You Are Greatly Beloved

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 Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
2 Peter 1:17

If you’ve ever watched the movie, The Three Amigos, you know that “infamous” means “more than famous.” Okay, okay, Ned might not have had it quite right, but that’s the quote that came to mind when I was thinking about the word “beloved.” That word must mean more than loved, right?

Seriously though, the word “beloved,” meaning well loved or much loved, is used many times in the Bible, perhaps most notably in the Song of Solomon where it is used almost 30 times.

But where it strikes me most is in Daniel chapters 9 and 10 where Daniel is told three times by heavenly messengers that he is “greatly beloved” (9:23; 10:11,18). If “beloved” means well loved, then “greatly beloved” must mean more than well loved! I remember the first time I noticed those words I thought, Wow! And then I felt a bit, well, jealous. How comforting and encouraging it would be if God would send an angel to tell me that I was “greatly beloved!” It’s so easy to get down on ourselves and wonder if anyone really loves us. To be told directly and personally that you are “greatly beloved” by God would be a beautiful gift.

But God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:9), and what He says about love isn’t always what we would expect.

“..Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45a).

Paul prayed that all the saints would be able to comprehend “the width and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:18-19 NASB). How can we know something if it surpasses knowledge?

Remember what God said about Jesus at the transfiguration? “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 17:5). Jesus was beloved too, and yet “when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly,” (Romans 5:6). How unfathomable is the love of God! He sent his beloved Son to die for us even though we had made ourselves His enemies (Romans 5:10). Why? For God so loved the world (John 3:16)!

But was Daniel loved more than the rest of us?

In Daniel 10:12, the messenger tells Daniel why he has come.

Then he said to me, “Do not fear Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.”

Earlier in the book we find that Daniel “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself” (1:8a). He was thrown to the lions because he continued to pray to God though it had been made a crime (chapter 6). He later approached God “with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes,” seeking forgiveness for the sins of his nation (9:1ff).

It does seem that Daniel had especially endeared himself to God by his faithfulness, by his love for God. Perhaps this is how we can know the love that “surpasses knowledge”– by participating in it, returning it, rather than just reading about it.

One other interesting way the word “beloved” is used in the Bible: almost all of the New Testament epistle writers use it to address their Christian brothers and sisters. We should love all people, but our spiritual family should be especially dear to us; just as God loves everyone, but those covered by the blood of Christ are His covenant children.

We don’t need God to send an angel to each of us individually to tell us we are loved. He tells us through His Holy Spirit every time we open the pages of His inspired word. The question should be whether we are responding in kind with love toward Him, toward our brethren, and even toward our enemies.

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another… [and] put on love which is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:12-14).

Dear God, thank You for revealing Your great love for us through Your word and especially through the life and death of Your Son. Help us to return that love as best we can by humbly seeking You with our whole hearts. And help us to love one another as You have loved us. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins