The angel's words to Daniel were,

"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." Dan. 12:4.

"The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Verse 9.

This means that as the time of the end came, men would be impelled to
search diligently for light in the prophetic word. Events taking place
in fulfilment of the prophecy would be recognized, and with the coming
of the time there would come the opening up, or unsealing, of the
prophetic scriptures, with their message for men in the last days.

As the time drew near, Bible students were led more and more to search
the word of prophecy. Sir Isaac Newton, called "the greatest of
philosophers," wrote of prophetic study:

"The giving ear to the prophets is a fundamental character of
the true church. For God has so ordered the prophecies, that in
the latter days 'the wise may understand, but the wicked shall
do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand.' Dan.
12:9, 10."--_"Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel"
(London, 1733), part 1, chap. 1._

Again, this man who had delved so deeply into the laws of nature, but
who bowed his heart in childlike faith to listen to the voice of
Inspiration, declared his hope that the time of the end was near at hand
in his day (he died in 1727). Of this prophecy of the unsealing of the
book he wrote: