“But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Daniel 12: 4, NKJV.
Merciful LORD, How thankful we are that You have not left us to grope in the darkness of the unknown. We thank You for leaving us signs along the way, to guide our feet into Your heavenly kingdom. Please help us to be obedient to Your leading. In the blessed name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
The book of Daniel, for many years, was considered a sealed book. The prophecy of which our Scripture forms a part is almost parallel to portions of Matthew 24. It is indeed a prophecy about the time of the end, not, the end of time. The door for the “increase of knowledge,” would begin to open just about the time that the era of persecution, the 1260 years (538-1798) was coming to an end. The darkness that had engulfed the world when the reading of the Word of God was prohibited, was the main reason for “darkness [to] cover the earth, and gross darkness the people” (Isaiah 60: 1b, 2a).
Once the darkness was lifted, knowledge could flourish. As a result, the age of invention, with its modern means of transportation made it possible for people to “run to and fro,” and thereby facilitate the increase of knowledge. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries witnessed the invention of the airplane, and the invention of the telephone. In this manner groundbreaking information could travel around the world with the speed of light!
With the Reformation, and the invention of the printing press, bibles, which once had to be handwritten over long periods of time, and could only be read by the prelate, could now be multiplied, and put in the hands of the common people. Truly, it can be said, ” The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119: 130). None of these inventions were simply the result of the initiative of human beings. Behind the scenes was God, controlling circumstances, and working out His divine plan; preparing the world and its inhabitants for the event that will change the world for time and for eternity – the return of Jesus Christ to earth!
Two main events are mentioned in these “time of the end” scenes: “Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished” (Daniel 12: 7, emphasis supplied). Here again we find the same period of time of persecution of the “holy people”: time = 360 + times = 720 + half a time = 180 =1260.
“Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” (10). Though persecution “completely shattered” the people of God, praise His name, they were “purified,” “refined,” and “made white,” in the blood of the Lamb, and by His grace! The wicked will never be able to understand the things of God, because spiritual things are “spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2: 14). But those who know the Lord, “shall understand.”
May God help us to be wise in the things of the Lord, and thereby be ready to meet Him in peace, at His coming!