The Bible is chock-full of accounts of people and events that reveal to us how loving God is, and how much He loves.
These events may not be romantic -- sometimes they're downright unpleasant to imagine -- but they perfectly show us just how much God loves us.
In this article we'll take a look at some events in the Bible that show us just how much God loved us.
1) God covering Adam and Eve with animal skins
Shortly after Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3, the Lord God Himself gave them clothes that would cover their nakedness. Genesis 3:21 tells us,
"Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them."
We've been told that God is a brutal God who does not tolerate sin. That's true, but He's merciful as well: instead of killing Adam and Eve and creating a new man, God banished them from the Garden of Eden so that He could start His plan of redemption.
That plan of redemption was signified by what He did before sending them out of the garden: He killed an animal so that He could cover them with its skin.
God's act symbolized the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (see Revelation 13:8). God intended to save mankind by sending His Son in the fullness of time (see Galatians 4:4-7).
Christ died on the cross, and because He did that, we can put on salvation through Him. He covers our sins, our shame, and our nakedness.
2) The Passover
In Exodus 12 we read how God instituted the Passover by giving instructions to Moses.
God told Moses to tell all the Israelites to take a spotless and blemish-free, one-year-old male lamb, kill it, apply some of its blood on the two doorposts and lintel of the houses they lived in, and eat the flesh of the lamb.
They are to hastily eat it roasted (not raw or boiled), with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, while wearing their belts and sandals and holding their staves in their hand.
The blood will serve as a marking to determine who belongs to God. This is because God is passing through Egypt to slay all the firstborn in it; and only those houses with the blood markings will be spared.
That historical account may sound grim and terrible, but it's true. God did that so that He could set His people free and show everybody that there is no one like Him.
Today, Christ is our Passover lamb. His blood, shed on the cross, serves as the blood that marks us for salvation. He died paying for our sins, so that we could be forgiven and accepted by God. Those who don't believe in Him will be eternally condemned.
3) The crucifixion of Christ
While this is undoubtedly the most brutal and unjust moment of all in the Bible, it definitely shows us the love of God in astounding ways.
All four Gospels, along with prophecies in the Old Testament, said that Christ died bearing all our sins on the cross. He came to earth with that intention: to live a sinless live that He may be the perfect sacrifice on the cross, receiving the punishment for our sins and iniquities that He carried, that the Law may be fulfilled and we could be forgiven.
Isaiah 53:4-12 narrates this beautifully:
"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 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.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked -- but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
