Jesus and the Accursed Plant

 

Isaiah 53:2 (New King James Version of the Bible) 

For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground.  He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.

 

The description of Jesus as a shrub out in the desert

We're getting close to the end of Isaiah, and I had planned to move one past this chapter, but chapter 53 is famous in Christian theology for the multiple applications to the life of Jesus.  It seems that almost every verse in this ancient prophecy fits with the life of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels.  In this verse Isaiah describes the Servant-the Messiah-as someone who apparently looks very average.  He does not impress people, His background has nothing to it that is notable.  Even His future disciple Nathaniel, when hearing of Jesus from his brother Philip, replied that he doubted that anyone of note could come from Nazareth (John 1:43-46)  But note the opening phrase, in which the passage describes the Lord as a little bush growing out of dry ground.

 

The similar description of the accursed man in Jeremiah's prophecies

That, to me, is telling.  In Jeremiah 17 the Lord speaks to that frustrated prophet and tells him that, however unpopular, his dependence upon the Lord is correct.  The person who depends upon the Lord is like a tree planted by waters, who prospers in spite of the hot sun.  The person who depends upon people instead of God, is like a shrub in the desert, barely hanging on (Jeremiah 17:6).  I think the similarity in descriptions is deliberate.  Both are compared to little shrubs out in the desert; the irreligious man in Jeremiah and Jesus in Isaiah 53.  The irreligious man because it is an accurate description of him from God's vantage.  For Jesus He is described so, in part, because He takes his place in the wrath of God.  He who "knew no sin becomes sin" for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and I think that is reflected in this description.  Jesus is accursed, though innocent.  We are justified, though guilty, and in Christ we have the destiny of the ages even though we deserve none of it.  Such is the value of the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus.

Belief is an Act of Power on the Part of the Holy Spirit

 Isaiah 53:1 (NKJV)

 

1          Who has believed our report?

 

            And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

 

This was fulfilled in John 12:37-38  “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:  That the saying is Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, ‘Lord, who hath believed our report?  And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?”  Isaiah was apparently warned that people would be like this in his day, as well as the Messiah’s, in Isaiah 6:9-10.  It may be surmised that such “fatness” of heart is still possible today.  The longer people refused to believe, the more they became set in unbelief.  This verse is also quoted in Romans 10:16

 

            On the other side of the coin, one of the early church fathers said that the salvation of the soul by faith in the Lord Jesus is a work of power, so by comparison we could surmise that Isaiah would agree.  If someone truly believes the Gospel, that is evidence that the arm of the Lord has been revealed.