What does Daniel 12:4 mean? Is the Angel speaking of today’s fast pace of knowledge in technology and people traveling here and there in airplanes, etc? Or, is he speaking of God’s Word in prophecy being understood more clearly and people hungering for more understanding so they travel here and there looking for truth? Also, who are these people? I believe the angel is speaking about those are experiencing the Great Tribulation, am I right?
Daniel 12:4 says, “But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”
I believe the intent of this verse is to inform Daniel that as the end of the age approaches people will have a greater understanding of prophetic Scriptures than they did in His time. For example the reference to two resurrections, one for believers and the other for unbelievers, first appears in Daniel 12:2. But even Daniel did not know they would be separated by 1,000 years. That was first revealed by John in Revelation 20.
As we see, some of this increase in knowledge came due to God’s plan of progressive revelation. But some is due to people going to different places to search for the truth.
The Book of Daniel was written to and for Israel and views the end times from the perspective of the Jewish people. The angel’s reference to the time of the end identifies the time we know of as Daniel’s 70th Week, the last seven years before the Lord returns.