That is Amazing Grace!

“He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”

Isaiah 53:3

 

 

Despised, rejected, familiar with pain, low esteem – not exactly “best friend” material, huh?

The prophet Isaiah was describing a suffering Messiah.

He was describing Jesus.

When you look at the words he chose to use – under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – you might question whether or not this would describe the kinds of person you would enjoy being around.

But the very next verse sheds some important light that we need to consider:

“Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering…”

It was never about popularity.

He wasn’t out to win friends and influence people in the way you might think of it.

He was all about taking our punishment and satisfying our sin debt that we might be brought back into fellowship with the Father.

            When Jesus went to the cross it wasn’t so much about Him as it was about us.

He was willing to suffer pain.

He was prepared to be held in low esteem.

Philippians tells us that he “…made Himself of no reputation…” for you and me.

The very ones who despised Him, the same ones who rejected Him were the ones he hung on that cross for.

Stop reading this blog for a moment and go look in the mirror…

…Are you back?

What were you supposed to see?

You saw in that mirror one who was saved and rescued by the grace of God.

You say one for whom Jesus was prepared to die for – and did die for.

That is amazing grace!