“Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, My People, so His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. Thus He will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand.” Isaiah 52:13-15
· Jesus was exalted by so many upon entering Jerusalem that local leaders wanted to silence the crowd (Luke 19:29-40). He told them that if the crowd became silent, that even the stones would cry out.
· Folks were surely astonished when they saw Israel & Judah abused by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Perhaps they asked, “How could God allow these horrible things to be done to his people?”
· As Israel & Judah were marred, so was Jesus marred. He went without sleep, was struck by those who arrested him (Lk. 22:63), struck by one of the guards when before Annas, father-in-law of Caiphas who was the high priest (John 18:12-24), slapped, struck with fists and spat on by the same guards while before Caiaphas (Matt 26:57-68), slapped, beaten with a reed, had a crown of thorns pushed down on his head and then scourged by Pilate’s Roman guard (John 19:1-5), bore his cross (John 19:17) and was finally crucified, hanging suspended from the nails for six hours. Then of course, there was the spear (John 19:34) that pierced his side. Besides these physical abuses, who knows what weight fell upon him by means of the sins of the world for all time? Yes, he was marred more than any man.
· As the blood of the sin offering was sprinkled on the altar for the sins of the people (Leviticus 16:15), so Jesus blood would be “sprinkled” upon those of many nations for their salvation (1st Peter 1:1-2).
Over 700 years before it happened, God showed it all to Isaiah and Isaiah wrote it all down for us to see. This brief passage is not all. The 53rd chapter foretold much more of what Jesus did for us so that those who would connect these “dots” would have profound reason to believe.