Man of Sorrows | Isaiah 52:13-53:11

 INTRODUCTION

Man of Sorrows

One day, the prophet Isaiah stood gazing into the distant future, hundreds of years ahead, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. He perceived something of profound significance, a crucial event in God’s redemption plan.   Isaiah 52-53 records the words of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration and they are for us to read.

Isaiah 52:13-15

¹³ See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. ¹⁴ Just as there were many who were appalled at him as his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— ¹⁵ so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Isaiah 53:1-12 

The Affliction

¹ Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? ² He grew up before him 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. ³ He was despised and rejected by humans, 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.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. ⁵ 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. ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He 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. ⁸ By oppression and judgment he 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. ⁹ He 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.

Isaiah 53: 10 – 12

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. ¹¹ After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

As Isaiah gazed forward several centuries, one afternoon, he envisioned a scene outside the gates of Jerusalem, just before the Passover. Three crosses stood on Golgotha’s mount, two occupied by wicked, rightly condemned men, while the central cross held Jesus Christ, unjustly placed there despite his innocence.

The Arrest of Jesus

One of Jesus’ disciples betrayed Him and helped in arresting Jesus the previous night. Throughout the night, He endured severe abuse. Despite no evidence of wrongdoing, they took Him before the high priest, Pontius Pilate, and Herod for trial. False witnesses testified against Him, clamoring for His crucifixion. They sentenced Jesus to be crucified, subjecting Him to further humiliation with a crown of thorns, beatings, and spitting. He indeed was a “Man of Sorrows” at that time.

They tore out His beard, and He suffered the cruelty of the cat of nine tails. Jesus went to the place of crucifixion with bleeding and sweating, where they stripped and nailed Him to the cross through His hands and feet. They erected the cross, causing excruciating pain as He suffered as a “Man of Sorrows”.

They laid Jesus on the cross in the middle of the day, around noon. Suddenly, almost all of His creation seemed to turn its head away, as if to shield its eyes, unable to bear to look any longer upon the one who had spoken creation into existence. The Father could not bear to look upon His Son as a “Man of Sorrows”, causing the sun to cease shining on the world.

I mentioned that all of creation covered its eyes with its hands, but not entirely; one part of creation, closest to God and made in His image, remained near the cross. Even in the darkness, some of them jeered and tormented Jesus. Man, rebellious, did not cover his eyes, and in the darkness, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered as a “Man of Sorrows”. I believe the Holy Spirit revealed the greatest part of His suffering as the “Man of Suffering” to Isaiah in this passage.

Isaiah 52:14

Just as there were so many who were appalled at him his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.

Now, I believe this verse speaks of something supernatural, something beyond the capacity of man to endure physically in his body. Certainly, His Body bore the most gruesome pain. Nobody could recognize the wounded Jesus as a Person at that time disfigured.

In the darkness, I see evidence of an earlier event in Jesus’s life: ten lepers approached Him, defying the severity and contagiousness of their condition. We don’t see many details in the Word but lepers have no proper form in their bodies. They linked their condition to sin. These hopeless lepers sought healing from Jesus, despite societal stigma and no available cure.

I’m not suggesting that the ten men had sinned in a way that warranted the specific punishment of leprosy. However, I acknowledge that if Adam had not sinned, there would be no leprosy or any other disease in this world. Jesus healed the lepers and other sicknesses then and now, but where did that sickness go? Someone had to bear the sickness and restore healing.

As Jesus hangs on the cross in the darkness, in my imagination, I can envision those ten lepers, representing every sickness of this world, and I see His heart being moved by all of them. Dear friend, His heart is moved by your sickness today.

Our place on the Cross

In the darkness, there hanging on the cross between 12 o’clock and 3 o’clock, I can see the sins of those ten lepers, as well as the sickness and sins of all generations before and after Jesus, settling on Him. His body was disfigured with the marks of sin and leprosy.

My thoughts turn to the woman caught in adultery, brought before Jesus by Jewish leaders questioning her fate under the Mosaic Law. She stands before Him, possibly already marked by her sin, her once-glowing eyes and cheeks now dimmed. In the darkness of those three hours, I see the moral wickedness of that woman placed upon Jesus, perhaps further disfiguring His already broken body, rendering Him unrecognizable as the “Man of Sorrows”.

I see Jesus, the “Man of Sorrows” taking the place of Barabbas, a notorious man known for his thievery, rebellion, and likely murder, akin to Cain from 4,000 years earlier. As Jesus hung on the cross, He bore the sins of all who had spilled blood through murder across the centuries. With omniscience, Jesus looked down the highway of time, witnessing the blood of aborted babies crying out to God from the earth, marking Him with the sin of murder on the cross.

A young person begins with all the beauty, handsomeness, and vigor of youth, but then may stray into sin—perhaps alcohol, tobacco, drugs, loose morals, or even murder. As the years pass, their image changes. Their body becomes emaciated, losing weight, and becoming bony due to their sinful behavior. Sin mars. Jesus’ body was marked by the sins of the alcoholic and the drug abuser, by the sins of the adulterer, and by all the wicked sins of human beings throughout history. Thus, He is known to be a “Man of Sorrows” at that time.

Dear friend, you and I have no idea of the suffering of Jesus on that cross as this “Man of Sorrows”. I cannot fully explain it; I can only proclaim it to you. Jesus, whom Isaiah declared as Holy, Holy, Holy, perfectly holy without sin, I see His body trembling there on the cross in the darkness, as creation covers its eyes, as the sin of all humans—every soul who has ever lived on this earth—comes upon Him. Isaiah says, “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of man.”

Look back at Isaiah 53:2b-3 

² He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. ³ He was despised and rejected by people, 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.

That describes Jesus there on the cross. The men around the cross taunted Him and jeered Him even in the darkness, as He bore our sin. Listen, there in the darkness, hanging on the cross, Jesus looked down the highway of time and He saw you and He saw me, and He saw your sins—the ones others know about and the ones no one knows about. He saw me and my sins, and I can see Jesus’ body trembling as His visage became even more marred, dear friend, by the sins He bore for you.

Isaiah 53:4-5

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, V5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Thus, Jesus became sin. He knew no sin. He did it for us. 

Isaiah 53:9b

though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

So there is the perfect Lamb of God, physically abused on the cross, bearing the sins of every person who has ever lived or will live on this earth.

Jesus hung there on the cross, physically tortured, marred by your sins and mine and he cried out 7 short sentences.

1. Father forgive them. Luke 23:34
2. Today you will be with me in paradise. Luke 23:39-39
3. Dear woman here is your son. John 19:25-27
4. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27:45-46
5. I am thirsty. John 19:28-29
6. It is finished. John 19:30
7. Into Your Hands, I commit my spirit. Luke 23:44-46

Jesus died.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world (That is everybody) that whosoever (that is anybody) believeth in his shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus died for all, bearing our sins. If someone comes to Him, believes, and seeks forgiveness through His sacrifice, they are saved.

I want you to notice his purpose through-

Isaiah 53:6

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.

Dear friend, you have gone your own way, not God’s way but your own. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Why did Jesus come to this earth in His first advent? He did not come to rescue Israel from the heel of the Romans. Many people thought that was why He came, but they misunderstood. Jesus came for a reason much more important than that. He came for the generations before and beyond and for His generation. He came for you, He came so that He could take your sins upon Himself and bring you back on the way to God.

The phrase “He bore our suffering” speaks of carrying our grief, sins, and sorrow. Jesus lifted them and carried them away. Is it not wonderful?

What did God accomplish there that day?

Isaiah 53:10

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

It was God the Father who gave Jesus, His only begotten Son. I cannot comprehend that. I do not think there is a man or a woman here if you are thinking rightly, who would give their child like that. That is not an act of cruelty on the Father’s part. That is beyond our ability as human beings to understand. God the Father so loved you, even as a sinner, that He gave His only begotten Son. He bruised Him, He put Him to grief as He sacrificed for you there.

Isaiah 53:11

After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

There, as Jesus shuddered on the cross time after time, bearing sin for us, the Father saw Him through that darkness. He saw the travail of Jesus’ soul, and He was satisfied.

V11b

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

Now listen to me. Jesus died and took upon Himself the sins of the whole world. Every human being who has lived or who will ever live, Jesus took their sins upon Himself. You will notice in-

V11

that by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

In comparison, just because Jesus came and hung on the cross that day, bearing sin for you, does not mean that you are automatically saved. You need to know Jesus’ mission, life, and death. Jesus did that for you as the “Man of Sorrows”, but your part is responsible. You have a responsibility. The Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

CONCLUSION

I would like to invite you, right at this moment, to do that. All you need to do, is sincerely say to the Lord Jesus Christ, “I am a sinner, my sins marred you. I believe that you are the Son of God and you came to save me. I am asking you, please forgive my sins save me, and make me your child.”

Dear friend, if you pray that prayer in your heart right now, God will forgive you of your sins. I pray that the Lord will move your heart to do so.

The songwriter wrote:

Would you be free from the burden of sin? There is power in the Blood.
Would you over evil a victory win? There’s wonderful power in the Blood
There is power, power wonder-working power in the Blood of the Lamb
There is power, power wonder-working power in the precious Blood of the Lamb

Revelation 12:11

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

By the power of the blood of Jesus, the angels overcame Satan for one last time. We can overcome every attack of the devil by the power we have in the blood of Jesus Christ.