Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 53:6

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." — Isaiah 53:6 (ASV)

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;

All sinning, but each one sinning in his own particular fashion. It is well to acknowledge the common guilt of all men, but it is the token of true repentance that it dwells mainly on its own special offense.

Brethren, we have no occasion to find fault with one another, for all we like sheep have gone astray. But we have great reason for each man to find special fault with himself, for we have turned every one to his own way.

And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

What a mercy it is that every sort of sin – the sin of the mass, and the sin of the particular sinner – has been laid by Jehovah himself upon his Only-begotten Son! Jehovah has made to meet on him the iniquity of us all. Mark, not merely the chastisement of which the previous verse spoke, but the iniquity itself; and although there are some who say that this cannot be, and that iniquity cannot be shifted from one person to another, it has been done, and there is an end of it.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The general sin of the race, the special sin of the individual, all gathered, heap upon heap, mountain upon mountain, and laid by God on Christ. We sometimes sing, –

"I lay my sins on Jesus,
The spotless Lamb of God;
He bears them all and frees us
From the accursed load.
I bring my guilt to Jesus,
To wash my crimson stains
White in his blood most precious,
Till not a spot remains;"

and I will find no fault with that hymn; but the real laying of sin upon Jesus was effected by God himself: The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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.

Taken the full load of sin, the whole mass of human guilt, and placed it upon him. He was perfectly innocent, and yet was the sin of man heaped upon him. He was our substitute, standing in our place: a wondrous truth was this!

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.

There is a universal sin: All we like sheep have gone astray.

There is also a personal sin, a sin peculiar to each individual: We have turned every one to his own way. But Christ gathers up the sin, all kinds of sin of all sorts of men, and of his whole Church it is truly said, The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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.

There is your only hope of eternal life, sinner. You are among the "all" who went astray; if you are a believer in Christ, you will be found among the "all" whose iniquities were laid upon him, and carried away by him.