Could any greater message be communicated from the Most High God to us? Yet that is exactly the message that God delivered to Daniel — not once, but three times!
““O Daniel … you are greatly loved” (Dan. 9:22, 23)
“O Daniel, man greatly loved . . .” (Dan. 10:11)
“O man greatly loved . . .” (Dan. 10:19)
In these verses, God affirms his love for Daniel as an individual person. I’ll say more about that in a moment. But first it should be noted that God has a universal love for all of humanity. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God loves us not because we’re great, but because he is extremely gracious. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalm 145:9). Theologians refer to this as God’s “common grace” — his compassion and kindness toward all humanity.
In his heart-stirring book, The Love of God, John MacArthur writes,
Common grace does not pardon sin or redeem sinners, but it is nevertheless a sincere token of God’s goodwill to mankind in general. … If you question the love and goodness of God to all, look again at the world in which we live. Someone might say, “There’s a lot of sorrow in this world.” The only reason the sorrow & tragedy stand out is because there is also much joy & gladness. The only reason we recognize the ugliness is that God has given us so much beauty. The only reason we feel the disappointment is that there is so much that satisfies.
God’s love for the whole world is seen in his common grace, his compassion, and his call to repent and believe the gospel. This leads to our next point:
God loves everyone universally, but He does not love everyone equally.
Scripture teaches that God set his love on certain persons from eternity past and predestined them to eternal life. The apostle Paul tells us why: “God chooses people according to his own purposes; he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works” (Rom. 9:11-12 NLT). We are saved solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ, to the praise of God’s glory (Eph. 1:12; 2:8-9).
This is the kind of special, electing love that God had for Daniel. As I read the three affirmations of God’s love for Daniel in context, I was encouraged by four things God did for Daniel as an expression of his love for him.
God responded to his prayer. In Daniel 9, the prophet poured out his heart to God, confessing his and his people’s sins, while acknowledging God’s faithfulness and asking the Lord to hear his prayer and pleas for mercy. While Daniel was still praying, Gabriel appeared to him and said, “O Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved” (Dan. 9:22-23). Likewise, Jesus assures believers, “whatever you ask the Father in my name, he [will] give it to you” (John 15:16; cf. 1 John 5:14-15).
God revealed his word to Daniel. “And he said to me, ‘O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you … for now I have been sent to you’” (Dan. 10:11). Scripture says, “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant” (Ps. 25:14). Jesus prayed for his people, saying to the Father, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Moreover, Paul declares, “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10).
God renewed Daniel’s strength. Upon feeling the weight and magnitude of God’s word, Daniel felt overwhelmed and said, “‘now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.’ Again, one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, ‘O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.’ And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, ‘Let my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me’” (Dan. 10:17-19). God does the same for us! “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace” (Ps. 29:11; cf. Isa. 40:25-31). Matthew Henry rightly noted, “One touch from heaven brings us to our knees, sets us on our feet, opens our lips, and strengthens us, for it is God that works on us, and works in us, both to will and to do that which is good.”
God raised up benefactors for Daniel and his fellow Jews. “And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him” (Dan. 11:1). God raised up a pagan king and established his rule in order to do good for Daniel and his people. How? By causing the kingdom of Babylon to fall, thus paving the way for the Jews’ eventual return from captivity to rebuild the temple and city of Jerusalem. In fact, God later raised up the Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great, who issued the decree authorizing the Judean exiles to return home and rebuild the Temple. This was a direct fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy decades earlier (see Jer. 29:1-14; Ezra 1:1-4). Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” Throughout history, God has raised up friends for the church, such as Frederick the Wise, who protected the Reformer Martin Luther when he was being persecuted. Numerous other examples from history could be cited. (To read an interesting article along these lines, check out the Christianity Today article by Daniel Block entitled “Is Trump Our Cyrus? The Old Testament Case for Yes and No.”)
All the things God did for Daniel, God continues to do for each child of his. In fact, we have but skimmed the surface of God’s unfathomable love toward us!
Could we with ink the oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky.