"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

Well, certainly many are running to and fro but knowledge is not increasing on this subject, it’s actually getting more muddled. Actually, God is not concerned with our carnal knowledge, He’s concern with our spiritual knowledge, which is Christ and righteousness. This understanding the statement made to Daniel is a clue to the beginning of the end days. On top of this hint, let’s take a moment and look at the pattern of the words used here. God said, “until the time of the end” - He did not say, “until the end of time”. So, the question is, when is the time of the end? Contrary to popular teaching, we are told when the time of the end will be. I didn't say the end of time. If I, or anyone else, claims to know when the end of time is then turn and walk the other way.

Let's look at the visions in Daniel and compare a couple components with Revelation's visions a moment. Of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, in Daniel 2, he saw the feet of iron and clay that dropped off of the legs of iron, which is old Rome. In Daniels vision in chapter 7, Daniel saw a small kingdom rise out of the ten kingdoms that rose out of old Rome; and that kingdom would last until the end. The feet of iron and clay and the little horn are parallel with the first beast of Revelation 13, the beast of seven heads that was given power by a beast with seven heads (Rome). Notice that Daniel does not talk about a head wound, nor does he talk about another beast that would rise up after the little horn. Daniels vision stopped at the death of Christ, as we see with the prophecy of the 70 weeks.

"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place." Revelation 1:1

"Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." Revelation 1:3

"And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." Revelation 22:10

Because of statements made, many believe that it was John who thought it was the end days when he was alive; and that he was in error. We see in 1:1, 1:2, and 22:10 that John was told by an angel of God that the time of the end was near. John could not have been in error.

The books of 1, 2, and 3 John were written after his authorship of Revelation. In 1 John 2:18, he says “we are in the last hour”. John was not in error in saying this. He fully understood what was being told him by the angel in the vision. The confusion comes on the fact that we’ve fallen for a false “seven year tribulation period” that is supposed to be in the end and mark the end days. The angel of the Lord gave us a DIFFERENT mark.

We are actually given hints in other texts that the time of the end, and even events prophesied for the time of the end, started with the apostle. On the day of Pentecost, after Christ died and the Spirit of God was poured out on those in the upper room, Peter said:

"But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ "Acts 2:16-21

When we look at what God told Daniel and what the angel of God told John, and we see what Peter knew of the pouring out of the Spirit of God at Pentecost, we see that we entered into the time of the end around the time of Christ or at the fall of the Temple in 70AD. We must understand that "the end" does not necessarily mean stop, done, finished. The "time of the end" can mean an end of an era, a last era of time. There was 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham, 2,000 years from Abraham to Christ, and it's believed there will be 2,000 years from the time of Christ's first coming to the time of His last; then the earth will rest for it's sabbath in the 1000 years of peace.

This, all of a sudden, changes the way we look at “end day” prophecy. It’s by this that we see that we have been in the end days for quite some time.

You may want to check out my blog post on 4/22/24, End of the End, about the significance of the time we are in.