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.

Testify

Jesus said, "You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me."           Jn. 5:39

When saying the above, Jesus was speaking to Jews in the Temple in Jerusalem, who were angry with Him because He had healed a man on the Sabbath. Jesus told them that their beloved Torah bore witness to who He was. References to Him, and to His life, were promised and prophesied in those scriptures.
The word "testify" is edut, עֵדוּת, made up of the letters ayin (see, reveal, know), daleth (door), vaw (nail), and tav (cross, covenant, sign of the covenant). So the word "testify" in Hebrew can also be expressed: "See the door of the nail and the cross (covenant)".
It is said that there are 353 verses in the Torah which testify to Jesus. We can only look at a few here.
In Gen 3:15, the LORD God prophesied to the serpent the following:
"...And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel."
The one who would deal the blow to the rulership (head) of the serpent, would be born of a woman, but would not come out of the encounter with the serpent's seed unscathed.
To Abraham, the LORD promised:
"....because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son-...In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."        Gen.22: 16-18
As Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, the Angel stopped him, and Abraham discovered a ram caught in a thicket (of thorns), to be sacrificed in place of Isaac. We have a shadow of a sacrifice of a son, and  the principle of a substitute (ram) to become a sacrifice on our behalf. All nations, not just Israel, would be blessed and benefitted by Abraham's obedience that day that he was willing to sacrifice his son. Abraham was confident, however, that the LORD would provide for Himself, that lamb for the sacrifice (v.8), and he was right.
Proverbs 30:4 would confirm that there would be a "sonship" relationship between the Creator, and the Messiah:
"...Who has established all the ends of the earth"
What is His name, and what is His Son's name
If you know?"
Why would the writer of Proverbs ask "What is His name?" and "What is His Son's name?"
Surely the people of Israel know the LORD's name, so why this question? It is there because there is a name of the LORD that they did not yet know. This name of the Creator is directly connected with His Son's name. Jesus told the Jews, "I have come in My Father's name..."  (Jn. 5:43)
The prophet Isaiah writes about this child, this son:
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace."           Isa. 9:6
This Son to be born would carry the name of God, Himself.

King David writes prophetically about the scene of the crucifixion of Christ in Psalm 22, although David lived 1,000 years before Jesus' birth:
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
...All those who see Me ridicule Me...
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him (said by those who mocked)...
I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me...
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots."
David as king, though he faced many challenges, was never crucified, yet he writes a witness account, as though he was on the cross at that scene 1,000 years later. The Psalm concludes with the great victory of the LORD that causes all nations to worship Him. The dead will live to worship. Even those yet unborn will hear about this great thing He has done.
Isaiah writes about the servant who was despised and rejected by men. This servant bore our grief (sicknesses), and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, not His own. He was bruised, chastised and whipped for our iniquities and healing. He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isa. 53).
The above Servant wasn't punished for a crime He committed. He took the punishment on behalf of others. Isaiah  writes about this Servant, whose sacrifice is an exact prophetic account of Jesus' purpose approximately 750 years before Jesus was born.

There were prophetic references to the resurrection of Jesus also:
"For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption."   Ps. 16:10

"Your dead shall live;
Together with My dead body they shall arise.

Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust;
For Your dew is like the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall cast out the dead."    Isa. 26:19

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
O Death, I will be your plagues!
O Grave, I will be your destruction!
Pity is hidden from My eyes."      Hosea 13:14

Those who have rejected this "Suffering Servant", this Son who bore His Father's name, will see Him, and see the truth regarding Him, during a very trying circumstance involving an attack against Jerusalem. The prophet Zechariah has prophesied in 12:10:
"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a first-born."
The chapter goes on to describe the extensive grief and mourning over this Son of every individual and household when they see Him, in a similar manner to the national mourning that took place previously in HadadRimmon (the place where King Josiah was mourned in Megiddo).

There are so many verses that testify, prophesy, or mirror, the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that can be found in the Torah, as Jesus said-too many to record here.
Below, you will find links to free information available, written especially to the Jewish people, regarding the discovery of Jesus in the Torah.

Our Father testifies of His Son, Jesus, in His word.

"For Unto Us a Child is Born"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owcn6fgYwpw

Additional Sources:
"They Thought for Themselves"
http://sidroth.org/articles/they-thought-for-themselves

"Isaiah 53 Explained"
https://isaiah53.com/main/

Sons

Palm Sunday and Passover approaches, and so therefore also the coming of the time of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. The subject of "sonship" came to my mind at this time. You may wonder how or why that subject might be related to this time of year. I was wondering also, but I found a special truth that I needed to look at.
The Apostle Paul wrote about the importance of the sons of God manifesting:
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God...because the creation itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption (decay) into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now."
                                                                  Romans 8:18-19, 21-22
If we consider these scriptures using a word study, we find that all of creation is anxiously and persistently watching, with head outstretched, for something to happen. All creation is waiting in suspense, waiting to take hold of something with the hand, waiting to receive, embrace, make one's own, approve of this mysterious event. This event that all creation awaits is the revealing of something which up until this point, had been hidden, veiled. Events are even being set up that will reveal, remove, or rending the veil from, this which previously has been hidden. The things that have been hidden up until this point are the sons of God.
We may even be able to say that the rending of the veil of the temple when Jesus was crucified, not only meant that the separation between God and man had ended, but also, at that moment, the sons of God were being revealed-those who previously had been hidden behind a veil.
This is momentous for all of those who are dedicated to Jesus, and to our Father.
Later, in this chapter of Romans, Paul says:
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."          Romans 8:29
The image we are called to and purposed to is the image of His Son. It is a "Sonly" position and purpose.
Many times our Father intervened directly, speaking audibly to declare the Sonship position of Jesus. We know that He did this when Jesus was baptized. He did it again on the occasion of the Transfiguration. It was the Sonship of Jesus that was challenged and then confirmed at the crucifixion:
"And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross...He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said "I am the Son of God."  Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with that same thing."                       Mt. 27:39-40, 43-44
All blasphemed Jesus over the same thing-His position as the Son of God: passers-by, chief priests, scribes, elders, even the criminals all rejected His Sonship. But, again, the Father intervened and upheld the Sonship of Jesus:
"So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!"                                         Mt. 27:54
Those soldiers, who had previously beaten and mocked Jesus could have declared Him to be Messiah, Savior, and all of that would be, and is, true. But the Father, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had them make the declaration that Jesus was "the Son of God". This was the vital truth of that moment for all of us.
Since we know the importance and the scriptures regarding Jesus' Sonship and our sonship, why do we find it so difficult to think of ourselves as sons. Even Paul, though he revealed that sonship truth to us, referred to himself at the opening of his epistles, not as a son, but as a servant, a bondservant or slave, a messenger (apostle), and a prisoner. Paul, himself, revealed the truth that a slave and an heir (son), though they may start out the same in childhood, at the appointed time set by the father of the house, the son comes forth, and Paul says:
"Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."                                           Gal. 4:7
What can be clearer than that? Yet we have difficulty moving in that truth and mindset. There is an obstacle that continually tries to deny the manifestation of that sonship. Perhaps we continually refer to ourselves as servants out of a religious false-humility: "I am just a servant trying to do God's will." How sad that reasoning is, if true.
Does sonship mean that we do not want to "serve" God obediently? No. No one served our Father better, or more perfectly than His Son, Jesus. However, a son serves his Father from a different mind and heart and position than a paid employee (servant) or a slave.
The young man in scripture whom we call a prodigal, wanted to return to his father's house even as a servant, but we found out that his father did not welcome him back as a servant, but as a son, giving him a robe a ring and a banquet: 
"...for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found"...
                                                       Luke 15:24
 Abraham had a servant, a wonderful, loyal, outstanding servant, who was his heir, but he didn't want an employee as his heir. He wanted a son. He wanted someone of his own flesh, his own blood, his own spirit, his own name, as his heir. God understood this desire, and gave Abraham his miracle son. Our Father understood because He has this same desire, a desire for sons who serve Him not out of fear, nor for payment, nor for religious gratification, but in the love and oneness and shared heritage that a precious son shares with His Father.
All creation is waiting expectantly for God's sons to manifest. Paul says the time is now.

Our Father has many sons.

"Lamb of God"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPClih1HLPg