We are all familiar with many powerful New Testament passages which speak about God's
love for sinners on display at Calvary:
1st John 4:10- Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be
the propitiation for our sins.
1st John 3:16- Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
John 3:16- For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Ephesians 2:4-5- But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Titus 3:4,5- But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Romans 8:37-39- Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8- But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.
...and many more like verses.
But I thought that I would make reference to the Old Testament to get another perspective of
the love that God has for us in Christ. Christ said that the Scriptures testify of Him in John 5:39. The New Testament had not been written when He spoke these words, so Christ is referencing the Old Testament.
Why waste time going to the Greek and Hebrew languages to show the degrees of the love of God or the difference between marital love and brotherly love when that stuff isn't only skull numbingly boring but many times simply isn't true. (Brother Hayes wrote an article in the Bible Baptist Bulletin that blows all of that nonsense to smithereens.)
Agape, phileo,... horsefeathers. That's the talk of someone who hasn't received the love of the truth and is deceived into thinking that grammar is going to bring them a greater understanding of the love of God.
Granted, sometimes, occasionally there are tidbits and curiosities of those languages which might give light on a subject, but they never give greater light than what the scriptures themselves already say in King James English.
We often remark how the grace of God is evidenced from cover to cover (even though the means of appropriating that grace differs) so it is with God's love through the Lord Jesus Christ. It isn't limited to New Testament passages. It is from cover to cover, from age to age, from eternity past to eternity future. The great theme of God's redeeming love at Calvary isn't just in the New Testament. It was just in mystery form until the New Testament.
The Stripes Of Chastisement are prophesied in Isaiah 53.
Psalm 89:30-32- If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Proverbs 20:30- The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.
Hebrews 12:1-11- Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be
wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have
forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Psalm 129:3- The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
Isaiah 50:4-11- The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light ofyour fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
The stripes that the Romans laid on Christ's back were prophesied in Isaiah 53 long before the Romans laid their hands on a cat-of-nine-tails.
Luke 23:13-16- And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I,
having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye
accuse him: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him, and release him.
Luke 22:63-65- And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.
The Crown Of Thorns that Christ wore were prophetically illustrated in Genesis 22 with the ram caught in the thicket by his horns. That's what Christ meant when He said Abraham saw his day.
John 8:56- Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
Matthew 27:29- And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
Hebrews 6:8- But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
Abraham knew the love of sacrifing his only son. He also knew that all of God's promises to him were through Isaac. He understood that God would somehow keep that promise. The promise of resurrecting a fallen son was believed by Abraham back in Genesis.
Hebrews 11:17-19- By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
The Pierced Hands, Feet And Side were all prophesied. In fact, Psalms 22 prophesies the crucifixion in amazing detail!
Psalm 22:7,8,14-19- All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
Zechariah 12:10- And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Isaiah 49:15-16- Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
John 19:32-37- Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was
crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake
not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out
blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he
saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
Revelation 1:7- Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
John 20:24-29- But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Eternal scars that show his love for us as an eternal servant to the Father are foreshadowed in the faithful servant.
Exodus 21:5-6- And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
Bearing Our Curse On The Cross is also found in the Old Testament Scriptures.
Deuteronomy 21:22-23- And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Galatians 3:13- Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is
written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Jeremiah 31:3- The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
John 12:32- And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
We are Undeserving Of His Great Love, and yet He still loves us!
Deuteronomy 7:6-8- For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Romans 5:6-8- For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Nothing was held back. Not the judgment. Not the punishment. Not the promises. And not the prophesy.
Proverbs 8:21- That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
Song of Solomon 8:6-7- Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement
flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the
substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. (counted as nothing)
Proverbs 6:30-31- Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; But if he
be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
Matthew 13:45-46- Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Romans 8:31-34- What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Is it any wonder that Christ constantly told them to search the Scriptures? He is typified and prophesied throughout the Old Testament! They just couldn't see it.
-Adam Trosclair
