Why is Jesus referred to as a man of sorrows in Isaiah 53:3?

But second, He is presented as He was in the eyes of men. He had "no form nor lordliness," (New Trans.), nor the kind of beauty that men admire and desire. Some haughty, imperious man of imposing appearance would have caught the popular fancy; but instead of this He was "a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," as verse 3 says. Being who He was, such a One as He could not be otherwise, as He entered and walked through a ruined creation with all its degradation and woe. This men did not understand, since they were insensible to their own degradation, and consequently they despised and rejected Him, as the prophet here predicts.

Feeling as He did the degraded state of man, it could not be otherwise than that He should be “A Man of Sorrows”; yea, the “Grief-Acquainted One.” The very perfection and holiness of His own being would make Him feel the terribleness of sin as no fallen man could feel it. But to the nation He was One to be shunned; “like one from whom men hide their faces” (v. 3). They despised Him; they esteemed Him not.

How it must have grieved and wounded David to be reproached as he was. Eliab's cruel taunt must have stung his sensitive heart to the very quick. And it was His rejection and reproach that made the blessed Son of God "a Man of sorrows" here. Israel would not have Him. He knew He was not wanted. We have all been, at some time or other in our lives, in places where we knew we were not wanted. And it is one of the keenest of all sorrows. The Lord Jesus felt this sorrow everywhere. Some places people did not even care to take Him in. "The foxes have holes," He said on one occasion, "and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." Isaiah had foretold "His lonely life of sorrow here below." "He hath no form nor comeliness;" he says in behalf of the remnant who refused Him, "and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" (Isa. 53:2-4). "He went about doing good," and never spoke an unkind word. "Never man spake like this Man," the officers said who had been sent to take Him.

Long before the Lord Jesus came into the world it had been written of Him by the prophet, "He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). As we retrace the steps of the Lord Jesus on earth, we see how these words were fulfilled. Although God's Son, He was a perfect Man, knowing experimentally all the sorrows that belonged to men — the sorrows of bereavement, poverty, hunger, misunderstanding, and all that a perfect, sinless Man could feel in natural things. Besides, He had sorrows that lay outside of that which was natural because of Who He was, and on account of the work He had come to do.

Another place, well-known to all our hearts, describes for us that affliction of soul, Isaiah 53. Here, the history of our Lord, His birth into the world, His rejection and death upon the cross, all come before us. We read of Him in v. 2, growing up before Jehovah as a tender plant. Out of dry, barren Israel, one growing up in every phase of manhood, before Jehovah. Stepping out into His public ministry, with no commanding form, no external lordliness, no beauty — things calculated to attract fleshly man. Hence, they did not desire Him. v. 2. Because of His humble birth and humble walk they despised Him. Sorrow and grief were His portion. From Him men hid their faces and, as despised on every hand, none of the leaders had any esteem for Him at all. Why was He a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? Because in the love of His soul for the very nation who rejected and crucified Him, He carried their sorrows sympathetically, as He healed them on every hand. Matt. 8:17. Yet, deep as the sorrow was in His life, it was small compared with the sorrows of Gethsemane and the cross. When at last, moving the hand of that weakling Pilate, they saw Him hanging on the tree, what did they think of Him? They regarded Him as stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. v. 4. This is what they thought and said of Him, in the day of His deepest sorrow. But in the day when they turn in affliction of soul their eyes will be opened to see the truth. The One Whom they thought an imposter; the One Whom they tried to get God to curse by hanging Him on a tree; yes, the One they said was dying because God was against Him, — "we did regard him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted"; in that day they will say, "But he was wounded for our transgressions." They once thought He was wounded for His own transgressions, but in the day of their repentance they will know and own that He was wounded for theirs. What a change! What affliction!! What repentance!!! They will learn that Jehovah had laid on Him the iniquity of them all, v. 6. Here is the great answer to Aaron bearing the sins of the people before Jehovah, on the great day of atonement. This affliction of soul will enable them to open their eyes to see this and, in turning in repentance towards God, get the gain at long last of what Christ did for them when they nailed Him to the cross.

The "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" is the same as "surely he hath borne our griefs, and our sorrows he hath carried them" - kho-li (grief) and mak'o-voth (sorrows). This we know from Matthew is applied to His healing their diseases and sicknesses. The Lord that healed them entered, as Man, into all the sorrows of which they had to be healed. Then came their thinking Him "stricken and smitten of God" - the last word is that used elsewhere for "smiting" - mukeh (smitten of). I think, the hu ("He," verse 5) does not give "yet He." It is much more emphatic. Kholayenu hu nasa (He hath borne our griefs) v'hu m'kholal, etc. (and He was wounded), etc. This gives the force of "and" (vav). He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and He was wounded for their transgressions. They had esteemed the hand of God out against Himself, as under God's displeasure Himself, but "because of the transgression of my people" the stroke (nega, verse 8) was upon Him.

The Spirit of God, however, in Matthew records this instance of extensive healing energy at Capernaum as an illustration of the manner in which the prophetic oracle was fulfilled. So that we are left in no doubt as to its true application. In the narrative of His taking the infirmities and bearing the diseases, there is not only the sense that the Lord removed these things from the sufferers, but also that He took them upon Himself; so that He became a "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief [sickness]" as stated in the verse preceding the quotation (Isa. 53:3).

Of our Lord Jesus it was written: “He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”... and, “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isa.53:3,4). In passing through this scene of sorrow, of evil, of death, how could our Saviour be any other than “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief?”

The humiliation of the Messiah ran so counter to every preconceived thought and wish of the Jew that one can readily understand the advantage which Satan found in urging on the people, leaders and all, to their fatal unbelief and rejection of Him. But there was a deeper ground of aversion in the heart than disappointment in their national ambition, and this charge of dislike to His Person takes in man universally, and not Israel only: "For he was despised and left alone of men." They shrank from One Who sounded and laid bare man's iniquities and enmity to God, Himself the perfection of obeying God and loving man. Hence, notwithstanding the attractiveness of moral beauty and lowly grace, with power that proved itself superior to all the sickness and misery of man, there arose the hatred that grew more intense and deadly as He brought in God to deal with their conscience. To interpret what is predicted of Him as being the state of "that wicked generation" is beyond measure absurd.

First, they own that in the day of His humiliation they had despised and rejected their Messiah. They see now that under the eye of God He was altogether lovely – a tender plant. At last, in this barren world there was a “root” that would bring forth fruit for God. But the remnant own that they form part of a nation of whom they have to say, “When we saw Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him”. Man may wonder at His words of wisdom, and His mighty works, but they despised and rejected Him because of His lowly grace. They esteemed Him of no importance for they say, “Is not this the carpenter's son?” Matt. 12:34-38.

Secondly, by faith they now see that if He was the Man of sorrows, it was because He was bearing their griefs and carrying their sorrows, and if, on the cross, He was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, it was for their sins He was wounded and bruised, that through His atoning sufferings they might have peace and healing.