Today’s question is, “What does it mean that Christ was despised and rejected of men
(Isaiah 53:3)?”
In this video I’ll answer that question from a biblical perspective.
Then afterwards, as always, I’ll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the
end.
The fourth Servant Song in Isaiah prophesied that Jesus, as the suffering Servant of the
Lord, would be scorned: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering,
and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem”
(Isaiah 53:3).
Jesus was despised in His time for several reasons.
To begin with, He was from Galilee, an area of Israel often disrespected, and from the
town of Nazareth, about which Israelites would ask, “Can anything good come from there?”
(John 1:46).
He was from a family of meager means.
Jesus was despised in that He was hated by the Pharisees, Sadducees, and others in the
Jewish ruling class.
Even though Jesus continually showed Himself to be the Messiah, the Pharisees and Sadducees
refused to believe in Him, and they actively opposed Him.
They even tried to kill or arrest Jesus multiple times during His earthly ministry.
As John said, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the
world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:10–11).
Jesus, the Light, came into the world, but “everyone who does evil hates the light,
and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” (John
3:20).
The Jews who despised Jesus eventually got the Romans involved, trumping up charges against
Him and demanding He be subjected to a painful, torturous death.
The callous Romans despised Jesus as a common criminal, mocking, battering, spitting on,
and flogging Him.
Their mockery included dressing Christ in a purple robe, placing a crown of thorns on
His head, and making a satirical show of giving Him honor.
Jesus is the Cornerstone of the work God is doing in the world, but to those who did not
believe, he was “the stone the builders rejected” (1 Peter 2:7).
Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah because He did not fit their preconceived ideas of
a warrior king who would deliver them from political oppression.
When Pilate offered to release Jesus after the flogging, the people rejected Jesus and
shouted their acceptance of a criminal: “No, not him!
Give us Barabbas!”
(John 18:40).
The “rejection” of Christ was not limited to those who did not believe in Him.
At times, Jesus had large followings, but most of them eventually turned away.
Many others would not publicly announce their belief in Jesus and were thus secret disciples.
He was betrayed by one of His closest associates.
Even at the end, when Jesus was being arrested, His disciples all forsook Him and fled for
their lives.
Many people today still reject Jesus as their Savior and turn down His offer of eternal
life.
There are people who continue to despise the name of Jesus and seek to discredit what He
has done.
But in the very rejection He endured, Jesus provided salvation to those who believe, and
we seek to follow in His steps.
Our Lord “suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore” (Hebrews 13:12–13).
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