End-times prophecy.

The signs of Christ's return, and where each stands today. Each sign is read in its biblical setting, with the full research assessment alongside.

Messianic prophecyEnd-times prophecyTemple watch
Signs of his return8of 13 signs seen today
The gospel preached to all nations before the end · Underway Israel regathered to the land · Underway Jerusalem "trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" · Underway Falling away / apostasy · Underway Wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence ("the beginning of sorrows") · Ongoing False messiahs and prophets · Ongoing "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" · Ongoing Persecution: "hated of all nations for my name's sake" · Ongoing Temple and "abomination of desolation"; a Third Temple · Awaiting Mark of the beast: no buying or selling without the mark · Awaiting The return of Christ itself, visible and global · Awaiting Gog and Magog coalition against Israel · Awaiting The two witnesses · Awaiting
Matt 24:14; Mark 13:10

The gospel preached to all nations before the end

By Joshua Project's count, 56% of the world's people groups are reached with the gospel, and the work continues.

Underway
Matt 24:6-8; Luke 21:10-11

Wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence ("the beginning of sorrows")

Wars, famines and earthquakes continue, as Jesus said: "the end is not yet" (Matt 24:6).

Ongoing
Matt 24:5, 11, 24

False messiahs and prophets

False messiahs and prophets have appeared in every century, as Jesus warned.

Ongoing
Ezek 36-37; Isa 11:11-12 (OT; see the other question)

Israel regathered to the land

Jewish people have returned to the land in large numbers, and the State of Israel was founded in 1948.

Underway
Luke 21:24

Jerusalem "trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled"

Israel has controlled Jerusalem since 1967.

Underway
Dan 9:27; 11:31; Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:4

Temple and "abomination of desolation"; a Third Temple

Groups in Jerusalem are preparing for a Third Temple.

Awaiting
Dan 12:4

"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased"

Knowledge and travel have grown greatly in the modern age.

Ongoing
2 Thess 2:3; 1 Tim 4:1; 2 Tim 3:1-5

Falling away / apostasy

Church affiliation and practice have declined across much of the West, while the church holds steady or grows in the global South.

Underway
Rev 13:16-17

Mark of the beast: no buying or selling without the mark

Watched for.

Awaiting
Matt 24:27, 30; Acts 1:11; Rev 1:7

The return of Christ itself, visible and global

Christ's return, visible to all.

Awaiting
Ezek 38-39

Gog and Magog coalition against Israel

A coalition of nations against Israel in the last days.

Awaiting
Rev 11:3-12

The two witnesses

Two witnesses who prophesy in Jerusalem before the end.

Awaiting
Matt 24:9; Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:12-17

Persecution: "hated of all nations for my name's sake"

Christians face harassment in more countries than any other religious group, as Jesus warned his disciples.

Ongoing
← All signs

"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased"

NowOngoingResearch statusGeneric

King James Version
The passage
Dan 12:4

4But 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.

Read the surrounding verses

1And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

2And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

3And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

4But 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.

5Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.

6And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?

7And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

The Christian case

Daniel was told to "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" (). Many futurist interpreters see this in the modern world: travel and communication on a scale no earlier age imagined, and an explosion of scientific knowledge. Others read it as a promise that the meaning of Daniel's sealed vision would open up at the time of the end, when "the wise shall understand" (). Isaac Newton (1733) read it that way, as the growing understanding of prophecy in his own day. On either reading, Christians see in the verse a God who knows the course of history and promises that his word will be understood in his time.

What the research found

As popularly read, the sign would be true of many eras, so it cannot mark a particular time. Knowledge and travel have grown greatly in the modern age, but that growth has been continuous since the 1600s, speeding up in the mid-18th century and again from the years between the two World Wars, and industrialisation explains it on any view. The research found that, in context, the verse most naturally concerns understanding of the sealed vision, not science and travel.

Explore the counterarguments

The modern reading goes beyond the text. The Hebrew verb means to roam or range; the Jewish Publication Society renders the line "Many will range far and wide and knowledge will increase" (JPS). Elsewhere in the KJV, "run to and fro" describes searching: "they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it" (), and "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem" (). The ancient Greek version of Theodotion reads "until many are taught". So the verse is best read as people searching for understanding of the vision, and growth in travel and science, which any industrial society would show, is not specific to it.

Dates set by interpreters.

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man” (Mark 13:32). 9 dates set; 0 came to pass.

400800120018001850190019502000 Today c. 378 Ambrose of Milan"That Gog is the Goth ... over whom victory in days to come is promised", with Ezekiel's burial of Gog applied to the Goths c. 482 Apollinarius of LaodiceaThe 62 weeks run from the 49th year after Christ's birth, then "Jerusalem and the Temple shall be rebuilt", Elijah comes, then Antichrist (Archer's note: about 482 CE) 1844 William MillerChrist returns about 1843-44 (22 Oct 1844) 1914 Watch Tower1914 (end of the Gentile times: "from that time forward Jerusalem shall no longer be trodden down of the Gentiles"), then 1925, then 1975 1915 H. Grattan GuinnessThe times of the Gentiles close in an era from 1915 to 1934. 1917 is "perhaps the most momentous" year; he asks whether it will see "the extinction of Gentile supremacy on earth, and the restoration of Judah's throne in the person of Christ?" c. 1988 Hal LindseyReturn within a generation (40 years) of 1948, implying about 1988 1988 Edgar WhisenantRapture in Sept 1988 2011 Harold CampingRapture 21 May 2011; end 21 Oct 2011 2015 Blood moonsMajor event linked to the 2014-15 tetrad

Select a date to see the prediction and who made it. The scale changes at 1800.

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