A Prophetic Portrait of Messiah

Inspired by God and recorded by Isaiah more than five hundred years before Messiah became flesh and dwelt among us…

“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” [1]

Unbelief is the problem. Messiah’s arrival is good news. He came to save us from our sin. But when His messengers reveal this miracle to others, they doubt it.

“He (Christ Jesus) grew up before Him (God) like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.” [2]

God came down from His glory and lived among us even as a defenseless baby. He depended on his father, Joseph, to rescue Him from a king’s plot to kill Him. He lacked attractiveness. No one would save Him due to His good looks. His suffering began long before the cross. He suffered rejection throughout His earthly life. He experienced pain. Some people did not want to look at Him. He was despised, not esteemed, by people. The good news is that He is able to relate well with the lowliest of people.

“Surely, He (Christ) took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him (God), and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” [3]

Messiah went through this humiliation for us. Even so, we tended to misunderstand and mischaracterize Him for it. God allowed His Son to be pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for us. He took our punishment so that we could enjoy peace. The wounds that He received were so that we could experience healing.

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him (Christ) the iniquity of us all.” [4]

We distance ourselves from God as a sheep tends to roam from its shepherd. God loves us. We tend to forget to love Him in return. It is an unequal relationship. Iniquity is a sin of unequal exchange. Goodness for evil! Praise God that Messiah took our iniquities.

“He (Christ) was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.” [5]

He did not open His mouth to halt the injustice. He willingly became a speechless for us.

“By oppression and judgment He (Christ) was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished.” [5]

Messiah was dreadfully treated by the human race He created. Yet, no one protest about it. “Cut off from the land of the living means that He died for our transgressions. A transgression is to cross a legal boundary line that God set up. It is to disregard His commandments.

“He (Christ) was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer (for our sakes), and though the LORD MAKES HIS LIFE an OFFERING for SIN, He (Christ) will see His offspring (Christians) and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord (the Church) will prosper in His hand.” [7]

Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man. He loaned Jesus his grave. Jesus died between two criminals. He was innocent. He committed no sin. After He died, Jesus resurrected. He lives to see His offspring, and God’s will prospers because of Him.

“By His knowledge my Righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.” [8]

Our just status before God is a direct result of our faith in the shed blood of Christ for our sins.

“Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” [9]

While on the cross, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” [10]

He was counted as a transgressor by false accusers. He died bearing the sins of the world. And Messiah resurrected, and Jesus Christ is still making intercession for us in heaven now. God painted this beautiful picture of redemption for us through His servant Isaiah. It’s all true!

[1] Isaiah 53:1
[2] Isaiah 53:2-3
[3] Isaiah 53:4-5
[4] Isaiah 53:6
[5] Isaiah 53:7
[6] Isaiah 53:8
[7] Isaiah 53:9-10
[8] Isaiah 53:11
[9] Isaiah 53:12
[10] Luke 23:34