Isa. 53:1-3 THE REAL BEAUTY OF JESUS
Intro: In this passage detailing the coming ministry of the Messiah,
Isaiah paints a portrait of Jesus that is unlike that which most artists produce. Often,
Jesus is pictured as an outstanding specimen. He is portrayed as possessing exceptional
handsomeness and as having features, such as the halo, that cause Him to stand out among
men. Yet, Isaiah says that He will possess no "Comeliness." This means that
there will be no splendor, or nothing magnificent about the appearance of Jesus. Isaiah
also says that will be no "beauty" about Him that would cause men to flock to
Him. "Beauty", here, means "appearance." Isaiah is simply stating that
when Jesus walked upon the earth, He did not stand out among men. When someone saw Jesus
here on earth, He just appeared as a normal, run of the mill man.
There is, however, an old saying that goes, "You can't judge a book
by its cover." This was certainly the case with Jesus Christ. It was not what men
saw, but what they could not see that made Him extra-ordinary. In fact, Paul touches on
this very line of thought in Philippians 2:5-8. Here, Jesus is pictured as One who has
concealed "His heavenly fame in an earthly frame." Jesus was willing to come and
live in this world, in poverty, and He was willing to surround Himself with common men and
sinners so that His real beauty might be seen. Think, for a moment, about His life:
•Born to peasant parents.
•Born in a manger, not a palace.
•Poverty His constant companion.
•His Disciples were just common fishermen.
•Common peasants were His most devoted followers.
•His death was among the condemned and wretched.
•His church, for the most part, is made up of the lowly.
Many might think that such a man is not worthy of our love, devotion and
worship. However, with Jesus, His real beauty lies not in what men can see, but in what He
has done. It is in the things which Jesus accomplished for you and me that His real beauty
lies. So, dismiss from your mind every artist's rendering on Jesus you have ever seen.
Forget all illusions you may have conjured up concerning Him and today, just look beyond
the Man. Look instead to what He did. For it is in the work of Jesus that His real beauty
is seen. This morning, I would like for you to look with me in these verses as we consider
together, The Real Beauty Of Jesus.
I. V. 4-5 HIS PAIN
A. He Suffered Pain At The Hands Of The Soldiers
- (Ill. The horrible death suffered by the Lord Jesus. He was forced to endure
excruciating pain such as:
1. Beating - Luke 22:63-64; Psa. 129:3
2. Scourging - (Ill. The horror of this punishment)
Matt. 27:26
3. Spitting - Matt. 27:30
4. Mockery - Matt. 27:26-29
5. Beard Plucked From Face - Isa. 50:6
6. Stripped - Matt. 27:35 - (They gambled for His
garments.)
7. Nailed To The Cross - Matt. 27:38; John 20:25
8. Crucifixion Itself - A death on the cross is the
most horrible form of execution known to mankind! We derive our word
"excruciating" from it. When a man was crucified on the cross tremendous strain
was exerted on the wrists, arms and shoulders, usually resulting in the dislocation of the
shoulder and elbow joints. The arms, being held up and outward, held the rib cage in a
fixed end inspiratory position with made it extremely difficult to exhale and totally
impossible to take a full breath. The victim would only be able to take very shallow
breaths. (Ill. This explains the brevity of Christ's statements on the cross.) As time
passed, the muscles, from the loss of blood, loss of oxygen and the fixed position of the
body, would undergo severe cramps and spasmodic contractions. Suffocation was the ultimate
cause of death on the cross. Because of the position of the body, the muscles in the chest
would be contracted, forcing the dying man to push against the nails in his feet to raise
himself thereby allowing himself to take a breath. After a time, the victim would no
longer be able to raise himself up to exhale and he would begin to suffocate. Normally,
heart failure due to the accumulation of fluid resulted in cardiac arrest. The death of
Jesus was a horrible affair!
9. Yes, Jesus suffered at the hands of the Roman soldiers.
B. He Suffered Pain At The Hand Of Sovereign God
- (Ill. Verses 4, 6, 10) While Jesus was on the cross a remarkable thing happened.
Somehow, Jesus actually became the manifestation of sin, 2 Cor. 5:21. In the mind of God,
Jesus became the sin of the world and He was judged by the Father. (Ill. The incredible
events of Matt. 27:45-50. The crowd mistook His cries and thought He cried for Elijah.
However, He was calling out to his Father who had turned away from this His "Beloved
Son.") I cannot explain it, but somehow, God poured out His wrath into the body of
His Son and Jesus suffered the undiluted, unfiltered wrath of Almighty God. Jesus
literally suffered the worst agony Hell when He was on the cross! What is Hell's greatest
horror anyway, but separation from the presence of God! (2 Thes. 1:9-10)
C. He Suffered Pain At The Hands Of Sinners -
(Ill. The mocking crowds who were there that day, Mt. 27:39; Mk. 15:29-30; Luke 23:35-39)
But, there is more to the story than this! In Isa. 53:6, the Bible plainly tells us that
Jesus suffered because of you and me. Oh, we weren't there when they nailed Him, when they
spit upon Him, when they beat Him and mocked Him. But, He endured all that He did because
He loved us! We are responsible for His death on that cross! We are the guilty and He the
innocent, yet He went to the cross and took out sins upon Himself and died our death that
we might live His life, 1 Pet. 2:24.
D. (Ill. He suffered all that He did and yet, He was God in the flesh!
Isn't it astonishing that the One who has all power in Heaven and in earth would endure
what He did, and do so without opening His mouth, Isa. 53:7! (Ill. What He could have done
- Matt. 26:53. Jesus could have spoken the word and the very iron in the nails would have
crawled back into the earth at the voice of the Creator. If He had so desired, He could
have disbursed the molecule of His executioners with a single thought. But, His love for
sinners was so great that He refused to condemn. Instead, He willingly took our sins upon
Himself and died in our place. And, when He did speak, it was to forgive and not condemn -
Luke 23:34. What a Savior!)
E. Jesus died for you, the least you can do is give Him your heart in
salvation. Or, one day, the one who climbed Golgotha and died in your place will sit as
your judge on the Great White Throne. In that day, there will be no mercy, no salvation
and no pardon. Only damnation and an eternity in the Lake of Fire. Which will it be for
you?
His Real Beauty lies not only in:
I. His Pain, but also in:
II. V. 6-7; 10b-11a HIS PAYMENT
A. In dying on the cross, Jesus did what no other could do, He satisfied
God's righteous demands for the payment of sin.
B. In Him, the sinner can find forgiveness for sin! (Ill. Psa. 103:12;
Isa. 38:17; Isa. 43:25; Jer. 50:20; Micah 7:19; Col. 2:13-14; 1 John 1:7)
C. Now, thank God, the world may remember my sins, the devil may
remember my sins, you may even remember my sins, but Jesus has forgiven, and forgotten, my
sins. I know I just touched on this point last Sunday, but you'll have to forgive me if I
get a little bit excited thinking about what our blessed Savior has done for me. If there
is one thing I do not want to do, it is to have to face my sins again. Bless His lovely
Name, they are forever gone and will never be remembered again! I am clean, I am pure and
I am saved!
D. Jesus paid the price and the bill will never come due again, John
1:29!
His Real Beauty lies not only in:
I. His Plan
II. His Payment, but also in:
III. V. 11b HIS PLAN
A. This verse tells us that the Messiah's plan is "to justify
many." This tells us a little about His plan and about His heart!
B. I have already told you that Jesus has forgiven and forgotten our
sins. May I give you one just a little bit better than that? In the mind of God, we who
have trusted Jesus, are fully justified! This means that to God, it is just as if we were
totally sinless. That is, that we had never sinned, weren't sinning and never will sin
again! (Ill. 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Ill. Rom. 8:29-30.)
(Ill. Does this mean that God does not know when we
sin? Of course He knows, Pro. 15:3; Heb. 4:13. He sees everything! Does this mean that we
can sin and get by with it? Of course not! God will still hold us accountable for what we
do and will convict us, and chastise us if we do not repent, Heb. 12:6-12. It does mean,
however, that we have been declared righteous by God and that nothing will prohibit us
from being with Him in a perfect, sinless condition some day. What I am trying to say is
this, my flesh commits sin, and will until I lay it down, but there is a part of me, and
you, if you are saved, that has been sealed and cannot be contaminated, Eph. 4:30. You
see, God has chosen to see, not as we are, but as we shall be when we are changed into His
image! By the way, this is alright with me!)
C. His plan is to justify "Many", this tells us that He wants
to see sinners saved, 2 Pet. 3:9. Jesus desires that men come to Him for salvation! He
desires this so much that He has flung the doors of salvation so wide open that anyone who
desires to be saved can be! (Ill. Rev. 22:17; Rom. 10:13; John 6:37; John 3:16.)
D. The plan of Christ is to populate Heaven with sinners He has redeemed
by His grace. I am part of that plan and I am going to Heaven saved and justified. How
about you?
His Real Beauty lies not only in:
I. His Pain
II. His Payment
III. His Plan, but also in:
IV. V. 12 HIS PLACE
A. According to this verse, God the Father has rewarded Jesus with the
place of honor. He is highly exalted today. The Bible tells that after He died, He was
placed in a grave and then 3 days later, He arose from the dead. At this time He ascended
back to Heaven and made the atonement for our sins by offering His blood on Heaven's mercy
seat. Then, 40 days later, He ascended back to Heaven where He sat down on the Father's
right hand to wait for the fulfillment of the Father's plan, Heb. 10:12-14. He hasn't been
on this earth for nearly 2,000 years. No man has seen Him, yet the Bible tells us that He
is in a place of honor today, Phil. 2:9-11. (Ill. Men will bow one way or the other! Rom.
14:11.)
B. This exalted Lord is returning one day! (Ill. John 14:1-3; Rev. 1:7)
He is returning to gather His people unto Himself, 1 Thes. 4:16-17. When He comes for us,
we will see this exalted One and we will have the privilege of seeing Him as He really is.
(Ill. How Jesus looks today - Rev. 5:6 - Jesus bears in His body the marks of the cross.
Throughout eternity, we will look upon Him who loved us and died for us and we will see
the evidence of that love constantly staring back at us. I am certain that this will be
the ground for much of Heaven's rejoicing. You want to see the real beauty of Jesus? Look
at the holes in His hands and feet, look at the wounds on His back and side. Look at the
punctures in His head where He wore a thorny crown for you and me. There is real beauty,
there is our salvation!)
C. Have you bowed before Him and acknowledged Him to be the Lord of
Lords and King of Kings? Have you bowed at His feet and received Him into your heart and
life and savior and Lord? Have you given Him the exalted place He deserves in your life?
In Heaven, the angels bow before Him, the saints worship Him. In the earth, the elements
are under His control and the devils tremble at the mention of His name. He has been given
a name above every name. Do you recognize Jesus for who He really is? Is He your Savior,
Lord and King?
Conc: There is a book in the Bible called the Song
of Solomon. It is a tale of love between a husband and a wife. At one point in this great
book, the bride is describing her husband. She calls to mind attribute after attribute in
an effort to fully describe his beauty. Then, she finally exhausts similes, metaphors and
vocabulary and simply says, "Yea, he is altogether lovely," Song Of Solomon
5:16. That describes the way Jesus looks to me today! We could spend days talking about
all He is to you and me. Yet, when we summed it all up, we would just have to say that He
is altogether lovely.
His real beauty is not found in His physical appearance while He walked
among men. It is not found in the wealth He accumulated here on earth. It is not found in
the people He was most closely associated with. His beauty is found simply in what he has
done for you and me. The real beauty of Jesus is found in His great love and sacrifice for
sinners.
Now, with all this in mind, can you honestly say this morning that you
are saved by His grace? Are you going to Heaven when you die? Have you received Jesus as
your Savior? If not, then you have no concept of His real beauty. These stories may tug at
your heart and you may like to hear about His great love and deeds, but let me tell as one
who has had first hand experience, salvation is better felt than telt!
On the authority of God's Word, I invite you to come to Jesus today and
discover for yourself His real beauty. Will you do that this morning?
