Meditations on Isaiah 53 (Part 2)

There is a tendency in our day–even in the most biblical churches–to focus on the external attractions of the church. We hire graphic designers, interior decorators and web consultants to improve the physical and technological dimensions of our churches. On one hand there is nothing wrong with maximizing our resources. But we must not forget the nature of the message of the Gospel. Consider for a moment what the prophet Isaiah says concerning Christ. In Isaiah 53:2-3 we read, “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” There was no outward display of beauty or glory in our Lord Jesus. He was humble, lowly and unassuming. He could have come as the most physically attractive man–the strongest, most handsome, and smartest man ever. It was His right to do so as being God. He had all beauty and glory in Himself. But He came as a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. It was not His mission to attract people be means of outward displays of beauty. May we learn to reach out to men and women, in this world, by preaching the Divine glories of the Man of Sorrows.