The Beauty-Less, Beautiful Savior (Isaiah 53:2,3)

Introduction

Tonight I get to talk about a passage that people often wonder about. I’ve wondered about what exactly is being said. The title is The Beautiless, Beautiful Savior. It comes from basically parts of two verses in Isaiah 53. And those verses are verse 2 and verse 3, where it says in this prophetic prediction of Jesus suffering, that he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him. No appearance that we should be attracted to him. And like one, the text goes on to say in the next verse, from whom men hide their face. He was despised. And we did not esteem him. As I mentioned, this comes from the context of the suffering Savior from Isaiah chapter 53. It is a portrait of Jesus’ crucifixion seven centuries before it ever occurred.

And it’s in living color, as they used to say in the TV world until there was high definition. And now I guess we could say it’s in 4K. It’s that brilliant. The picture of Jesus suffering, his vicarious suffering for us for our sins. He was crushed. And I could read this entire context, but Charles did it for us this morning at the Lord’s Supper. He was crushed for our iniquities. He was bruised. He by his stripes, we are healed. We use this expression sometimes. And in regard to expressions, I use a lot more of them now that I’m older. I guess over the years you hear these expressions so many times that they get ingrained in you, and you’re able to pull them out at the appropriate times.

My mom has a saying for absolutely everything. One of her favorites is you can’t get blood out of a turnip. I don’t know where in the world that comes from or what that means, but it seems appropriate on some occasions. We might say he or she is a sight for sore eyes. That’s one. I guess you know your eyes are just longing to see someone. I guess like when Noah comes back from Hawaii. No, that’s a bad illustration. But somebody might be a sight for sore eyes, but in this regard, the point of these verses, I believe, is that Jesus’ suffering would be a sore sight for one’s eyes. Such is the nature of his gruesome death. There is nothing particularly appealing to the eye about what happened at Golgotha, also known as Calvary.

The dying figure of a man on an instrument of death, the cross. And while it certainly is a sore sight for the eyes to behold, for the more well trained eye.

For the one who becomes the recipient of his healing through that suffering. It is a welcome site. It is a welcome site for the sore soul. Because in this suffering, man’s greatest need is addressed. The problem of our sin that could not be satisfied by hundreds of thousands of animal sacrifices. It took the sacrifice of the sinless Savior to adequately meet the demands of justice for just a single sin in our lives. Forget the number of sins that we’ve committed, but just for a single sin, this sacrifice was necessary. But it does even more for us. Not only does it satisfy our greatest need and thus is a welcome sight for the sore soul, it clarifies our purpose. I think about this a lot these days.

How that the life of Jesus, his selfless surrender of himself upon the cross, his selfless sacrifice for us, teaches us really how to live.

And clarifies my purpose here. All that we understand in the New Testament about the life of a disciple of Jesus is helping us to learn how to live well, how to live successfully, how to live unto immortality. The suffering of Jesus clarifies my purpose. And when I am a recipient of his magnificent healing, it yields unto me an incomparable hope. Sometimes I struggle for the adjectives to describe what has been promised to us as believers. Because of what he was willing to endure, we can, by the grace, by the favor of God, ultimately bask in the presence of perfection, in the presence of our Creator, our perfect God, and all the joys, the fullness of joy that attends his presence. And so we need to appreciate this portrait and what it says of our Savior.

1. We Are Left Without a Physical Description of Jesus

What about these phrases that we’ve looked at in verses 2 and 3 of Isaiah chapter 53? I want to make four observations quickly tonight from this text, and the lesson will be yours. Some have wondered in these statements, one from whom men would hide their face, that there was nothing particularly attractive of this suffering Savior, that it’s somehow a description of his appearance, the way he looked.

Phrases, then we are left without a physical description of Jesus. And the real significance that I want to draw to that is here is the greatest person who has ever lived in the history of humankind. And we know so little about what he looked like. How tall was he? Okay, question of the night. How tall was Jesus? Let’s just guess six foot, okay? I guess that would be a pretty typical guess that you would make, but we don’t even know. We know that he was Jewish. Was he muscular? After all, weren’t most carpenters muscular? And it appears that he did work as a carpenter in his early days as his father Joseph had done. He’s called a carpenter. Was he handsome? We just don’t have any idea.

There’s been nothing left to us as a physical portrait of Jesus. And that may be telling us something. Could God have preserved something like that? Some kind of portrait, some kind of picture? But what would people do? I mean, they would worship it. They would worship the picture. And Jesus would be reduced to this image that people have, and all kinds of people are trying to capture the image of Jesus, and no two images are the same, though there’s, I guess, the white picture of Jesus. I mean, he’s a Jew, but the white version of Jesus is probably the most popular portrait of all.

I wonder about his voice. Did he have a powerful voice? Did it command when he spoke? Did it resonate with great bass? We don’t know any of that. None of that has been preserved for us. And I don’t even believe this picture in Isaiah 53 is suggesting, oh, Jesus was ugly. I don’t believe it’s saying that at all. It’s saying his suffering was an ugly event. As he died upon the cross as he was crushed for our iniquities, it was something that you would not want to look upon. Something you would want to hide your face from, so gruesome was the event. Obviously, the importance of who Jesus was and what he did was not based upon what he looked like, but who he was. What he accomplished.

2. Weakness Produces Strength

His authoritative and life-changing judgment standard words that he uttered. There’s a second observation that I would make from the portrait of Isaiah 53, and particularly these phrases that we’ve looked at in verses 2 and 3, and that is that weakness produces strength. It is a message that’s taught in Isaiah 53, but taught in other places of the Bible as well. In the New Testament, it speaks of the heroes of faith. In chapter 11, it says, by weakness they were made strong. What is it about weakness that makes people strong? Remember Paul as he prayed about his thorn in the flesh recorded in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 that it might depart. He prayed three times, and the answer was, my grace is sufficient for you, a powerful lesson in that regard in regard to all of our suffering or trials.

The fact that we have received God’s favor and have his fellowship is enough, though we might want more. But he goes on to say that he would boast about his infirmities. Because through his weakness, he says there is power in that weakness. What is it about weakness that makes us strong? I think there’s a couple of things. Number one, it makes us realize our dependence upon one greater than ourselves. If we always felt strong and powerful, we would be tended to tend to think that we don’t need anything or anyone. I can depend completely on myself. But in our weakness, we appeal to one greater than ourselves that we need him. And that appeal of faith is what makes us strong in character, strong as people.

So that dependence upon God is important. And certainly we see that in Jesus suffering as he makes continual appeal to his Father, even upon the cross. And in his weakness, in his most weak moment, when his flesh is failing in those six hours upon the cross, the greatest strength he ever displayed. And continuing all the way to the end and saying, it is finished. Into your hands I commit my spirit. I think it does something else for us. It causes us to look outside of ourselves to others. And both of those things are redeeming in and of themselves. As we look to God as a source of strength, and then we also look to others as we become sympathetic or empathetic or compassionate toward the plight of others as they suffer.

3. Focus on Character and on Spiritual Aims

We now understand the weakness. And so it produces character in us. And I’ll have more to say about that in a moment. Weakness produces strength. And now, as a result of the weakness that is described in Isaiah 53 as his body fails ultimately as he provides this sacrifice for our sins, crushed, it says, bruised, smitten for our iniquities. And as a result of that weakness, what? He is now our strength. And so that’s a marvelous thought that comes from Isaiah 53. I think there’s something else. The fact that Jesus’ weakness is portrayed in vivid colors in Isaiah chapter 53. And as we read about his suffering in the New Testament narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as we see what happens to him physically, an event again from which men would hide their face.

Nothing about Jesus dying on the cross would be attractive to our eyes. But the real attraction is what it afforded to us. I think there’s a powerful message here about how we regard ourselves and others physically.

Into as a culture, the carton. And when I say that, I thought about this a lot in the last couple of days, I don’t mean to disparage the handiwork of God. There are some marvelous aspects to what we are physically. I mean, just look at what we can do with the dexterity of our fingers, or the marvels of the human eye, and the things that we can see, or communication. I mean, all the things that God endowed us with physically. I mean, it’s amazing that this ugly little thing that we have in our mouths can help us shape words and communicate.

That we can actually communicate with that ugly little fleshly instrument. What a tremendous design that we can actually shape words and if we are clear enough, we can actually communicate thoughts from my mind to your mind. And so I don’t mean to disparage this human body at all. It is a marvelous piece of God’s handiwork and ought to be treated thusly. I mean, it ought to be respected. It ought to be well managed, as Paul says, bodily exercise prophets. A little.

As Solomon, sorry, says speak for yourself. But as Solomon points out in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, and ultimately returns to the dust. And yet our culture is all about fascination with the physical casings of what is really and truly us, and that is our inner being. Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. Having promise of the life that now is and the life that is to come. You know, I could I could spend a lot more time in the gym, and I could get some really big guns, about probably five times the size they are now. I mean, I could do some work here. And I could get some big guns here, but you know what? 30 years from now, I’m not going to care about them guns, or any other guns for that matter.

It’s all temporary. And after I’ve gone through all the potential facelifts, and I could probably use a couple of those, or any kind of other thing that we might use to make our appearance a little bit. And I’m not, again, I’m not saying any of that has no place. I’m just saying, as we think about looking to the needs of our physical body, some people do that continually and give no thought whatsoever to the inner man. And if there’s one thing this portrait does for us that Paul is continually emphasizing in the New Testament, is we need to give attention to who we are in here. Because the outer man is decayed. And Paul was a living picture of that in the first century, considering all of his suffering in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

He says, death works in us. We’re being delivered over to death constantly all day long. The outer man is decaying, but the inner man, oh, I’m alive and well there. I’m vibrant and healthy because he’s living a godly life. And that’s what matters. Because as this outer man decays, he says, we’re looking to the eternal, to the spiritual. In 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 18, and we have an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison awaiting us. And so we don’t sweat too greatly, though perplexed at some of the trials. It’s momentary light affliction. He says, I want to ask you this question. How much thought and time are you giving to the outer carton in relation to the time and thought and effort that you’re giving to the development of the inner person.

Godliness doesn’t just happen. It does not result from several assemblies each week. And growth in the character and likeness of our Savior to learn to be selfless and sacrificing will require some thought and meditation and attention, some sobriety in regard to, again, my clarity in regard to my purpose. Why am I here? Are we giving any thought or very little thought to the development of the inner person? How about just my humility? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You know, we talk about a lot of fixes for marriage and conflict and troubles and discontent and all the things that we could talk about that happen in marriages. How about just the pursuit of that one quality? Blessed are the poor in spirit.

What would that mean? The development of that quality in your marriage. How much it would be enhanced. What are we emphasizing? Perhaps we’re not emphasizing the inner person, the hidden person. As 1 Peter 3 talks about the woman who tries to win her unbelieving husband over by that character, by that inner person that she is that is devoted to Christ, as he sees that without a word, as he sees her devotion to the Lord, that could teach him what he needs.

In relation to Abraham. Let not the adorning be outward, the putting on of dresses. That’s making the point here. The wearing of jewelry. But the hidden person of the heart. Make sure that you’re more about adorning the inner person than flaunting the carton. And so I want to suggest to you that the portrait of Jesus in Isaiah 53, as we look on him as a physical figure dying on the cross and the gruesome nature of all of that, something from which we would want to turn our face, should not then we learn that the focus should be on character and on spiritual aims rather than physical and earthly goals. In Galatians 3 and verse 27, it says, as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ.

That’s an interesting expression. The King James says, have put on Christ. But it’s the idea of donning a garment. Isn’t that interesting? That when we come into Christ, we have now enveloped ourselves with the Savior. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3 and verse 4. And what that means is that now we are taking in the example and character of Christ as the mold for our lives, and we’re clothing ourselves with that. So isn’t it interesting that he uses an expression that has to refer to what we do with our outer casing, clothing it? And it says our conversion to the Lord is clothing our hearts and our lives with Christ. Adorning the doctrine of God in every respect. We were studying that with Mike in a previous study, Titus chapter 2 and verse 10.

And then as we saw the picture in Revelation chapter 21, the bride made ready for her husband, the bride who was adorned with the proper clothing and the righteous acts of the saints is the fine linen that she wore. We need to stay focused on who we are. How do other people perceive you? What do other people think about you? You know, it’s very easy for me to give myself a pass and look at myself and say, I’m better than most people. Very easy to do that, to measure yourself with yourself or with others. So we talked about that very recently. When other Christians, and maybe that’s a better barometer, because people in the world may not know you that well. They may judge you negatively because you’re devoted to Christ.

But let’s talk about other Christians. When other Christians look at you, how do they measure you? And again, some of that can be misperception, not accurate as to who you really are. But you know what the prevailing notion was that you were arrogant. You might want to think about portraying more humility, not in a false way, but portraying that you’re really not full of yourself. And believe it. Because without the Lord and his sacrifice, and we read about in Isaiah 53, we would be without hope. Just the maintaining of humility is an important character principle that will help us in so many other areas. What about the things that come from our mouths? Is it bitter? Negative. Or is it cheerful? Encouraging. Helpful. Hopefully. Focus on character and on spiritual aims.

4. View All of Life With Spiritual Lenses

Admittedly, this pursuit will not be without its challenges. Our minds might actually be kicking and screaming in opposition. But this is the real work that we’re called to do in imitation of our Lord. And so this portrait of our dying Lord, nothing about it from the from the sake of human appearance is necessarily attractive or drawing us. But look now as to how we’re drawn to him for our healing. And it suggests this in conclusion. We should view all of life with spiritual lenses for clarity of vision. I think that’s one of the bigger challenges in our lives day by day. It’s how we look at life, how we look at events in the world. Are we viewing them through spiritual lenses or carnal lenses? And finally, I would say this.

Choosing the Lord’s way will not guarantee freedom from difficulty or pain. It did not for our Lord, but holds promise of exceeding rewards, both presently and eternally. Remember what we said about godliness? It holds promise of the life that now is and the life that is to come. And in regard to that suffering Savior, what do we learn about him in the New Testament? He is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature. And upholds all things by the word of his power when he made purification of sins. He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, having become as much better than the angels, as he inherited a more excellent name than they. From an occasion that we hardly could look upon to now being at the right hand of the Majesty on high, being the purification of our sins, having a name that is above every name, including the angels, he is the exact image of his Father.

Conclusion

Do you need to come to him for purification? We seem to encourage your response. Let’s stand and sing.