Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 53:2

"For he grew 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 see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." — Isaiah 53:2 (ASV)

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.

There was nothing about Jesus Christ to attract the attention of those who look for pomp and splendor. His religion is all simplicity; it is plain truth; there is nothing about it that is gorgeous to attract those who look after ritualistic vanities. To most men there is no beauty in him that they should desire him.

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.

Carnal minds never did see beauty in Christ, and never will.

Christ as the great sacrifice is always rejected.

For he shall grow up before him.

That is, the Messiah shall grow up before God.

As a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

When Christ came, he was very lovely to those who could judge of spiritual beauty. In form and comeliness, he was unrivalled, but not to carnal men; they said, "Where is his royal splendor? Where is the majesty of his kingdom?"

As they looked upon the carpenter's Son, they said, "Where are his riches?" They heard him say that he had not where to lay his head, and they despised such a Messiah. As he spoke in simple parables to the people, they asked, "Where is his wisdom?" So, to carnal eyes, the Saviour had no form nor comeliness.

For he –

That is, Jesus –

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.

Carnal minds are unbelieving minds. They are so because the beauties of Christ are spiritual, and in their natural state they have not the power to discern them. Jesus Christ has no loveliness in the eyes of self-righteous, self-sufficient men.

What do they want with a Saviour? What do they care for his atoning sacrifice? They cannot truly admire the love and the holiness of Jesus Christ, for they do not know their own unloveliness or their own unholiness.

Alas! that God's own Son, who is the loveliest of all beings, should be without form or comeliness to unspiritual eyes.

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:

This is why Christ was not received by those to whom he came – and why the testimony of the prophets concerning Christ was rejected by those to whom it was delivered – because he was not revealed to them as a towering palm-tree or widely-spreading cedar: but, like the humble yet fruitful vine, he was 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.

To carnal eyes, there was no beauty apparent in Christ — nothing of the aesthetic, as people call it, and nothing of the pompous, nothing outwardly attractive. He came here in the utmost simplicity.

Remember the angels' message to the shepherds: And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. There was nothing of pomp or show about him: no form nor comeliness. He made no display of scholarship, no presence of deep philosophy, nothing that the carnal mind hunts after; but the all-glorious Deity, revealed in human form, spoke simple but sublime truth, and therefore people rejected him.

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.

Christ has both form and comeliness to the spiritual eye; but, to the carnal, he seems only like ordinary men, except that his face is more marred than that of other men, and his form than that of any of the sons of men. He hath no form nor comeliness.

The ungodly look for something that can excite their admiration, or create mirth for them; and they see nothing of this in the Christ of God.

But little can we blame them, for, not very long ago, many of us were ourselves just as blind as they now are. Do you not feel, beloved, that you can beat your breasts with deepest regret for the length of time in which you were blind to the beauties of your Redeemer?

Alas! that the prophet's words were ever true of us, When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

This is Israel's King, the long-promised Messiah; yet when he comes to Bethlehem, see what a tender plant he is! Look at the house of David, almost extinct; and see what a root out of a dry ground is – The stem of Jesse's rod. When Jesus comes before the sons of men, dressed in the garb of a peasant, a poor man, a sorrowful man, a man who had not where to lay his head, notice how men say, by their actions, if not in words, There is no beauty that we should desire him.