“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.”
Daniel 12:4

I have always found this passage from Daniel to be fascinating, and think that it may be, from an amillenial point of view, a direct reference to the times we live in. It’s just my own speculation, but let me explain why I think so.

Last week I posted an entry entitled “A Small Meditation on Thankfulness.” It got me to thinking about our society and culture, about the abundance and convenience that we have come to know.

We really live in a Renaissance, a golden age, where even the simplest endeavors have been arduously and painstakingly improved. Knowledge is amassed and skills are honed, products and goods are improved. Technology is advancing exponentially. Don’t believe me? Consider these examples.

One of my main hobbies is firearms. Right now, today, there are more different kinds of guns being manufactured, in more calibers than ever before. In the last several years literally dozens of new rifle and handgun cartridges have been invented. This rivals and surpasses the great flurry of creativity in firearms design from the latter half of the 19th century.

My own area of interest is single shot metallic cartridge rifles from the 1870’s and 1880’s. There is a whole subculture devoted to this period and type of rifle. You can buy recreations of almost any rifle manufactured during the period. They range in quality and price from cheap knock-offs to hand built custom rifles costing as much as a new car. Yeah, it really is an obscure niche, and pales in size when compared to the cowboy action shooting subculture. If you like firearms, right now is the best time in history to collect or shoot guns.

A more mundane example is wine, beer or liquor. I work for a specialty grocery chain based on the west coast. We sell a lot of alcohol. In most metropolitan areas you can drink the finest beer, wine or liquor from any country on earth. We sell many wines for under ten dollars that would rival the wines served to Kings several hundred years ago. The best wines made today are simply the finest ever produced. At the same restaurant you can drink whiskey from Kentucky or Scotland, beer from Germany, Japan, and the U.S., and wine from France, Italy, California, or New Zealand.

Look at cars, motorcycles, bicycles, musical equipment, or any other pursuit that lends itself to what one of my friends called GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) Products and knowledge in every one of these areas is exploding.

If you want to learn a skill you can learn any language you want, study martial arts from two dozen different countries, or find lessons to acquire almost any skill. Physical fitness techniques and exercise constantly reach new heights of effectiveness and efficiency. Look at our athletes.

My Pastor tells the story of a colleague visiting him from another country, who suffered a small emotional breakdown when confronted in the grocery store with 60 different brands of jelly and jam in the condiment aisle. My pastor turned the corner into the aisle and found his friend weeping. When asked what was the matter, the friend replied that in his country they only had a few choices and he was overwhelmed by the barrage of options. (The country shall remain nameless, however it is not one that I would have guessed had limited choices when it came to store-bought preserves.)

We can get in an airplane and travel almost anywhere in the world in less than a day. A car trip of several hundred miles is common, and a commute to work of 20 to 30 miles each way is done by tens or hundreds of thousands each day. We can pick up the phone or send an email and be in contact with someone on the other side of the world in seconds.

Knowledge is definitely increased, and we go to and fro on the face of the earth in ways that are substantially different from any preceding time in history. That is why I believe the passage in Daniel is speaking about this age.

I am thankful that I was born in such a time of abundance and prosperity, and amid life’s trials and hardships, it does my soul good to meditate on God’s generosity towards us.

By Pat K

Posted in General