The DVD is dying if not already dead.

That is how I ended yesterday’s devotional, but how did I relate that thought to the verse quoted?

Daniel 12:4 But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the Book until the time of the end. [Then] many shall run to and fro and search anxiously [through the Book], and knowledge [of God’s purposes as revealed by His prophets] shall be increased and become great. AMPC

Before we begin to analyze the variety of versions of this one verse, please keep on very important issue in the forefront of your mind, the bible was given to us to know God and His ways, to come to know Him in a personal and meaningful relationship.

I copy and paste from yesterday as just a simple example of how technology has changed bible study. I have at my disposal computers which allow me to access not only what I wrote, but what thousands of learned men before me thought and wrote. What once was written on paper and filled thousands of libraries around the world is available by merely using a good search engine on my computer.

Let us begin this study by comparing those two lines I copied and pasted into today’s devotional. The AMPC quote is a behavior, my comment is a purpose. The first indicates a warning sign and the second is what is endangered. The pursuit of secrets and knowledge is replacing the pursuit of relationship. If we just look at the variety of versions which I sampled for you yesterday, you can see a vast difference in information. The AMPC version states what is being pursued while the second two do not. The writers of the AMPC try to keep the meaning of scripture directly related to spiritual matters while the second two leave the pursuit up to the hunter.

Daniel 12:4

But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the Book until the time of the end. [Then] many shall run to and fro and search anxiously [through the Book], and knowledge [of God’s purposes as revealed by His prophets] shall be increased and become great. AMPC

But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase. ESV

But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase. NASB

Before we begin to analyze the variety of versions of this one verse, please keep a very important issue in the forefront of your mind; the bible was given to us to know God and His ways, to come to know Him in a personal and meaningful relationship.

As a prophet I greatly appreciate Daniels gift of prophecy and the very close and personal relationship he had with Truth. Having said that, read his words.

Daniel 12:8-9 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

If Daniel, whom I respect as perhaps the greatest prophet in the bible, entrusted with a depth of understanding that spans thousands of years, did not understand verse 7, then why should I claim to do any better? Why should anyone make such a claim? That secret is closed up until the end. Is this the end? No.

What led me to this study was a thought which might or might not be on the minds of people who work in information technology. That thought was this; the DVD is dying if not dead already.