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hard to believe

Isaiah 53:1-3 (JDV)

Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of Yahveh been revealed?
Isaiah 53:2 Because he grew up like a stalk before him, and like a root from dry ground. He had no form and no majesty that we should consider him, and no appearance that we should take pleasure in him.
Isaiah 53:3 Men despised and rejected him, a man of suffering, and knowing sickness, and people hiding their face from him. He was despised, and we did not hold him in high regard.

hard to believe

Isaiah’s people were a despised lot. No one would have expected the Son of God to make his appearance among men as one of the Israelites. But that is exactly what Isaiah predicts. And just to show that God rejects all our deceptive assumptions, Isaiah predicts that when the Messiah does show himself, he will be despised and rejected by those same people. He will appear weak, struck down, and afflicted. But this beating he would take would be as a substitute for the transgressions of the world.

Before we run off with this idea as it relates to Christ and his suffering on the cross, we need to see the message from Isaiah’s standpoint. He was speaking to a group of people who had deceptive assumptions about themselves. He was trying to encourage them to stop believing those lies. The truth is, God did want to work through them. For example: the Messiah himself would be seen as a beaten, condemned criminal. But God would work in that reality to save us all.

Isaiah asks the question “Who would have believed what we just heard? God has a plan, but it is going to show up way out in left field. God is not going to use a mighty warrior to accomplish his purpose. He’s going to use a root out of parched soil. Roots don’t grow well in parched soil. Mostly dry soil just stays dry soil. When the rain comes — if the rain comes — then we can expect something to happen.

This passage tells us something about the faith that reaches God. It is a faith that dares to see him doing what no one would expect. The focal point of that faith is Jesus Christ. The world doesn’t really mind it if we have faith. But the world has a fit when we dare to tell everyone that we have put our faith in Jesus Christ. There is no saving faith outside of Jesus Christ.