Electing A Savior (3 of 4)
Series: This I Believe
Jeff Strite
Isaiah 53
OPEN: How many of you have noticed that there's a Presidential election coming up? (This met with a certain amount of laughter). Just a few weeks ago, the Republican Party - and then the Democratic Party - had their political conventions where they officially nominated their candidate.
There was a great deal of planning went into each gatherings.
There was a lot of pomp and ceremony. Balloons, confetti and music. The stadiums were chosen with great care. And with a rare exception or two… everything was scripted.
Each event was carefully orchestrated to give the impression of professionalism.
Each event was staged to show their candidate as being the most attractive, the most likable, the most electable.
It would have been truly a disaster to have invested all that money and effort into their conventions only to come away having their candidate being perceived as someone who was:
• Un-attractive
• Un-presidential
• And generally unlikable.
But that was what Jesus was. Isaiah 53 tells us:
"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Isaiah 53:2b-3
Now, there are those who believe that this passage is implying that Jesus was to be physically unattractive. And that may have been the case. But I'm more inclined to believe that Isaiah was referring to the point in Christ's ministry where people viewed Him as undesirable.
The fact of the matter is: Jesus would never have been elected President of the USA. He just wouldn't be popular enough. He wasn't popular in the days of His ministry in Judea, and He wouldn't be popular enough now.
Now, that wasn't ALWAYS true. After Jesus fed the 5000 with 5 small barley loaves and 2 fish… John 6:15 t ...
Series: This I Believe
Jeff Strite
Isaiah 53
OPEN: How many of you have noticed that there's a Presidential election coming up? (This met with a certain amount of laughter). Just a few weeks ago, the Republican Party - and then the Democratic Party - had their political conventions where they officially nominated their candidate.
There was a great deal of planning went into each gatherings.
There was a lot of pomp and ceremony. Balloons, confetti and music. The stadiums were chosen with great care. And with a rare exception or two… everything was scripted.
Each event was carefully orchestrated to give the impression of professionalism.
Each event was staged to show their candidate as being the most attractive, the most likable, the most electable.
It would have been truly a disaster to have invested all that money and effort into their conventions only to come away having their candidate being perceived as someone who was:
• Un-attractive
• Un-presidential
• And generally unlikable.
But that was what Jesus was. Isaiah 53 tells us:
"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Isaiah 53:2b-3
Now, there are those who believe that this passage is implying that Jesus was to be physically unattractive. And that may have been the case. But I'm more inclined to believe that Isaiah was referring to the point in Christ's ministry where people viewed Him as undesirable.
The fact of the matter is: Jesus would never have been elected President of the USA. He just wouldn't be popular enough. He wasn't popular in the days of His ministry in Judea, and He wouldn't be popular enough now.
Now, that wasn't ALWAYS true. After Jesus fed the 5000 with 5 small barley loaves and 2 fish… John 6:15 t ...
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