Promise: Isa. 53:3Fulfillment: Matt. 27:39-44
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3 ESV)
In approximately 700 B.C. the prophet Isaiah declared that the Jewish Messiah would be hated and rejected. Jesus was hated and rejected. Numerous examples of his rejections pepper the Gospel accounts.
First he was rejected by the religious elite. Eventually even the common people turned on him as he was paraded in front of them as an apparently powerless failed liberator. He did not match their preconceived ideas for what the Messiah would and should be.
I am continually amazed by the uncanny accuracy of the Old Testament prophets concerning Jesus. Again and again they nailed it. This is a testimony to the power and work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.