“And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling.”
Daniel 10:12
As a boy I used to love to watch the television program “The life and Legend of Wyatt Earp”. It started with a song. ‘None can deny it, the legend of Wyatt. He made law and order prevail.” Wyatt Earp’s
reputation was as a fearless law man in a lawless west. His legacy was a person to be looked up to in difficult situations.
In Revelation 2 the Lord tells the sinful church at Pergamum “To the one who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.” The Lord has a special name for those who faithfully follow Him. When we go further in the Lord’s epistles to the churches we read His words to the faithful missionary minded church at Philadelphia. “I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. “ Here the Lord puts His name and God’s name on these special followers of the Lord’s great commandment (the ones who have a legacy of overcoming).
This made me think of believers in the Bible who God singled out with special names that He gave them. He did not do this for everyone in Scripture – this honor is reserved for those who were dedicated to follow God despite the cost. Enoch and Noah are said to have “walked with God”. Abraham was called the “friend of God”. Job is said to be “was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil”. At the end of Job God calls him “the servant of God”. David was known as “a man after God’s own heart“. Ezekiel is called multiple times by God “son of man” a term used by Christ for Himself to show He fully serving God as a human. These names are interesting. As we study the list we see these are all men who God called and trusted to do great and mighty things for Him. They were not all perfect men, some were guilty of great sin (David, Abraham, Noah) but all became spiritually mature. Despite the opposition, difficulty, cost or suffering these men faced, they were faithful to fulfill what God called them to do. In fact these men are held up by God as extremely righteous. He says of Noah, Job and Daniel that even if they, the three most righteous men, stood for Israel they could not stop God’s discipline from falling on Israel for their rebellion and idolatry.
Daniel As we have studied the life of Daniel he faces major tests from his teens to an eighty year old man. In none of the chapters (1-6) about his life do we read of him being called anything special by God. When we come to the prophetic chapters (9-12) that changes. Three times we hear angels proclaim that Daniel is a “man greatly beloved”. The word greatly beloved is one word in the Hebrew. It means “desire, goodly, pleasant, precious.” In Ezra the word is used to mean as “precious as gold”. In other words Daniel’s life was precious to God, as pure as gold. This traces back to his early decision that he “would not defile himself”. Daniel lived his life serving God in faith. Hebrews 11 tells us “without faith it is impossible to please him.” Colossians 1:10 says “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”. Walking worthy in faith – that summarizes the life of Daniel. His legacy is he brought great pleasure to the
heart of God. A life that is pleasing to God is a life that is greatly beloved by God.