October 18: AN ASSIGNMENT REVEALED
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
Daniel is the only book of the Bible ever sealed shut. The divine visions given were meant to arm God’s last-day people against the end-time assaults that He knew would come. Though they were written some 700 years apart, Daniel and Revelation are undeniably companions. Each shines a light upon the other. There are some pastors who have claimed that Revelation is also a sealed book, but that has never been the case. Revelation 1:3 states: Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. It came along at the end of the first century A.D., and these last two millennia have brought one historical confirmation after another of the prophecies given to us from heaven.
When Napoleon ordered his general Berthier to kidnap the pope in 1798, he had no idea that he was fulfilling the prophecy regarding the end of the 1260 years of papal supremacy. This event also marked the beginning of the time of the end: when the book of Daniel would begin to be unsealed. Though the kidnapping and death of the pope seemed to be a mortal wound to the papacy, the Lord knew that between 1798 and the return of Jesus, the papacy would regain its power and deceptively gain the confidence of the world (Revelation 13:3).
In the decades immediately following, godly men* began a diligent search of the Bible for greater understanding of the prophecies, especially of those regarding the advent of Jesus in majesty and glory. Their contagious enthusiasm spread across the globe, and numerous Bible societies and mission organizations came into being. They recognized the time for the unsealing of Daniel—that the mystery of God would be revealed, as He declared to His servants the prophets (Revelation 10:7). Widespread interest in the Bible drove thousands into the Word of God. They would . . .run to and fro… This Hebrew phrase refers to “traveling” throughout the pages of God’s word in a successful “journey” of gathering understanding so that knowledge shall increase. They began to realize the fulfillment of certain time prophecies in Daniel. But because of the common misunderstanding that the sanctuary symbolized the earth, they misunderstood the cleansing of the sanctuary (Daniel 8:14) as the return of Jesus, when the whole earth will be cleansed by fire (Isaiah 51:6; Matthew 24:35; 2 Peter 3:10). In truth, only the outer court of the earthly sanctuary represented the earth. This is where the altar of sacrifice and the laver were located, representing Jesus on the cross and the baptism of His followers, respectively. The Holy Place and the Most Holy Place—the building proper—represented the heavenly sanctuary where the risen Jesus has been ministering as our great High Priest. This misunderstanding cleared up through the study of the sanctuary in the book of Hebrews. Jesus is in His final phase of the High Priestly ministry. Excitement that He is coming soon must be tempered with concern for a lost world… Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” Revelation 10:10-11
* Some of those who instigated this fresh interest in the Savior’s advent were Joseph Wolff in the Middle East, Manuel Lacunza in South America, and William Miller in the USA.