The prophet gives the report, but who will believe it? The servant will act wisely. He will be lifted up and exalted. The problem is the new Messiah does not fit the description of the Holy One of Israel, the gallant one, the defiant and courageous who shall lift God’s people out of the dregs of despair. He shall not come as one standing upright, but one who is disfigured and deformed, despised and rejected; a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. Who would believe such a report? That God would choose a lowly, humble servant upon whose shoulders the government would rest and who would be called the wonderful counselor?

Isaiah’s depiction of the new Messiah does not meet the customary profile of success. He is the most unlikely to succeed. There is no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. …