12. What was Daniel told to do, and why?

¹² Even though Jehovah used such faithful prophets as Daniel to record dozens of details about the promised offspring, the Messiah, it was not yet Jehovah’s time for his servants to understand the full significance of what he inspired them to write. For example, after being given a vision involving the establishment of God’s Kingdom, Daniel was told to seal up the prophecy until the time appointed by Jehovah. At that future time, true knowledge would “become abundant.”​—Dan. 12:4.

True Knowledge Becomes Abundant in “the Time of the End”

17. What must we do to understand truths about the Kingdom, but what is also needed?

¹⁷ Jehovah promised Daniel that during “the time of the end,” many would “rove about, and the true knowledge” of God’s purpose would become abundant. (Dan. 12:4) Those who want that knowledge must work hard to gain it. One reference work says that a form of the Hebrew verb “rove about” conveys the idea of someone examining a book very carefully and thoroughly. No matter how thoroughly we examine the Bible, though, we cannot properly understand truths about the Kingdom unless Jehovah grants us that privilege.​—Read Matthew 13:11.

18. How have those who fear Jehovah displayed faith and humility?

¹⁸ Just as Jehovah progressively revealed truths about the Kingdom in the period leading up to 1914, he continues to do so during the time of the end. As Chapters 4 and 5 of this book will show, over the past 100 years, God’s people have had to adjust their understanding on a number of occasions. Does that fact mean that they do not have Jehovah’s backing? On the contrary! He supports them. Why? Because those who fear Jehovah have displayed two qualities that he loves​—faith and humility. (Heb. 11:6; Jas. 4:6) Jehovah’s servants have faith that all the promises in God’s Word will come true. They show humility when they admit that they misunderstood exactly how those promises would be fulfilled. That humble attitude is reflected in the March 1, 1925, issue of The Watch Tower, which said: “We know that the Lord is his own interpreter, that he will interpret his Word to his people in his own good way and in his own due time.”

19. What has Jehovah now allowed us to understand, and why?

¹⁹ When the Kingdom was established in 1914, God’s people had only partial knowledge of how prophecies relating to the Kingdom would be carried out. (1 Cor. 13:9, 10, 12) In our zeal to see God’s promises fulfilled, we have on occasion drawn wrong conclusions. Over the years, the wisdom of another statement made in The Watch Tower quoted in the preceding paragraph has become apparent. The article stated: “It seems to be a safe rule to follow, that prophecy can not be understood by us until it is fulfilled or in the course of fulfillment.” Now that we are deep into the time of the end, many Kingdom prophecies have been and are being fulfilled. Because God’s people are humble and willing to be corrected, Jehovah has allowed our understanding of his purpose to become more complete. True knowledge has become abundant!