He will be shunned.

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?  (2)  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  (3)  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.   

(Isaiah 53:1-3)

Explanation:

“(1)  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

This is a great question.  It refers to what has been said about this coming servant to which the passage speaks.  Who is willing to believe the report about the servant?  This really is a question that comes up all the time about Jesus. What you believe about him is of infinite importance.

“(2)  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:”

Verse 2 emphasizes both the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ.

What does the expression “tender plant” mean?  Dr. John Phillips tells a story about a gardener who helped him understand what a “tender plant” is.  The gardener pointed out that “all plants are catalogued in one of three ways: they are hardy, half-hardy or tender.  A hardy plant is one native to the area.  It will take ready root because it feels at home there.  A half-hardy plant is not native to the area, but it comes from a place that is similar.  It will readily grow where it is planted because it finds the climate, the type of soil, the temperature, and the weather similar to what it has been used to.  A tender plant, however, well, that’s another story.  It comes from quite a different place.  It does not find the soil in its new location congenial, nor does it like the climate.  It really belongs somewhere else.  It is an exotic plant from far, far away.”  Isaiah says our Lord was on earth as a tender plant.  He comes here from far, far away.  He was not a native of this planet of ours.  His nature was not like ours because He was God in flesh.  He had no sin nature, but rather He was absolutely holy.

The last half of verse 2, though, emphasizes His humanity.

“he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”

He was God, but He was God manifested in warm, vibrant human flesh.  Jesus was seen as a simple and ordinary man.  The Jews were waiting on a Messiah that would come and conquer.  But what they would have seen on the outside was not some he-man, warrior king.  Physically speaking, he was just like any other man.  And as a result, Isaiah tells us, he would be rejected.

(3)  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Here is the prediction.  Jesus would be rejected.  He will be shunned.  And this prediction is exactly what happened.  When Jesus leaves the earth and ascends to heaven, He does not leave millions of followers, and all kinds of world-wide influence.  He leaves behind just a few.       The nation of Israel had rejected Him.  In fact, they were complicit in murdering him.  And so many continue to do so reject Him even to this day.

Application:

Jesus was fully human and fully God.  He was rejected and shunned so that we could be accepted.

Response:

• What are some ways that we reject Christ in our daily lives even after we are saved?
• How does Christ’s rejection impact our decisions today?