The Increase of Knowledge
...In the Time of the End

By Ed Corley

But thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Daniel 12:4

AN OLD FRIEND, now passed on, once challenged me with regard to the Book of Daniel. He said much valuable light for the time of the end will come to those who search out this Book in its original form. At that time it was beyond my grasp. I could hardly imagine doing it, but I did begin soaking in its pages. I read very little commentary on it but simply allowed the Holy Spirit to quicken what He would from the King James Version. Over the years He has drawn me, and those around me, to it again and again. Life itself has required a mellowing, brought on by pain and suffering. enhanced by failure, enriched by loss of reputation--all to free us from some ways of Babylon so we can grow in our perception of God's ways. Thus, we are being made ready to receive His Kingdom into our lives, as the Word in Daniel requires.

ONE MORNING my first thought on waking—it came like a word of instruction from the Lord—was to go to the last chapters of Daniel and see how he made use of yadag. This is the Hebrew word that means "to know." I've learned to pay attention when instruction like this comes. What I found has led to one of the most amazing insights I've ever received.

For weeks I had not been able to get away from Daniel 1:17 where I found yadag along with those three other important words that have to do with our minds. We took note of them in the last Daniel article. As for these four children, God gave them • knowledge (yadag) and • skill (sachal) in all learning and • wisdom (chokmah): and Daniel had • understanding (bin) in all visions and dreams. These words are significant throughout Daniel. They point to qualities of the mind. For those who give themselves over to God's Kingdom, each of them will receive enhancement in the latter days. Their importance, however, may not clearly come out in all translations of the Scriptures. Translators are not always consistent in how they interpret them and sometimes switch them with their meanings. This is one reason we view them in the Original.

The definition of yadag can be expanded from "to know" to mean "to perceive, discern, or be aware of". It can mean "to become acquainted with, to recognize, to know intimately as a husband knows his wife, or to care for." Amazingly, I found it occurring one time in each of the last six chapters of Daniel, the prophetic section of the Book. Each one is strategic as it points to a dimension of knowledge that will find release in the latter days. There have been individuals through the ages, and there are some now, who have been graced of God to receive greater light than others in each dimension, but never on the scale that will come at the time of the end.

The six passages with the word yadag point to doors for knowing beyond the knowing of the most learned who depend on human instruction and intuition.
• Daniel 7:16 points to knowledge about the saints of the most High and their movements in the closing days {Editor's Note: Daniel 2:5 through 7:28 is not written in Hebrew but in Chaldean, the language of Babylon. The Chaldean equivalent to yadag occurs in this verse}.
• Daniel 8:19 points to knowledge about the last-day movements of the anti-Christ.
• Daniel 9:25 points to knowledge about God's timetable for the closing of the age.
• Daniel 10:20 points to a knowledge of the heavens and the warfare that rages there.
• Daniel 11:32 points to the knowledge of God, the highest knowledge of all.
• Daniel 12:4, the last of the six verses using yadag, points to an end-time increase in all the dimensions of knowledge to which the previous five point..

WE WILL CONSIDER EACH of these, but before we do, let us take a brief look at the first biblical occurrence of yadag. Here we will find the contrasting knowledge that comes from the realm of evil. This too will reach its intensity at the end. This first use of yadag is in Gen 3:5 when the serpent spoke to the woman. He said, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. That serpent of old wanted our first Parents to know what God would not have them to know. Thus, he set out to corrupt the gift God had placed in them. They yielded, and their ability "to know" developed in a way that separated them from God. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.... After that they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God—Gen 3:7a,8. That ability "to know," because it was enhanced by that old serpent the devil, worked to our early Parents' corruption. After the departure that had begun in their minds, God started to make an awesome statement that He never finished--perhaps His only unfinished Word. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…—Gen 3:22. He never completed this. It was unthinkable and unspeakable. He would not state what a man might become if his corrupted ability to grow in knowledge were left unchallenged by death.

Mankind's God-given ability "to know" was infected with an evil virus. That infection will spread as the time of the end comes nearer. Eventually, people all over the world will become haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things—Rom 1:30. The corrupted knowledge will find its greatest embodiment in the anti-Christ as he seeks to take all that seems noble and brilliant to incorporate it in his domain. He will set out to make everything good into something evil. He will also take what God names as evil and lift it to the realm of what he views as good.

But, as his realm of knowledge advances, there is a people in the earth advancing in the knowledge of God. This is the knowledge that will prevail and to which the Daniel passages point us.

FIRST WE NOTE the final Daniel passage that makes use of yadag. This is Daniel 12:4. Here it takes in all the dimensions of knowledge to which the prior chapters point. But thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. It is significant that Daniel was told to shut up the words and seal the book. This seal is to remain even to the time of the end. The weight of all the four visions in these last six chapters points to the time of the end. It is then their meaning will become completely clear. They will serve as guides for the release of end-time knowledge. Those who try to open the seal of any one of them before its time can only wind up with human speculation or something that pertains to a foreshadowing fulfillment from out of history. When the end is near, those whose hearts are in tune with the Holy Spirit will sense a drawing force from the Lord convicting many to start searching to and fro through the prophetic pages. Then, knowledge, born out of the unveiled Word, shall be increased.

The end to which each of the visions points is the closing out of the age. The Prophets, especially Isaiah, Joel and Zechariah, spoke of this same time as the day of the Lord. Also, there is great parallel between the four visions of Daniel, Matt 24 (with Lu 21 and Mk 13), II Thes 2, and the Book of Revelation. We keep "running" to and fro through these passages. Perhaps, strangely to me, this is the same thing I call "soaking" in them.

Run to and fro is from the Hebrew word shoot. It means "to wander or roam about." While this may seem an erratic and irresponsible act, it is apparent the roaming about through the Books that have been sealed to the time of the end will he at the direction of the Holy Spirit. This gives us our encouragement now for roaming about through these words that have been shut up. We have a keen sense of moving at His direction as we do it.


NOW LET US BEGIN together to run to and fro through the last six chapters of Daniel and take note of the five dimensions of knowledge to be released for the people of God in the last time. The single placement of yadag, "to know," in each chapter stamps the chapter as to the expanse of knowledge it contains. Each one becomes a springboard to other points in Scripture that will add their substance to the knowledge that shall be increased in the time of the end.

1 The Increase of Knowledge as It Pertains to the Saints

DANIEL'S FIRST SEALED VISION is in chapter 7. After he received it, being disturbed himself, he said, As for me Daniel, my cogitations ("thoughts") much troubled me...7:28. He could not understand what he had seen. This is because the extent of the vision reached far out of the time in which he lived. Although there is much in it that has found meaning for interpreters through the ages, the weight of its Word reaches toward the saints at the end. It lays out their movements as they take the Kingdom from the hands of the little horn, one of Daniel's designations for the anti-Christ. In the vision we can see the wild and vain movements of the principalities that rule in the nations. They are all symbolized by animal like creatures. We can also see the emergence of one who is the final embodiment of evil. But the greater emphasis of the chapter is on how the saints withstand him and become instruments to break his back. We learn from this: while we see the movements of evil advancing, we train our spiritual eyes on what the Lord is doing with His people. We are learning what makes us part of this company, its purpose, and how we move in conquest.

See this: I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things—Daniel 7:16. Daniel could not know what he was seeing unless someone could make him know. In this case it was a heavenly messenger, apparently an angel. It is not strange such a one should stand close by for angels desire to look into the matters which pertain to us. (See I Pet 1:12.) It is a heavenly curiosity. What the angel showed Daniel awaits the increase of knowing that the Holy Spirit will bring us at the end.

As the vision unfolds, we find five points of knowledge that pertain to the saints and to the Kingdom that advances through them. We can only look here at these points in outline form. They give us guidance as to what is ready to open to us throughout the Word of God for this awesome hour.

First is the knowledge that, no matter what takes place in the earth, the Throne of God remains stable in the heavens. Through all the changes of circumstances and governments, through all the upheavals and disruptions of life, Daniel saw that the Ancient of days did sit..—Daniel 7:9. This means His heavenly Throne cannot be challenged. His Kingdom's authority and power remain unmoved by any blast from mankind or Satan. The saints must know this, no matter what is taking place around them. This is the only place of stability to which they can finally relate. As the furious time of the end comes on, all other stability will fail.

Second is the knowledge that the Kingdom of Christ remains stable in the earth. One like the Son of Man has received dominion, and glory, and a kingdom. All people, nations, and languages shall serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed ("corrupted")—7:13,14. Saints may forget their names, they may forget where they live, but they must never forget that His Kingdom extends unto the uttermost parts of the earth. The authority of this Kingdom finds release through them. They are commissioned to make His Name and triumph known.

Third is the knowledge that the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever—7:18. What a stamp of finality comes over upon the future of the saints! While the principalities and powers of other kingdoms are making their temporary advancements, the saints are advancing with a Kingdom that shall last forever.

Fourth is the knowledge that the anti-Christ will, for a limited period of time, prevail against the saints. We have this strong promise from the Lord Jesus in Matt 24:22. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Nonetheless, the tribulation shall come. It is but foolishness to ignore the Word of God that gives reference to it. It will become apparent to us, as we continue to run to and fro, that it comprises the final three and one-half years of this age. The Holy Spirit is causing us to give strong credence to the idea that we shall be on earth during this awesome time. While a vast number of Christians believe we shall be raptured before its onset, increasing numbers are opening to the possibility that Scripture does not teach this. Wisdom dictates that we give ourselves to preparation for the dark hour. For those who endure to the end, the judgment will pass into their hands and the time will come that they possess the Kingdom—7:21,22. These live day in and day out with this knowledge firm, even when everything around them shouts to the contrary.

Fifth is the knowledge that, while the anti-Christ moves with passion against the most High, even God Himself, and seeks to wear out the saints, they shall rebound with a power that exterminates him completely. The saints of the Most High are his resolute enemies. In his last blasphemous attempt to take the place of God Himself, they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end—7:25-27. With the release of knowledge like this, born out of the heavens, the saints will ultimately prevail.

2 The Increase of Knowledge as It Pertains to the Anti-Christ

IT IS DANIEL 8 that points us to the second dimension of knowledge that will find full release in the latter days. It is the knowledge of exactly how the anti-Christ will move in his end-time attempt to overthrow the authority that has arisen in the saints. He cannot touch the Lord Jesus; his only hope is to wipe out those joined with Him.

See this verse: Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be—Daniel 8:19.

Please remember: we are not searching out the whole chapter in this one article. We are simply beginning to lay out what it says about the latter-day movements of the anti-Christ. There is little that is positive for the saints in chapter 8. I've looked at it for years, waiting for it to open. In this time, I have found three positive points that come through over the outline of what the king of fierce countenance expects to accomplish. We will consider these first.

The first is that all his wrath against the saints will but result in the cleansing of the sanctuary (Daniel 8:14). This means the Holy of Holies. I believe this can have last-day reference to none other than the temple to which Paul makes reference in I Cor 3:16,17; II Cor 6:16; Eph 2:20-22, and II Thes 2:4. The fair and unbiased opening of the Scripture reveals that all these references to the temple pertain to us. We are its living stones. The Greek word Paul used for temple in each of the foregoing passages is náos, a word which means "the sanctuary; the most holy place." What preaching, praying, fasting, dedication, commitment, and laying hold on right doctrine has failed to completely accomplish, the movements of the anti-Christ will bring to pass. How appalling to him! He had hoped to wipe us out, but will only succeed in making us more holy!

The second point of knowledge in this dimension is that all the wrath of the anti-Christ cannot move beyond the time allowed for him by the Lord, for at the time appointed the end shall be (8:19). His attempt to change times, as told in Daniel 7:25, will be in vain. Some have interpreted times in this verse to mean religious and holy days, such as the birth, or resurrection, of Christ that have been imposed upon the holy days of the ancient pagans. But we cannot accept this view. The times the anti-Christ would change are those times laid out in the prophecies of Daniel, especially the times that have bearing on him and that limit his activity. One time he would surely love to change is this time appointed of Daniel 8:19. It clearly defines his end.

The third point of knowledge relative to the anti-Christ is that in the final day he shall be broken without hand (8:25). This language is similar to that of Daniel 2:34 in which Daniel tells, through supernatural understanding, Nebuchadnezzar's dream which he could not recall. He saw an image representing a succession of governments brought down by a stone that was cut out without hands. This stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth—2:35. This hath reference to the Kingdom of Christ!

Take note of what comes at the end of each of Daniel's four visions. They all tell of the sudden end that will come to the anti-Christ. But the judgment shall sit, and they (the saints) shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end—Daniel 7:26... but he shall be broken without hand—Daniel 8:25b... and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate (that is, upon "the desolator")—Daniel 9:27b. . yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him—Daniel 11:45b. Then see this: And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming—II Thes 2:8.

While we see three positive points in chapter 8, there are at least fourteen other points to describe the violent movements of the anti-Christ through the last days of his indignation against the saints. Our knowledge of his movements will prove invaluable as the time of the end comes on.

(1) Daniel 8:11a—He will exalt himself to take the place of the Prince of the host, the Lord Jesus.
(2) 8:11b—He will presume to take away the daily sacrifice, the propitiatory work of the Lord Jesus.
(3) 8:11c—He will cast down the place of His sanctuary. Perhaps this means he will destroy all houses of worship.
(4) 8:12a—He will have a host, a large army of followers, who join with him by reason of their transgression.
(5) 8:10-13—He will set up the abomination of desolation to which the Lord Jesus made reference in Matt 24:15.
(6) 8:2—As a king of fierce countenance who comes on the scene when the transgressors have reached their full number, he will be skilled in double dealing. This means he will give forth spiritual sounding discourses with dark and obscure meaning.
(7) 8:24a—His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power It will be satanic.
(8) 8:24—He will destroy (spread his corruption) wonderfully, that is, in an appalling way.
(9) 8:24b—He will prosper and practice. This means he will have success in carrying out his designs.
(10) 8:24c—He will destroy (spread his corruption toward) the mighty and the holy people.
(11) 8:25a—Through his policy he will cause craft to prosper. With studied skill he will spread his deception.
(12) 8:25b—He will magnify himself in his heart, being taken over by self-exaltation.
(13) 8:25c—By peace (the promise of prosperity) he shall destroy (corrupt) many.
(14) 8:25d—He will make a final thrust against the Prince of princes, even the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the point at which he shall be broken without hand.

It is the evil one's determination to wipe out the saints, using every device he deems possible against them. There will, however, be those who are the brunt of his indignation who will know what his latter end shall be. These shall endure to the end with a vigor born from above. The people he seeks to destroy, he will only succeed in making more holy for the high purposes of the Lord God. At this time God's Kingdom shall become manifest in the earth. What has been in the hearts of saints will break forth openly.

We will continue with Part Three:
The Increase of Knowledge and Repentance

Berean Ministries
PO Box 38
Elk Park, NC 28622-0038

Visit Us at http://www.maschil.com