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.  Yes, faith is the only means by which we can truly please our heavenly Father.  The gate to Heaven is a tiny gate indeed, and the path is very narrow.  It is Jesus Himself Who is the way: His life is the example that we are to follow.  “…despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him…”  His is not the popular path for us to choose, but it is the only one that leads to eternal life.  Like Jesus, we must learn to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and walk in His footsteps.  The Holy Spirit will teach us what we must do.  We just need to have eyes to see and ears to hear what He is speaking to our hearts and minds. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JONATHAN AND HIS ARMOR BEARER

“And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.   When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits.  And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.  As for Saul [the King of Israel], he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.” (1 Samuel 13:5-7).   King Saul found himself in difficult straits.  An innumerable host of Philistines had gathered their forces at a place called Michmash in the highlands north of Jerusalem.  Much of Saul’s army was frightened because of the overwhelming odds and went to hide themselves in the caves, hills and pits around the a...
Read more

SIMON OF CYRENE

“AND AS THEY led Him [Jesus] away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.” (Luke 23:26).   Three of the Gospels in the New Testament mention a man by the name of Simon in connection with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  He is only mentioned once in each of the accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as told by St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke.  There is much that we can learn, however, from the scant details of his story.   Scripture tells us that Simon was from the city of Cyrene which is in present-day Libya.  Cyrene was at least 850 miles from Jerusalem – a very long trip for folks in Jesus’ time.  During this period, there was a strong Jewish community in Cyrene of about 100,000 or more.  Simon may have been a member of this community and made the long trip to Jerusalem for the Jews’ yearly Feast of Passover.  If so, this woul...
Read more