Isaiah 53:3 - 5
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not…Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted….
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah tells us that Christ had no beauty that we should desire Him. He would not have been an attractive sight, hanging on the cross, His face scarred from the piercing of the crown of thorns they had placed on His head; His body bloody from the whip lashes; His hands bleeding from the nail wounds.
In the natural we would hide our face from Him.
When we accept the fact that Christ got those scars to save us, we no longer look at Him with scorn. We see the face of the One who loved us and bore the scars for us. We see the face of God.
I looked at the dying Man's thorn-scarred face.
I tried to turn away.
I saw the whip-marks on His back,
From the lashes they gave Him that day.
I saw the nails that pierced His hands.
I saw the blood from His feet.
It was then I saw the love in His eyes;
It was then, our eyes did meet.
Again I looked at the Man hanging there.
No longer did I turn away.
I knew His face was scarred for me.
He saved me on that day.
© Helen Dowd
See: Because of Me.