The Rejected Messiah (Isaiah 49)
Jesus came to earth as everything the Jewish people had long waited for. From centuries past came the promises from Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets that a Messiah would come and deliver the people of Israel from oppression.
Yet when Jesus came, he was rejected. He performed great miracles, preached and spoke with incredible power, and demonstrated authority over all things spiritual and physical. And despite all that, his own people rejected him.
Isaiah was far from the only prophet to foretell that the Messiah would be despised and rejected. The Messiah was also referred to as the “stone” rejected by the Jewish people (Psalm 118). Zechariah 11:4–6 also tells us that the Messiah would be rejected in favor of another king, which John 19:13–15 explicitly states is the Roman Emperor Caesar.
That, however, didn';t just happen. The Old Testament prophecies tell us that the Messiah, among other things:
would come at a time of unfit leaders in Israel (Zechariah 11:4–6)
would not be believed by his own brothers (Psalm 69:8)
would have national and religious leaders conspire against him (Psalm 22)
Isaiah himself foretold the rejection of the Messiah by his own people: “The Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations, to the one who is the servant of rulers: ‘Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the Lord, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you” (Isaiah 49:7).
Jesus knew the truth of what Isaiah wrote hundreds of years earlier. He knew that part of his earthly mission was to be rejected by a world that wasn';t willing or able to understand who he was and what he wanted from all of humanity. And while the Gospels tell us Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem with a wild celebration just a week before his death, it was only a matter of time before he would face the ultimate rejection by humankind: death on a cross.
Study Questions
Why do you think the Jewish people rejected Jesus when he fulfilled so many prophecies of the coming Messiah?
According to Isaiah 4:9:7., what will be the world';s ultimate response to the Messiah?
