How does Isaiah 53:3 connect with New Testament accounts of Jesus' life? Setting Isaiah 53:3 beside the Gospels “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” (Isaiah 53:3) Despised and rejected • Nazareth turned on Him: “All the people in the synagogue were furious… They drove Him out of the town.” (Luke 4:28-29) • Religious leaders plotted continually: “The Pharisees went out and conspired against Jesus, how they might kill Him.” (Matthew 12:14) • National rejection: “They shouted, ‘Away with Him! Crucify Him!’ ” (John 19:15) A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief • He wept at Lazarus’s tomb: “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35) • He lamented Jerusalem: “How often I have longed to gather your children… but you were unwilling.” (Luke 13:34) • Gethsemane agony: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matthew 26:38) Like one from whom men hide their faces • Disciples scattered: “Then everyone deserted Him and fled.” (Mark 14:50) • Peter denied knowing Him three times (Luke 22:54-62). • Soldiers mocked and struck Him, turning His own prophecy into ridicule (Matthew 27:27-30). We esteemed Him not • Misunderstood by family: “For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.” (John 7:5) • Public misjudgment: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) • Ultimate dismissal: a criminal released, the righteous condemned (Luke 23:18-25). Prophecy literally fulfilled in Jesus Isaiah’s portrait is not abstract poetry; every line surfaces in the Gospel record. The harmony between prophecy and fulfillment underscores the reliability of Scripture and affirms that Jesus is the promised Suffering Servant, bearing rejection and sorrow to accomplish redemption (1 Peter 2:24-25). |
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