Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 53:3

"He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not." — Isaiah 53:3 (ASV)

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

We rightly sing,—

"Rejected and despised of men,
Behold a man of woe!
And grief his close companion still
Through all his life below!
We held him as condemned of heaven,
An outcast from his God;
While for our sins he groaned, he bled,
Beneath his Father's rod."

His own people, indeed, his own chosen ones, turned away from him; and you and I did so until God's grace changed our hearts, and opened our eyes. But why was he despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief? Why was the Prince of Israel such a suffering man? He had no sin for which to be chastened. There was no evil in his nature that needed to be drawn out with the rod of correction. Oh, no! The answer is very different:—

He is despised and rejected of men;

This was written long before he came to earth: He is despised and rejected of men, and, truly, though he is now in heaven, I need not alter the tense of the verb. I do not say, He was despised, though that would be true; for, alas! it is still true, He is despised and rejected of men; –

A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:

What a wonderful expression that is! Our blessed Lord had made the acquaintance of grief; He knew it, understood it, was familiar with it—He slept with it, He rose up with it, He walked the livelong day with it.

And, hence, my brother or my sister, He knows your grief, and He can meet it; He is such a master Comforter because He was such a mighty Sufferer.

And we hid as it were our faces from him;

Shame upon us that we, who have been redeemed by him, – we, whom he has loved from eternity, – we, who now delight in him, – we hid as it were our faces from him;–

He was despised, and we esteemed him not,

Even we, to whom he is now all our salvation and all our desire, — we, to whom he is now most precious, — we esteemed him not.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Oh, how sad it is that the Son of the Most High God, when he condescended to wear our nature, received such base treatment as this from the hands of men! How equally sad is it that his glorious and ever-blessed gospel should still be the object of contempt to multitudes of men! They will not have it; they will have their own philosophy — their own falsehoods, rather let us say — but Christ they despise, and they do not esteem his gospel.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

While the Redeemer was here below, his state of poverty, obscurity, suffering, and shame was of such a character that few would believe in him. Even those who afterwards received him, at first did not believe. He was despised; and we, even we, his own people, esteemed him not.

Christ has forgiven us for all this, but shall we ever forgive ourselves? O eyes, shall you ever cease to weep over your former blindness? O heart, shall you ever cease to grieve over your former hardness? He, who was heaven's darling, was despised and rejected of men, and we shared in the guilt, for we also despised and rejected him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

It was so with Jesus when he was here. He was the greatest of all sufferers: there were few who followed him; some of those who did, betrayed him. There were few who would stand up for him. He met with repulse everywhere, and yet he came on an errand of love.

He did not need to come at all. Heaven surely was large enough for him; but such was his pity for the dying sons of men that he had to strip off his royal robes and put on the robes of our mortal flesh.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

It was not only Christ's humiliation, but his sorrow, which became a stumbling-block in the way of the unbelieving Jews. How could they, who were looking for an earthly deliverer to come in regal splendor, believe in a weeping Messiah? How could they delight in him from whom men hid their faces, when they were expecting a mighty leader before whom, all would submit themselves? Ah, friends, there was a time when we did not esteem the Lord, when we despised him!

We also did not care for the Man of sorrows; though all his sorrows were borne on our account, we passed him by with utter indifference. O wretched heart! Well might I wish to tear you from my breast as I think that you should ever have been callous to your Lord, the Well-beloved! It was a death indeed which you called life, when you lived without your Lord: We hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.