Word for the present situation in our lives.

Two reasons why Jesus was rejected

Isaiah here predicts two reasons why sinners would reject Jesus. The first concerns his way of life as a young person (v. 2) and the second concerns the way he responded to what he saw around him by becoming the Man of Sorrow (vv. 3-4).

His way of life when young

Isaiah in 53:2 states that the Messiah would grow up conscious of God. The words ‘before him’ refer to the Father. As E.J. Young observes, ‘The servant lived the entire course of his earthly life in the presence of God (cf. 1 Pet. 2:4). From his youngest years, this unusual Child would live a holy life, a life marked by fellowship with God. Is this not the implication of the words to Joseph and Mary when they located him in the temple: ‘And he said to them, “Why are you looking for me?”’ (Luke 2:49). The story of Jesus in the temple is the account of a child/teenager who loved the Word of God, desired the instruction of the Word of God, delighted to be in the house of God, and obeyed the commandments of God. When Luke wanted to show to Theophilus the uniqueness of Jesus, he focussed in the beginning of his gospel on the marvellous reality of Jesus’ deep and determined devotion to God as a child and as a teenager.

Further, Isaiah says that the Messiah would seem to be weak and fragile, like a young plant or a twig that is attached to a tree. This was obviously the case at his birth when Herod tried to have him killed. It is also the case that childhood is a time of fragility. Jesus was seen by people throughout those years and they were not impressed.

Isaiah says that the life of the young Saviour was a miracle – he was like ‘a root out of dry ground’. The dry ground is a picture of the environment in which he lived. Israel, instead of being a fruitful field, was a dry ground spiritually. Yet although the ground was dry, out of it came a marvellous root. In the natural world we would not expect a tree to flourish in a desert. And we not expect a Saviour to flourish in a nation that knew not her God or in a world that had departed from its Creator. But he did, because his life was lived in the presence of God and the Spirit of the Lord was upon him in a special way.

What effect did the wonderful young life of Jesus have on those who knew him? They were not impressed. Their estimation was that ‘he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him’. In their assessment Jesus was not worth a second look. If a reporter had come to Nazareth and asked the local population concerning the name of the most promising child in their community, the name of Jesus would not have come into their heads. They expected nothing from the child they regarded only as the son of Joseph. Little did they realise, as they ignored him, that they were fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah.

We may not be surprised that the inhabitants of Nazareth did not pay much attention to Jesus. After all, how much attention do we pay to the opinions and practices of children? Yet surely we are surprised at the response of his four brothers and, at least, two sisters (Matt. 13:55-56). The Gospels indicate that they were not influenced for good merely because they lived in the same house as Jesus. What evidence this is of the need of the Holy Spirit for conversion when we recall that the holy influence of Jesus was unnoticed by his family!

The obvious deduction that stands out in this description is that Jesus looked ordinary. There was nothing about him to attract the attention of the inhabitants of earth, but there was everything about him to attract the attention of heaven. The world never looked at him during those young years, but the heavenly Father did not cease to look at his lowly Son in Nazareth as he worked out from his heart a life of obedience to God’s law.

The man of sorrows

We move on to the adult years of Jesus and discover the second reason why he was rejected. The Saviour was despised and rejected because he was the Man of sorrows. This description reveals that Jesus was a man with feelings. It was not possible for the Saviour to find himself in a needy situation and remain ambivalent. In having this response, he revealed the genuineness of his humanity.

The name indicates that sadness was not an occasional response by Jesus. Instead it was a general feature that these observers noticed. Each time they saw him they noted that there was an air of sorrow about him.

This sadness of Jesus was very full. He was acquainted with grief, a description that points to a deep experience. When we say of a person that he is an acquaintance, we are saying that we know him well. These onlookers assessed that Jesus and sorrow were intimate companions. Indeed Spurgeon commented that Jesus and sorrow could have exchanged names.

‘Man of sorrows’ is a very striking title. It points to the identifying feature that marked Jesus in the strongest way. We refer to a good politician as ‘a man of the people’, that is someone who is marked by his interest in and concern for those he represents. Or we refer t a trustworthy person as ‘a man of his word’, describing his honesty. In the opposite way, we refer to a scoundrel as ‘a man of no principle’ or to a cruel person as ‘a man with no pity’. Such descriptions point to the dominant features in their lives that are obvious to onlookers. The people who saw Jesus noted that a leading feature of his life was great sorrow.

Why was Jesus sorrowful? Many answers could be suggested. Jesus was sad because of the wrong priorities he saw in the lives of people he met. He was sad because of the plight in which sinners found themselves because of their sins. He understood the awful fate awaiting those who would suffer under the judgement of God, and he was sad. He saw humans as without a shepherd, rushing headlong down the broad road to a lost eternity, and this awareness made him a man of sorrows. This is why he wept over the city of Jerusalem, and no doubt over many another place.

Jesus was also sorrowful because of the awful burden that he was carrying and the terrible location to where he was heading. He was journeying to the cross bearing on himself a stupendous burden, one so heavy that its weight cannot be calculated. His destination was the cross of Calvary where he would suffer the wrath of God against the sins of his people. It is impossible to face suffering without some measure of sorrow. The anticipation of Calvary by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was marked by great fear and concern. 

How did Jesus cope with his sorrows? The writer of Hebrews tells us to imitate what Jesus did: ‘looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Heb. 12:2). In the midst of sorrows on earth, Jesus focused on the joys of heaven.

We should often recall what our sins cost the Saviour personally and repent of them. What was our biggest sin? It was the many times we imitated the onlookers in verses 2 and 3 and hid our faces from Jesus. When he came near us in the gospel message, we shut our ears and looked away. We refused to look with gratitude on the One who was offering us mercy.

And we should remember that his days of sorrow are over for ever!