The Gospel Message in the Old and New Testaments
“For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16)
When I read these familiar words, I often think of Calvary. But not just the hill outside Jerusalem. I’m drawn back to another hill, a prophetic peak in Isaiah 53, where the shadow of the cross fell across the pages of Scripture. The Gospel didn’t begin in the Gospels. God gave the privilege, centuries earlier, to the prophet Isaiah, who saw the suffering of the Savior with startling clarity.
Isaiah 53 doesn’t whisper the Gospel. It shouts out loud.
Isaiah 53:3-6 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. 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.
What John summarized in one verse, Isaiah unfolded in painful detail. John tells us that God gave His Son. Isaiah shows us what that giving looked like: beaten, rejected, and nailed to a Roman tree. When John says, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,” Isaiah explains why: someone else took our place.
The doctrine of substitution is not abstract. It’s personal. He was bruised for my iniquities. He bore my grief. The chastisement that brought me peace was laid upon Him.
Isaiah wrote these words 700 years before the cross. Yet the picture is vivid: God’s Servant is silent before His accusers, like a lamb led to the slaughter. He was cut off from the land of the living, yet lives to see the travail of His soul satisfied. This is not a metaphor. This is Messiah.
And here’s what overwhelms me: it pleased the Lord to bruise Him (Isaiah 53:10). Why? Because the Father so loved the world, He willingly poured out His wrath on His Son so that whoever believes in Him might be saved.
The Gospel is not just found in the Gospel of John. Isaiah planted it, the centuries watered it, and it blossomed on Calvary. Isaiah 53 is the root and John 3:16 is the fruit.
When you read John’s simple declaration, remember the concealed cost. And when you read Isaiah’s prophecy, remember it’s contained promise. God did not devise the cross as a backup plan; he promised it long before Jesus walked the dusty roads of Galilee.
Reflection on this article
The cross was not an accident in history. It was the divine plan declared long before Roman soldiers drove their nails. Isaiah saw it. John recorded it. And you, dear reader, must reckon with it.
I bring the call of Isaiah 53 and John 3:16, not merely for an intellectual appreciation of the Gospel message, but for a deeper understanding. It means surrendering to its power, accepting its truth, and basing your life on its principles. You cannot read of the One who was wounded for your transgressions and remain indifferent. You cannot hear that God so loved the world and casually continue without responding.
You must ask:
- Have I trusted the One who took my place?
- Have I responded to the love that gave heaven’s best for earth’s worst?
Let the ancient prophecy and the familiar verse do more than stir your thoughts. Let them break your pride and move your heart. Christ bore your iniquity. The punishment you deserved fell upon Him. Will you believe it? Will you surrender to it? Will you tell others that this Gospel is not myth: it is history fulfilled, mercy revealed, and eternity offered?
The cross was spoken.
The cross stood.
Now, the cross calls.
Bibliography
Archer, Gleason L. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Moody Press, 1980.
Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology. Dallas Seminary Press, 1947.
Ironside, H.A. The Prophet Isaiah: An Expository Commentary. Loizeaux Brothers, 1952.
MacArthur, John. The Gospel According to God: Rediscovering the Most Remarkable Chapter in the Old Testament. Crossway, 2018.
Morris, Leon. The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance. InterVarsity Press, 1983.
Pentecost, J. Dwight. Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology. Zondervan, 1958.
Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth. Moody Publishers, 1986.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Christ in the Old Testament. Baker Book House, 1990.
Walvoord, John F. Isaiah: The Salvation of Jehovah. Moody Bible Institute Lectures, unpublished notes.
Young, Edward J. The Book of Isaiah, Volume 3: Chapters 40–66. Eerdmans, 1972.
Author Biography:
Dr. Robert C. Crowder serves as senior pastor of Lakeview Baptist Church and is the author of numerous devotional and doctrinal works. Through 73Twenty Ministries, he focuses on teaching Scripture from a dispensational, conservative Baptist perspective. In this article, he draws connections between Isaiah’s prophetic comfort and Christ’s redemptive mission in John 3:16.
