It is so very inspiring to read the book of Daniel and see how Daniel and his companions were overcomers in their age, being absolutely one with God in their victory over Satan’s devices and schemes.
Actually, with Daniel and his companions we see the principle of the Lord’s recovery, for they were men who turned the age of the captivity of God’s people to the age of their return to the land of Immanuel for the building of God’s house and God’s city for God’s expression and authority (Dan. 2:13, 17; Isa. 8:8; Rev. 17:14).
The name Daniel means, God is my Judge; Hananiah meas, Jah has graciously given, or favored of Jah; Mishael means, Who is what God is; and Azariah means Jah has helped.
Each of these names we see the name of God involved; these people were associated with God, for they were being belonging to God.
Daniel and his friends were for God, lived unto God, served God, and they belonged to God; their names, therefore, described what they were and who they were.
However, King Nebuchadnezzar changed their names to Babylonian names; he changed Daniel’s name to “Belteshazzar” (the prince of favorite of Bel – that is an idol), Hananiah’s name to “Shadrach” (enlightened by the sun god – another idol), Mishal’s name to “Meshach” (who can be like the goddess Shah), and Azariah’s name to “Abednego” (meaning, faithful servant of the fire god Nego).
The Babylonian empire is characterised by the abundance of idols, and the archaeological evidence tells us that everywhere there were idols – on every wall, on every step in the streets, in the king’s palace, it is full of idols.
This is the land of Chaldea, where Abraham was first called out from, a land of Babel, a land of idolatry. And the king wanted to turn Daniel and his companions into Babylonians, giving them Babylonian names, so that he may get rid of God and replace it with the name of idols.
This is exactly what is happening today; we live in an anti-God world where the anti-God philosophy is prevailing, anti-God legislation is being passed, and the anti-God governments are ruling.
And the names of the young people in the church life are being changed, from names related to God to idol’s names.
But Daniel and his companions were absolutely one with God in their victory over Satan’s devices, schemes, and traps; they were four young overcomers.
Even though they were very young, teenagers – we don’t know how old exactly, but they must have been in their teens or young teens – yet they stood against the devices of the enemy and refused to eat the evil diet, refused to worship the idols, and refused to stop praying to their God.
They refused to eat the diet given to them by the King of Babylon and chose to eat healthy and clean, refusing to eat and drink what has been offered to the idols and thus refusing to become indirectly idol worshippers.
No matter how young we are, even as teenagers, we can overcome; we can answer God’s calling right now and become like Daniel and his companions.
They were victorious at a young age; they were not that mature, they didn’t see or know that much, but they lived an overcoming life separated from common things, from idol worship, and from unclean things.
They abstained themselves from all forms of evil, and they were men who turned the age of the captivity of God’s people to the age of their return to the land of Immanuel for the building of God’s house and God’s city for God’s expression and authority.
Answering the Lord’s Call for Overcomers and being Men who Turn the Age Today
As far as we know from the Bible, neither Daniel nor his companions might not have returned to the good land of Immanuel; they were not part of the physical remnant that returned.
But we know that Daniel’s heart was entirely set, even as he was serving the king, toward Jerusalem; his face was toward the holy land, his eyes were on God’s dwelling place, the temple, in Jerusalem.
Daniel was for Christ, for Christ’s kingdom, and for Christ’s dwelling place, Christ’s heart.
He may not have returned to the good land, but he lived and served in a way that turned the age twenty years before the return of the exiled Jewish people returned from captivity in Babylon.
He knew from Jeremiah about the promise of returning after seventy years of captivity, and right away he started to pray; he answered the Lord’s call for overcomers in that age, and through his prayer he cooperated with God to turn the age.
Without that prayer, without those twenty years of prayer, there might have been no return from captivity; so Daniel was a dispensational instrument.
In God’s sight, an overcomer is “a man of preciousness”, even “preciousness itself”; an overcomer is a person who answers the Lord’s call for overcomers, one whom God can use to turn the age (1 Pet. 2:7; Dan. 9:23; 10:11, 19).
May the Lord be merciful to us and count us as men of preciousness, those who are used by Him to turn this age.
We can even pray to the Lord along this line, answering His call and crying out to Him,
Lord, be merciful to us. Count us as men of preciousness to You, those whom You can use to turn the age! Amen, Lord Jesus, our plea to You is that we would have the privilege, the honor, and the blessing that we would be persons whom God can use to turn this age! Make us like Daniel, men of preciousness, men who answer the Lord’s call for overcomers and who turn the age!
Christ as the unique Overcomer includes all the overcomers; the unique Overcomer dwells in our spirit to make us His overcomers – in ourselves we can’t overcome, but He can make us His overcomers (John 14:30; Dan. 2:34-35; Rev. 19:7-21; 1 John 5:4, 18-19; Rev. 3:21).
Hallelujah, greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world, and because of Him we can overcome!
Christ is the unique Nazarite, the unique Overcomer, and He lives in us; that which is in us – He who lives in us – has already overcome sin, unrighteousness, the world, and Satan.
There is nothing that Satan had in him – no ground, no room, no opportunity, nothing.
Christ overcame Satan, and He has overcome the world; as such a One He is in us to make us the same as He is if we just allow Him to work Himself into us to make us His duplication, the many overcomers in this age. Will we be an overcomer?
Will we answer the Lord’s call for overcomers in this age? Will we make this choice to be the Lord’s today’s overcomers? Christ is calling – listen to His voice!
As you listen to His voice and say yes to His call, He can produce you as His overcomers; He can be the overcoming One in you.
The Lord needs to raise up men who turn the age for the recovery of God’s expression and authority, just as Daniel and his companions were.
Today among fallen mankind God’s expression is torn down and His authority is denied, but as we see with Daniel and his companions, we can allow God to be expressed through us and be truly under God’s authority as His overcomers today (Gen. 1:26; Dan. 3:14-30; 4:17, 26; Rev. 22:1-2).
Today God needs to raise up some – may we be those; may we be those who are the expression on Jesus on earth, the testimony of Christ, even an anti-testimony to what we see today in the world.
If we look around us we see and find only the Satanic expression, the devilish and demonic expressions everywhere.
Even in the “Christian religion”, the expression of Christ has been torn down, and almost nowhere can we see people prostrating on their knees and being under the rule of God.
Man today is denying God’s rule, the heaven’s rule, the authority of God; man is in a total anarchy and rebellion against God’s authority, so the Bible calls mankind collectively “the sons of disobedience”.
But we want to be like Daniel and his companions, those who answer the Lord’s call for overcomers and allow God to be expressed through us as we are truly under God’s authority.
May we tell the Lord from the depths of our being,
Lord Jesus, we want to answer Your call and be Your overcomers today, those used by You to change this age. Hallelujah, Jesus Christ the Overcomer is in our spirit, and He has overcome sin, unrighteousness, the world, and Satan! Amen, Lord, we open to You and we allow You to work Yourself into us to make us Your duplication, part of Your corporate expression on earth. Live Yourself through us, Lord, and be the Overcomer in us. Raise us up and raise up many men on earth who turn the age for the recovery of God’s expression and authority! We take the lead to submit to Your authority and be under the heavenly rule. Amen, Lord, produce us and many others to be Your overcomers today!
How Daniel and His Companions were Absolutely Consecrated to God and Separated unto Him from an Age that Follows Satan
Daniel and his companions truly allowed God to be expressed through them, and they were truly under God’s authority. If we read the book of Daniel, we see that there were some young men who were standing on earth for God, allowing God to be expressed even in a land of idols.
Amidst all the debauchery, the blindness, the darkness, the corruption and evil, and the wickedness and sinfulness, these four young overcomers were standing there, still expressing God.
They were under God’s authority; yes, they were serving the king outwardly, but inwardly they were serving the Most High God.
Eventually some of the kings – the Babylonian and Persian kings – acknowledged that the God whom these ones serve is really the God of this heaven and earth.
What a testimony this was! This is what we in the churches should be; we should be the testimony of Jesus, the place where God’s kingdom is real.
Daniel had companions with whom he was absolutely consecrated to God and separated unto God from an age that followed Satan (see Dan. 1:4-8; 5:12, 22; 6:10).
In order for us today to answer the Lord’s call for overcomers and be part of the dispensational instrument used by God to turn the age, what is required is absolute consecration to God.
We need the vow of the Nazarite; we need to be absolutely separated unto God, abstaining from all the evil things.
All those who are used by God to turn the age must be Nazarites, the ones who are voluntarily consecrated, the ones who are sanctified absolutely and ultimately to God (see Num. 6:1-8, 22-27; Psa. 110:3; Luke 9:62; Phil. 3:13-14).
The definition of a Nazarite is to be for nothing other than God; not even a little bit for something other than God but totally, one thousand percent for living for God and His need.
A Nazarite was not born as a priest but he was a voluntarily consecrated one; he took the initiative to serve God and be for God, realizing that God has a need and presenting himself to God.
Especially as the priesthood became stale and degraded, decrepit, God needs the Nazarites, the voluntarily consecrated ones, those who answer the Lord’s call for overcomers today.
God has a need; He needs some who come up to His standard to serve Him and to serve His purpose and His people.
The vow of a Nazarite is not a requirement, but if we have a heart for the Lord, if we touch something of God’s need, we make this vow voluntarily.
This is more than just a kind of offering – it is a vow that we make voluntarily with the Lord to abstain from wine and stay way from death, and serve only the Lord.
To abstain from wine is to abstain from the pleasures and enjoyment in the world, and to not touch death is to not touch anything that brings in death and is deadly; God hates death more than sin.
The Nazarite also had to let his hair grow; this means that this person is entirely under God’s authority and in full submission to Him.
If we look at Daniel and his companions, we see that, even though they were still very young, they stood up as an anti-testimony, similar to the way that Antipas did in the church in Pergamos (see Rev. 2:13).
Antipas was against the current of that age, standing against the trend; he was called the faithful one, and he was eventually martyred.
A martyr is a witness – the witness of Christ; Antipas was an absolute one, a true Nazarite.
May we abstain ourselves from evil and from the worldly pleasures and entertainment, and may we sanctify ourselves and distance ourselves from all the things that are from Satan so that we may be entirely for God!
Lord Jesus, we consecrate ourselves to You absolutely and we want to be separated unto God from an age that follows Satan! We want to answer the Lord’s call for overcomers and be the ones who are absolutely consecrated to God and separated unto Him. Amen, Lord, bring us up to Your standard to serve You and Your purpose and Your people. Do it for Your sake, Lord. Gain the kind of consecration that You require for You to make us today’s Nazarites. May we stand one with You as an anti-testimony, standing against the trend and the flow in this age and standing on God’s side for His testimony!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1957, vol. 3, “Men who Turn the Age,” chs. 1-2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 5, Answering God’s Call to Be His Dispensational Instruments, His Overcomers to Turn the Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– You need the Nazarites to turn this age. / Strengthen us to overcome in these last days— / All rebellion, natural affection, even death, / Worldly pleasures, every enjoyment of the flesh. / I need You, but You need me too, / To do what You want to do. / Rekindle all of my love for You, / To be a voluntarily consecrated one. (Song on, Consecrated One)
– Will you be an overcomer? / Will you make this choice? / Christ is calling, Christ is calling, / Listen to His voice! (Hymns #894)
– Daniel had companions, and they ate God’s Word, / From the world, they stood apart; / Through a praying spirit were aligned with God, / For His people, God’s own heart. / I will choose to be a living overcomer, / Be a person not ashamed to be a Jesus lover, / One who eats the tree of life, / And drinks the living water. (Song on, Choose to Be an Overcomer)
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