Isaiah 53:2, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures the Messiah growing up before God as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground, in a humble, unremarkable beginning and lowly life with nothing outwardly great to attract people. He came without outward display of worldly wisdom, riches, majesty or beauty to draw mere admiration, veiling His divine glory and greatness in humble human form so people could endure His presence and draw near to Him. The Jews expected a Messiah of outward splendor who would exalt their nation and establish a temporal kingdom, misapplying prophecies of His second coming in glory to His first coming, and because He came meekly and lowly they did not recognize or receive Him. It is a plain prophecy of the suffering Christ and His rejection and death as the Lamb of God, perfectly fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah and Son of God. His true comeliness and beauty can never be seen by the natural eye but only by the inward illumination of the Holy Spirit, and those who discern Him are to reveal Him as altogether lovely and follow in His self-denying footsteps to obtain life by His suffering.

Humble Growth and Setting

The verse pictures the Messiah growing up before God as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground, with no form nor comeliness and no beauty to make people desire Him. It means a humble, unremarkable beginning and a lowly life without outward beauty, majesty, or greatness to attract people. It is an unmistakably plain prophecy of His sufferings and death and part of the prophecy of the suffering Christ. To world-loving hearts at His first coming to Israel, after more than a thousand years of waiting in which His name was enshrined in song and prophecy and temple rite and household prayer, He appeared lowly like a plant growing from barren soil, with no outward greatness or attractiveness that they would desire, and He was not recognized as the long-awaited Messiah. To the impenitent world He is like a root out of dry ground: they fail to recognize His worth and cannot see Him as their hope, and this lack of recognition reflects the world's rejection of Him. Those who follow their own desires see nothing in Him to desire and reject Him, because recognizing and receiving Him requires a change beyond natural human growth, a new birth by the Spirit.

His lowly beginning was centered in Bethlehem and Nazareth, passing by the homes of wealth, the courts of royalty, and the renowned seats of learning to make His home in obscure and despised Nazareth. He grew up in humble circumstances in an obscure place and began His work in poverty rather than rank, in contrast to the way people might expect the gospel to be proclaimed. His peasant and carpenter background and obscure origin matched this picture of humble, ordinary circumstances without an appearance or status that people would find impressive, but mistaken expectations about how the Messiah would come kept people from recognizing and receiving Him.

His growing as a young plant means He grew up in the retired valleys among the hills, not in a large and noisy city full of confusion and strife. There He showed in childhood and youth the perfection of character that marked His later life as He grew in wisdom and knowledge. Though God was His Father, He was born into poverty and lived with self-denial and without outward rank, wealth, luxury, or display. He did so that the poorest would know He understood their hardship and could approach Him, and His lack of worldly grandeur allowed the truth He taught, rather than outward show, to reach people's hearts.

No Outward Beauty Desired

He has no form nor comeliness and no beauty to be desired, meaning He came without outward display, show of worldly wisdom, earthly riches, majesty, or attractiveness to draw mere admiration or desire. As the world's Redeemer He was like a sprout from dry soil, with no impressive appearance to make men desire Him, and His divine glory was hidden beneath humility so men could not see it beneath His humanity. He came without outward glory or display to attract mere admiration, and without earthly riches. This does not mean He was physically unattractive. The Jews saw no beauty in Him because they expected a Messiah who would come with outward display and worldly glory to exalt their nation and perform great things for it, while He came humbly and unobtrusively, poor and with His divinity hidden by humanity, so they failed to see the holiness and purity of His character, and His grace and virtue did not appeal to them.

His human form was attractive, but His purity stood in the way of people's ordinary human attractions and desires. Though majestic and lovely in heaven, He came among people with the ordinary stature of men and without extraordinary stature or outward beauty, so they would believe in Him by faith rather than be drawn to Him by appearance. His divine glory, greatness, and majesty were veiled in humble human form so people could endure His presence and He could draw near to sorrowful, tempted people, and though He appeared lowly He was the incarnate God, the light of heaven and earth. His human form concealed His heavenly origin, and He appeared without outward beauty or status that would attract the world's great and wise men, so people judged Him by His humble circumstances rather than recognizing His divine character.

In taking humanity He veiled His glory so the majesty of His outward form would not become an object of attraction, choosing rude and forbidding earthly surroundings and shunning all outward display. He purposed that no attraction of an earthly nature should call men to His side, since riches, worldly honor, and human greatness can never save a soul from death, but only the beauty of heavenly truth must draw those who would follow Him, and men should accept Him upon the testimony of the word of God, as His character as Messiah had long been foretold in prophecy. His outward appearance in labor was humble and uninviting, not attractive or impressive, with dusty, travel-stained garments reflecting constant labor as He taught while traveling. His hearers were drawn not by His appearance but by the simple, pointed truths He taught.

Rejection Through False Hopes

The verse foretells His work in this world, that the world would not receive and acknowledge its Redeemer, and His lowly coming without outward attractiveness to draw desire explains that rejection. To the impenitent world He is as a root out of dry ground, for they fail to recognize His worth and cannot see Him as their hope, and this lack of recognition is the world's rejection of Him. Those who follow their own desires see nothing in Him to desire and reject Him, for bound to sin they cannot recognize Him rightly, and recognizing and receiving Him requires a change beyond natural human growth, a new birth by the Spirit.

People whose hearts are ruled by selfishness fail to recognize His beauty and character, attribute their own selfish and harsh traits to God, and misunderstand Him, and even scribes and Pharisees rejected Him while disciples were slow to understand Him, so that He was fully understood in heaven alone. The blindness of the impenitent that keeps them from desiring Him comes because Satan holds controlling power over them, and they choose Satan's service before the service of Prince Immanuel. Those who do not choose the way of the Lord see no beauty in Him and feel no gratitude to Him who loved them and gave His life to save them from eternal death, and their lack of wisdom throws the weight of their influence to the enemy's side as a snare to associates, so they need to be closely studied and made subjects of special labor. For those who are worldly-minded and unrighteous He has no beauty to desire, and they see the truth about Him as confusion rather than something attractive.

At His first coming to Israel after more than a thousand years of waiting, when His name had been enshrined in song and prophecy and temple rite and household prayer and brightest hopes rested on Him, He was not recognized or known as the long-awaited Messiah, but appeared to world-loving hearts as lowly as a plant from barren soil, unpromising and unattractive with nothing impressive to draw desire. The Jews expected a Messiah who would come with outward display and worldly glory to exalt their nation and perform great things for it, overthrow Rome, establish a temporal kingdom, and compel the nations and Gentiles to obey, wanting a deliverer, majestic King, and glorious temporal ruler rather than a meek and lowly servant in humiliation and suffering. They misapplied prophecies of His second coming in glory to His first coming and overlooked prophecies of His humble appearance, and their teachers wrongly applied descriptions of His second coming to His first advent, giving false expectations that misled those who accepted their words instead of God's and left many unprepared to recognize and receive Him.

Because He came meekly and lowly in humility and poverty without the appearance, status, splendor, power, and authority they expected and admired, they rejected and despised Him and would not receive Him as Saviour of the world, though they would have received and worshiped Him had He appeared in worldly splendor, and their pride and lack of spiritual discernment kept them from receiving the life He came to give. His own nation regarded Him as unimpressive and undesirable like a root in dry ground and did not recognize the light, life, and joy He longed to give them, and this grieved His spirit, for in His humiliation and greatest trial His disciples left Him to suffer alone amid apostasy, mockery, taunting and blasphemy, and His countrymen joined His enemies in turning from Him. His humble, unassuming life did not attract people whose judgment was shaped by the world, so to them the Majesty of heaven had no outward beauty or appeal, and those without heavenly spiritual insight likewise find His followers unattractive.

Prophecy Fulfilled in Jesus

It is an unmistakably plain prophecy of His sufferings and death, part of the prophecy of the suffering Christ. It points to the suffering and death of the Messiah as the Lamb of God, and not only to wonderful elevation for the Jewish nation. It belongs to the prophecy of His first coming and of the suffering, rejection, and death He would face as the rejected, suffering Messiah. It was fulfilled in Him as the great Sacrifice for sin, and the events of His lowly, self-denying life accorded with Isaiah's prophetic vision.

It is a prophecy of Jesus of Nazareth perfectly fulfilled in Him, identifying Him as the real Messiah, the promised Messiah, and the Son of God. Reading the chapter convinced Wolff that its prophecy had been fulfilled in Jesus. It shows He was innocent, yet sentenced to death by the Jewish tribunal for claiming to be the Messiah and crucified by the Jews as they slew the prophets of old.

It foretells His shameful humiliation on the cross, when He would appear in lowliness without outward beauty, majesty, or attractiveness like a fragile growth from barren soil. This was fulfilled when priests and rulers scoffed at and mocked Him as He hung on the cross. On His first visit to the temple at twelve years old, from the things He saw there He perceived with quick understanding that He was to be that Sacrifice and the fulfillment of Isaiah 53.

He came first to His own people just as prophecy had marked out the manner of His coming, so those who wished to believe had sufficient grounds for faith by referring to prophecy of the Just One. His lowly appearance did not contradict prophecy, for though people expected outward glory from prophecies of a glorious reign, Isaiah 53 also sets forth His rejection and sufferings. The prophecies harmonize with His life and ministry when studied without prejudice. The Jews had Isaiah's testimony but misread the Scriptures, failed to recognize Him among them, and did not understand the time of His visitation, and by rejecting Him they fulfilled what had been prophesied.

As a tender plant and root out of dry ground He appeared unimpressive and without promise to Israel's leaders, and they bruised and trampled Him thinking to destroy Him. Though people thought they had killed Him, the heavenly Husbandman preserved and replanted Him, the Vine's hidden stock remained alive, and its branches represent those through whom others can still be joined to Him and receive spiritual life. Though some recognized His heavenly origin and saw His beauty, others resented, rejected, and sought to destroy Him. The plant uprooted and cast over the wall then replanted and hidden from view describes His rejection and death and continued life beyond human sight, with branches and fruit as the visible work growing from Him while the parent stock remains hidden.

The verse holds deep truths long obscured yet vital to salvation. Rightly understood it gives a divine lesson that places truth in a new aspect and shows how narrow and superficial the wisdom of the wise is.

Seeing His True Beauty

He has a comeliness and beauty that the natural eye can never behold. That beauty is discerned only by the inward illumination of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit reveals to the soul its true hopeless and helpless condition without the mercy and pardon of the Sin-bearer, and reveals the all-sufficiency of Christ. By that work alone a person is enabled to discern His infinite mercy, love, benevolence, and glory.

People saw no beauty in Him to desire Him until the Spirit revealed and glorified Him. After His ascension, the Spirit's revelation of Him in the sermon at Pentecost brought three thousand people to repentance. People judged Him by His humble circumstances rather than recognizing His divine character. The disciples, however, were shown that He was the divine Son of God and a sacrifice acceptable to God.

His followers must not present Him to the world as having no form or comeliness and no beauty to desire Him. They are to reveal Him as altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand. They are to make His glory, mercy, forbearance, patience, and matchless love known. They must not veil those attributes by earthly-mindedness, disobedience, ingratitude, and unholiness.

Salvation and Lowly Discipleship

Isaiah 53 reveals Jesus as fallen humanity's life-giving Saviour and its only hope of a life that measures with the life of God. His self-giving work and suffering on the cross make it possible for people to become God's sons and daughters and to obtain that life by following in His footsteps, with healing by His stripes. It is part of a prophecy concerning His work, which is a help and blessing to His people. He did not exalt Himself but let God exalt Him, as all who truly bear a message do, and though He had no outward form and comeliness to make men desire Him He was esteemed by the lame and sick and suffering who looked for Him wherever they could, followed Him, and heard His teachings as He walked and taught until four or five thousand gathered as hearers, and that is the Lord's way set before us.

His lack of worldly grandeur allowed the truth He taught rather than outward show to reach hearts. Though God was His Father He was born into poverty and lived with self-denial without outward rank, wealth, luxury, or display, so the poorest would know He understood their hardship and could approach Him, and He grew up in humble circumstances in an obscure place and began His work in poverty rather than rank, in contrast to the way people might expect the gospel to be proclaimed. The verse shames all who shun the cross and will run no risk, and calls the reader to make a covenant with Him by denying self, to surrender to walk in His footsteps, and to be a partaker with Him of His suffering and humiliation instead of through timidity or fear of man's reproach taking the side of the transgressor of God's law and imperiling the soul.

His humble advent teaches the church not to reject the help God sends because it comes in an unpretentious form, and to value inward moral character above external appearance. As the world's Redeemer and Son of God He came without outward display or show of worldly wisdom so men could not see His divine glory beneath His humanity, and though He appeared lowly as a sprout from dry soil He was the incarnate God, the light of heaven and earth, with His divine glory, greatness, and majesty veiled in humble human form so people could endure His presence and He could draw near to sorrowful, tempted people. He came without outward beauty or majesty that would attract the world's desire or the world's great and wise men, and people saw Him as a root in dry ground with no outward form or beauty and despised and rejected Him though He was the world's Redeemer. His humble appearance and meek preaching fulfilled the prophecy of the promised Messiah coming humbly as a man without royal splendor, not as a majestic king to free Israel from foreign rule but as the Saviour who frees people from sin and satisfies the soul's deepest longings, while His human form concealed His heavenly origin from those who judged Him by humble circumstances, yet the disciples were shown that He was the divine Son of God and a sacrifice acceptable to God.