As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I [Gabriel] have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Daniel 9:23
Gabriel calls Daniel "highly esteemed." Wow, imagine being called that! It means "a precious treasure," "greatly beloved." The angel calls Daniel highly esteemed three times – Daniel 9:23, 10:11, and 10:19. Daniel, as far as I can tell, is the only human being designated this way in the Old Testament. The word is chamad (חָמַד ) and it is used 28 times in the Old Testament. But it also means "covet, desire, lust," so a lot of those times it is used in a negative way. Like the tree in the Garden of Eden was "desirable (chamad) for gaining wisdom" and the Law commanded "Do not covet (chamad) your neighbor's wife."
But then there is this one:
He [Messiah] grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire (chamad) him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:2-3
Think about that for a moment. Daniel was highly esteemed by God, but there was nothing about Messiah's outward appearance that would cause one to consider him highly esteemed, greatly beloved, or a precious treasure.
There is a Greek word that is very like chamad that is used in the New Testament. It is charitoó (χαριτόω). It means "highly favored," "indued with special honor," and "to make graceful, endow with grace." The New Testament again records Gabriel greeting a human being in this way:
The angel went to her [Mary] and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored (charitoó)! The Lord is with you." Luke 1:28
You know, I have read about Gabriel and Daniel and Mary many times, but this time the fact that they were called highly esteemed and favored struck me to the heart. And I realized that I have never felt that way - highly esteemed, or favored, or precious or greatly beloved by anyone, ever. I have only felt appreciated for my physical appearance or what I could do for someone. But not precious, not valued for who I am. And I'm sure that that is not true. But after decades of clear communication that no one wanted to know who I really was, no one cared about or loved the real me, or cared what I thought or felt or wanted, I sealed up my heart. It has been hard for me to believe that anyone loves me, that God loves me – I mean really loves me. But then I read this:
"He loves us all because He loves us each. We shall never get all the good of that thought until we translate it, and lay it upon our hearts. It is all very well to say, 'Ah yes! God is love,' and it is all very well to say He loves 'the world.' But I will tell you what is a great deal better-to say-what Paul said-'Who loved me and gave Himself for me.'" -- MacLaren's Expositions
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
And then A.W. Tozer said this:
"And when the Son of God walked the earth, He always called individuals to Him. While He preached to the multitudes, He did not preach to them en mass as though they were a faceless crowd. He preached to them as individuals, that he knew each one. And these individuals mattered to Him. And so, the woman taken in adultery, lying there in the dust, ready to be stoned to death, was raised gently to her feet and sent away and told that God would forgive her; to go and sin no more. And the mother with a crippled baby that she brought to Jesus that had been kicked around and pushed everywhere, until she had no feeling anymore that the babe or she amounted to anything in the vast world, was selected out of the crowd and thumbed over and touched and blessed, and Jesus blessed the baby and called his name.
"... the Christian message says, God so loved. And that love is not the love for a species, but a love for individuals. And it was people that He loved. Jesus lover of 'my' soul, not Jesus, lover of the human race, but Jesus lover of my soul." -- A.W. Tozer, A.W. Tozer Talks https://tozertalks.com/tag/john-316/
I know this has been a long post but look at this one more thing! The word charitoó that Gabriel used to greet Mary is only used twice in the Bible. Here is the other one:
… he [God] predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given (charitoó) us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ … Ephesians 1:5-9
Do you see that? The wonder of being highly favored, indued with special honor, made full of grace – highly esteemed - has been lavished on all who will believe by the One who was rejected and despised, the One not highly esteemed, not considered precious or desirable, or beautiful or majestic.
As Gabriel communicated to Daniel and Mary God's high esteem, so through Jesus Christ, God has lavished that same esteem and favor and grace on us all – slathered it on us, pour it down overflowing on us. Each one valued. Each one loved. He loves me. He loves you.
… for you are highly esteemed.
Photo by mendhak https://flic.kr/p/aiCHdv
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