Pleased

A remarkable thing, among many remarkable things, happened during the ministry of Jesus. God spoke in an audible voice from heaven. The apostle Peter mentions being an eyewitness to one of the occasions:
"...we...were eyewitnesses of His (Jesus') majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved ("agapetos/agapao"-well beloved, esteemed, dear, favorite, worthy of love, well pleased) Son, in whom I am well pleased." And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain."        2 Pet. 1:16-18
Peter was referring to the miraculous event on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt. 17:1-6). Jesus told the disciples to tell no one of the vision until He, the Son of Man, is risen from the dead. This was not the first time, however, that the Father spoke these words. The first time, was when Jesus was baptized, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove (Mt. 3:16-17, Lk. 3:22). On another occasion, Jesus, again warning the others not to tell anyone, quoted the prophet Isaiah (42:1):
"Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased (also "delighted")!..."
If God spoke so men could hear audibly, He must have been saying something extremely important. We think the importance in the Father's audible words from heaven lies in His declaration that Jesus is His Son. That is important. However, we may overlook the significance of the statement "in whom I am well pleased" probably because as it is translated into English, we think we know the fullness of its meaning. There are several different words in both the Greek and the Hebrew that are used in the scriptures that are translated into the English "pleased/delighted". However, the Greek and Hebrew that refer to this specific use of "pleased" are awesome and revealing. The specific Greek and Hebrew words used in these verses, ("ratsah", "chaphets", eudokeo"), can be summed up this way: "to move, bend down, to curve, be favorable, favorably inclined, to satisfy, to pay off, receive graciously anyone bringing gifts, to be graciously accepted as a sacrifice".
The picture here in these Hebrew and Greek words is of the LORD moved to the point of bending down with favor in order to receive graciously an accepted sacrifice, because it is a sacrifice that satisfies and pays off the debt. These specific words, rather than "yatab" and "ayin", which are also used for the word "pleased" in other scriptures, are used in the context of a sacrifice. We can see it used strongly in that manner below.
Isaiah uses "chaphets" in Isa. 53:10-11, as he prophetically describes the sacrifice of the Servant of God for the iniquities of others: "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."
Why would it "please" the LORD to see His Servant harmed in such a way? Because many would be justified as a result. Because the deadly debt of sin would be paid off for many.
Those present and hearing the LORD's voice from heaven, and His use of the word "pleased" in regard to Jesus, would know immediately that the LORD was connecting Him, His beloved Son, to a pleasing sacrifice. This precise language used by God, especially in combination with the declaration from John the Baptist regarding Jesus' identity as the Lamb of God, would absolutely leave no doubt. The LORD could not have revealed in a stronger way, the sacrificial purpose of Jesus, His Son.
Paul uses the equivalent word, also associated with sacrifice, as it is translated into the Greek:
"But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them (the Jewish saints in Jerusalem) in material things."   Rom. 15:25-27
Does this mean that we please the LORD only when making physical offerings out of our substance, or our giving? Not only then. The sacrifice that was also pleasing to the LORD was the sacrifice of the person of His Son.
"...the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God...it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe."   1 Cor. 1:18-21
Beyond the giving of our material things that we happily bring to the LORD, there is an additional, greater, more personal sacrifice:
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."   Rom. 12:1-2
Most of us will never be called upon to offer ourselves physically as Christ did, but the sacrifice of self is pleasing to God. At this time, the prevailing spirit of the world is to be a "lover of self" ( 2 Tim. 3:2). There are many who submit to that spirit. Paul says we should not be conformed to this worldly mindset, but we have to have our minds transformed into the thinking that will cause us to become a "living sacrifice", acceptable to God. To be a sacrificer of self - those individuals, those "sons", are rare indeed, and more precious than gold, silver, diamonds, and rubies in God's eyes. Those who live a life of spiritual sacrifice of self, subjecting their thoughts, will, emotions, desires and actions to the will of God, cause the Most High to bend down with favor, not just for the benefit of one, but for the benefit of many, as Isaiah revealed. This is why God is so pleased by it, and why Paul beseeches us to do it. The benefit to many is so great, that it is beyond the ability to measure. Preaching bears fruit unto salvation for the hearers, but living as a sacrifice impacts the whole world with the favor of God (Jn. 3:16-17). This is what makes it "the good, and acceptable and perfect will of God". This is not accomplished with religious works and rituals. We must present ourselves to God for this process. It also requires our diligence and determination to be transformed from what we are now. Paul said that there must be a renewal of the mind. This is done through the creative work of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, while all the world, our natural minds, and our flesh work against it.
David also connected the personal sacrifice that makes the physical offerings truly pleasing to the LORD in Psalm 51, when he uses "chaphets" to say:
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart- These, O God, You will not despise. Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar."   v. 17-19
Isaiah, again prophesying the word of the LORD, and in agreement with David's words above, says that religious activities, like fasting, are worthless without the accompanying sacrifice of self, which is "pleasing" to God (Isaiah 58).
God bent so low in favor and pleasure at the sight of His Son who sacrificed Himself even before the cross (Rev. 13:8, 17:8, 1 Pet. 1:19-20), that the people could hear His voice.

Our Father is well pleased when we present ourselves as living sacrifices.

Deceptions

There are deceptions prophesied in scripture for the latter days that will lead many into destruction. The deceptions are so convincing that even the elect (those chosen to obtain salvation) will be vulnerable to them (Mk. 13:22). I think one of those deceptions that we are seeing today is the dismissal of sin. Many in the world have believed the deception that sin is an outmoded religious concept, perhaps meant in its time to keep man from certain undesirable behaviors for fear of hell. In error it is believed that we no longer need the concept of sin, being ruled instead by secular laws decided by society regarding right and wrong, even though secular law can never nullify the holy and perfect Law of God (Rom. 7:12). Even many believers and churches have adopted this same secular viewpoint, and are reluctant to teach the destructive power of sin. However, this is a deadly deception.
Sin is not just the wrong that we do against the law of God, but it is also a spiritual power, as we will see. Sin has the power to enslave a human being. Jesus said:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin."   Jn. 8:34
The apostle Paul also speaks of the power of sin to enslave:
"...our old man was crucified with Him (Jesus), that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin...to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey...whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness...But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered."   Rom. 6:6, 16-17
Peter wrote that those who yield themselves to sin and promise others that there is liberty in practicing what God has declared to be sin, have themselves become slaves to corruption (2 Pet. 2:15-19).
As we also read above, sin is the power that kills:
"...the end of those things is death...For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."   Rom. 6:21, 23
"The sting of death is sin..."  1 Cor. 15:56
Not only does sin have the power to kill, but it has the power to keep the body in the grave, and the soul in hell (1 Cor. 15:55). When God was warning Cain about the power of sin, He said this:
"If you do well (be glad, joyful, pleasing, to make a thing good, right, or beautiful), will you not be accepted (exaltation in rank or character, dignity, loftiness, raising up, lifting up)? And if you do not do well, sin lies (lurks) at the door ("pethakh" meaning gate, opening, grave). And its desire (craving, longing, stretching out after, devour like a beast, overflow like water) is for you, but you should rule over it."    Gen. 4:7
As we can see above, the door that sin lurks beside is not the Hebrew word "daleth", but "pethakh" which can mean the opening of a grave. Sin's craving, desire and longing is to pull us into an open grave, and keep us there. The bad news is that we have all sinned (Rom. 3:23, 1 Jn. 1:10). The good news is that Christ came for the purpose of overcoming death, hell and the grave by paying the penalty for sin in our place. He fought its power and broke its enslaving hold. He died and rose again to make all alive (1 Cor. 15:22). The offering of His body in replacement for ours was done once, for all (Heb. 10:10).
The world may embrace the deception that the power of sin is not real, falsely thinking that they are achieving liberty from unreasonable constraints. However, when the believer who has accepted Christ's atoning and redeeming sacrifice runs after that same deception, or is consenting to it, something awful occurs in the spiritual realm:
"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away (to deviate from the right path, to error; root meaning-to descend from a higher place to a lower, to be removed from power by death, to lose authority, to no longer have force, to fall from a state of uprightness), to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame."   Heb. 6:4-6
"For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins...of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?"
                                                                                              Heb. 10:26-29 (excerpt)
What a terrible thing to do to ourselves, but even more so to Christ! If we, the believers in Christ, deny the reality of sin, or its spiritual power to kill and enslave forever, then we are also denying the power and necessity of the atonement and resurrection of Christ. We are therefore denying the very foundation of our salvation and faith. None of us wants to do such a thing. However, this deception is sent from hell in order to convince man that sin is no longer relevant, in order to keep man from seeking the remedy of Christ, and to keep him enslaved and bound in death.
We can see that the end time deception disregarding the truth and power of sin is a far more dangerous thing than it would appear on the surface. In order to fully participate in the victory which Christ has achieved for us all, we need to understand the reality of the evil power which He overcame. Delusions and deceptions will come as prophesied, but we are here to stand as witnesses to the truth of what Jesus has done for all: the liberty from enslavement and death that He has accomplished on our behalf:
"And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience...but God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ...raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus..."   Eph. 2:1-6 (excerpt)
"...Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."   Rev. 1:5-6

Our Father is exposing the destructive deceptions.

Special thanks to my pastors who faithfully teach the truth of the Word, on this subject and all others, without compromise.