We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:4
This is how people responded when Jesus came into the world. They thought God was punishing Him, even smiting Him. They were certain God was bringing justice to Him. That is what people thought while Jesus hung on the cross.
As we saw earlier, the word esteemed is an accounting word, and it involves making a calculation: “We did a calculation and this is what we figured: God struck Him, God smote Him, and God afflicted Him. We judged that God had no place for Him, and so neither did we.”
And this is exactly what happened. The crowds taunted Jesus, “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God’” (Mat. 27:43).
They were saying, “This man claims to be the Son of God. But look at Him now. God won’t have anything to do with Him. If He were God’s Son, God would come down and deliver Him, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.”
When they looked at Jesus, they figured He was getting what He deserved. God was afflicting Him. God was smiting Him, giving Him justice for His sins and blasphemies.
Here is the terrifying truth, it is possible to believe in God and be completely mistaken about Jesus. Remember, Isaiah was writing to people who believed in God. They were neither secularists nor atheists. The God they believed in was the God of the Bible—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But they were completely mistaken about Jesus.
“We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isa. 53:4). We thought He was pierced for His own transgressions. We thought He was crushed for His own iniquities. This common response to Jesus was produced by an egregious human miscalculation.
Is it possible that you are right about God, but wrong about Jesus?
