The Suffering Servant of God

13 See, My Servant (Messiah, the Lord Jesus) shall prosper; He shall be highly exalted. 14 Yet many shall be amazed when they see Him—yes, even far-off foreign nations and their kings; they shall stand dumbfounded, speechless in His presence. For they shall see and understand what they had not been told before. 15 They shall see My Servant beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know it was a person standing there. So shall He cleanse many nations. Isaiah 52:13-15 (The Living Bible).

1 But, oh, how few believe it! Who will listen? To whom will God reveal His saving power? 2 In God’s eyes He was like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground. But in our eyes there was no attractiveness at all, nothing to make us want Him. 3 We despised Him and rejected Him—a Man of Sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way when He went by. He was despised, and we didn’t care.

4 Yet it was our grief He bore, our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, for His own sins! 5 But He was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace; He was lashed—and we were healed! 6 We—every one of us—have strayed away like sheep! We, who left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet God laid on Him the guilt and sins of every one of us!

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He never said a word. He was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He stood silent before the ones condemning Him. 8 From prison and trial they led Him away to His death. But who among the people of that day realized it was their sins that He was dying for—that He was suffering their punishment? 9 He was buried like a criminal, but in a rich man’s grave; but He had done no wrong and had never spoken an evil word.

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to bruise Him and fill Him with grief. However, when His soul has been made an offering for sin, then He shall have a multitude of children, many heirs. He shall live again, and God’s program shall prosper in His hands. 11 And when He sees all that is accomplished by the anguish of His soul, he shall be satisfied; and because of what He has experienced, My Righteous Servant shall make many to be counted righteous before God, for He shall bear all their sins. 12 Therefore, I will give Him the honors of One who is mighty and great because He has poured out His soul unto death. He was counted as a sinner, and He bore the sins of many, and He pled with God for sinners. Isaiah 53:1-12 (The Living Bible).

The humanity of Jesus is brought to light in passages that recall the Suffering Servant of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13–53:12). There was nothing beautiful or majestic in the physical appearance of Jesus while on earth. The people who saw Jesus considered Him an ordinary man. He was not physically attractive nor was He personally charismatic. Jesus did not attract a large following based on His physical appearance (Isaiah 53:2). Indeed, while on earth, He appeared with no greatness or self-evident royal splendor. However, the “Servant” Jesus was “marred beyond human likeness” through His human suffering to cleanse the world of sin (Isaiah 52:13–15). Jesus’ humility, suffering, and mercy demonstrate his true strength (Isaiah 53:1).