Increased Knowledge

By Joram Roubique

In response to a post my dear brother Joe (Source):

“But thou, O 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. (Dan 12:4)

As a believer in future events and student of bible prophecy this latest advance in internet capability seems to apply to the above verse now more than ever. Believers in fulfilled eschatology who feel that everything in the bible was fulfilled before 70 A.D. I would ask how the increase of knowledge then is at all comparable to the increase in knowledge we see today? The current internet is capable of providing people around the globe with any sort of information at your fingertips 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Now we have what is the beginning of a new superfast internet.”

From what I understand, there is a new form of internet coming out that is supposedly faster than the quickest stuff we have now. The argument being made here is this: If everything was fulfilled around 70 A.D., how does the increase of knowledge during that time even come close to the increase of knowledge we see today?

Well, to be honest, it doesn’t compare, but we have to get a better understanding of what “knowledge” we’re referring to.

To put this in context, it’s important to understand that the “time of the end” or “last days” refer not to the last days of Earth’s existence, but to the last days or to the time of the end of the old covenant (Mosaic Covenant) and to the end of the Jewish state. The “last day,” according to most partial preterists (such as myself), has yet to come; however, the “last days” have already past.

The last days, as seen in scripture, referred to a specific time and a specific people. The first time the Hebrew words yom and ‘achariyth (which together means “last days,” “end of days,” or “days to come”) are used, they appear in Genesis 49:1. In this passage, Jacob is relaying to his sons, the twelve tribes of Judah, what was to come. Jacob goes on to tell Judah, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh [Jesus] comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

Moses says in Deuteronomy 4:30, “When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.” This could be a reference to the age of the Messiah. Nevertheless, it is again referring to the Jewish people. There is no reference to any Gentile nation or Gentile people.

Once again, in Isaiah 2:1-2, Daniel 10:14 and Hosea 3:5, the last days are concerning Jerusalem and/or the Jewish people. If we can understand what this terminology refers to, the writers of the New Testament most certainly could, and they did.

Peter himself explained in Acts 2 that he was experiencing the last days. Peter says, “this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be written in the last days.’” This prophecy that so many Charismatics try to claim for themselves is not for them, but for those who were in the last days, which according to Peter, “this is what was spoken of.” This isn’t some obscure term that meant a future date. “This” means this, not that! Peter was not the first Bill Clinton trying to change the meaning of the word is. Is means is and this means this! There is no reference of this ever meaning that, so get over it. Anyway…

The writer of Hebrews says that God “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son” (1:2). Peter and the writer of Hebrews knew that they were in the last days.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:11, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Paul believed that the Jewish age was ending and that the end of this age had come upon himself and the other believers.

1 John 2:18 says, “Children, it is the last hour…” The Apostle John also knew that the end was near.

If the Old Testament repeatedly refers to the last days as pertaining to the Jews, and since Peter believed that he was in the last days, as confirmed by Joel’s prophecy, and the writer of Hebrews, Paul and John also believed this, what age are we in?

Jesus said in Matthew 12:32, “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” “This age” was the Jewish age (Old Covenant) and “the age to come” is the age we are in now (New Covenant).

Paul adds in Ephesians 1:21 that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

Now, since knowledge was increased during the last days, which was the time of the Apostles, what knowledge was increased as mentioned in Daniel 12:4?

The knowledge that would be increased is the knowledge and understanding of salvation. Zacharias prophesied in Luke 1:77 that Jesus would “give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.”

Paul says in Romans 15:14, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another,” and in 1 Corinthians 1:5, he goes on to say that “in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.”

In 2 Corinthians 4:16, it says, “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

Ephesians 4:13 speaks of “the knowledge of the Son of God,” and in Colossians 1:9, Paul prays for his readers to “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” and in verse 10, “and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Paul says in Colossians 2:3 that in Christ lies the hidden “treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” In 1 Timothy 2:4, Paul says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul speaks of the “repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”

2 Peter 1:2 says, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,” and in 3:18, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

This knowledge that was increased in the last days was the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Interestingly enough, Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees in Luke 11:52 said, “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” Those who loved the Law more than God took away the key because of their religious obsession and self-righteousness.

Thankfully, there is no more knowledge to gain other than what was given to us through Christ Jesus.

In Hosea 4:6, God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest.” Do you honestly believe that the knowledge mentioned here and the knowledge that was to come in the last days is knowledge a faster internet can bring – porn, music downloads, world news, weather, celebrity gossip, etc? This knowledge that was increased had to be holy and could only be increased through the Holy Spirit, not some super-fast technology.

The hypocritical, self-righteous religious leaders had taken away the key to knowledge, hindering those pursuing the true knowledge of God, but through Christ, we can be handed the keys.