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Daily Devotion: Isaiah 53:3

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Isaiah 53:3      "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."

Think for a moment: Jesus was the only perfect One to ever walk on this earth. We cannot fully grasp that great truth. There was no sin in Him. He was not born with the sin nature as every other person. The only other person who was not BORN with the sin nature was Adam, but that perfection did not last long. The perfect nature of his clay was marred by his transgression in the Garden of Eden. Jesus walked in that perfection. Peter wrote of Jesus that He "... did no sin, neither was guile (deceit) found in his mouth."  Pilate's wife said of Jesus, "Have thou nothing to do with that just man..." (Matthew 27:19)  Even Judas witnessed, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." (Matthew 27:4)

Why am I stressing these things? I'm glad you asked. Even though Jesus' earthly life was filled with absolute perfection, we read in today's verses that He was "... despised and rejected of men..."  We are blessed to know and understand this was all a part of God's plan as we look back on the events surrounding the mockery of a trial, the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus. But I still wonder why was He hated by so many people? Why did so many run away from Him, including those eleven disciples. Yes, when the Roman soldiers took Jesus away, "Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled." (Matthew 26:56)  It seems to me that human nature, itself, is afraid of perfection. We all think we want to achieve it, but do we really?  I've never had this particular problem, but I have known of instances where people intentionally did badly on a test because they wanted to be accepted by their friends who were not as smart.  They would not turn in their homework because they didn't want to be the only person with an A in class.  We are afraid of perfection, because we are not perfect. We will never reach perfection until we are changed and enter heaven's glory. But in the meantime, I am so very thankful that my Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ, did not compromise. He was perfect from His birth through His death. He is perfect now as He sits at the Father's right hand. I can strive toward perfection as I lean upon Him each day. I don't want to be guilty of despising Him and not holding Him in my heart as He truly is - MY LORD!

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