Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 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.

As I write this I can hear in my head Handel’s sad, but beautiful, musical setting of the words of verse 3: ‘He was despised…despised and rejected’

What a contrast with the previous stanza (52:13-15) and its vision of ‘many’ being impacted by Jesus (see also vv.11,12, where there is a further reference to ‘many’ – x2).

There is nothing contradictory about this, but it is an example of a paradox, which is an apparent contradiction. There is a balance and realism in the Bible’s presentation of the response we can expect from people towards Jesus. Yes, there will be ‘many’ who will believe, but there will also be widespread rejection. Whilst believing for the first outcome, we should in no way be surprised when we meet up with the second.

Who can believe this message without a gift of divine revelation (v.1)? Derek Tidball makes the point that the Servant ‘had an unpromising beginning’ and an ‘unimpressive appearance. He says God’s ‘strength and power were at work. But who would have guessed it? His work could not be judged by any of the normal measurements of power…People’s minds are so distorted by sin that they would never come to the right conclusions about the servant except by divine revelation.’ ‘The message of the Cross’, p.104.