I. Introduction
A. Pictures which have two levels: one everyone can see and one only certain people can see when they look at it in a certain way. E.g.
1. Coming into a movie in the middle: and you don’t know what’s going on because you don’t know what’s been happening.
2. A surprise party: the person being surprised doesn’t get what this is all about
3. Undercover sting: the person being stung has no idea what is actually going on.
B. This principle that there is sometimes a stark difference between what you can see and what is actually going on is foundational to our passage this evening.
II. Explanation of Is.53:2-3 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
A. Think about the scene at the cross, a familiar scene in 1st century Jerusalem: three naked men nailed to Roman crosses, a mocking crowd (part of the shaming of criminals). It was pathetic, disgraceful, and wretched.
B. This picture of Jesus suffering on the cross — which everyone could see — is what Isaiah 53:2-3 sets before us:
1. he grew up like a young plant
a. Insignificant
b. Easily trampled
2. like a root out of dry ground
a. Not much hope for survival
3. he had no form or majesty that we should look at him
4. no beauty that we should desire him.
5. He was despised and rejected by men
6. a man of sorrows
7. acquainted with grief
8. as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised
9. we esteemed him not.
C. Spring means that many shoots are coming up from the ground right now. Now I’m no horticulturist, but I know poison ivy, and I know a little redbud or dogwood seedling.
1. To the untrained eye, there is no reason to think that one is a beautiful flowering pink or white tree in the making and the other is a terrible itchy-rash machine.
2. In August 1986 when we first drove up to look at the property we eventualy bought and built on (and now live on) we saw a vast grove of Mountain Laurel. It was August and so there were no blossoms, but I’d grown up around mountain laurel and I knew what they look like in May when they blossom. To the untrained eye, it just looked like bushes in the woods, like everything else. But I knew that this was a treasure. And it’s one of the things which convinced us to buy the property.
D. The point again is this: sometimes things look very ordinary, even wretched, which to a trained eye are precious treasures. And there is no greater manifestation of this than Jesus on the cross, looking like human trash.
III. The next verses, Isaiah 53:4–6, tell us what was really going on at the cross: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
A. Here in these verses is the hidden truth going on. All this was supposed to happen; God had arranged this; Jesus is doing this on purpose: He has something up His sleeve. What looked like a trash heap was actually the world’s greatest masterpiece!
B. He was ugly because the most exquisitely beautiful one who ever lived was taking our ugliness on Himself.
1. He was broken because he was taking our brokenness upon Himself.
2. He was despised because the most loveable one who ever lived was taking our abhorrence and our despicability upon Himself.
3. He was rejected because He was taking our rejection upon Himself.
4. The most precious treasure the universe has ever known was discarded like trash on our behalf.
5. The perfectly happy Son of God was grieving because He was taking our grief upon Himself.
6. The reason that the people were hiding their faces in disgust is because the one whose shining face had dazzled people weeks before was now being disgusting on our behalf, taking our disgustingness upon Himself.
C. You see, we all ran away from God. And instead of punishing us for it, He sent Jesus to bear the punishment we deserved and to call us to come home to Him.
D. He was being punished for our crimes. By His suffering He was earning for us the gift of peace (the word here is SHALOM = wholeness, wellness, the noun of thrive)
IV. (Is.53:1) What a contrast between what it looked like and what it actually was!
A. Here is a man dying on the cross. Some are mocking and jeering him. But others are not only grieving over His death, not just loving Him and adoring Him as He suffers, but actually worshiping Him. And not only the people who knew Him well, but some complete strangers who had never met Him before. Even the captain of the soldiers who were performing the execution!
B. Why this contrast? Because some of those present saw something the others didn’t see.
C. Is.53:1 Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
D. What about you? When you look at the cross, do you see something pathetic or something wonderful? Is talking about the cross incredibly boring or incredibly precious?
E. Many are told. Some see it. Some believe. Others don’t.
F. “Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
G. Just because you don’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not there!
H. The question is, Are you among those who have believed the gospel which was told you? Are you one of those to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed?
I. If you are, then “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” (Mt.13:16)
J. But even if you’re not, then you are not without hope. You can still believe today. You can still seek it. You can still ask Him to open your eyes. Jesus Himself said, “Seek and you shall find. Ask and it shall be given. Knock and the door shall be opened to you.” (Matt.7:7)