THEIR FALSE VIEW OF THE MESSIAH

 

Their false view of the Messiah

 

 

 

I was doing a verse by verse study of a book in the Bible but the Lord directed me to stop temporary on this segment in the Bible and do a verse by verse commentary on Isaiah chapter 53. I just decided to read the entire chapter in a general way and was struck by how many times this chapter uses the word grief. Let me quote the first three verses so we can get a feel for what God is trying to portray to us as His children.

 

(1) "WHO hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? (2) For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground, He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. (3) 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: 1 - 3.

 

If we read Isaiah 53:1 this sounds quite similar to what the apostle Paul said in the New Testament. "But they have not all obeyed the gospel." For I - sa'iah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?" Romans 10:16.

 

Isaiah in chapter 52 at the end of the chapter did foresee and then wrote the kind of redemption which the gospel of Jesus Christ should be found among the Gentiles but also contrasts this with the wonder of unbelief among the Jewish people. They had previous notices of the coming of the Messiah but the mystery of the Jews in general not recognizing their true Messiah is referred to as blindness in Romans chapter 11.

 

There was contempt they put on the gospel of Jesus Christ but during the suffering of the Son of God on earth it was almost everyone. One moment they were His friend following Him everywhere He went then the next moment they wanted Jesus Christ to go through much pain.

 

Romans 10:16 says the apostles had little success with Jews and Gentiles. This is a prophecy from Isaiah 53:1. Few believed the prophets that spoke of this coming reality before Jesus Christ was born on this earth.

 

When the Son of God revealed Himself the rulers or Pharisees refused to follow Jesus Christ. Common people tended to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ but in comparison to the population very few became true disciples of the Son of God.

 

Many today believe in Jesus Christ but few continually and cordially embrace and submit to the presence and power of the gospel. The Bible is only effective in our lives if we believe and respect the divine power that authored the word of God. The Holy Spirit makes the words effectual only if we have an obedient heart to Jesus Christ. This is a disciple and that is what God is looking for in our lives. If one rebels against the Light of the word of God this person forfeits the grace of God.

 

In general terms verses two and three describe the contempt they put on the Person of Jesus Christ. The Son of God submitted Himself to this abuse and emptied His soul because this is how much He loves us as human beings. The Jewish people had this idea that the true Messiah would be a political hero. This will happen at the start of the one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ but this has not arrived yet which will happen after the seven year tribulation period. If they read Isaiah chapter 53 they would have understood that the Son of God had to suffer first and then die on a cross for our sins. They were looking at the line of David but forgot about the line of Joseph. One suffered (Joseph) and one reigned (David). Jesus Christ will do both because He is the true Messiah.

 

When verse two says by His being a root out of dry ground meant that in Galilee (desert ground) it was dry and Jesus Christ was raised under a humble carpenter. People in that day did not really believe anything good could come out of that land. Jesus Christ grew up before God not before man. We do not even know how Jesus grew up because the Bible says, "And should sheep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how." Mark 4:27.

 

The latter part of Isaiah 53:2 basically says that the face of Jesus Christ was not especially good looking. The face of Moses was not that good looking because Acts 7:20 and Hebrews 11:23 comes right out and says this reality. On the other hand David had a beautiful countenance according to 1 Sam. 16:12 because he represented the ruling and reigning aspect of Jesus Christ. Do you see why we have to rightly discern the word of God?

 

When Jesus Christ preached He did not teach with enticing words of the wisdom of man. He taught very plain with pure heavenly truths but applied it to our lives today. The people of that day were expecting the true Messiah to live a very pleasant life but Jesus had no interest in this lifestyle. The Son of God came to serve but with the spirit of sorrow and grief. In fact His very condition in many respects was sorrowful. He was unsettled because He had no steady place to lay His head.

 

If we read the general idea of the gospels regarding the life of Jesus Christ He was opposed, menaced and endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself as if people knew and Jesus did not know the true righteous principles. I do not know about you but I will adhere to ... let God be true and every man a liar. The remarkable response of the Son of Man was His heart was tender but sorrow was still the essence of His spirit. Jesus was very acquainted with grief especially when He empathized with other people. He had and still has the heart of sympathy.

 

In many cases people had a low opinion of Jesus Christ. The reason for this is because the Son of God had the beauty of holiness and the virtue of goodness. Human beings are not like this unless they come to Jesus Christ first and then obey Him.

 

The misconception was the true Messiah was going to be the desire of all nations. The average person in that day observing did not see this and was rejected by evil people. The same thing is going on today. Very few people follow the narrow path of Jesus Christ. In fact evil people called Jesus Christ evil. Part of verse three says, ... "We hid as it were our faces from Him" ... so their minds and hearts were blinded from His glory and majesty. A veil was over their eyes and as a result He was despised and the ultimate end was they esteemed Him not because they could not see through their veil. If they bothered to seek the truth this never would have happened but God does give us the choice.

 

You have a choice. If you have not already done this the most important decision a person can make is to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord by repenting of all your sins and invite the Son of God into your life.

 

If you just made that all important eternal decision then understand that Jesus Christ first came as a suffering Messiah. The Bible also says He will reign and rule when He takes over the world in the one thousand year reign after the 7 year tribulation period. As we walk very close to Jesus Christ both are to be respected and that will lead to a near fellowship with the true Messiah. The Son of God desires our obedience when we do accept Him because this is a commandment not a suggestion. It all starts with us having a reverential fear of God by respecting that Jesus did suffer in a horrible way for us and He will rule and reign in the future. I am convinced this will happen soon.

 

God bless you,

Bob D.