Can you tell me a verse that begins and ends with all?
This question was put to a Bible class of girls.
“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.”
Most of those present knew the text well; but they had not thought about the two alls in it.
Just look at them, dear young reader. “All” gone astray. “All” means everybody; that must mean you, too. Have you not done things you know you should not have done? and have you not sometimes taken your own way?
Remember, it is God who is speaking; God, who has seen every act of your life, and who knows your heart. Do you feel that you are a sinner before God? And do you want to know that your sins are forgiven, and that you are fit to go to heaven?
Then look at the last “all.” If you own yourself as one of the “all” gone astray, it is as true that the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us “all.” That means you, as well as others who believe. Our sins were laid on Jesus when He died on the cross; and they are put away forever for the one who believes on Him.
Let me tell you of a girl who believed what God said about this verse. I was visiting her mother one Sunday afternoon, and after we had spoken of the Lord Jesus, whom we both knew as our own Saviour, I turned to her little girl, and asked,
“And is Jeanie saved, too?”
“No, she is not,” her mother answered.
“That is very sad. Would you not like to be saved?”
“Yes,” replied Jeanie.
So I sat down beside her, and opened my Bible at Isaiah 53, and read over and over again this verse, and made her read it with me.
She owned she was one of the first “all,” a sinner; and a few days later, I found she had taken her place in the second “all,” and knew that her sins had been laid on Jesus.
“Are you saved now?” I asked her.
“O! yes,” was her joyful reply.
“How do you know?”
“Because God says, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’”
Though I did not see her again, I heard that she was bright and happy, and by her ways at home, showed that she belonged to Jesus, and was seeking to please and to serve Him.
Will you now, my dear young reader, look carefully at this wonderful verse, with that little word “all” that means so much, at the beginning and the end, and let your heart simply believe the message it brings:
“ALL” gone astray, and, “the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us All.”
ML 12/20/1942