He loves you so much it’s difficult to properly describe. The Bible gives us great help in seeing that love. Psalm 22 contains a prophetic description of Jesus on the cross. In part of it, Jesus looks forward to telling his brothers and sisters about the salvation that they can have. Yes, He was looking forward to being with us and was talking to us while He was on the cross.
Hebrews 12:2 (WEB) says:
looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Please note the phrase, “for the joy that was set before him.“ That was not about taking up His eternal position again – He had already had that and would not have gone through everything He did to simply regain what He already had. He was wanting to gain, and that gain was you and me. His entire effort was to make a way for your salvation. His joy, then, must have been and must still be the people that He loves.
That is How much He loves you. You are so special to Him that even when He was on the cross He looked forward to being with you. You brought Him so much joy that He could endure the horror of the cross itself — the physical pain — and of becoming sin — the spiritual pain. He did all of that so that He could spend eternity with you and others. He loves each of us fully, as well as fully loving His entire church. The extent of that love for us is further shown in John 17, in which Jesus is intent upon asking that He could be in those that He loves. He, the perfect One, chose to give up everything and endure the most excruciating pain while thinking of you and me He chose to make his dwelling place inside those who believe and fully yield to Him (who follow Him as Lord and Savior). That is how close He wants to be to you and me. All of the things above show how special you are to Him and how much He loves you.
Keywords: God’s love for us, God in us, cross, crucifixion, God wants to relate