Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 53:3-4 tells us that mankind would despise and reject the Messiah and that people would assume God was punishing him. That is what is happening in these verses. Because of the pain and suffering Jesus was experiencing, the people assumed God was punishing him. Since God was punishing him, they surmised, he was not the Son of God or the Messiah as he had claimed and for which they had hoped. The Son of God would not be weak and would be able to save himself from this punishment and death. Since this weakness and inability to save himself seemed to prove to them that he was not, in fact, the Messiah, they rejected and mocked him.
According to Matthew 8:1-17, Isaiah 53:4 refers to Jesus’s miracle healings of illness and injury. He took these infirmities away from the people and carried them himself. Just as he took away physical pain and suffering from people, he also eternally took upon himself the spiritual pain and suffering that sin causes when he died on the cross.
In light of that, instead of rejecting, despising, and mocking Jesus as he suffered and died on the cross, they should have felt immense gratitude. He took the pain and suffering of sin that WE should have experienced and carried it onto the cross with him, bringing us back into God’s presence and communion that our sinful selves could never have experienced.
In light of that, instead of rejecting, despising, and mocking Jesus as he suffered and died on the cross, they should have felt immense gratitude. He took the pain and suffering of sin that WE should have experienced and carried it onto the cross with him, bringing us back into God’s presence and communion that our sinful selves could never have experienced.