The Servant of The Lord pt. 2: The Man of Sorrows

The Man of Sorrows Rejected Vs. 1-3

Isaiah begins this chapter with two questions. He uses rhetorical themes to communicate that the message that he is preaching will be unbelievable to most. He is communicating to his audience the reality that God does not always work in the ways that we would expect Him to. He recognizes that true believers to his prophecy would be the exception, not the rule.

Next we see that he asks the question regarding the arm of God.

Warren Wiersbe says “When God made the universe, He used his fingers, and when He delivered Israel from Egypt, it was by His strong hand. But to save lost sinners, He had to bare His mighty arm!”

The arm of God is revealed to those whom He saves. We may answer this question of Isaiah by saying “those whom God saves will see the arm of God”

To those who are not saved, the arm of God is an unimpressive revelation. We get further description of this in the following verses.

Verse 2 says that the arm of God mentioned in verse one is non other than the Servant of the LORD who grows up in the most humble of ways.

He is not a towering fruit tree, nor is He a mighty oak, but he is a tender plant that many would cut down.

Nothing of this tender plant is worthy of recognition by the casual onlooker.

There is nothing magnificent to see in the tender plant by those who are examining His worthiness.

Isaiah points to the fact that there is no evident beauty in His personage that can be easily recognized.

No outward beauty will draw us to this tender plant

When we think of the life and ministry of Jesus we often miss this point; nothing about Jesus’ life was attractive to the natural man.

A recounting of the initial anointing of David as king would be helpful as an image for understanding.

The Man of Sorrows Beaten

The Man of Sorrows Saves