KJV Isaiah 53:3 “A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
NASB Isaiah 53:3 “A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
He Suffered Amongst Men
We have all seen the photographs. Auschwitz, Dachau, Buchenwald, and others. The gaunt faces, the emaciated frames, the hollow, despairing eyes, and the broken spirits. The appearance of the captives is only equalled by the faces of their liberators. Those who rescued the remaining prisoners in those unspeakably horrible death camps were stunned by the cruelty of the captors, who treated the prisoners in such a manner.
Imagine what it must have been like for the pure and sensitive Christ to move in our world. He came to a prison camp and looked at the captives, and must have been heartbroken. His sorrows began long before the cross. Every step he trod, every scene upon which He looked brought fresh sorrow to His heart.
Our Bondage
How He must have grieved over the bondage of the human family. We had been kidnapped and hijacked in the Garden by his Satanic majesty. Under his cruel taskmasters, we were held under his authority. The most tragic aspect of our bondage is that we became so accustomed to it that we thought it was freedom. The master of deception had so deceived us as to make us happy in our bondage.
Our Barrenness
The Lord Jesus moved amongst men and saw the barrenness of lives that were meant to be fruitful for God. Yet, here was a race of people content with crushing stones, digging pits, and making hovels for more prisoners who would be arriving. Eyes were bent down to their earthly, slavish tasks and never looked heavenward. He looked upon people whose lives should have brought glory to His Father and wept. Created for one grand and glorious purpose, we were devoid of any fruit for God, aimless and purposeless, serving another.
Our Bitterness
When Israel was held captive in Egypt, Pharaoh forced them to serve under his cruel taskmasters, and we read that “he made their lives bitter with hard bondage” (Ex 1:14). Bricks, bondage, and bitterness were the daily lot of the enslaved Israelites. Sin has a hardening effect on the human soul. The dreams of youth, the altruistic goals of early adulthood, and the hopes of adult life soon become jaded by the reality of a sinful world. Human hearts become hardened and bitter, only assuaged in measure by the awareness oft-repeated, “That’s life.”
The Lord saw the grief of the human spirit, the depression of the mind, and the hopelessness of the heart. He saw all that and was moved to sorrow. He never became inured to the awful grief of the human heart. Knowing the wonderful alternative available only intensified His sorrow.
Our Blindness
Finally, there was our blindness. “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest …” (2 Cor 4:4). A small part of the pathos of His heart is revealed by the words that accompanied the tears as He beheld a city and its blindness: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes” (Luke 19:42). Lives that could not see above the darkened surroundings, eyes that could not rise to see a bright horizon, vision dulled to the possibility of freedom and blessing – this and much more grieved Him and multiplied His sorrows. “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God” (2 Cor 4:6).
He was a Man of Sorrows, suffering as he moved amongst men.
Consider
The Lord Jesus suffered among men, as a man, from men, and for men. I will consider these in additional meditations. But it would be a profitable exercise to give some thought to all of these.