The LORD hath Laid on Him the Iniquity of US all. Read more...

• All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray - Isa 53:6 declares, “All we like sheep have gone astray ... ”. Eze 34:31 explains that “sheep” represent true believers: “And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD”. Psa 79:13 affirms, “So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations”. All through the Bible we frequently find references to God’s redeemed people as “sheep”; even the elect prior to their salvation are thus typified, according to Isa 53:6. What does it mean to go “astray”? A similar passage is found in Psa 119:176: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments”. In this verse God adds the very important adjective “lost”; furthermore, the next phrase, “seek thy servant”, emphasizes the fact that God does all the work of salvation, including drawing His Elect. Before God saves someone, he is a “lost sheep” who has gone astray. He is spiritually dead and is absolutely helpless to contribute anything towards his salvation. By nature, all men prior to salvation are born spiritually dead and spiritually blind and under Satan’s authority, as 2 Cor 4:4 indicates. The phrase “gone astray” (taah 8582) in Isa 53:6 is also translated as “err” in Psa 95:10 that refers to the Israelites in the wilderness. Mark 12:24 reveals why we “err” or “go astray”: “And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?”. Mat 18:11 pinpoints the reason the Savior came to this sin-cursed earth: “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost”. John 10:26-30 attests to God’s infinite love, mercy, and grace to save His lost sheep from perishing in Hell: “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”.

Isa 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Psa 58:3 “The wicked [unsaved] are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.”

Psa 95:10 “Forty years long was I grieved with this generation [Israelites], and said, It is a people that do err (taah 8582) in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”

2 Cor 4:3-4 “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

• Every One to His Own Way - Isa 53:6 declares, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way ...”. In reality, there is only one way to God – God’s Way – as outlined in the Bible. The problem lies within man, who has “corrupted”, or as it is more commonly translated, “destroyed” God’s Way, as Gen 6:12 asserts: “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth”. Concerning the nation of Israel – and, by extension, the institutional churches and denominations of our day – Hos 10:13 (A parallel citation is in Zec 1:4) declares, that they have left the God’s way: “... ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way ...”. To not “hear” spiritually in this verse, of course, is a dreadful situation, since the Bible underscores that “… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. And without “faith” (salvation) man cannot “hearken” (obey) God’s Word (Rom 8:6-9). In Mark 7:6-9, it is clear that the Lord Jesus Christ rebuked the religious leaders of God’s Old Testament church (national Israel) as well as today’s New Testament Church leaders for their unfaithfulness to the Word of God and their man-made religious laws and traditions. To emphasize His condemnation of their attitudes and actions, He called them “hypocrites”, “blind guides”, and “fools”. God used the Scribes and Pharisees – the religious leaders of Jesus’ day – to depict the nature of all false brethren who have fallen prey to Satan’s deceptive doctrines and who attempt to teach error - unbiblical ideas about spiritual matters, to others. Sadly, there have always been those who masquerade as God’s servants, who are still in Satan’s kingdom (unsaved) and are his unwitting ambassadors (2 Cor 11:14). This phenomenon is even more pernicious in our day. Mat 24:21-24 warns of this “Great Tribulation”: “... For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect...”. The popularity of most false gospels can generally be attributed to their appeals to man’s pride and basic sensual desires for political freedom, economic security and good health. It is a very dangerous thing to be an unsaved, self-proclaimed “teacher” of the Scriptures. In Jam 3:1 God indicates there will be a “greater condemnation” in Hell for those hypocrites who handle His Word carelessly. Eze 34:10-11 attests to God’s infinite love, mercy, and grace to save His lost sheep from perishing in Hell: “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.”

Isa 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Hos 10:13 “Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.”

Zec 1:4 “Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.”

Isa 9:13-16 “For the people turneth not unto… the LORD of hosts. Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.”

Jer 23:32 “Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err [go astray] by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.”

Isa 28:7 “But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink [false doctrines] are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up [err’d] of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.”

• The Lord Hath Laid on Him the Iniquity of Us All - In John 18:37-38, Pontius Pilate reflected man’s confusion about it when he said, “What is truth?”. In John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”. As we have seen above, without “faith” (salvation) man cannot “hearken” (obey) the truth - God’s Word (Rom 8:6-9). John 10:27 underscores “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me ...”. But how does one made the sheep of God? and how does one hear His voice? If we try to go beyond God’s revelations about “God’s salvation program” – no matter how “logical” we try to be – we quickly get into “error” (or “falsehood”), which is the opposite of Truth. The only way one can come to Truth about any Biblical subject is by carefully comparing Scripture with Scripture, as the Holy Spirit guides. Let’s look at John 6:44-45: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me”. The Lord Jesus frequently used the expression, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” as Mat 11:15 indicates. John 8:47 helps to clarify this: “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God”. Jesus also stated in John 8:43: “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word”. In Deu 29:4 we read, “Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day”. Here we see that spiritual ears (as well as a heart and eyes) must be given to us as a gift from God. “Faith” (salvation), “cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” and is indeed a gift that God bestows on all of His children in mercy, since the recipients of this wonderful gift are totally undeserving of it. We learn from Heb 12:14 which says “... holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”, that in order to enter Heaven one must be “holy” or “sanctified”; and the only way one can become holy is by being clothed with the holiness, or righteousness, of God Himself. To accomplish holiness for “His sheep”, Christ “washed them from their sins in his own blood” (Rev 1:5). Isa 53:6 conveys the astounding truth that Christ was laden with the sins of all the elect by the Father. The word “laid” (paga 6293) is rendered as “fall” – has to do with the “falling of judgment” and thus had to shoulder the unspeakable agony of eternal damnation on their behalf. 2 Cor 5:21 proclaims, “For he [God the Father] hath made him [God the Son] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”. This is why Jesus’ mission to earth is described in Mat 1:21: “... he shall save his people from their sins”. He was not only the Savior, He was also the Sacrifice, or “scapegoat” symbolized in Lev 16:21-22. Psa 130:3 poses the very relevant question, “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?”. Indeed, the Lord Jesus was able to successfully atone for the sins of His people as Isa 53:11 so triumphantly announces: “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities”. The words “us” and “all” in these verses refer only to those “sheep” whom God saves – that is, the elect. 1 Pet 3:18 reveals: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit …”. 2 The 2:13 declares, “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord [the sheep], because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth”.

Lev 16:21-22 “And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel [Israel of God symbolizing the Elect], and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat [Lamb of God symbolizing Christ] shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness [outer darkness symbolizing hell].”

Isa 53:5-6, 8, 11-12 “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. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 11He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Heb 7:24-27 “But this man [Jesus], because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 25Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 26For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”