DESPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN
"He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 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 53:2a, 3).
We
usually like to dwell on the beauty of the Lord when we talk or meditate about
Christ, but I would like to shed some light on the uncomely aspect of the
Lord. During His earthly ministry, Jesus
angered and offended a great number of people - people who said they were
looking for His appearance. They were
waiting for a mighty king who would lead them to victory against their enemies,
and restore Israel to the glory that it once enjoyed. This carpenter's son from Galilee was
definitely not what they expected,
and His message was to love their enemies, not vanquish them; to turn the other
cheek, not get the upper hand; and give their cloak if their coat was taken. This did not sit well with many of the
Jews. Even His own disciples were offended
at times, and did not understand when He told them that He would ultimately be
crucified rather than be crowned.
Many
have trouble with His message today also.
It is not attractive to think of not standing up for ourselves, but,
instead, letting the Lord fight our battles.
It's not considered macho for a man to back down from a fight. It is only through surrender, though, that we
can know true spiritual victory. The
early Christians willingly gave themselves to the lions, and the fires, and the
crosses, knowing that they would obtain a better resurrection. We are very selfish with our lives. We too often resist when the Lord asks us to
do something that is outside our comfort zone.
John
tells us, "He came unto His own, and
His own received Him not. But as many as
received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His
name:" (John 1:11, 12). Jesus
comes to us in many ways. He speaks
through His Word, He speaks through other believers, or He may even use an ass
from time to time as He did with Balaam; however He speaks, though, we must
respond. We can choose to reject Him, or
we can choose to receive Him. If we receive
Him, we take one more step on the path of becoming a mature son of God. If we reject Him, we suffer loss in our
spiritual life.
"Who hath
believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1). It is a life of faith that God has called us
to. If we won't believe God's promises,
He cannot reveal His might and power.
This "power to become" is
a very tangible thing. It's the
substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things that we cannot see.
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