Matthew Henry Commentary Isaiah 53:1-3

"Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed? 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. 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 53:1-3 (ASV)

Nowhere in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied that Christ was to suffer, and then to enter into His glory, as in this chapter. But to this day, few discern or will acknowledge the divine power that goes with the word. The authentic and most important report of salvation for sinners, through the Son of God, is disregarded.

The lowly condition He submitted to, and His appearance in the world, were not agreeable to the ideas the Jews had formed of the Messiah. It was expected that He would come in pomp; instead of that, He grew up like a plant, silently and imperceptibly. He had none of the glory that one might have expected to find with Him.

His whole life was not only humble in outward condition but also sorrowful. Being made sin for us, He underwent the sentence to which sin had exposed us. Carnal hearts see nothing in the Lord Jesus to desire an interest in Him. Alas! By how many is He still despised in His people, and rejected in His doctrine and authority!