Episode 96: Knowledge Shall Be Increased

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 96

Gary discusses a verse from the book of Daniel (12:4) that has been widely cited lately in relation to Bible prophecy and artificial intelligence technologies.

Those who take [Daniel 12] verse 4 as referring to events at the end of history believe that Daniel’s prophecy is “sealed up” until that time. Only as the second coming of Christ draws near will we be able to understand prophetic truth. Hal Lindsey, of course, believes that the end is near and that he, unlike previous generations of Christian thinkers, understands the previously hidden prophetic truth. The sealing of the book, however, does not mean that it cannot be understood, but rather that the angel has told Daniel all that he is going to say at this point in history. The book is unsealed in Revelation 5–6 and in Revelation 22:10 the completed book is left unsealed because there is no more to be said.

Prophetic speculators take note of the fact that with the coming of railroads, automobiles, and airplanes, people “go to and fro” much more than ever before in history. Scientific knowledge has also boomed in recent years. We can say, of course, that a thousand years from now people may be going to and fro even more than they do now, and there will be even more knowledge around, so how can anyone know that our own generation is the time verse 4 is pointing to?

The real point, of course, is that this kind of “interpretation” of verse 4 is possible only by wrenching the text completely out of its context and then dreaming up possible meanings. As we pointed out above, there is plenty of going to and fro in Daniel 11 and that is pretty clearly what verse 4 refers to. And, again as pointed out above, the increase of knowledge is pretty obvious: As time wentalong and the predictions in Daniel 11 were fulfilled decade by decade, the prophecy was better and better understood.

The Handwriting on the Wall

Unlike “liberal” commentaries, The Handwriting on the Wall takes seriously the claim that Daniel and his contemporaries put this book together. In this respect, this commentary stands within the mainstream of all Jewish and Christian commentaries. But unlike most “conservative” commentaries, the author, James B. Jordan, refuses to jump the prophecies off until the end of time, but takes seriously what they meant for those who heard them. Like any scholarly commentary, however, The Handwriting on the Wall is based on careful treatment of the grammar of the Hebrew and Aramaic text, and reflects a thoroughgoing familiarity with scholarly treatments of Daniel, “liberal” and “conservative,” up to the present day.

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Gary discusses a verse from the book of Daniel (12:4) that has been widely cited lately in relation to Bible prophecy and artificial intelligence technologies. When Daniel says that “knowledge will be increased,” he isn’t referring to a general increase in the quantity of knowledge, as most modern prophecy writers want it to mean. It has nothing to do with computers, the internet, or AI.

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