Isaiah 53

“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (v3). Isaiah said that the Servant of God who would come to save the world wouldn’t look like a conquering hero. He wouldn’t have “form or majesty … or beauty” to attract us (v2), and his victory would not come by worldly demonstrations of power that would crush his opponents. Instead, God’s Servant, the Messiah, would carry our grief, sorrow, and shame (v7).

“He was crushed for our iniquities” (v5). Jesus defeated sin and death not by dominating, but by the sacrificial love of the cross.