Magnificent Disappointment. What Really Happened in 1844 and its Meaning for Today - C. Mervyn...

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Edited by Marvin MooreDesigned by Tim Larson

Cover Illustration by Lars JustinenInside art by James ConverseTypeset in 11/ 12 Adobe Garamond

Copyright © 1994 byPacific Press Publishing AssociationPrinted in United States of America All Rights Reserved

All Scripture references in this book are from the Revised Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Maxwell, C. Mervyn, 1 925-Magnificent disappointment: a restored view of what really

happened in 1844 and what it teaches us about Jesus and the

Adventist church today / C. Mervyn Maxwell.p.cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 0-8163-1180-31. Millerite movement. 2. Miller, William, 1782-1849. 3. Seventh-day Adventists-United States. 4. Adventists-United States. 5. Sabbatarians-United States. 6. End of the world-History of doctrines-19th century. I.Title.

BX6115.M38 1994286,7-dc20



CONTENTS

Introduction......................................................................................5

Part 1: Arriving at the DateChapter 1 - Best Man Available....................................................................11Chapter 2 - How Miller Made His Mistake................................................23Chapter 3 - How Do You Calculate 1844?................................................35Chapter 4 - Why October 22?.......................................................................47

Part 2: Discovering the EventChapter 5 - What Actually Happened in Heaven?...................................61Chapter 6 - Investigative Judgment: A Seventh-day

Adventist Invention?....................................................................................71

Part 3: Exploring the MeaningChapter 7 - 1844 and Being “Adventist“....................................................89Chapter 8 - 1844 and the Sabbath................................................................99Chapter 9 - 1844 and Being Ready............................................................111Chapter 10 - Investigative Judgment: Good News or Bad News?.....123Chapter 11 - 1844 and Worship..................................................................137Chapter 12 - 1844 and Being Like Jesus...................................................151Chapter 13 - 1844 and Lifestyle..................................................................161Chapter 14 - The Meaning of 1844............................................................173



5

INTRODUCTION

WHICHIS MEANT TOBE READ

What difference does 1844 make today, a century and a half after thegreat disappointment? I have found that it makes much more differencethan I supposed it could when I started teaching courses in Seventh-day Adventist history twenty-five years ago.

I first learned about the sorrow of the great disappointment from mymother when I was a little boy. But in recent years I have come to see thatthe dark cloud of 1844 had a silver lining so bright that we can speak of itas “the magnificent disappointment.” The silver lining, the magnificence

of 1844, is – as I have found to my personal satisfaction – a specialmessage about Jesus. All Christians believe in the Christ of history who died on the cross.

Millions today believe in the Christ of the future who is coming in gloryon the clouds. But only Seventh-day Adventists understand in addition thework of the contemporary Christ who has been ministering grace,sanctification, and judgment in the most holy place since 1844. Thus 1844is, first of all, a special message about Jesus.

It is also …

• The basic reason the Seventh-day Adventist movement exists

• The unique reason that Seventh-day Adventists are “Adventists”

• The motivating reason why we keep the seventh day

• The principal reason behind our vast mission program

• The spiritual reason for our classic lifestyle

• The most impelling sign that Jesus is coming soon

• The most forcible argument for Christian education

• A most persuasive reason for seeking to be “like Jesus”



6 MAGNIFICENT DISAPPOINTMENT

1844 was a magnificent disappointment!

1844 derives its significance from being:

• The end of the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14

• A major sign of the end time• The beginning of the final judgment

• The onset of heaven's Day of Atonement

• The cue for the first angel to announce, “The hour of his judgmentis come.” Thus 1844 triggers also the second angel's message, andthe third.

The relationship of 1844 to the three angels' messages is particularlyimportant for understanding “the 1844 difference.”

Because of the magnitude of 1844 and its value for today, I havethought it best to provide some evidence for the validity of the date andof the event before going into its meaning for today. Chapters 1 to 4 talkabout the date itself, chapters 5 and 6 about the event, and chapters 7 to14 about the meaning. If you feel confident about the date, you may skipchapters 2 to 4 for now and come back to them later.

During my years of seminary teaching I have become increasingly

impressed with the significance of 1844. It is my prayer that in this book Iwill be able to communicate this significance to you.

Please, if you would, begin your reading with a prayer for God's Spiritand also by reviewing the three angels' messages, printed on the next page.

C. Mervyn MaxwellBerrien Springs, Michigan



INTRODUCTION 7

The Three Angels' MessagesRevelation 14:6-12, RSV

First angel “6Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven,with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth,to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7and he saidwith a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, for the hour ofhis judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven andearth, the sea and the fountains of water.’ ”

Second angel. “8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying,‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations

drink the wine of her impure passion.’ ”Third angel. “9 And another angel, a third, followed them,saying with a loud voice, ‘If any one worships the beast and itsimage, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10healso shall drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed intothe cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire andsulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence ofthe Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and

ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of thebeast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.’12Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep thecommandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank my brother Lawrence for reading the manuscript

meticulously, my brother Graham for the picture of angels welcoming afamily to New Jerusalem, and my colleague P. Gerard Damsteegt formany insights into early Adventist publications. I also want to thank mystudents of many years for their stimulation – and particularly the iratestudent near the back of the room when I began teaching at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary for his incredulous question, “What-ever does 1844 have to do with Adventist history?”



PART 1

ARRIVINGAT THE DATE



11

CHAPTER 1

BEST MANAVAILABLE

You would have liked him.

I mean, if you had met William Miller and gotten to know him, youwould have found him attractive and dependable.

Miller's neighbors liked him and trusted him. In their little towns andfarming centers, year after year they elected him their local magistrate and justice of the peace. A thousand of the documents that he signed havebeen discovered in a barrel in the attic of his old home.

Soldiers liked him and trusted him. As the War of 1812 drew near,forty-seven men, whose names have been preserved, volunteered for

military service on the basis that he would serve as their captain. (He didserve as a captain and fought in the pivotal Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814.)Some time after the war, two soldiers who had served under him but hadsince moved up near the Canadian border and become estranged fromeach other walked all the way to Miller's farm to ask him to help themsettle their differences. The two men came to his place by separate routes,but they traveled home together, good friends again.1

Local politicians liked and trusted William Miller. In an era ofstaunchly partisan politics, people in both major parties counted him

their friend. When a local committee of one of the political parties asked




Miller's permission to hold its July 4 picnic on his property, he persuadedthe committee to invite the other party to join the fun.2

Teenager Ellen Harmon liked him. All her later years she rememberedhow good she felt in 1842 when she saw “Father” Miller, at a crowded

meeting in Portland, Maine, interrupt his sermon and step down into thecrowded congregation to lead elderly latecomers to available seats near thefront. “He was indeed rightly called Father Miller,” she recalled, “forhe … was affectionate in his manner, of a genial disposition and tenderheart.”3

We're glad to know that Miller's family members also liked and trustedhim. In 1843, when the second coming was expected very soon, Millercould refer to his “wife and eight children” and rejoice that “I have great

reason to believe they are all the children of God, and believers in thesame doctrine with myself.”4 We admit, of course, that during the surging days of the Millerite

excitement, from 1840 to 1844, the editors of various newspapers showedthat they neither liked nor trusted him. But these editors didn't know himpersonally. The editor of the Sandy Hill Herald who, by exception, didknow him personally (but who didn't necessarily agree with his charac-teristic theology) pointed out in his defense that “Mr. Miller is now, andhas been for many years, a resident of this county [Washington County,New York], and as a citizen, a man, and a Christian, stands high in theestimation of all who knowhim.”5

BEST MAN AVAILABLE. The title of this first chapter is “Best Man Available.” And that is what William Miller was – the best man available atthe time to alert America to the judgment-hour significance of 1844.We're glad to be reminded that he was honest and nice, but to be the“best man available” on the subject of 1844 and the judgment, we hope

that he had even more to him than being likable and trustworthy, rare andprecious as such a combination of characteristics maybe.

Miller did have more to him than that. Much more.We have suggested that he was a good military officer and a good civil

servant. He was also a good farmer and a good businessman. When most young Farmers in the area were still dependent on oxen, he was quicklyable to buy horses. When his father died, he was able to do what his fathernever did – pay off the mortgage on the family farm, freeing his widowed

mother from debt. In addition, he bought about two hundred acres nearbyand built his own house and barns. (The house and barns still stand



BEST MAN AVAILABLE 13

and can be visited any day from June to September.)So we're glad to learn that Miller was judicious, diligent, and frugal. But

could he reason and do research?Here is another paragraph from thatSandy Hill editorial:

All who have ever heard him lecture, or have read his works, mustacknowledge that he [William Miller] is a sound reasoner, and, assuch, is entitled to fair arguments from those who differ withhim. … Who that has witnessed his earnestness in the pulpit, andlistened to the uncultivated eloquence of nature, which falls in suchrich profusion from his lips, dare say he is an impostor? We answer,without fear of contradiction from any candid mind, None!

Then the editorial made a statement that for our purposes is its mostimportant: “Mr. Miller certainly goes to the foundation of knowledge –revelation and history – for proof .”6

Evidence fully supports this statement in the editorial. Miller did go to“revelation” (that is, to the Bible) and to “history” for his arguments, andhe did so because he was studious by nature and was an earnest Christianby conversion.

He became a converted Christian in 1816. Two years after the Battle ofPlattsburgh he caught himself taking God's name in vain and wasmortified. In the army he had been grieved to hear the other soldiersblaspheme and had made a point of not copying them. Suddenly, in 1816,after the war was over, he realized that he too was a common sinner. For years his mother had urged him to study the Bible and accept Jesus, but hehad felt no need to. Now, longing for salvation, he peeked at last into theBible to see whether perhaps it could help him. Immediately hediscovered that “the Bible did indeed present just such a Saviour as I

needed,” and, he wrote later, “the Scriptures … became my delight, and in Jesus I found a friend.”7

Please pause a moment. When we talk about 1844 today, we of tenthink first of William Miller. But when Miller thought about 1844, he firstthought about Jesus. For when, in 1818, two years after his conversion,Miller discovered the 2,300 days, he became convinced of theirimportance because they seemed to say something special about his newfriend Jesus!

Miller became and remained an earnest Christian – a studious Christian.He was by nature studious.




As a boy, with no formal schooling available in Low Hampton, New York, during most of the year, he borrowed books – serious ones, manyof them dealing with history – from any neighbor affluent enough to ownsome and generous enough to lend them. He read them at night by the

open fire, Lincoln style, after his father, who was not particularly studious,was sound asleep.

When he married, he lived across the state line in his wife's hometownPoultney, Vermont. He liked Poultney because it boasted a public librarywith books for him to study. And the library offered a modest upstairshall where the local intellectuals, known as deists,8 gathered to debate.Miller was of ten among them. (The old building still stands and is beingrestored.) Miller heartily joined in the debates, discussing contemporary

issues and poking fun at the Scriptures.When Miller became a Christian, his debating deist friends werescandalized. They eagerly reminded him that the Bible was full ofcontradictions and insoluble puzzles. Miller, who had formerly agreedwith them, now determined to start at Genesis 1 and let the Bible explainitself, if it could. He reasoned that if the Bible really were a message tohumanity from God, God must have made it simple enough for people tounderstand. But if the Bible could not be understood, he would know itwas not from God; and in that case, he promised his friends, he “wouldbe a deist still.”9

Whenever he found a verse that he didn't understand, he used themargin to direct him to other verses that dealt with the same subject. HeusedCruden's Concordanceto find verses that used the same words as in thedifficult verse. After following this procedure for about two years, hecame) in 1818, to Daniel 8:14, “Unto two thousand and three hundreddays, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (KJV). Like many people of hisday, he wrongly assumed that the sanctuary was a symbol for the earth,

but he rightly determined that the days were symbols for years. Because ofthe many links between Daniel 8 and 9, he concluded that the 2,300 yearsof Daniel 8:14 began with the same event in 457 B.C. that initiated theseventy weeks of Daniel 9:24-27.

With reasoning we'll understand better in our following chapters,Miller cautiously arrived at the astonishing conclusion that “around the year 1843” (later corrected to 1844), Jesus would come on the clouds topurify the earth with flaming fire and introduce the millennium – that is,

“that in about 25 years … all the affairs of our present state would bewound up.”10




Was Jesus really coming that soon? If so, everybody ought to know! Adisturbing conviction caught fire in Miller's mind: “Go, and tell it to theworld!”11

MILLER'S RELUCTANCE. It is important to our understanding of 1844that Miller resisted this conviction for thirteen years, from 1818 to 1831.Miller was no end-of-the-world fanatic. He was in no sense a self-promoting sensationalist. He did not want to tell the world about the2,300 days.

After five years of total resistance, he began to talk about Christ's nearreturn to individuals here and there. But not until 1831, after thirteen yearsof refusal, did he finally agree to step out by faith and preach. He stepped

out reluctantly, even angrily, arguing with God to send someone elseinstead.The moving story needs no retelling here, for it has been told and

retold many times in books. I have retold it myself in Tell it to theWorld –how in 1831 he desperately promised the Lord he would preach provided someone sent him an invitation to do so, fully knowing that at age forty-nine he had never received such an invitation; and how, within less thanan hour, his nephew arrived on horseback with just such an invitation; andhow Miller strode angrily into the maple grove that still stands beside hishouse and wrestled furiously with God before finally making hissurrender.12

The point is that it was God, not William Miller, who wanted Miller topreach. Miller himself is not accountable for the great disappointment. IfGod had left him alone, he would never have preached the 2,300 days.

But God knew that Miller was wrong. So why did He want Miller topreach?

He evidently wanted Miller to preach, because in 1844 Jesus was

planning to commence a work of salvation so absolutely vital and somagnificent that the world must be alerted to it. And Miller was the bestman available to do the job.

But why didn't God show Miller his mistake and thereby prevent thegreat disappointment? Miller certainly wanted to be right.

One response to this important question is that when Millcr's mistakewas corrected, it was corrected out of the Bible. This means that theanswer was in the Bible all the time. God provided it thousands of years

before Miller was born. But Miller didn't see it there. So why didn't Godshine a light on the verses so Miller could see them? We don't know




exactly why God chose not to do this, but we do remember that Jesusonce said to His disciples, “I have yet many things to say to you, but youcannot bear them now” (John 16:12).

When a car speeds toward us at night with its bright lights on, we of ten

cannot see where we're going. Too much light blinds a person! Perhaps Godknew that either Miller or his followers would be confused rather thanguided by getting too much light all at once.

The cross was a magnificent act by God to save the human race fromsin, but at the time it seemed to His disciples like a crushing defeat. Onlyafter thecross did the Old Testament prophecies about Christ's death makesense. We recall the walk to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35.

Similarly, the judgment that began in heaven in 1844 was one of the

most magnificent events in the history of the universe. But it hardlyseemed magnificent to the Adventist believers who passed through thattime.? Only after thedisappointment did the Bible texts William Miller and hisfollowers had read of ten without comprehension suddenly make sense.Only after the event did they realize that the disappointment was in fact amagnificent disappointment.

But even though Miller was wrong in his understanding of the preciseevent to take place in 1844, he was nonetheless the most nearly right Biblestudent on the entire planet.

God called him because he wasthebest man available.

MILLER MORE RIGHT THAN OTHERS. That Miller was an unusually fineBible student we'll document briefly in our next chapter. But we don'twant to leave the present chapter without agreeing that on hischaracteristic points of doctrine he was, in fact, more nearly correct thanany of the seminary professors and big-city pastors of his time.

Some scholars and pastors in Miller's day had nothing at all to say

about the second coming. Surely Miller was more right than they were! And was he not right when he described the second coming as literal,personal, near, and premillennial (coming literally at the beginning of thethousand years)? Was he not right to urge people to get ready for it?

Was he not also right when he said that in symbolic prophecy a daystands for a year, that the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14 are 2,300 years, thatthey began in 457 B.C. and would therefore end “around 1843” (latercorrected to 1844)? Was he not right in saying that the 2,300 days were to

end at judgment hour, and that thus the time had come for the first angel'smessage – “The hour of his judgment is come”?




Major characteristic points on which Miller was right andmany scholars of his day were wrong:

1. Jesus is coming again, at thebeginningof the millennium.

2. The second coming will be literal and personal.3. The second coming is near.4. By faith we should all be preparing for it.5. In symbolic prophecy, a day represents a year.6. The “2,300 evening-morning” represents 2,300 symbolic

days.7. The 2,300 days represent 2,300 years.8. They began in 457 B.C. and ended in 1844.

9. 1844marked the judgment hour; therefore,10. It was time for the first angel's message, “The hour of his

judgment has come.”By holding all these views rather than just certain ones of

them, Miller was the most nearly right man of his day. When hisother qualifications are also taken into account, he can berecognized as the Best Man Available for initiating God'smessage for the last days.

ERRORS OF MILLER’S CONTEMPORARIES. In contrast to Miller's presenta-tion of the second coming as literal, personal, premillennial, near, andrequiring heartfelt preparation, most of Miller's more learnedcontemporaries were postmillennialists, teaching that the literal return ofChrist would not occur till the end of the millennium, a thousand years inthe future. In the meantime, they said, the millennium was beginning witha spiritual coming of Christ that was in its own power converting the

world. They pointed to the many Bible societies, missionary societies, andSunday schools that had sprung up in recent decades and to the reformmovements that were doing so much for prisons, insane asylums, slaves,women, and world peace.

Such developments, they said, proved that a spiritual coming of Christwas happening right then, ushering in the world's conversion, thekingdom of God on earth, and a thousand years of world peace.

In 1835, not long after Miller began preaching about the literal second

coming, the widely respected minister Edward Beecher observed en-thusiastically in his sermons that the churches of America were “aroused




as never before” to the belief that “a glorious advent of the kingdom ofGod” was near at hand. No longer did the conversion of the world seemthe “distant vision of inspired prophets.”13

In 1839, the very year that Miller got his first invitation to preach in a

major city (Boston), Samuel S. Schmucker appealed for Protestantdenominations to unite in training twenty-five thousand missionaries onthe basis that “the Son of God appears to be coming in his glory,conquering and to conquer [that is, converting] the kingdoms of theearth.”14

This erroneous mood of unbiblical optimism even attached itself to the American Civil War, a short while after Miller's death! Near the end of1861, when the war was just well under way, Julia Ward Howe was one of

many people who saw in the Northern armies, with their potential forsaving the Union and releasing the slaves, one of God's means forbringing in a spiritual coming of Christ that would convert the world andintroduce the millennium. After watching an impressive military paradeone day, with its row upon row of brave, well-trained soldiers, Mrs. Howewrote words that were to become classic: “Mine eyes have seen the gloryof the comingof theLord,” she said, and, a stanza later, “I have seen Himinthe watchfires of a hundred circling camps.”

In 1861 Mrs. Howe thought she saw the spiritual coming of Christ at amilitary parade. But the terrible Civil War, lasting until 1865 andproducing hundreds of thousands of casualties, shocked many Americansout of their confidence that the millennium was underway.

William Miller knew in 1818 that “evil men would wax worse andworse,” not better and better. He knew it, because the Bible says so in 2Timothy 3:13. He began preaching in 1831 that the literal second coming was the only hope for the reconstruction of our planet.

Thus, on the salient subject of the second coming, Miller was far more

right than most of his learned contemporaries. But what about 1844? Washe really right about the 2,300 days?

MILLER RIGHT ON THE 2,300 DAYS. As it appears in the Hebrew languagein which it was written, Daniel 8:14 does not actually use a term preciselyequivalent to “2,300 days.” Instead, it uses an unusual idiom, “2,300evening-morning.” Some of Miller's critics then and today say that if Miller had known Hebrew, he would never have supposed that “2,300

evening-morning” could mean 2,300 days. And if Miller had known Hebrew, they said then and still say now, he most certainly would not have




supposed that the term could mean 2,300 years.If he had known Hebrew.But the truth is just the opposite.We'll have more to say about this subject in later chapters, but for now,

let me say that the seventy or more Jewish rabbis who, before the time ofChrist, translated the Hebrew Old Testament into the Greek versionknown as the “Septuagint” (or “LXX”) unquestionably knew Hebrew.They spoke Hebrew and were scholars in it. Yet when they came toDaniel 8:14, they translated (into Greek, of course), “evenings andmornings, two thousand three hundred days.” They knew that in GenesisGod called eachday of Creation week an “evening and a morning.”

In the second century after Christ, an outstanding rabbi named

Theodotian made another translation from Hebrew into Greek. He tooused the phrase, “evenings and mornings, twenty-three hundred days.”But did anyone who knew Hebrew perceive Daniel 8:14 to refer

symbolically to 2,300 years? Yes, indeed! Already in the ninth century A.D.,one thousand years before Miller came to the same conclusion, aninfluential rabbi, Nahawendi by name, taught convincingly that the“2,300 evening-morning” symbolized 2,300 years. And he wasn't the onlysuch rabbi. Nahawendi lived in Persia (modern Iran), but other rabbiswho taught the same interpretation over the next few centuries werelocated in Palestine, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, and Algiers!15

During Miller's own time, one of his most vigorous opponents was theRev. George Bush. As another postmillennialist who held that Jesus wouldnot come visibly until the far end of the millennium, Bush, likeBeecher, Schmucker, Howe, and many others, saw a spiritual comingoccurring in his own day. Even so, he agreed with Miller that the “2,300evening-morning” symbolized 2,300 years. He even agreed that theending of the 2,300 years was imminent.16 Professor Bush generously

added that in interpreting the 2,300 evening-morning as 2,300 years,Miller had the support of Sir Isaac Newton, the famous scientist, and alsoof such significant commentators as Bishop Thomas Newton, JosephMede, Alexander Keith, “and a host of others, who have long since cometosubstantially ” (his emphasis) the same conclusions as Miller had.

Professor George Bush was a faculty member at New York University.His specialty was Hebrew!So the truth is that scholars who have known Hebrew have been

among those people who, with Miller, have recognized that Daniel 8:14talks about 2,300 days and even 2,300 years.17




Miller was a friendly neighbor, a respected public servant, a successfulfarmer and businessman, a natural leader, a brave soldier, and, after hisconversion, a warm lover of Jesus. He was right about the 2,300 days andright about the personal, literal, and premillennial second coming of Jesus.

We have reason to view him as an exceptionally fine student for his day.He was God's best man available. But hemadea mistake.

In our next chapter we'll try to understand how Miller made hischaracteristic error. It was the kind of mistake that only a serious Biblestudent would have made.

1. Sylvester Bliss, Memoirs of WilliamMiller (Boston, 1853), 61, 62.2. Ibid.,64.3. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for theChurch, 1:22.4. William Miller, 4 February, 1843, to Signs of the Times, in Bliss, Memoirs

of WilliamMiller , 180, 181.5. Sandy Hill Herald in Signs of the Times, 1 March 1843; in Bliss, Memoirs

of William Miller , 181, 182; and in Francis D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry(Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1944), 132, 133,emphasis supplied.

6. To make clear that “revelation and history” are what the editor meant by“the fountain of knowledge,” I have substituted dashes for commas.

7. William Miller, Apology and Defence (Boston, 1845), 5.8. Deists believed in a creator God who organized the universe under such

perfect laws of cause and effect that He could safely leave It to run on its own.They rejected prayer for miracles, arguing that it would be asking God to violateHis own perfect laws. They saw Jesus as a very good man, but the virgin birth andthe resurrection, being miracles, they denied. Thomas Jefferson and otherfounding fathers of the United States were deeply influenced by deism.

9. Miller, Apology and Defence, 5, 6.10. Ibid., 12.

11. Ibid., 15-17.12. See, for example, Paul Gordon, Herald of theMidnight Cry (Boise: Pacific

Press Publishing Assn., 1990); Nichol, The Midnight Cry ; and R. W. Schwarz, Light Bearers to the Remnant (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Publishing Assn., 1979).

13. See Timothy L. Smith, Revivalismand Social Reformin Mid-Nineteenth-Century America (New York: Abingdon Press, 1957), 225.

14. Samuel Simon Schmucker, Fraternal Appeal to theAmerican Churches, with a Plan for CatholicUnion, on ApostolicPrinciples (2d. ed., New York, 1839), 139, 140; in

Timothy L. Smith, Revivalismand Social Reform, 226.




15. Le Roy Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, 4 vols.(Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1946-1954), 1:713;2:194-240.

16. See Nichol, TheMidnight Cry , 439,440.17. Not every biblical scholar who has known Hebrew has concluded that the

“2,300 evening-morning” represents 2,300 days. The argument here is simplythat a rich knowledge of Hebrew does not keep a person from reaching theconclusion that Miller reached. Of ten such knowledge has helped scholars reachthis conclusion.



23

CHAPTER 2

HOWMILLER MADE HISMISTAKE

If Miller was God's “best man available”, how could he have been so

conspicuously wrong?The question is important. If we are expected to have sufficient

confidence in 1844 to base our lifestyles on it, we need to know whereMiller went wrong so we can evaluate his mistake For ourselves.

I find encouragement, personally, in knowing that the mistake Millermade was the kind of mistake that only an expert Bible student wouldhave made.

Most people don't know enough about subatomic physics to make an

intelligent mistake when discussing quarks. Similarly, hardly anyone, itseems, knows enough to make the mistake Miller did when discussing theclimaxes to thefour parallel prophecies in Daniel.

It bears repeating that Miller really was an excellent Bible student. Hischaracteristic package of teachings on the literalness and nearness of thesecond coming – the arrival of the judgment hour, the timeliness of thefirst angel's message (“the hour of his judgment has come”), and the year-day interpretation of the “2,300 evening-morning” of Daniel 8:l4 – wasfar better than anyone else's in the world.

From time to time over the years, Seventh-day Adventists have




reopened the question about Miller's correctness. For instance, not so verylong ago, the fine Old Testament scholar Dr. Lynn Wood and the world-class archaeologist Dr. Siegfried Horn reevaluated the evidence that 457B.C. is the “seventh year of Artaxerxes,” King of Persia (see Ezra 7:7), the

date Miller took for beginning the 2,300 years.1 Wood and Horn probedseveral kinds of arcane data, some written on Persian clay tablets, some onEgyptian papyri, and so on, and concluded that, yes, 457 B.C. was indeedthe seventh year of King Artaxerves. William Miller was right on thatcrucial point, the starting date for the 2,300 days.

In 1980, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists appointeda Daniel and Revelation committee to restudy Daniel verse by verse. Thecommittee commissioned scholars to write professional papers, then had

the scholars read the papers to one another and listen to each other'squestions and criticisms. Out of this grueling process have come seven volumes.

The first of the seven volumes, Selected Studies on PropheticInterpretation,is composed of papers or chapters by the Old Testament scholar andchronologist William H. Shea. One of the chapters takes up theparamount concept of a year for a day in time prophecies. This chapterprovides not one or two lines of biblical evidence in favor of the year-dayprinciple, but more than twenty lines of evidence supporting it!

William Miller's characteristic presentation that the 2,300 dayssymbolize 2,300 years and began in 457 B.C. and ended in 1844 bears theweight of very penetrating modern analysis.

Nonetheless, you should know that modern Seventh-day Adventistscholars do not accept every one of Miller's positions. In fact, Adventistpioneers rejected some of his positions long ago. Miller had a sermon2 about the “seven times” punishment (Leviticus 26:18-28), in which heassumed that the seven times were seven “prophetic years” or 2,520 actual

years (7x360). But most commentators and translators, including mostSeventh-day Adventist scholars, see the “seven times” as having a verydifferent meaning, as when a teacher might say, “Write out this assign-ment seven times.”

We should note, however, that Miller's sermon about the “seventimes” discusses the seven times only near the end. Most of the sermon isa very practical, very sensible, and very spiritual appeal for repentance.Miller's primary goal was to win souls for God's kingdom. In 1834 he

shared with a friend his joy in “having God for paymaster,” because God“pays in souls.”3



HOW MILLER MADE HIS MISTAKE 25

Miller was constantly concerned about the implications of 1844 forpeople's lives.

One of Miller's minor errors had to do with the bridegroom, themidnight cry, and the marriage, in the parable of the ten virgins in

Matthew 25. (We'll have more to say about the parable of the virgins inchapter 6.) Correction of this particular group of mistakes led withinhours after the great disappointment to a truer understanding of what Jesus really did do in 1844.

Miller was wrong when he assumed that the “sanctuary” to be“cleansed” at the end of the 2,300 years (Daniel 8:14) was the earth ratherthan the sanctuary in heaven. But in his defense we can say that no one,not even his most learned opponents, challenged him on this error.

Miller certainly knew that there is a sanctuary in heaven. The books ofHebrews and Revelation make this plain. But, like almost all otherChristians, he could not conceive that the heavenly sanctuary would everbe defiled or in need of eleansing.4 In a sixteen-page pamphlet, Miller citedseven things or persons called “sanctuary” or “temple” in the Bible. Thesecond on his list was “heaven,” but he dismissed any possibility that itmight apply to Daniel 8:14 with the simple statement, “Not … heaven, forthat is not unclean.”

But didn't Miller's Bible contain Hebrews 9:22, 23?

Almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and withoutshedding of blood is no remission [of sin]. It was therefore necessarythat the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified withthese; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices thanthese (KJV).

If, on first reading, you missed the significance of this passage, let merepeat it, this time with some words in italics and some explanations in

brackets.

Almost all things [in the earthly sanctuary system] are by the law[the ceremonial law] purged with blood [with animal sacrifices];and without shedding of blood is no remission [of sin]. It wastherefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens [theearthly sanctuary as a pattern of the heavenly sanctuary] should bepurified with these [that is, with animal sacrifices]; but the heavenly things themselves [the heavenly sanctuary itself] with better sacrifices

than these [with the sacrifice of Jesus].




With explanations in brackets and some words in italics, the meaning ofthe passage becomes clear. Whereas the earthly sanctuary was purified byanimal sacrifices, the heavenly sanctuary requires purification with “bettersacrifices,” that is, with the sacrifice of Jesus.

There it is! Hebrews 9:22, 23 says that theheavenly sanctuary did needto bepurified. And, yes, Hebrews 9:22, 23 was in Miller's Bible.

So how did he miss it? Perhaps because it speaks of “things in theheavens” rather than expressly saying, “heavenly sanctuary.” And it usespurified instead of cleansed. When Miller was originally studying thewords in Daniel 8:14 and was usinghis concordanceto look up the use ofsanctuary and cleansed in other parts of the Bible, his concordance did notlead him to this passage in Hebrews. For this passage, unlike Daniel 8:14,

usesthings in theheavens and purifiedinstead ofsanctuaryandcleansed. Failing at an early point in his study to see the significance of Hebrews9:22, 23, Miller went on believing what everyone else believed, namely,that the heavenly sanctuary could never be defiled or need cleansing. Hedidn't even see the connection when he read Hebrews later in his life, forhis mind had been made up.

But it was a mistake that everyone else made. Rather than “making”this mistake, Miller failed to recognize it and “unmake” it. Let's not forgetthat no one else knew the Bible well enough to correct him. Miller was asuperb Bible student. The rules of interpretation that he set for himselfcommand our respect.5

MILLER'S RULES OF INTERPRETATION. Miller's first rule for interpretingthe Bible was that “every word must have its proper bearing on thesubject presented in the Bible.” Miller was determined not to be satisfiedwith a superficial reading of a passage or with casually guessing at itsmeaning. “Every word” was to be accorded “its proper bearing.”

His fourth rule expanded his first one, taking in the whole Bible. “Tounderstand doctrine, bring all the Scriptures together on the subject youwish to know; then let every word have its proper influence.”

His fifth rule put the Bible above all human commentaries. “Scripturemust be its own expositor, since it is a rule of itself.” Here is the greatProtestant principle: “The Bible and the Bible only.”

Miller's tenth rule recognized that God gives us common sense andexpects us to use it even when studying the Bible. If a conclusion we

come to is both out of harmony with the rest of the Bible and silly , then itis obviously wrong. “The right construction will harmonize with the Bible,




and make good sense; other constructions will not.”His thirteenth rule shows how very cautiously he went about looking

for the fulfillment of prophecy in history. It is a rule that should behonored by every student of prophecy today. When comparing a historical

event with a Bible prophecy that you think was fulfilled by a particularhistorical event, he said that “if you find every word of the prophecy … isliterally fulfilled, then you may know that your history is the true event;but if one word lacks a fulfillment, then you must look for another event,or wait its future development; for God takes care that history andprophecy shall agree, so that the true believing children of God may neverbe ashamed.”

Miller's. fourteenth and final rule was spiritual, involving a willingness,

by faith, to make any sacrifice that Bible study might lead to. “The mostimportant rule of all is, that you must have faith. It must be a faiththat … if tried, would give up the dearest object on earth, the world andall its desires, – character [reputation], living [livelihood], occupation,friends, home, comforts and worldly honors. If any of these should hinderour believing any part of God's word, it would show our faith to be vain.”

Miller's integrity and sincerity were revealed in his adherence to his owngood rules. He laid aside all commentaries, letting the Bible stand on itsown. He used margin and concordance to let the entire Bible speak toeach problem text. He used history books to help him compare historywith prophecy, and – after resisting God for thirteen years – he gavehimself unstintingly, at great physical and monetary sacrifice, to theproclamation of the message his Bible study had led him to.

It is well that he did go out and preach, for he was God's best manavailable, and he had a vital, life-changing message that the world neededto hear. That is why, for thirteen years, God begged and begged him topreach.

But Miller was wrong on his most conspicuous point. He said that 1844was crucially important. Here he was right. He dated the judgment and thefirst angel's message to that year and said that thinking about them shouldinduce repentance and change lives. Here again he was right. He said that Jesus was soon to return to earth literally and personally. Here, too, he wasright.

But then he said that 1844 was important because Jesus would cometo earth literally and personally in that year , and here he was tragically

wrong.How could a man who was so nearly right, who was such a superb




Bible student, be so conspicuously wrong?Partly, perhaps, because God mercifully kept him from being blinded

by too much light. (Remember from our first chapter that Jesus withheldinformation from His disciples because they could not bear it yet. See

John 16:12.) Miller was wrong also because he knew his Bible so well thathe made a mistake that only an expert would think of.

HOW MILLER MADE HIS MOST CONSPICUOUS ERROR. Miller didn't make hismost conspicuous error by reading Daniel 8:14 alone: “Unto twothousand three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”Seventh-day Adventists who cannot find the second coming in Daniel8:14 are not blind, and neither was he!

As we just saw, Miller's fourth rule for Bible interpretation stipulated,“To understand doctrine, bring all the Scriptures together on the subject you wish to know; then let every word have its proper influence.”

Serious Bible students have recognized for centuries that Daniel hasfourparallel prophecies.

As every Seventh-day Adventist knows, Daniel 2 uses a metal and clayimage to forecast a sequence of empires – Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece,and Rome – followed by a breakup of the fourth empire into the nationsof Europe. In parallel fashion, Daniel 7 uses wild animals and horns topredict the same sequence of empires followed by a division into the “tenkingdoms.” Once more in parallel fashion, Daniel 8 traces the futurehistory of Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome; and Daniel 10-12 does so afourth time, in considerable detail. The chart on page 29 illustrates thispoint visually.

Miller was by no means the first to notice that Daniel presents thesefour parallel prophecies, but in doing so, he noticed something else thatmany Bible students have not noticed or have ignored, and that is that

each empire sequence is followed by a Christ-centeredclimax.The climax to the vision in Daniel 2 is a stone that destroys the image

and grows into a great mountain, which is given to God's people(verses 44,45).

The climax to the vision of the wild animals in Daniel 7 is the judgmentthat sits and annihilates earthly kingdoms and assigns the earth to God'ssaints (verses 9-14).

Theclimax to Daniel 8 is the cleansing of the sanctuary (verse 14).6

The climax to Daniel 10-12 is Prince Michael standing up to deliverGod's people from the time of trouble and to resurrect His sleeping saints.




Daniel 2 Daniel 7 Daniel 8,9 Daniel 10-12

BABYLON Gold Lion

PERSIA Silver Bear Ram A King

GREECE Brass Leopard Goat Mighty King

ROME Iron Monster Horn Robbers

EUROPE Iron & Clay Horns Horn ContemptiblePerson

CLIMAX Stonehits

Judgmentsits

Sanctuarycleansed

Michaelstands

JESUS as The Stone Judge High Priest Prince

MILLER'S VIEW

The end The end The end The end

CORREC-TION

End of theendtime

Beginningofend time

Beginningofend time

End of theendtime

Notice these climaxes on the chart in bold-faced type just below thecenter.

Each of these four climaxes is a message about Jesus. In Daniel 2, Jesusis the Stone or Rock that will dispose of all national governments (seeLuke 20:18; Romans 9:23). In Daniel 7, Jesus is the Son of man whocomes to the judgment (see John 5:22). In Daniel 8, Jesus is the “apostleand high priest of our faith” (Hebrews 5:1) who cleanses the sanctuary. And in Daniel 12:1, 2, Jesus is “Michael, the great prince” who stands forHis people, delivers them from trouble, and raises them from the dead(see Genesis 48:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Jude 9).7

Inasmuch, then, as the empire sequences in these four prophecies areparallel, William Miller concluded that the four Christ-centered climaxes arealso parallel.

His insight was brilliant.But the conclusion that he drew from his insight was not quite so

brilliant. It was partly right, but not completely so.Miller concluded that if the climaxes are parallel (and they are), then if

we can date any one of them, we can date them all. And wecan date one of them.In Daniel 8:14, God Himself gives the date for the cleansing of the




sanctuary. He says it was to be cleansed at the end of the 2,300 days, in1844.

Following the logic that if you can date one climax you can date themall, Miller concluded that the stone of Daniel 2 would destroy the image in

1844, Christ would stand up and deliver and resurrect His people in 1844,the judgment would convene in 1844 (here he was right!), and in 1844 theSon of man would come to earth on the clouds of heaven.

Whenever I present this line of reasoning to my students or tocampmeeting congregations, I notice how solemn they get. The reasoningseems unanswerable even today. Imagine how it sounded when Millerpreached it, Bible in hand, in his earnest, friendly manner in the 1830s andearly 1840s!

Imagine how it sounded when buttressed by the mistakenunderstanding held by most Christians that the final judgment is confinedto the second coming, that the “marriage” is to take place on earth, andthat the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 cannot be the one in heaven.

But evidently something was wrong.

WHAT MILLER OVERLOOKED. Miller was an expert Bible student. Hewrestled with things that most people haven't even thought about. Evenso, he did not adequately question other people's assumptions. And he didnot adequately notice the differences among the four visions or take intoaccount theprecisewordingof Daniel 7:15.

The precise wording that Miller overlooked in Daniel 7:13 is this:“With the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he

cameto theAncient of Days.”He came “to the Ancient of days”! Miller assumed, like almost

everyone else who read the verse, that it seemed like such a clear referenceto the second coming of Christ when Miller read it, because Daniel said

the Son of man came “with clouds of heaven.” What Miller failed tonotice is that Jesus did not come on these clouds to the earth. He came “totheAncient of days.” This little phrase, so easy to see now but overlooked byalmost everyone for centuries, proved a major key for explaining the greatdisappointment.

Look at the illustration on the cover of this hook. The artist shows itright there: Jesus coming into the presence of the Father on a cloud ofangels. The artist gives us a faint glimpse into what must have been a

magnificent event in the heavenly sanctuary. If the Adventist believers hadunderstood this, they would surely have proclaimed October 22, 1844,




a magnificent disappointment.But God wasn't ready for them to understand it that way yet. As Miller compared the four major visions in Daniel, he noticed that

they were parallel, but he failed to notice that they are not identical.

Every Seventh-day Adventist today knows that Daniel 2 is easy tounderstand, that Daniel 7 is harder, and that interpretation of Daniel 11requires unusual skill. The basic message in each vision is similar, but theoverall message of each is unique. The empires in Daniel 2 are symbolizedby a polished image “of exceeding brightness” (verse 31). In Daniel 7 thesame empires are symbolized by ferocious wild animals. In Daniel 8 theempires are symbolized by farm animals used in the sanctuary services;and in Daniel 10-12, they appear as quarrelsome human beings.

Just as the four visions, though parallel, are not the same, so the fourclimaxes, though parallel, arenot thesame.The stone in Daniel 2 proves that even at their outward best the

nations of earth are no match for the King of heaven, who will easilygrind them to powder.

The judgment scene in Daniel 7 shows that when governments chooseto condemn and torture God's people, God will call them to account on judgment day and acquit the people they persecuted.

The cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8 directs us to study the OldTestament tabernacle rituals for insights into God's dealings with peopleand nations.

And the standing up of Prince Michael in Daniel 12 teaches us that nomatter what evil deeds earthly kings and princes may perpetrate, God'speople have a Prince of their own who will have the last word, who willeven raise to life the saints whom the persecutors executed.

So the climaxes are definitely parallel, but they are not precisely thesame.

Furthermore, although all the climaxes pertain to the end time, theycannot all apply specifically to the very end of the end time. If the Son ofman in Daniel 7 comes to the Ancient of days at the beginning of judgment hour and does not at that time come to the earth, the beginningof the judgment must be at a time earlier than the second coming.

Analysis shows that the judgment (Daniel 7) and the cleansing (Daniel8) were to begin at the beginningof the end time, whereas the crushing ofempires (Daniel 2) and the resurrection of the saints (Daniel 12) will occur

at theend of the end time.8

We'll have more to say about these things in chapter 6. In the




meantime, we're going to review how to calculate the prophetic numbersthat lead to 1844. (If you feel confident about calculating the propheticnumbers, you may, if you wish, skip over to chapter 7.)

1. See Siegfried H. Horn and Lynn H. Wood, TheChronology of Ezra 7, 2d. ed.,rev. (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1970).

2. In the 1842 edition of Miller's sermons, EvidencefromScriptureand Historyof the Second Coming of Christ, about the Year 1843; Exhibited in a Course of Lectures, reprinted by Leaves-of -Autumn Books, Box 440, Payson, Aria., hismessage on the “seven times” is Lecture XVII, 250-265.

3. William Miller to Truman Hendryx, 28 November, 1834, in Francis D.Nichol, TheMidnight Cry (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn.,

1944), 56.4. See William Miller, Letter to Joshua V Himes, on the Cleansing of the

Sanctuary (Boston, 1842).5. Miller's rules of interpretation may be found in Isaac C. Wellcome, History of

theSecond Advent Messageand Mission, Doctrineand People (Yarmouth, Maine., 1874),45,46.

6. Some modern translations give berestored to its rightful stateor justified in placeof the KJV term, becleansed. Careful analysis reveals that the unusual Hebrew termtranslated here does mean “cleansed,” along with several other meanings.

7. First Thessalonians 4:16 refers to “the” archangel, not to one of severalarchangels. Evidently there is only one archangel, popular legend notwithstanding. Also in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “the” archangel raises the dead, which is whatMichael the Prince does in Daniel 12:1, 2, and what Michael does for Moses in Jude 9. Genesis 48:16 is speaking of Jesus when it mentions an “angel“ who is ourRedeemer. The word angel means “messenger,” and Jesus is God's supremeMessenger or Angel, sent to bring us the message of the gospel. But being bothGod and Angel, Jesus is necessarily the Prince of the angels, which is what theterm archangel means. Bible study thus leads to the conclusion that Prince Michael

who raises the dead in Daniel 12:1, 2 is Jesus, the Archangel who raises the deadin 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Michael, the Archangel who raises Moses in Jude 9. 8.whereas modern Westerners like to see topics arranged in a sequential pattern, AB CD, ancient readers of ten preferred topics arranged in a mirror like pattern, AB B A, called a “chiasm.” (Every normal face is arranged like a chiasm: Left ear,left eye, nose, right eye, right ear. Couples of ten sit in meetings in chiastic order:First husband, first wife, second wife, second husband.) Daniel's arrangement –End of the end time (chapter 2), Beginning of the end time (chapter 7), Beginningof the end time (chapter 8), End of the end time (chapter 12, – is thus a chiasm.



35

CHAPTER 3

HOWDOYOUCALCULATE 1844?

Miller discovered 1844 only after he had been converted, had studied

the Bible till it became his “delight,“ and had found in Jesus a personalfriend. The year 1844 struck him as dramatically significant because it saidsome dramatically significant things about Jesus.

The purpose of our study together in this book is to help youunderstand and cherish some of the “dramatically significant” things that1844 says about Jesus so that 1844 can have a “dramatically significant”effect on your life too, and the magnificence of the great disappointmentwill glow in your soul.

But, you say, I can't explain even to my best friend how to arrive at1844 from the Bible, let alone apply its meaning to my life. You're not alone. Many North American Seventh-day Adventists think

they can't explain 1844. Really, this is surprising, because the earliest Adventists, who weren't nearly as well educated as many Adventists aretoday, could explain 1844 with grace and ease.

If they could explain it, so can we!

WORTH. First off, let's remind ourselves that 1844 is worth explaining. It is

fundamental to what we believe. It has tremendous potential for our




lifestyles. And it's about Jesus where He is today, as our High Priest,cleansing the heavenly sanctuary and also cleansing from sin those peoplewho believe in Him.

HELP. Jesus wants to help us understand this Bible prophecy. On theTuesday night before His crucifixion, He referred to Daniel's propheciesand said, “Let the reader understand” (see Matthew 24:15). We rememberthat “all His biddings are enablings.”1 Inasmuch as He wants us tounderstand, we know that He's ready to help us understand.

Jesus wanted to help Daniel himself understand the prophecy, or atleast begin to understand it. It is true that the fullest understanding wouldhave to wait until our day, the time of the end. A heavenly Being said to

Daniel, “Shut up the words, and seal the book, until the time of the end”(Daniel 12:4). But in the immediate context of Daniel 8:14, a heavenly voice (probably Christ's) said to the angel Gabriel,2 “Make this man[Daniel] understand the vision.” Immediately Gabriel came to Daniel's sideand said, “Understand … that the vision is for the time of the end”(Daniel 8:16,18).

EASY MATHEMATICS. Jesus wants us to understand. That is encouraging.So let's start with the mathematics. It's not impossibly hard.

You have probably heard already that the 2,300 days began in theautumn of 457 B.C. Taking 457 B.C. as the beginning year, all you need todo to locate the ending year is to subtract the 457 B.C. years from the2,300 years. The remaining years will automatically be A.D. years.

2300 – 457 = 1843

Surprise! Something went wrong. We expected to get 1844 and got

1843 instead.Then someone reminds us that between B.C. dates and A.D. datesthere is no zero year , making it necessary for us to add one to our A.D. years. Adding one to 1843 brings us to 1844.

2300 – 457 = 1843 + 1 = 1844

There we have it. And it wasn't hard, was it?William Miller did not at first think about the zero-year problem. This

is why he talked about 1843 before he made the correction to 1844. (If you would like to know the reason why there is no zero year and also what



HOW DO YOU CALCULATE 1844? 37

A.D. means precisely, see the Added Note at the end of this chapter.)

WHY 457? If reviewing how to do the mathematics is all the help youneeded for calculating 1844, you may go on now to chapter 4. But if youwould like to know why 457 is the beginning date, stay by. Theexplanation is not difficult, once you realize that Daniel 9:20-27 is acontinuation of Daniel 8.

First let us go to the bottom line. The year 457 B.C. was the “seventh year of Artaxerxes” mentioned in Ezra 7. This was the year in which Artaxerxes I (ART-a-ZERK-seez), king of Persia, in fulfillment of theprophecy of Daniel 9:20-27, issued a decree authorizing the Jews to“restore and build Jerusalem.” But let's go through the argument step bystep, for any friend you may try explaining this to will want to be sure that

the decree of Artaxerxes was in fact a fulfillment of prophecy and that itwas in fact the beginning of the 2,300 days.

DANIEL 9:20-27 AND DANIEL 8. The secret, as we just mentioned, lies inrealizing that Daniel 9:20-27 is a continuation of Daniel 8. This involvesseeing first how Daniel 8 is organized.

Daniel 8, the chapter that contains the prophecy about the 2,300 days,is divided roughly into two halves. The first half (8:1-14) contains

prophetic symbols, while the second half (8:15-27) provides an explan-ation of the prophetic symbols.

The first half is also divided into two smaller subsections. The firstsubsection (8:2-12) consists of symbolic animals and horns, which Danielsaw. The second subsection (8:13,14) contains the announcement aboutthe 2,300 days, which Danielheard.

In the second half of Daniel 8, Gabriel is commissioned (verses 15,16)to help Daniel understand the vision and its symbols, and he attempts

(verses 17-26) to fulfill the commission.Gabriel had little trouble helping Daniel understand the symbolicanimals and horns, for Daniel was already acquainted with the world'sfuture kingdoms from the image of chapter 2 and the wild animals ofchapter 7. But when he told Daniel that one of the horns symbolized agreat king who would “rise up against the Prince of princes” (8:25), Danielfainted before Gabriel could finish. Daniel was quite elderly by this time. All that Gabriel could get in about the 2,300 days was that they were“true” and that they pertained to “many days hence.” Then Daniel “wasovercome and lay sick for some days” (8:27). He was “appalled“ by what




he had learned about the great king who would attack the Prince ofprinces, and he says that he did not understand the prophecy about thedays (see verses 26, 27).

Daniel's sickness prevented Gabriel from completing his commission

to make Daniel understand the vision. Gabriel had to try again on a lateroccasion, as we shall now see.

According to chapter 9, “in the first year of Darius,” which was 558B.C. and some thirteen years after the vision of chapter 8, Daniel sethimself most earnestly to plead with God to forgive the Jews and let themgo back from Babylon to Jerusalem to restore the temple there. Jerusalemhad been in ruins since Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it in Daniel's youth.Now, while Daniel was “speaking and praying,” Gabriel, whom he “had

seen in the vision at the first” (verses 20, 21), came back to complete hiscommission.Gabriel's first words prove that chapter 9:20-27 is indeed a

continuation of chapter 8. Said Gabriel, “O Daniel, I have now come outto give you wisdom andunderstanding. … Therefore consider the word andunderstand thevision.“

THE SEVENTY WEEKS. Gabriel's words in Daniel 9 contain the key tohelp both Daniel and us to understand the vision of the 2,300 days. Thiskey was a new prophecy about the seventy weeks.

In chapter 8, as we saw a moment ago, Gabriel explained the animalsand horns. However, faced with Daniel's sudden illness, he was unable toexplain the 2,300 days. No doubt Daniel hoped that when Gabrielreturned some day, he would start directly with an explanation of the days,showing whether they were literal or symbolic and indicating when theywould begin and end.

Daniel was not disappointed. Gabriel's very first sentence of explana-

tion in chapter 9:24 focused directly on time and also indicated when thetime was to begin. (Please pay close attention to the definitions inside thebrackets.) “Seventy weeks of years,” be said, “are decreed [amputated]concerning your people [theJews] and your holy city [ Jerusalem]. … Knowtherefore and understand that from the going forth of the word [theissuingof a decree] to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointedone, a prince [ Jesus Christ]” (9:25), shall be sixty-nine weeks, followed by aseventieth week, during which the Messiah would be killed.

Here is the prophecy about the decree to restore and build Jerusalem,the prophecy that we said Artaxerxes was going to fulfill in 457 B.C. But




let's make sure your friend understands what Gabriel said.

TOUGH TEEMS DEFINED. You noticed that when we quoted Gabriel, weput several definitions in brackets. Some of the definitions are obvious

enough, while others may not seem so clear.The “coming of an anointed one, a prince” obviously refers to the

baptism of Prince Jesus in A.D. 27. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus atHis baptism. A short time later, in Nazareth, Jesus chose to read fromIsaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointedme” (Luke 4:18; see also verse 16). Jesus is the preeminent “anointedone.” His name, Christ, means “anointed one” in Greek and is theequivalent of Messiah in Hebrew.

The translation in brackets, “issuing of a decree” in place of “goingforth of the word,” is a matter of skilled preference. Outstanding Bibletranslations like the New International Version and the New AmericanStandard Bible prefer the translation “issuing of a decree.” The Hebrewworddabar , which underlies the English translation “decree,” has the basicmeaning of “word” or “message.” In Bible times, the kind of “word” or“message“ that would authorize the restoration and rebuilding of a capitalcity like Jerusalem had to be a decree issued by a great king.

The most interesting of our definitions in brackets is “amputated.” It isa translation of the Hebrew word chathak (kah-thal), which is used onlythis one time in the Bible but is well-known from its use outside the Bible.The widely respected Hebrew-English dictionary by Gesenius says thatchathak means to “cut” or “divide.” Ancient Jewish teachers (the rabbis),who employed this Hebrew word in connection with preparing animalsfor sacrifice, used it with the meaning of “amputate.”3 The point in Daniel9 is that seventy weeks were to be “cut off” or “amputated” from a longerperiod. Furthermore, these seventy weeks were to be devoted in a special

way to the well-being of the Jews and were to include the earthly life anddeath of the Prince Messiah, Jesus Christ.

You should know that some modern Bible translators believe theseventy-week prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 does not refer to Jesus Christ,but refers rather to the little king Antiochus Epiphanes (an-TIE-okus e-PIF-anees), who prevented temple sacrifices from being offered duringthe years 167-164 B.C. Translators who believe this tend to translate theHebrew words in such a way as to make them fit Antiochus Epiphanes.

However, when we allow the words to speak for themselves, they clearlyrefer to Jesus Christ.




THE DAYS ARE SYMBOLIC. Because the 490 days of the seventy weeks(7x70-490) stretch from the issuing of the decree to “restore and build“ Jerusalem until the time when Jesus would live and die on the earth, thedays of the seventy weeks are plainly symbolic, representing years. Four

hundred and ninety literal days would have covered less than a year and ahalf.

So if the 490 days of the seventy weeks are symbols that represent years,then the 2,300 days are also symbols and represent 2,300 years, since the490 days were “amputated” from the 2,300. Anything that is amputatedfrom something else has to be smaller than the something else. A finger isamputated from a hand and a leg from a body, not the other way around.

In chapter 2 of this book we referred to a volume in which William H.

Shea presents more than twenty evidences from the Bible that when a“day” is a prophetic symbol, it represents a year. To keep our presentdiscussion simple, it is sufficient to remind ourselves that when theIsraelites were coming out of Egypt, God specified “a day for a year”when sentencing them to wander forty years in the wilderness (Numbers14:34). Thus the concept of “a day for a year” was imprinted firmly in Jewish consciousness from the very beginning of their nation. Second,God reminded the Jewish people of this “day for a year” concept throughthe prophet Ezekiel, who was an exile in Babylonia at thesametimeDanielwas, and who lived only fifty miles or so away from Daniel. In connectionwith a very symbolic assignment, God expressly specified to Ezekiel, “Iassign you, a day for each year” (Ezekiel 4:6).

We conclude that the 2,300 days represent 2,300 years – and that theybegan with the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C.

THE 457 DECREE. Now it's time that we look at the decree itself. You willhave to depend on scholars such as Lynn Wood and Siegfried Horn,

whom we mentioned in chapter 2, and on a host of other scholars whomwe haven't mentioned, for the conclusion that the “seventh year of Artaxerxes” was in fact 457 B.C.4 But you can definitely show your friendwhat happened in that seventh year of Artaxerxes to start the seventyweeks and the 2,300 days.

Help your friend find Ezra 7. As you read through Ezra 7, notice thereferences to Artaxerxes and Ezra in verse 1 and to the “seventh year of Artaxerxes the king” in verse 7. Verses 7 to 10 tell about Ezra's trip from

Babylonia to Jerusalem and his arrival there in the “fifth month,” which,according to calendars in those days, was probably August or September.




Ezra 7:12 begins the decree that King Artaxerxes issued. Think of thedecree as an authentic ancient document, and you'll find it unusuallyinteresting. The decree gives Jews living in Babylonia permission to moveto the ruined city of Jerusalem and to take money with them. It also gives

Ezra a sizable grant of money and supplies. But the last two verses of thedecree (25, 26) interest us the most right now:

And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all thepeople in the province Beyond the River [the province in which Jerusalem was situated], all such as know the laws of your God; andthose who do not know them, you shall teach. Whoever will not

obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment bestrictly executed upon him, whether for death or for banishment orfor confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.

This is the “word” (RSV) or “decree” (NIV) to “restore and build Jerusalem” that fulfilled the prophecy of Gabriel in Daniel 9:24-27.

Gabriel delivered this prophecy to Daniel in 558 B.C. Within a year ortwo, the great King Cyrus issued a decree providing for the rebuilding ofthe Jerusalem temple (see Ezra 1:2-4), and another Persian king laterreconfirmed this first temple-building decree (see Ezra 6). But it was notuntil 457 B.C. that King Artaxerxes issued the decree for rebuilding theruined city of Jerusalem. This decree specified that the Jewish governorwas to “appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in theprovince” (Ezra 7:25). This specification restored Jerusalem to capital-citystatus.5

To put teeth into the restoration to capital-citystatus, the decree addedthat “whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king”

was to be punished with fines, imprisonment, exile, or death (Ezra 7:26).In order to carry out this authorization, Jerusalem would have to house

the appointed magistrates and judges. It would also have to house thepolice and soldiers needed to enforce the orders of the magistrates and judges. And the magistrates, judges, soldiers, and police would have to beassisted by merchants and craftsmen, who could provide food, clothing,furniture, and so on. And all of these people would need builders toprovide government offices, public streets, city walls, shops, and human

dwellings. The builders would have to be guided by architects andengineers, who also would need to be housed, fed, and protected. Thus




the decree of 457, which provided for Jerusalem to be a center formagistrates and judges fully authorized to enforce both religious laws andthe king's own laws, envisaged the restoration of Jerusalem to capital-citystatus and necessarily also envisaged therebuildingof the city.

The decree that Gabriel foresaw when he spoke of a “word“ or“decree” to “restore” and “build” Jerusalem was this decree of 457 B.C.

This is the decree that was to start the seventy weeks. And inasmuch asGabriel's reference to the decree was intended to help Daniel and usunderstand the 2,300 days, we know that the 2,300 days also began in 457B.C.

CHRIST THE CENTER. Be sure your friend realizes that this talk about

chronology and ancient history is also talk about Jesus. For withoutquestion, the center and focus of the seventy-week and 2,300-dayprophecies that began in Daniel 8 and ran over into chapter 9 is ourloving, living Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

He is the Prince who was “anointed” at the end of the sixty-ninth weekand “cut of” in the middle of the seventieth week and who “anointed themost holy place” upon His ascension to heaven after His resurrection (seeDaniel 9:24-27). Jesus is the High Priest who was to cleanse the heavenlysanctuary at the end of the 2,300 days.

The Christ-centeredness of Daniel 8 and 9 is revealed even in thechoice of symbols to represent Media-Persia and Greece. In Daniel 2these empires were symbolized by metals – silver and brass. In Daniel 7they were symbolized by wild animals – a bear and a leopard. But inDaniel 8 and 9 the same empires are symbolized by a ram and a goat. InOld Testament times, rams (male sheep) and goats were the most promi-nent animals used for sacrifices. Supremely, the special annual day foroffering a male sheep was Passover (see Exodus 12). Jesus our Passover

Lamb (see 1 Corinthians 5:7) was sacrificed on the cross on Passover day.Supremely also, the special annual day for offering a goat was the Day

of Atonement, when a goat's blood was used symbolically by the highpriest to cleanse the earthly sanctuary (see Leviticus 16).

Jesus as our sacrificial Lamb provides forgiveness of sin. Jesus as ourHigh Priest provides victory over sin, the eradication of sin from ourcharacters, and the blotting out of even the record of confessed sin fromthe most holy place in the heavenly sanctuary. All Christians believe in the

Christ of history who died on the cross. Many Christians look forward tothe Christ of the future, arriving on the clouds at the second coming.




Seventh-day Adventists are among the Christians who cherish thesegreat truths about Jesus. But Seventh-day Adventists, with their God-given understanding of 1844, have, in addition, something absolutely vitalto tell the world about the contemporary Christ, currently engaged in a

unique ministry in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. Jesus wants to help us, and our friends,understand all this.

Additional Note

This additional note is for readers who would like to know why there isno zero year between B.C and A.D. and what A.D. means precisely. Ifwhen you finish reading this note you would like still more informationabout calculating 1844, you will find excellent help in Clifford Goldstein's

1844 Made Simple. You might also like to read God Cares, vol.1 (aboutDaniel), 205-210, 237-240, 251-253.To understand why there is no zero year we need to start with the

difference between counting “zero, one, two” and counting “first, second,third.”

Numbers like “zero, one, two” are known as cardinal numbers, andnumbers like “first, second, third” are known asordinal numbers.

When we give a person's age, we usually use cardinal numbers. We saythat a person is six or forty-five or ninety-two. But when we give the ageof a tiny infant, we of ten use ordinal numbers and say that the child is inthe “first” year of her life. When the baby is one year old, we say she is inhersecond year. When she is two, she's in her third year, and so on.

The ordinal age – first, second, third – is always one number larger thanthe cardinal age – zero, one, two. This is because when we use first,second, third, we don't speak of the zero year. When the baby is in herfirst year (using ordinal numbers), we could say that she is “zero” (usingcardinal numbers) – but it wouldn't sound right, would it?

Notice very carefully that when we count “first, second, third“ wehaveno year numbered zero. There is no zero year between the birth of a baby andthe beginning of her first year.

Because of this absence of a zero year, ordinal numbers (first, second,third) are always one number larger than their equivalent cardinal numbers(zero, one, two).

Elderly people sometimes exaggerate their ages, honestly enough, byusing ordinals. When they're eighty-seven, for example, they say they're in

their eighty-eighth year. Let's repeat it for emphasis: ordinal numbers(first, second, third) are always one number larger than the equivalent




cardinal numbers; cardinal numbers (zero, one, two) are always onenumber smaller than the equivalent ordinal numbers.

Now most ancient people preferred ordinal numbers. When datingevents, rather than counting “zero, one, two,” they used “first, second,

third.” Further, they normally dated events to the years during whichindividual kings reigned. We have examples of these customs in the bookof Daniel, such as, „In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah“ (Daniel 1:1), and we have already looked at “the seventh year of Artaxerxes“ (Ezra 7:7). Even to this day in Britain, acts of Parliament areceremonially dated to the third or tenth or twenty-fifth or whatever yearof the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

This ancient practice of dating events to the ordinal-numbered year of a

given king's reign meant that dating had to start all over again with thebeginning of each reign. Imagine the complexity of calculating the yearsfrom the third year of King A to the fifth year of King G, when Kings B,C, D, E, and F each reigned various numbers of years in between!

But in the year we call 532, an intelligent monk named DionysiusExiguus proposed the brilliant idea that events should be dated to the oneongoing reign of our ever-living Lord and King, Jesus Christ. Under thissystem, an event could be spoken of as happening “in the twenty-fifth year of our Lord,” for example, and a later event could be dated “in thethree hundred and seventy-fifth year of our Lord.”

We're ready now to discuss the precise meaning of B.C. and A.D.The abbreviation B.C. is easy. It is English and stands for “before

Christ.“ Dionysius Exigutis did not use B.C. He invented only A.D. Theabbreviation A.D. stands for anno Domini, which is Latin. The wordanno isrelated to “annual,” our word for yearly, and in this expression means“in the year of“ The word Domini is related to “dominion” and here refersto the Lord Jesus, who has dominion over all of us. Thus A.D. means “in

the year of our Lord.”But remember that in ancient times, people used ordinal numbers for

expressing dates. Hence A.D., when used precisely, is not to be read as “inthe year [zero, one, two] of our Lord” but as “in the [first, second, third] year of our Lord.” Thus, the correct reading of “A. D. 1843“ is not theway we usually say it – “in the year 1844,” using the cardinal number 1844;rather, it is “in the 1843th year of our Lord,” using the ordinal number,which, in cardinal numeration is one number higher, or 1844.

Let's admit it. Almost everyone in the world has forgotten thisdistinction in dating the A.D. years – and for most situations in life, the




distinction doesn't matter. But for measuring the years between a B.C.date and an A.D. date, the distinction can be very important. It is veryimportant when determining the correct date for Christ's entry intoheaven's most holy place in fulfillment of the 2,300-day prophecy.

Calculators and computers are typically set up to count with cardinalnumbers (zero, one, two), and likewise we are taught in school to countwith cardinal numbers (zero, one, two). So when we subtract 457 from2,300, either in our heads or with a calculator, we get the cardinal number,1843, just as Miller did.

But if calculators and computers were set up, as they should be, tocount ordinal numbers (first, second, third) when figuring dates from B.C.to A.D., they would automatically take into account the absence of the

zero year. When subtracting 457 B.C. from A.D. 2300, they wouldautomatically give us “in the 1844th year of our Lord” or “A.D. 1844,”instead of 1843.

Most computers aren't smart enough to do this. But now, I trust, youare! God has helped youunderstand.

1. Ellen C. White,Christ’s Object Lessons, 333.2. Daniel 9:21 calls Gabriel a “man,” but the term seems to mean the same as

person. In Luke 1:19 Gabriel is specifically designated an angel.3. Jacques Doukhan, “The Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9: An Exegetical Study,”

Andrews University Seminary Studies17 (1979):1-22.4. Some commentators give 458 B.C. instead of 457 B.C., but the arguments in

favor of 457 as given in the Seventh-day Adventist BibleCommentary and in the bookby Wood and Horn demonstrate the clear superiority of 457.

5. In 444 B.C., thirteen years after 457 B.C., King Artaxetxes issued anotherdecree, which some Christians think was the decree that Gabriel had in mind. Butclose inspection shows that the 444 B.C. decree authorized Nehemiah to repair

some damage done to the city walls by local enemies (see Nehemiah 2). This wasafter the walls had been rebuilt as part of the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem that was done under the decree of 457.



47

CHAPTER 4

WHY OCTOBER 22?

We've been talking about the year 1844, but we haven’t said anything

about the specific date, October 22. You have probably heard that the“great disappointment” – the magnificent disappointment – when Jesusdidn't appear took place on October 22, 1844. Perhaps you thought thatbecause the Millerites were wrong about the year 1844, their being wrongabout the specific date, October 22, wasn't worth wondering about. But you have been reassured in this book that Miller was not wrong about the year; he was right about it. And in this present chapter I hope you will findevidence that, like 1844, the date October 22 was based on sound Bible

study. I hope you will also find that October 22 has a significance of itsown for today.To put the matter as briefly as possible, the date October 22 came from

the Day of Atonement in the Bible. The Caraite Jews, who were regardedas the most careful of all Jews in preserving the Bible calendar, held that in1844 the Day of Atonement fell on October 22. That is essentially whereOctober 22 came from. If you would like to know more about the whysand wherefores, please read on.

WILLIAM MILLER AND OCTOBER 22. William Miller did not select October




22. His associates did, in the summer of 1844.Miller first examined Daniel 8:14 in 1818. He understood that the 2,300

days would end in 1843 (later corrected to 1844 when the matter becameclear about the year zero). But Miller never was positive that he had found

the correct year for beginning the 2,300 days. He had found the correct year, 457 B.C., but he wasn't absolutely certain that historians hadn't beenoff a year or two. If they were off a bit, he reasoned, the ending yearwould also be off a bit. Besides, Jesus had become his personal friend, andMiller hoped that He would return sooner than 1843. So throughout mostof his preaching career, beginning in 1831, Miller preferred to date theclose of the 2,300 days no more closely than “about the year 1843.”

When December 1842 rolled around, many Millerite Adventists found

themselves eagerly looking for Christ's return within the first few days of1843. About this time they discovered that in Daniel's day, Bible yearsbegan and ended in the spring. So now they began to look for Christ tocome around March 21.

By now, the Millerite “second advent” movement had grown quitelarge. At its peak the following year it would include hundreds of ministersand other leading speakers and would count perhaps 150,000 followers ina national population of eighteen million.1 Miller's movement was not achurch; most of his people remained members of their variousdenominations. Pastors felt honored to have Miller come and holdmeetings for them and of ten urged him to come again soon.

When attendance at large second advent rallies grew too large foravailable church buildings, the Millerite leaders in 1842 voted to holdopen-air camp meetings. When these proved enormously attractive, they voted to buy the largest tent yet made in America. This great tent couldseat four thousand, with standing room for two thousand more. TheMillerites had it ordered and in use within a month. There was no time to

lose if Christ was coming “around the year 1843.” But with only one suchtent, many camp meetings continued to meet in the open air.

THE MIONIGHT CRY. It is important for our understanding of October22 to know that the Millerite Adventists saw themselves – at their campmeetings and in their many publications – as fulfilling the “midnight cry”of Matthew 25. When, in the parable of the virgins, the bridegroomfinally shows up at the hour of midnight, a cry goes up, “Behold, the

bridegroom cometh” (KJV). Jesus called Himself the Bridegroom inMark 2:19,20. So with their emphasis on the second coming of Jesus, the



WHY OCTOBER 22? 49

Millerites called their principal publication The Midnight Cry . As themovement grew, they published theWestern Midnight Cry in Cincinnati andthe Southern Midnight Cry . Later they had a paper called TheTrueMidnightCry , but with this we are getting ahead of our story.

When Jesus didn't return in March 1843, Miller wrote a particularlythoughtful article for publication in the various volunteer periodicals. In ithe argued – without setting a precise date – that Jesus was more likely toreturn in the autumn than in the spring. Miller's reasoning was furtherevidence of the acuteness of his Bible study – though the idea wasn'toriginal with him. Isaac Newton, the famous scientist, had thought of this years before.

Miller's basic argument (and Isaac Newton's before him) had to do with

“types” and “antitypes.” He reasoned that because Jesus fulfilled thespringtypes in connection with His first coming, He could be expected to fulfill theautumn types in connection with Hissecond coming.

Let's try that again. An “antitype” is the fulfillment of a “type.” The most familiar type-

antitype relationship is the one between the sacrificial lamb (the type) andthe crucified Lamb of God, Jesus Christ (the antitype). Antitypes tend tobe much larger than types. The crucifixion of the Creator of the universeis vastly more profound than the death of a lamb; yet there is a similarityin the deaths of two completely innocent beings.

The Old Testament offered many different types that looked forwardto the ministry of Jesus. Among the most important of these were theannual festivals that are listed and described in Leviticus 23. These annual-festival types were divided into two major categories: the spring types andthe autumn types. The springtypes were (1) the Passover, together with itsweek-long extension, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, (2) the offering ofthe “Wavesheaf” or first fruits on the day after the Passover Sabbath, and

(3) the Day of Pentecost. The autumn types were (1) the Blowing ofTrumpets, (2) the Day of Atonement, and (3) the Feast of Tabernacles.

Don't overlook what we mentioned a moment ago, that the Milleriteslearned that ancient Bible years began in the spring rather than in January.2 The first month in Bible times came in late March or April, andthe seventh month fell in September or October, in the autumn.

Now in Leviticus 23, God specified the precise dates in spring andautumn when these ceremonial types were to be observed. (1) Passover

was to be observed on the “fourteenth day of the first month.” (2) A




SPRING

TYPES

FIRST COMING

ANTITYPES

AUTUMN

TYPES

SECOND COMING

ANTITYPES

Passover *CrossBlowing of

Trumpets

Three Angels’

Messages

First Fruits ResurrectionDay of

Atonement+Investigative Judgment

Pentecost “Pentecost” Tabernacles Heaven

*Year of predicted in the seventh-weekprophecy (Daniel 9)

+Year of predicted in the 2,300-dayprophecy (Daniel 8)

sheaf (the “Wavesheaf”) of first-ripe barley (first fruits) was to be waved

before the Lord by a priest “on the morrow after the sabbath” of Passoverweek. (3) And as for Pentecost, “you shall count from the morrow afterthe sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering;seven full weeks … counting fifty days to the morrow after the seventhsabbath.“

Likewise, in the autumn, (1) “in the seventh month, on the first day ofthe month,” the Blowing of Trumpets was to take place, (2) “on the tenthday of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement,” and (3) “on the

fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast ofBooths” (or Tabernacles).

It is not surprising that God was so precise, giving exact dates for theseceremonial types.God madetime.

So precise is God's universe that astronomers can predict eclipsesthousands of years in advance. So precise was God's prophecy of the 430 years of servitude (Genesis 15:13; compare Galatians 3:17) that Mosescould record that the children of Israel left Egypt “on that very clay”

(Exodus 12:40, 41). Jesus began His earthly ministry proclaiming, “Thetime is fulfilled!” knowing that the seventy-week prophecy had accuratelypredicted His baptism at the end of the sixty-ninth week.

King David could say, “My times are in thy hands” (Psalm 31:15). Godknows when it is best for us to marry or die and when to enjoy success orlearn from a failure. He knows precisely the best times for each of us.

When the time came for Jesus to die, He died in the year predicted, A.D. 31, in the “midst” of the seventieth week of Daniel 9:24-27. AndHe died not only in the very year of prophecy but also on thevery day of

that year when thePassover lamb was slain. Indeed, He died at the very time



WHY OCTOBER 22? 51

of day, in the middle of the afternoon, when the Passover lamb was slain!Furthermore, on the “day after the Sabbath,” when the first fruits of

the barley harvest were offered by the priest, Jesus rose from the dead,“the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

The accuracy is amazing!To add another marvel to this amazing list, after His ascension to

heaven, Jesus sent His Holy Spirit in “Pentecostal power” on the very dayof the annual Pentecost (see Acts 2).

With new force we remember Acts 17:31, where long ago God told usthat He had “ fixed a day on which He will judgethe world in righteousnessby a Man whom he has appointed.”

The same God who appointed the very year and day for Jesus to die

appointed a year and day for the judgment to begin.In his May 1843 article, Miller went so far as to suggest that just as Jesus fulfilled (was the antitype of ) the spring types at His first coming, soHe might be expected to fulfill (become the antitype of) the autumn typesin connection with His second coming. Thus He might well fulfill theautumn types and return to the earth in the autumn.

S. S. SNOW. Miller set no precise date in the autumn, but SamuelSheffield Snow, one of the many leaders who were now voluntarilyassisting Miller, took Miller's observation to its logical conclusion. If Jesusfulfilled the spring types not only in the correct year of the seventy-weekprophecy but also on the very dates of the types, so He could be countedon to fulfill the autumn Day of Atonement type not only in the year of the2,300-day prophecy but alsoon thevery dateof theDay of Atonement.

On the Day of Atonement in the Bible, the high priest completed thework of atonement in the most holy place and then cameout to bless hiswaiting people. The Day of Atonement was the tenth day of the seventh

Bible month. Therefore, Snow concluded, Jesus could be counted on toleave heaven and come to bless His waiting people on thetenth day of theseventh (Bible) month. It was as simple as that.

But only a few people listened to Snow's argument at first. In any case, Jesus didn't come in the autumn of 1843. When March 1844 rolledaround, confidence grew that Jesus would come before the end of thespring-to-spring Bible year. But He didn't come then either, and a genuinedisappointment ensued.

The Millerites restudied the parable of the virgins (see Matthew 25:1-10), and this time they paid special attention to the words “As the




bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept” (KJV). They sawthemselves in the tarrying time – or, in the idiom of the day, in the“tarry” – and longed more than ever for the true midnight cry.

THE EXETER, N.H., CAMP MEETING. An extra-large camp meeting (butwithout benefit of the big tent, which was in use elsewhere) was held inExeter, New Hampshire, beginning August 12, 1844. Interested peoplecame from all over New England and also from several other states andeven from Canada. At first, things didn't go very well. The preaching,though earnest, seemed unconvincing. Besides, some troubling fanaticismerupted. The folk from Watertown, Massachusetts, held long, noisy prayermeetings in their dormitory tent, shouting and clapping; and some other

people kept telling everyone how they had been “impressed” to do this orthat trivial thing. Elder James White, one of the leaders present, wasparticularly disturbed.3

On the other hand, Joseph Bates arrived with great expectations. Whilehe was riding to Exeter, a conviction had forced itself on his mind: “Youare going to have new light here, something that will give a new impetusto this work.”4

At one of the Exeter meetings, the old records tell us with astonishingfrankness, the normally powerful Captain Bates was preaching away “in adull, prosy style,”5 not yet having found the new light he was looking for,when a horseman galloped into the campground, quickly dismounted,hurriedly cared for his horse, and dashed over to where his sister and JohnCouch, her husband, were seated.

Suddenly Mrs. Couch6 stood courageously to her feet and said in a loudbut pleasant voice, “Brother Bates, it is too late to spend our time uponthese truths, with which we are familiar. … Time is short. The Lord hasservants here who have meat in due season for his household. Let them

speak, and let the people hear them.”The crowd was electrified. Choked “Amens” were heard on every side.

Many people began to weep. Bates himself, far from objecting to theinterruption, sat down at once, eagerly awaiting the new light he had beenpromised while traveling to the meeting.

A consultation was held, and the decision was made to have BrotherSnow take advantage of the morning meeting the next day. He was ready,for he had already presented his evidence to gatherings in New York,

Philadelphia, and Boston.7

Snow's first argument that needs to concern us here8 was not based on



WHY OCTOBER 22? 53

the ceremonial types and antitypes, which he had been studying for over a year. Instead, he first dwelt on evidence that the 2,300 years could notpossibly have ended in the spring – because they didn't start in the spring!The decree of 457 B.C., under which Jerusalem was to be restored and

rebuilt, was not promulgated and executed until Ezra arrived at Jerusalemin the fifth month of that year (see Ezra 7), and not even then, but onlyafter he had managed to settle in as governor.

Besides, the year didn't start in March, as most modern Jews wereteaching and as the Millerites had come to believe. It had to have startedin April, he said, as the extremely careful Caraite Jews pointed out. The“first month” couldn't begin until the barley was nearly ripe, for ripebarley had to be available for the “Wavesheaf” (first fruits) ceremony in

the middle of the first month, and barley didn't ripen in Palestine inMarch.So starting in April 457 B.C. and counting from there to the fifth

month, then adding a little time for Ezra to get settled, meant that thedecree could not have been carried out until the autumn. So if the 2,300 years didn't begin until the autumn of 457 B.C., they could not end untilthe autumn of A.D. 1844!

The audience looked at their Bibles, at Snow, and at one another andwondered how they could have been so blind. Here was impressive newlight!

Building on this foundation, based on an accurate understanding ofthe prophecy of the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14, Snow advanced to anaccurate understanding of the annual ceremonial types of Leviticus 23.He pointed out that “Christ our Passover” was sacrificed for us(1 Corinthians 5:7, KJV) on the fourteenth day of the first month at about3:00 p.m., “on the same day, and at the same hour” when the Passoverlamb died. He also observed that in this type-antitype fulfillment of the

Passover lamb, “timewas most strictly regarded” (his emphasis). Jesus fulfilled the “first fruits” type by coming back from the dead, “the

first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:23), on the very Sunday when the first fruits were waved before the Lord. And as forPentecost, “the anniversary of the Lord's descent on mount Sinai at thegiving of the law,” the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles on that very day, toenable them to carry out the great gospel commission.

“Thus we see,” Snow continued, in a “solemn and dignified” manner,9

“that those types that pointed to events connected with our Lord's firstcoming, were fulfilled exactly at the timeof their observance.” Therefore,




he reasoned, “those which remain unfulfilled, will be fulfilled with anequally strict regard to time.”

Snow referred especially to the Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 9:7,22-24; 16; 23:26-32), on the tenth day of the seventh month, on which day

the high priest went into the most holy place of the earthly tabernacle andsprinkled blood on the mercy seat, after which “on the samedayhe cameout and blessed the waiting congregation of Israel.”

Snow led his large congregation to his triumphant conclusion: “Ourblessed Lord will therefore come, to the astonishment of all them thatdwell upon the earth, and to the salvation of those who truly look for him,on thetenth day of the seventh month of the year of jubilee: and that is thepresent year, 1844.”

In 1844, according to the extremely careful reckoning of the Caraite Jews, the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, was tofall on October 22. And this is howthat specificdatewas arrived at.

James White long remembered that as Snow completed his Biblestudy, “the deepest solemnity pervaded the entire encampment.”10 Aconviction gripped almost everyone, that “in all probability the speakerwas correct, and that in a few short weeks human probation would closeforever.”11

Still, these Millerite Adventists were Bible students. They had to becertain that new light came from the right place. They unanimously askedSnow to repeat his message the next day so they could evaluate it by theBible more precisely. And he obliged them, speaking “with still greaterclearness and force.”12

Meanwhile, other speakers, including Mrs. Couch's husband John,stirred the people with earnest exhortations to live in harmony with thenew light. If it was indeed time for the true midnight cry, “Behold thebridegroom cometh on tenth day, seventh month,“ let no one sleep like the

foolish virgins! Let all trim their lamps and carry the new light everywhere– the Bible light, the “truemidnight cry.”

THE SEVENTH MONTH MOVEMENT. The message itself, that Christ wascoming on the tenth day of the seventh month (October 22), was knownas the “true midnight cry.” The response to the message became known asthe “seventh-month movement.”

And what a movement it was!

As the historic Exeter camp meeting closed, Bates recalled some timelater,13 “the granite hills of New Hampshire rang with the mighty cry,



WHY OCTOBER 22? 55

Behold theBridegroomcometh, go yeout to meet him! As the stages and railroadcars rolled away through the different states, cities, and villages of NewEngland, the rumbling of the cry was still distinctly heard: Behold theBridegroom cometh! Christ is coming on the tenth day of the seventh

month! Time is short, get ready! get ready!”“Who does not still remember,” Bates asked his readers, “how this

message flew as it were upon the wings of the wind – men and womenmoving on all the cardinal points of the compass, going with all the speedof locomotives, in steamboats and rail cars, freighted with bundles ofbooks and papers, wherever they went distributing them almost asprofusely as the flying leaves of autumn.”

But the seventh-month movement was not merely one of

proclamation. It was a deeply spiritual movement marked by confession,consecration, restitution, and earnest appeals, as well as by the sweetprospect of seeing Jesus soon. As Bates said, Oh, “the agonizing prayersand entreaties for our families, friends and brethren. Surely time can neverefface those deep impressions, besides the deep searchings of heart andconsecrations of time, friends, property, all, all, to God.“

S.S. Snow was not a principal Millerite leader. At first, the principalleaders, including Miller himself, opposed the specific day. But theprincipal leaders became persuaded as they observed the genuineness ofthe people's response.

“It produced everywhere the most deep searching of heart andhumiliation of soul before the God of high heaven,” said their leadingpublication, The Midnight Cry , for October 51, shortly after the greatdisappointment. “It caused a weaning of affections from the things of thisworld – a healing of controversies and animosities – a confession ofwrongs – a breaking down before God, and penitent, broken-heartedsupplications to him for pardon and acceptance. It caused self-abasement

and prostration of soul, such as we never before witnessed.”What a list of good things! Making things right with other people.

Solving misunderstandings. Replacing materialism with unselfishness.Seeking earnestly a closeness with Jesus. The kinds of things that everyspiritual Christian longs to see take place. No wonder TheMidnight Cry editors went on to say, “It seemed not to be the work of men. We couldbut exclaim, ‘What were we, that we should resist God!’ ”

Miller himself, after meticulously restudying the evidence, wrote in a

letter to the various publications, “I see a glory in the ‘seventh month’ thatI never saw before. We are almost home. Glory! Glory!”




THE DAY OF ATONEMENT AND US. Neither Miller nor his followers werein fact almost home, though they had made yet another advance in truth.They were right about the date, October 22, but once again they were notcompletely right. Jesus did not come out of the holy of holies on that day

as the Millerites expected, for He had a work to do there that would takemany days. Nonetheless, Jesus did honor the actual Day of Atonement in1844 as the day to enter the most holy place and commence the great workHe had to perform there.

On page 457 of The Great Controversy , Ellen White endorsed thereasoning that focused on the autumn of 1844: “The computation of theprophetic periods … placing the close of the 2300 days in the autumn of1844, stands without impeachment.” And Ellen White endorsed the

related concept that we are even today living in the ongoing antitypicalDay of Atonement. “We are now living in the great day of atonement,”saysTheGreat Controversy , page 489.

In reminding us of this, TheGreat Controversy , page 490, wants us toremember that when describing the typical Day of Atonement in Leviticus23:26-32, God specified that it was to be observed as a day for sincereself-examination and soul searching, a day for repentance and makingthings right.

In the typical service, while the high priest was making theatonement for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls byrepentance of sin and humiliation before the Lord, lest they be cutoff from among the people. In like manner, all who would have theirnames retained in the book of life, should now, in the few remainingdays of their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow forsin, and true repentance. There must be deep, faithful searching ofheart. The light, frivolous spirit indulged by so many of professed

Christians must be put away. There is earnest warfare before all whowould subdue the evil tendencies that strive for the mastery.

The precise date October 22, 1844 was arrived at through assiduousexamination of both Bible prophecy and Bible typology. Its penetratingsignificance for us at the present time will appear even more clearly in thechapters that follow.

1. Miller, with characteristic understatement, placed the number of converts



WHY OCTOBER 22? 57

at 50,000. In a 1930 doctoral dissertation, Professor Everett Dick estimatedcloser to 150,000. See near the back of his book.

2. Many ancient peoples began their year in the spring, when the winter wasover and crops began to grow and leaves reappeared on the trees. Even our own Julio-Gregorian calendar once began in March! If you don't believe it, look atSeptember, October, November, and December. Today we call them our ninth,tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months; but their names mean seventh, eighth,ninth, and tenth months! We're familiar with oct, as in “octopus,” an eight-leggedsea creature; and dec, as in “decimal,” a numbering system based on ten. JuliusCaesar, who gave his own name to July, ordered that New Year's should bemoved from March to January in 46 B.C.

3. James White, LifeIncidents (Battle Creek, Mich., 1868), 153-156.4. Joseph Bates, Second Advent Way Marks and High Heaps (New Bedford,

Mass., 1847), 30,31.5. James White, LifeIncidents, 159.6. Sorry, the only name we know! James White, LifeIncidents, 159.7. “The History of the Late Movement,” TheMidnight Cry , 31 October 1844,

and Bates,Second Advent Way Marks.8. The summary of his sermon is based on The True Midnight Cry , August

22, 1844, which consists entirely of Snow's material. See also James white, Life Incidents, 160-163.

9. James White, LifeIncidents, 160.10. Ibid., 163.

11. Bates, Second Advent Way Marks, 30,31, said later that other believers inaddition to Snow had come to the same conclusion.

12. James White, LifeIncidents, 163.13. Bates, Second Advent Way Marks, 30,31.



PART 2

DISCOVERINGTHE EVENT



61

CHAPTER 5

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENEDINHEAVEN?

When skeptics ask, “What on earth happened on October 22, 1844, to

fulfill Daniel 8:14?” your correct response Is, “Nothing at all.”That's right! Daniel 8:14 speaks of a “heavenly event” – a magnificent

heavenly event.What did happen on earth, the Millerite second advent awakening, was

indeed a fulfillment of prophecy, but not of Daniel 8:14. It was part of thefulfillment of the first angel's prophecy of Revelation 14:6, 7. But the“sanctuary” to be “cleansed” in Daniel 8:14 is the one in heaven. ThusDaniel 8:14 was to be fulfilled in heaven.

The question is, “What in heavenhappened in 1844?” Does the Biblegive us the details of that anywhere?

THE JUDGMENT SCENE IN DANIEL 7. Yes, the Bible does give us thedetails, in the judgment scene in Daniel 7:9-14.

The heavenly event that marked the close of the 2,300 days is clearlydescribed, not in the symbolic language of Daniel 8:14, the climax passageof Daniel 8, but in the ordinary language of the parallel climax of Daniel7. In plain, nonsymbolic language, Daniel 7:9, 10 – the first portion of the

climax passage – says, “As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was




ancient of days took his seat; … his throne was fiery flames, its wheelswere burning fire. … A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousandtimes ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment [the judgment was set, KJV], and the books were opened.”

Daniel's attention had been riveted on the series of horrid wild animalsthat had been coming up out of a stormy sea. Suddenly, and mercifully,his attention was drawn upward to a new event developing in heaven.There he watched God's glorious throne being installed in a new heavenlyplace and other thrones being grouped around it. He watched as the Ancient of Days Himself “came” (Daniel 7:22). He saw heavenly beingsby the million, singing God's praises, no doubt, as described in Revelation4 and 5. Daniel also saw record books being opened and observed that

“the judgment was set.”But although Daniel saw that the judgment was “set,” it evidently wasnot able actually to begin! But why not?

Because the Son of man had not yet arrived and Jesus says in John 5:22,that “the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.”This statement by Jesus Himself is very important for the correct biblicalunderstanding of what happened in 1844 and of what has been going onin heaven ever since. Don't forget John 5:22: “The Father judges no one,but has given all judgment to the Son.”

Happily, in Daniel's vision, the commencement of the judgment wasnot long delayed. Daniel continued his eyewitness account: “I saw in thenight visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like ason of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:13).1 Here isanother vital verse, one we referred to earlier, in our discussion of Miller'smistake.

When the Son of man arrived at the judgment scene in 1844, the judgment at last could begin. And the first angel of Revelation 14:6, 7

proclaimed with a triumphant shout, “The hour of his judgment hascome.” The hour of His judgment had come. Looking back, we speak ofthe first phase of the final judgment as beginning in 1844. But if theinvestigative judgment is the first phase of the final judgment, then the final judgmenthad begun.

This is part of the stupendous significance of 1844. In that yearthefinal judgment began. And if in our day the final judgment has already beenunderway for some 150 years, we know for certain that we are living in the

last days, in the end time. We'll have more to say on this in later chapters.In the meantime, please remember that it was the Son of man who started



WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN HEAVEN? 63

the judgment. 1844 is a message about Jesus.

MAGNIFICENCE OF THE 1844 EVENT. Let us now dwell a moment on themagnificence of the 1844 event. Doing so can help us savor its

significance realistically.But how are we to visualize it?The earthly sanctuary that Moses built, the tabernacle in the wilder-

ness, was a tent about forty-five feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteenfeet high – about the height of the walls of a two-story house. It had gold-plated wooden walls that could be taken apart for moving. The roofconsisted of four layers: richly embroidered tapestry inside and animalskins outside.

As most Adventists know, this earthly sanctuary was divided into tworooms. The holy place was thirty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteenfeet high. It contained on the south side (to the left as the priests entered)the solid-gold, seven-branched lampstand; on the north side (to the rightas the priests entered) the little gold-plated table of showbread; and to thewest (straight ahead) the gold-plated altar of incense, up against themagnificent curtain that walled off the most holy place. The most holyplace, the second room in the sanctuary, was a cube, fifteen feet in alldirections. It contained the ark of the covenant, a gold-plated chest insideof which were the Ten Commandments. The top of the ark was a lid ofsolid gold (the “mercy seat”) with an angellike cherub at each end sculptedout of the same piece of gold. At first, in Moses' day, a mysterious lightshone between the cherubim. The light represented the presence of God,enthroned above His law and occupying the seat of mercy.

It is helpful to note that the light, which represented God's presence,was not always located in the most holy place. In Moses' day, wheneverthe children of Israel needed to move to a new location, the light left its

location in the tabernacle and rose up as a cloudy pillar of fire that guidedthem to their new destination (see Numbers 9:15-23). Much later, Ezekielin vision saw God's presence symbolized in the holy place rather than inthe most holy place (see Ezekiel 10). Still later, John saw God's throne, asingle throne with both God and the Lamb seated on it, located no longerin heaven but as it will be after the millennium, down here on the earth(see Revelation 21:10; 22:3).

The most holy place was off-limits to everyone, even to the high priest,

except on one day each year. On the Day of Atonement, and only on thatday, the high priest was required to enter the most holy place and sprinkle




blood seven times on the mercy seat, symbolically asking God, throughthe blood of Jesus, to blot out the sins His people had been committing all year against God's law.

So what happened on the Day of Atonement, October 22, in the year

1844, to fulfill the cleansing of the true tabernacle in heaven? Are we, perhaps, to picture Jesus ministering in a thirty-foot holy place

until 1844, then drawing an embroidered curtain aside and taking a fewsteps west into a fifteen-foot most holy place?

Or should we visualize an episode far more dramatic?We remember that antitypes are vastly more impressive than mere

types. The cross is only minimally comparable to the death of a yearlinglamb. As for comparing the heavenly sanctuary with Moses' tabernacle,

Patriarchs and Prophets, page 357, reminds us that “the heavenly temple,the abiding place of the King of kings, where ‘thousand thousandsminister unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand beforehim,’ that temple filled with the glory of the eternal throne, whereseraphim, its shining guardians, veil their faces in adoration – no earthlystructure could represent its vastness and its glory ” (my italics). The passagecontinues, “As Christ's ministration was to consist of two great divisions,each occupying a period of time and having a distinctive place in theheavenly sanctuary [my italics again], so the typical ministration consistedof two divisions, the daily and the yearly service, and to each a departmentof the tabernacle was devoted.”

The two-part heavenly sanctuary, “the true tent which is set up not byman but by the Lord” (Hebrews 8:2), must indeed be a wonderful place,created by God Himself as a center of worship for the universe and thehome of millions of bright and glorious angels.

Our passage, Daniel 7:13, teaches us that the heavenly temple is nobox-shaped symbolic tent when it says that the Son of man journeyed to

the judgment “on the clouds of heaven.” One can hardly picture a journeyon clouds taking place in a box-shaped symbolic tent!

CHRIST'S THREE JOURNEYS ON CLOUDS. A helpful clue to the nature ofthe 1844 event is that the Bible speaks of Jesus taking three journeys onclouds. The words about the Son of man on the clouds of heaven that wefind in Daniel 7 are also used to describe the second coming in Matthew24:30, and similar words are used for His ascent into heaven (see Luke

24:50, 51; Acts 1:9) after His resurrection.When we Seventh-day Adventists read what the Bible says about




Christ's ascension and about His second coming, we believe it describesdramatic, literal events. We recall Luke 24:50, 51, “He led them out as faras Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessedthem, he parted from them.” We remember Acts 1:9, “As they were

looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.” As hymn 415 in theSeventh-day Adventist Hymnalsays,

Christ the Lord, all power possessing,Parting, mounted heaven's height,Gracious hands outstretched in blessing.Clouds received him from their sight.Christ ascended on the clouds.

We believe that Christ did ascend to heaven on clouds, literally,personally, visibly.

And we believe that at the second coming, He will return on clouds,literally, personally, visibly. “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, andevery eye will see him, … and all tribes of the earth will wail on accountof him” (Revelation 1:7). “The Lord Himself will descend from heavenwith a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound ofthe trumpet of God. … Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be

caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air”(1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).

Revelation's word fulfilling,Trumpet, voices pierce the air.Saint and sinner, fainting, thrilling,Every eye behold Him there.Christ is coming on the clouds.

So we look again at the judgment scene in Daniel 7. After describingthe arrival of the Ancient of Days and the gathering of myriads ofheavenly beings, the opening of the books, and the setting up of the judgment, the passage continues by saying, “I saw in the night visions, andbehold, with theclouds of heaven there came one like a Son of man, and hecame to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him” (verse 13).

Daniel views earth's judgment hour, Angels gathering, open books;

God enthroned in flaming powerFor His Son's arrival looks.




Christ approaches on the clouds.We are fully justified in seeing Christ's journey on clouds to the

judgment scene in 1844 as being equally as real, literal, and personal as wasHis cloudy trip to heaven at His ascension and as His journey will he at

His second coming.

VISUALI7E THE MAGNIFICENT EVENT. Try again now to visualize themagnificence of the event. Think about the antiphonal drama at Christ's victorious ascent to the holy city after His resurrection as written in Psalm24. The angelic choir attending Jesus sang out, “Lift up your heads, 0gates! … that the King of glory may come in,” and the gate-keeping choirsang hack, “Who is the King of glory?” Then they did it again. The

gatekeepers asked their question repeatedly, not because they didn't knowthe answer, but because they liked to hear Jesus praised repeatedly.Now visualize the millions of angels in Daniel's vision. Listen to their

magnificent music. Their gorgeous harmonies. The mellow tones of theirmultiple harps. The electrifying fanfares of their silver trumpets. Thepageantry of the Father's arrival on His flame-wheeled throne. Hisentourage of seraphim and cherubim, installed with joyful solemnity on alltheir thrones. The opening of the books.

The court is ready. The judgment is set. But the process cannot begin,because the Delegate Judge has not yet put in His appearance.

Remember John 5:22: “The Father judges no one; he has committed all judgment to the Son.”

In my imagination – in yours too, I assume – the trumpets and harpsand angel choirs fall silent. All eyes turn east in confident anticipation ofthe Son's arrival on the clouds precisely at the scheduled instant. And righton time the cry erupts from every throat, “There He is! There He is! TheSon of man is coming on the clouds!”

The trumpeters at God's side discharge a welcoming fanfare. Ananswering fanfare reverberates from the clouds. The angels beside thethrone burst into rapturous melody, and the angels in the clouds respondantiphonally. And the entire universe – all of it, with the exception ofsinful humanity – comes alive, echoing and reechoing and resonating witha rhapsody of sweetest singing. The Son of man is arriving at last toreverse the judgments of human tribunals (see TheGreat Controversy , 650),to vindicate once and for all His victorious, downtrodden saints.

Such a magnificent event deserves retelling again and again. EveryChristian worthy of the name should be telling it. In its own way, it is as




eternally significant as the cross and the second coming. It is an event inthe ministry of Jesus that has meaning for all the universe and everysinner. Yet Seventh-day Adventists are the only people who say anythingabout it. What a pity. May God help each of us to be faithful in talking

about it and telling it eagerly to the world.

ADVENTIST LEADERS AND 1844. It is reassuring to know that leadingSeventh-day Adventists over the years have made a conscientious effort totell the world that, indeed, both Father and Son did move from one partof heaven (the Holy Place) to another part of heaven (the Most HolyPlace) in 1844 to commence a grand new work of grace.

Joseph Bates, one of the foremost Adventist “founders,” taught it

faithfully. In 18502

he reminded his readers that he had “already adducedthe proof that Jesus was sitting with his Father on his throne in the Holy,where the seven lamps of fire were. Then at the appointed time, 2300days, the Ancient of Days moves in something that has wheels burninglike fire, with thousands of angels in attendance. Then one like the Son ofMan is brought near before him, thirteenth verse. … How evident thatboth Father and Son here left the throne in the Holy and moved into theMost Holy, in accordance also with, and close of, the message of theflying angels in Rev. xiv. 6, 7, to sit in judgment.”

Uriah Smith edited the Reviewduring most of the first half-century ofits existence. He also wrote several books. In 18773 he wrote, “We haveseen Christ on the throne with the Father in the holy place. But we haveseen the Father changing his position and opening a new scene, a scene of judgment. To do this, he must first move to the place where this scene isto transpire. Then Christ … is escorted by a multitude of heavenly beings,… into the presence of the Ancient of days in his new position, accordingto Dan 7:13.”

A leading soul winner, counselor, and conference president for wellover fifty years, Stephen N. Haskell also spoke of the movement ofFather and Son in 1844. In 19144he reviewed how “Daniel beheld theFather's throne changed from the first apartment of the heavenlysanctuary to the second.” But something was “lacking yet. Daniel'sattention,” Haskell went on, was “now attracted to the ‘clouds of heaven’– myriads of angels – bearing the Saviour in before the Father intriumph.” Haskell explained: “In heaven the throne of God was in the

first apartment when Christ ascended and sat at the right hand of HisFather,” but was moved from there to the second apartment in 1844.




We could cite similar statements from W. A. Spicer ,5 the best-loved-ever General Conference president (1922-1930), and from anothereffective General Conference president (1950-1954), W. H. Branson.6

Seventh-day Adventists rightly believe – and report – that in 1844

Father and Son moved from one part of heaven to another to mark thecommencement of the final judgment.

THE 1844 EVENT AND ELLEN C. WHITE. Ellen White fully agreed with herbrethren in this matter of what happened in heaven in 1844. Shewatched ithappen in one of her early visions. Whereas Daniel seems to have viewedthe 1844 event from the “camera angle” of the most holy place, inFebruary 1845, Ellen White saw the same magnificent event from the

camera angle of the holy place.“I saw a throne,” she wrote after her vision, “and on it sat the Fatherand the Son. … I saw the Father rise from the throne, and in a flamingchariot go into the holy of holies within the veil, and sit down. Then Jesusrose up from the throne. … A cloudy chariot, with wheels like flamingfire, surrounded by angels, came to where Jesus was. He stepped into thechariot and was borne to the holiest, where the Father sat. "7

So this is what happened in heaven on October 22, 1844; and we'll havemore to say about Ellen White's vision of February 1845 in a later chapter.

1. Daniel's narrative about the judgment scene picks up in verse 13 where itleft off in verse 10. Daniel 7:11, 12 describe the outcome of the judgment. Insome modern versions, the fact that verses 11, 12 area parenthesis is indicated bya change in the way they are printed. In such Bibles, these two verses are printedlike prose, whereas the two verses preceding – verses 9, 10 – and the two versesfollowing – verses 13, 14 – are correctly printed in the form of Hebrew poetry.

2. Joseph Bates, An Explanation of the Typical and Anti-Typical Sanctuary (New Bedford, Mass., 1850), 10.

3. Uriah Smith, TheSanctuary and theTwenty-threeHundred Days of Daniel VIII. 14 (Battle Creek, 1877), 234-236.

4. Stephen N. Naskell, TheCross and lts Shadow(South Lancaster, Mass.: TheBible Training School, 1914), 212-214.

5. W. A. Spicer, Our Day in the Light of Prophecy (Mountain View, Calif.:Pacific Press, 1917) 216, 217.

6. W. H. Branson, Drama of the Ages (Nashville: Southern Publishing Assn.,1950), 296.

7. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 54, 55, italics supplied.



71

CHAPTER 6

INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT:A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTINVENTION?

People who don't understand the meaning of 1844 sometimes say thatthe investigative judgment – or the “pre-advent” judgment – was invented by Ellen White, or perhaps by Hiram Edson, and so isn't worthanything. Sometimes they say it was worked up to ease people's embar-rassment over the great disappointment.

What I would like you to see in this chapter is that the investigative pre-advent judgment was not invented by Hiram Edson, nor did it come outof Ellen White's visions. The main features of the investigative pre-advent judgment were circulating in print, in books and magazines, before Hiram

Edson took his famous walk through his cornfield and before Ellen Whitehad a vision on the subject; in fact, some of the features were in print andcirculating before Ellen White had a vision onany subject.

As for the impression that the investigative pre-advent judgment wasworked up by Millerites as a zany way of coping with the greatdisappointment, I would like to show that the basic foundational conceptswere in print and circulatingsomeyears beforethe great disappointment!

MAIN FEATURES OF THE DOCTRINE. To help make sure that we are bothtalking about the same thing, let us review the main features of the




investigative judgment doctrine as Seventh-day Adventists understand it.What features come to your mind?

It began in 1844? It is happening in the heavenly sanctuary? It has afunny name that isn't in the Bible? It is somehow related to Daniel 8:14,

even though Daniel 8:14 doesn't say anything about “judgment”? Verygood! And we can add more. The investigative pre-advent judgment is notfor everybody but is limited to believers. It has to do with blotting outsins. It is closely related to the Day of Atonement. It is a basis for thethree angels' messages.

DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT. As you reflect onour list, you realize that in previous chapters we have already discussed

when and by whom several of the features were first presented. As early as 1818 William Miller saw that the “cleansing of thesanctuary” at the end of the 2,300 days was datable to 1844 (or, at first,to “about the year 1843”). Miller also saw in 1818 that the cleansing of thesanctuary involved judgment. He knew that it involved judgment becausethe climax of Daniel 8 (the cleansing) isparallel with the climax of Daniel 7(the judgment). He also recognized that with the judgment only abouttwenty-five years away, the time had come to proclaim the first angel'smessage, “The hour of his judgment is come (Revelation 14:7). Someeighteen years after he developed these ideas he published them (in 1836)in his sermon book, EvidencefromScripture.

In chapter 4 we saw that in the summer of 1844, S.S. Snow, relatingtype to antitype, showed that the 2,300 days would end on the Day of Atonement, “the 10th day of the 7th month,” October 22, 1844.1 He hadbeen teaching this for about a year, but now published a tract on thesubject, TheTrueMidnight Cry , August 22, 1844, two months before thegreat disappointment.

So you have already seen in previous chapters that many features of theinvestigative judgment were circulating before the great disappointment.But what about the “pre-advent” idea? Did any of Miller's people sayanything about a judgment startingbeforethe second coming?

Yes, indeed.The second most influential Bible student among the Millerites, second

only to Miller himself, was Josiah Litch, a Methodist writer on theprophecies. As Litch studied the prophecies in 1840 (four years beforethe

great disappointment), the conviction came to him that the judgment musttake place before people are resurrected. His book on prophecy, An



INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT 73

Address to thePublic, and Especially to theClergy , which came out the following year (1841), made the point clearly:

Difficulty arises from confounding the resurrection and judg-

ment, or at least from giving the resurrection the precedence in theorder of time; whereas the Scriptures place the judgment first [hisitalics].2

Here in 1841 is the teaching, in print, that the judgment must beginbefore the resurrection at the second coming. A year later (1842), in atwo-volume work, PropheticExpositions, Litch noted that according to John5 and Revelation 20, some people will be resurrected “to life” at the

second coming, and others will be resurrected “to death” at a later time.This proves clearly, he said, that judgment comes before resurrection,because the decision as to who is righteous and who isn't is made beforeanyone is resurrected. And inasmuch as the resurrection of the righteousoccurs at the second coming, their judgment must precedethesecond coming.This reasoning reinforced the argument in his previous (1841) book.

But in this second work (1842), Litch al50 went on to ask his readers todistinguish between two “senses” (or phases) of judgment, thepunishment or “executive” phase and, on the other hand, the “trial” orinvestigative phase, which precedes the punishment phase. He wrote:

THE TRIAL MUST PRECEDE THE EXECUTION. This is soclear a proposition that it is sufficient to state it. No human tribunalwould think of executing judgment on a prisoner until after his trial;much less will God.3

To clinch his argument, Litch quoted the last verse of Ecclcsiastes,

indicating the kind of investigative “trial” God will engage in before theresurrection: “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with everysecret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

We must be careful here! Litch, in 1842, believed with Miller that thesecond coming would occur “about the year 1843.” It was natural,therefore, that in his mind, the pre-advent “trial” judgment couldn't waitto start at the end of the 2,300 days. Nonetheless, he was biblically soundwhen he spoke of a pre-advent “trial” (or investigative) judgment. And he

had it in print and circulating years before the great disappointment.Litch's understanding of a “trial” judgment that occurs prior to the




resurrection and the second coming was persuasive. Apollos Hale, aleading Millerite editor, came to believe it too, and began teaching it atleast as early as 1843.4 Many other Millerites, especially in Maine, came tobelieve in the summer of 1844 that the trial judgment had already

commenced,beforethesecond coming.5 So the concepts that (1) judgment is linked to the Day of Atonement,

the 2,300 days, and 1844 and that (2) a “trial” type investigative judgmentwas to precede the second coming were indeed circulating in print prior tothe great disappointment!

Not one of the writers who presented these ideas was a Seventh-day Adventist! And young “Sister Ellen,” as she was known in those days, hadnot yet received a vision of any kind.

Features Published Before the Great Disappointment

FUTURE AUTHOR PUBLICATION DATE

1. Judgment related tosanctuary cleansing(Daniel 8:14)

WilliamMiller

EvidencefromScripture

1836

2. Date by 2,300 days to“about 1843”

WilliamMiller


1836

3. Announced by first Angel’s message

WilliamMiller


1836

4. Precedes second coming(pre-advent)

JosiahLitch

Adressed to theClergy 1841

5. “Trial” judgment(investigation) distinctfrom “execution”

JosiahLitch

PropheticExpositions 1842

6. Dated by Day of Atonement (Oct. 22)

S. S.Snow

TrueMidnight Cry August1842

The chart summarizes what we have seen so far.

DEVELOPMENTS RIGHT AFTER THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT. After thegreat disappointment, the Millerite Adventists divided three ways. (1)Perhaps half of them quickly gave up all faith in the 2,300 days. (2) Asecond group, numbering perhaps thirty thousand to fifty thousand

retained faith in the 2,300 days but speculated on other years in the future




when they might end. (3) The third group, a few thousand at most, clungcorrectly and nobly to both the 2,300 days and October 22, 1844. It wasthe people in this third group – those who had begun to understand themagnificence of their great disappointment – who now concluded that

October 22, 1844, marked the beginning of the pre-advent judgment.They did so on the basis of further Bible study.

Enoch Jacobs, a member of this third group, was editor of TheWestern Midnight Cry (soon to become the Day-Star ) in Cincinnati, Ohio. In hisissue of November 29, 1844,6 Jacobs urged, on the basis of several Biblepassages, that “unless something as decisive as the setting of the judgmenttook place on the tenth day [October 22, 1844], the antitype is not yetgiven,” prophecy is not fulfilled, and we are yet in darkness.

Jacobs noted that the high priest wore a garment known as the“breastplate of judgment ” (Exodus 28:29, his italics), and that the twelvestones on the breastplate were engraved exclusively with the names of theIsraelite tribes. He also noted that even among the Israelites, individualswho failed to afflict themselves on the Day of Atonement were cut off:“On the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; … and you shall afflict yourselves. … For whoever is not afflicted on this sameday shall be cut off from his people” (Leviticus 23:27, 29).

Jacobs's point was that no one's name could be carried in mercy on thebreastplate of judgment unless the person met the requirement of deepsoul searching (“afflicting the soul”). All other persons, he noted, were“condemned already” (see John 5:18) and suffered judgment “to goagainst them” by “default.”

Thus Jacobs implied (on November 29, 1844) that the pre-advent judgment had begun on October 22 and was dealing only with thecases ofGod’s people.

TURNER AND HALE AND THE ADVENT MIRROR. In January 1845 twoMillerite editors collaborated to produce a brilliant publication, the Advent Mirror . One of the two men was Joseph Turner, editor of TheHopeof Israel in Portland, Maine. The other was Apollos Hale, editor of The Advent Herald in Boston, whom we met a few pages back when wementioned that in 1843 he began teaching Litch's interpretation of a“trial” judgment preceding the second coming. The special contributionof Turner and Hale in their Advent Mirror had to do with the interpretation

of the midnight cry. You will remember from our chapter “Why October 22?” that the




Millerites took great interest in the parable of the virgins (Matthew 25) andin the midnight cry) “Behold the bridegroom cometh.” They endeavoredto be “ready” to “go into the wedding” with the wise young women when Jesus would come to earth to marry His bride, the church. Samuel Snow

persuaded them that the true midnight cry was that Jesus was to come tothe wedding on “10th day, 7th month,” or October 22.

But in the Advent Mirror , Turner and Hale showed, first of all, thataccording to Revelation, the bride of Christ is not the church, as almost allChristians had believed! It is the New Jerusalem, the capital of Hiskingdom: “Then came one of the seven angels … and spoke to me,saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And inthe Spirit he carried me away … and showed me theholy city Jerusalem”

(Revelation 21:9-11).Next, Turner and Hale pointed to another wedding parable, in additionto the parable of the virgins – the one in Luke 12:35-57, where Jesuswarns us, “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return fromthe wedding” (KJV).7

The Millerites had used this passage often, exhorting one another to beready when the Bridegroom would come to the wedding. But on rereadingthe passage after the great disappointment, Turner and Hale noticed –evidently to their complete astonishment – that it does not say, “Be readywhen your Lord comes to the wedding,” but that it says, instead, to beready when the Lord shall “return from” the wedding.

The meaning could only be that the Millerites had been wrong inexpecting Jesus to come here, to the earth, for the wedding. The weddingwould have to be in heaven, where the New Jerusalem is, and fromwhich Christ could returnafter the wedding was over.

Their astonishment at discovering this new biblical light is revealed in

the fact that they put “returning from the wedding” in italics: “the Lord,returningfromthewedding.”

Then Turner and Hale proceeded to bring in, at last, a correctunderstanding of Daniel 7:13. The Millerites and virtually all otherChristians had assumed that when the Son of man comes on the clouds at judgment time, He will come to the earth at the second advent. But readcorrectly, as we saw in our previous chapter, Daniel 7:13 does not portraythe Son of man coming to the earth at judgment hour but to the Ancient

of Days: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds ofheaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of




Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion andglory and a kingdom” (Daniel 7:13,14).

Here was true light, right out of the Bible. “The coming of theBridegroom to the marriage [parable of the virgins, Matthew 25],” Turner

and Hale said, “must denote that change in his heavenly state, in which hecomes to the Ancient of Days [Daniel 7] to receive dominion.”

In other words, the marriage of Christ to His kingdom and Hisreception of dominion and power in the pre-advent judgment are tilesame thing; and Jesus all along planned to come to the marriage, that is, to“come” to the judgment – in heaven – beforecoming to the earth at thesecond advent. (Miller himself liked what the two editors had done andwrote a letter to say so.8)

Turner and Hale now called attention to a third wedding parable inaddition to the parable of the ten virgins (see Matthew 25) and the parableof the lord returning from the wedding (see Luke 12:35-37). This thirdparable is the one about the king who prepared a wedding feast for hisson and offered a free wedding garment to every guest. As part of theongoing wedding process, the king came into the banquet hall andexamined – judged! – the guests to see whether they had the garments on.

Mindful of the practical application of what they were talking about,Turner and Hale warned, We are “now in the guestchamber, where alldepends on our keeping our garments,” for “we have only the finalexamination of the King to pass.”

“Thejudgment is here!” they cried, putting the words in italics.

MILLER'S ERRORS CORRECTED THROUGH BIBLE STUDY. We started thisbook emphasizing that Miller was the best man available at the time andthe most nearly right man in the world. He definitely was right in seeingthe 2,300 days as 2,300 years from 457 B.C. to “about the year 1843.” He

was definitely right in preaching a literal, personal second coming of Jesus;in saying that the cleansing of the sanctuary (see Daniel 8:14) involves the judgment (see Daniel 7); and in saying that the time had come to preachthe first angel's message.

He could have been more accurate than to say “about the year 1843,”and fromtheBible, S.S. Snow sharpened the statement down to “10th day,7th month (=October 22), 1844.”

Litch, on the basis of Bible study , enriched Miller's concept of the

judgment by calling attention to a pre-advent “trial” (or investigative) judgment.




Then Turner and Hale, on the basis of Biblestudy , showed that Christwas to “come” to the New Jerusalem for the wedding-judgment beforereturning to the earth, thereby reinforcing what Enoch Jacobs hadobserved on November 29 – that therefore the judgment was tobegin, not

end, on October 22 at the close of the 2,300 days. And now Hale, in a further, two-part, follow-up article in February and

March l845,9 corrected the idea that the “sanctuary” of Daniel 8:14 had tobe the earth because the one in heaven couldn't possibly need cleansing.Hale called attention to that passage in theBible, Hebrews 9:22, 23, that welooked at in our chapter 2 and that most Christians have misread: “Itwas therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens [that is,the earthly sanctuary] should be purified with these [the blood of calves

and of goats], but the heavenly things themselves [that is, the heavenlysanctuary] with better sacrifices than these.”

Features Published Right After the Great Disappointment


1. Began onOctober 22, 1844

Enoch Jacobs Western Midnight Cry

November29, 1844

2. Limited to professedbelievers

Enoch Jacobs Western Midnight Cry

November29, 1844

3 Involves “marriage” tokingdom in heaven

Joseph Turner, Apollos Hale

Advent Mirror January1845

4. Christ to return fromwedding



5. “TheJudgment is here” Joseph Turner, Apollos Hale


6. Sanctuary of Daniel8:14 is inheaven


Advent Mirror Feb. Mar.1845

The people we have quoted thus far – none of whom ever became aSeventh-day Adventist – got their understanding of the investigative judgment out of their Bibles.

EDSON AND CROSIER. Perhaps you are wondering about Hiram Edson,the Methodist farmer who is famous for his experience in the grain field




the day after the great disappointment. I have purposely left Edson out ofthe discussion thus far because he didn't publish his ideas; he didn't getthem circulating in print as soon as the other men did. But it's time tomention him now.

Edson was both a successful farmer and a fine soul winner. As is wellknown, on Wednesday morning, October25, 1844, while walking acrosshis farm, he was struck with dynamic new thoughts. He suddenly realizedthat the day before (October 22), Jesus had (1) gone into the most holyplace on the clouds of heaven and that He was (2) to marry His kingdomthere and thenreturn fromthe wedding.10

I saw distinctly, and clearly, that … our High Priest … on the

tenth day of the seventh month, at the end of the 2300 days, … forthe first time entered … the second apartment of that [the heavenly]sanctuary; and that he had a work to perform in the Most Holybefore coming to this earth. That he came to the marriage at thattime; in other words, to the Ancient of days to receive a kingdom,dominion, and glory; and we must wait for his return from thewedding[his emphasis].

The tradition that Edson saw this in a vision may or may not be true,but in any case the information that came to him is to be found inanybody's Bible. You know enough by now to recognize that his newideas came from Daniel 7 (Son of man comes to the Ancient of Days) andLuke 12 (the Lordreturningfromthe wedding) and were the same ideas thatcame, also from Daniel 7 and Luke 12, to Joseph Turner and ApollosHale.

Edson did not publish his discoveries at once.11 But on February 7,1846, Edson, along with an educator friend, O. R. L. Crosier, and a

physician friend, F. B. Hahn, collaborated in producing an extra issue ofthe Day-Star. Almost the entire issue was taken up with a single article,“The Law of Moses,” in which Christ's contemporary, post-1844 ministrywas interpreted in light of Leviticus 16. While Edson and Hahnguaranteed the expense, Crosier did the writing. On behalf of Edson andHahn, Crosier showed that the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 is the one inheaven, that the Day of Atonement was to be fulfilled in heaven ratherthan on earth, and that the cleansing began when Jesus in 1844 entered

heaven's most holy place.12

The cleansing was not to be achieved by fireburning up the earth but by Christ's blood blotting out sins.




Within two months, the Day-Star carried a fascinating observation byCrosier in respect to two cleansings going on at the same time – acleansing of our souls on earth while the sanctuary is being cleansed inheaven. It represents a profound spiritual insight, and we'll discuss it in

chapter 9. For now, let's review the basic features published by O. R. L.Crosier in the Day-Star Extra.

Investigative Judgment Features Published by O. R. L. Crosier


1. Heavenly Atonementtaught by Leviticus 16

Crosier,Edson,Hahn

Day-Star Extra February7, 1846

2. Cleansing “blotsout” sins

Crosier,Edson,Hahn

Day-Star Extra February7, 1846

3. Parallels a special cleansingof God’s people on earth

Crosier Day-Star April 18,1846

Let's say it again: The doctrine of the pre-advent investigative judgmentwas not invented by Seventh-day Adventists. In fact, many of its featureswere printed and in circulation before the great disappointment ofOctober 22, 1844, and the others were developed from the Bible bypeople who for the most part were not and did not go on to becomeSeventh-day Adventists.

ELLEN G. WHITE. What was young sister Ellen doing while all this wasgoing on? If she did not invent the investigative-judgment doctrine, didshe play any part in its development?

When Jesus didn't come to earth on October 22, 1844, Ellen was sodisappointed that she questioned whether the “midnight cry” about 10thday, 7th month was in any sense correct. In December 1844, she had herfirst vision – two years after Litch first published his understanding of thepre-advent “trial” (investigative) judgment.

In this first vision,13 Ellen saw a long path on which the saints weretraveling to the city, with Jesus graciously traveling the path with them. At“the beginning of the path,” a “bright light” was shining. The angel told

her this light was the midnight cry. Here was encouragement! What theangel meant was that the midnight-cry message about 10th day, 7th




month was true light after all.More than this, Ellen noticed that the midnight-cry light “shone all

along the path and gave light for their [the saints’] feet so that they mightnot stumble.” However, some of the saints “rashly denied the light behind

them.” For them, the light went out, and they stumbled and “fell off thepath down into the dark and wicked world.”

The meaning of this part of the vision was that God intended 1844 toguide His people all the way to the holy city. This is the reason I amwriting these words to you right now. If any of us give up 1844 and saythat it has no special meaning for us today, its light will sooner or later goout for us, and we will drift into apostasy. May God's grace keep this fromhappening to you and me.

Two months later, in February 1845, Ellen received the “Bridegroom” vision14 that we talked about in our previous chapter. It's the vision aboutboth Father and Son leaving the throne in the holy place to go into themost holy place – her first vision about the magnificent event that tookplace in heaven in 1844. What we didn't mention in our previous chapteris that as Jesus left the holy-place throne to go into the most holy place,He said to His people, “Wait here; I am goingto My Father to receivethekingdom; keep your garments spotless, and in a little while I will return fromtheweddingand receive you to myself.”

In the words that I have italicized, you can see Jesus Himself makinguse of Daniel 7 (“going to My Father to receive the kingdom”) and Luke12:35-37 (“return from the wedding”). Thus in vision, Jesus, in February1845, endorsed the very interpretation that Turner and Hale hadpublished in the Advent Mirror in January.15

At the commencement of the holy Sabbath during a season of prayerfour years later, on January 5, 1849, Ellen – now Mrs. James White – sawin vision that “Jesus would not leave the most holy place until every case

was decided either for salvation or destruction.”16 The Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the pre-advent investigative

judgment was not worked up by Ellen White or Hiram Edson and is notbased on an isolated proof text. It was developed by many Bible studentsfrom a large body of interrelated data located in both Old and NewTestaments. Sister White's role was to confirm the features discovered byothers.

Additional Note

This additional note is for readers who would like to survey the great




breadth of Bible study that underlies the investigative-judgmentdoctrine – a doctrine that was not developed by any one person and is notbased on Daniel 8:14 alone.

1. Daniel 7:9-14, 22 shows Father and Son both “coming” to a new

place in heaven for the judgment. In this classic portrayal of judgment dayin heaven, both the Ancient of Days and the Son of man come to a newplace in heaven for judgment. Verses 25, 26 indicate that this judgmentwas to begin around the end of the 1260 years (1798).

2. Daniel 12:1,2; Revelation 20:6 show that at the second coming, the“blessed and holy,” whose “names are found written in the book of life,”are resurrected to receive life everlasting, indicating that their judgmentprecedes the second coming.

3. Daniel 8:14 gives the year for the judgment (it parallels the judgment scene in Daniel 7). By using sanctuary language (“then shall thesanctuary be cleansed”), it directs our attention to the Day of Atonement(see Leviticus 16, 23) in order to learn more about the judgment.

4. Leviticus 16, 23. On the Day of Atonement, when the high priest.entered the most holy place to cleanse the sanctuary and the congregationof their sins, the people – as on a day of judgment – were to “afflict theirsouls” or be judged and “cut off” (see Leviticus 23:26-32, KJV). The Dayof Atonement was a day of reconciliation and salvation to the repentantbut a day of judgment to people who refused to participate spiritually.

5. Comparison of the spring and autumn types directs attention tothe actual date October 22, the correct Day of Atonement in 1844. Just as Jesus fulfilled the springtime Passover ceremony in the year of prophecyand on the actual day of the Passover, so He could be counted on to fulfillthe autumn Day of Atonement ceremony in the year of prophecy (1844)and on the actual Day of Atonement (10th day, 7th month=October 22.See chapter 3).

6. Malachi 3 says that the Lord was to “come” suddenly to His templeto “purge” or cleanse the sons of Levi. The coming and cleansing recallDaniel 7 and Leviticus 16 and point to the special parallel cleansing ofGod's people while the heavenly sanctuary is being cleansed.

7. Hebrews 8 and 9 affirm the existence of a two-part heavenlysanctuary (by comparison with the earthly tabernacle; see Hebrews 9:1-5)and inform us of the need of the heavenly sanctuary to be purified atsome time (see Hebrews 9:22, 23).

8. Acts 3:19, 20 promises that sins that have been repented of will be“blotted out” at the time when God will “send the Christ,” whom the




heavens must retain until the time comes for “establishing all” that God'sprophets have predicted.

9. The wedding parables show that those saints who are ready wouldgo “into the marriage” near the end of time (parable of the virgins,

Matthew 25). Evidently Jesus meant that they would go in only by faith,because in Luke 12:35-37 He spoke of His followers as waiting on earthuntil He would return fromthe wedding. In Matthew 22 He portrayed thewedding guests as being examined (judged) to see if they were wearing thewedding garment.

10. Other wedding imagery. In various places the New Testamentteaches that Christ is at present betrothed to His corporate church (that is,to the church as a whole, otherwise known as His “kingdom,” not to the

individual members, who are married to their own human spouses). Jesus is busy purifying His church-kingdom from every spot and wrinkle.When His church-kingdom is fit to be His bride – that is, after thecleansing and examination period is completed – He will marry it, thusreceiving His kingdom. Then He will return to earth to take Hisindividual church members as guests to the wedding supper, whichfollows immediately. See Ephesians 5; Luke 12:35-37; Luke 19:11,12;Revelation 19:9.

11. Revelation 14:6-12 contains the first angel's message with itsannouncement of the arrival of judgment hour while the gospel is stillbeing preached. The second and third angels call the saints to separatethemselves from all false Christians and to keep the commandments ofGod. Thus, while the judgment is sorting out God's people in heaven, asorting-out process is called for among the professe4 people of God onearth.

12. First Peter 4:17 announces the basic principle that “judgment[must] begin with the household of God.” Peter's words echo the teaching

of Ezekiel 9:6, “Begin at my sanctuary.” They have a special relationshipand relevance to the end-time judgment of the first angel's message and tothe sealing work of Revelation 7:1-3.

13. The doctrine of perseverance shows that even those who acceptChrist as their Saviour are expected by God to persevere in their faith-obedience relationship to Him or lose out in the judgment. The personwho “has the Son of God has life” right now, but he will be saved only ifhe “endures to the end” (1 John 5:12; Matthew 24:13). A believer is

expected to call Jesus “Lord,” but unless the believer obeys Jesus, callingHim “Lord” will not avail (Ro mans 10:9; Matthew 7:21). To be forgiven




ultimately, the Christian must be forgiving (see Matthew 6:14). A Gentilegrafted into Paul's olive tree will, if unpersevering, be cut off as surely asthe jewish nation once was (see Romans 11:21). We are saved by faith, butonly if our faith is a living faith that produces acts of mercy and goodness

(see James 2). The judgment investigates people who have at any timeprofessed faith in Jesus to see whether they persevered in their faith-obedience relationship.

Let's say it again: The Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of the pre-adventinvestigative judgment is not based on an isolated proof text but wasdeveloped from a large body of interrelated data located in both the Oldand New Testaments.

1. Although contemporary reports of the Exeter camp meeting refer only to“the 10th day of the 7th month” and not specifically to October 22, the MidnightCry for October31, 1844, says that Snow began advocating “about the 22d ofOctober” as early as the spring of 1844.

2. See Josiah Litch, An Address to thePublic, and Especially to theClergy (Boston,1841), 37. The preface is dated May 10, 1840.

3. Josiah Litch, PropheticExpositions (Boston, 1842), 1:50-54.4. See A. Hale, Herald of theBridegroom! (Boston, 1843), 22-24.

5.TheMidnight Cry , 13 October 1844.6. Enoch Jacobs, “The Time: Evidence That the Judgment Might Have Seton the 10th Day of the 7th Month,” TheWestern Midnight Cry , 29 November1844, 18-20.

7. Some modern translations have “return from the wedding supper.” For adiscussion, seeGod Cares, 2:407-410.

8. Miller liked what his editors had done in their Advent Mirror . He wantedother people to know that he liked it, so on February 6, 1845, he wrote a letter,published in the Day-Star of March 11, referring to Turner and Hale and saying,“I do believe in the main they are right.” We are to await Christ's return from thewedding. “Christ has risen up from his mercy-seat, and now stands as a judge atthe door.” Miller followed up this letter with another dated March20, published inthe Day-Star for April 8, in which he specifically defended the validity of “the 10thday, 7th month” (October 22, 1844). Referring to the first angel's message, “thehour of his judgment is come,” he asked, “is there anything in the scriptures toshow that the hour has not come, or in our present position to show, that God isnot now in his last judicial character deciding the cases of all the righteous, so thatChrist (speaking after the manner of men) will know whom to collect at hiscoming?” Miller provided a list of judgment events in sequence, using Daniel 7and Revelation 20. “Who can say,” he asked, that “God is not already justifying




his Sanctuary [Daniel 8: 4, margin], and will yet justify us in preaching the time?” Apparently at the urging of Joshua V. Himes, Miller later abandoned thisinterpretation.

9. The article was published in two parts in the Advent Herald for February 26and March 5, 1845, and reprinted with a warm recommendation by James Whitein the Reviewfor September 16 and October 7, 1851.

10. What remains of Edson's handwritten account is preserved in the Adventist Heritage Center, Andrews Universiry.

11. It is not known when Edson's new discoveries first appeared in print. Inthe spring of 1845, a friend, F. B. Hahn, launched the Day-Dawn, of Canandaigua,New York. When it first appeared, evidently in April, Enoch Jacobs of the Day-Star (in his April 15, 1845, issue, p. 36) commented that the sentiments of the Day-Dawn differed little from the ideas of Apollos Hale, Joseph Turner, andSamuel Snow, editors whom we have been citing. No copy of the Day-Dawn from 1845 is known to exist, and some of his arguments in the Day-Star editionof February 7, 1846, definitely go beyond the positions of these other men.

12. Crosier appealed to the Greek terms hagia and ta hagia underlying variousreferences to the heavenly sanctuary and to the holy place in the book ofHebrews. He showed that, properly translated, Hebrews does not present Jesus ashaving entered heaven’s most holy place upon 1-us ascension. It is regrettable thatthe New International Version and some other modern versions mistranslatehagia and ta hagia in such ways as to force Hebrews to teach that Jesus went into themost holy place upon His ascension to heaven.

13. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 13-20.14. Ibid., 54-56.15. When some critics said that Ellen Harmon didn't get the information from

Jesus but read it in the Advent Mirror , she responded emphatically that she hadbeen entirely too ill to read the magazine. From what is known of her condition atthe time, we must be inclined to believe her.

16. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 36.



PART 3

EXPLORINGTHE MEANING



89

CHAPTER 7

1844 ANDBEING“ADVENTIST”

In the introduction we promised ourselves that after we looked at 1844

as a date and as an event, we would explore the meaning of 1844 fortoday. We are now ready to do this. To begin with, let's try the question,“Where did the name ‘Adventist’ come from?”

“That's an easy question,” you reply. “An Adventist is a person whobelieves that Christ is coming soon, and Seventh-day Adventists believethat Christ is coming soon.”

But wait. Dispensationalists, the people who speak about the “rapture,”also believe that Christ is coming soon. In fact, many of them think He's

coming sooner than Seventh-day Adventists do. Many dispensationaliststeach that Christ could come at any moment, rapturing automobile driversand airline pilots out of their vehicles, and so on.1

Our point is that dispensationalists believe that Christ is coming soon, very soon, yet they are not Adventists and do not want to be called Adventists.

So there must be something special about the name Adventist and whatit stands for. And, yes, the special difference has to do with 1844.

THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF ADVENT AND ADVENTIST . The wordadvent is




based on a Latin word for arrival or coming. Most Seventh-day Adventistsknow this. But for most Protestant and Catholic Christians, Christ'sadvent is His first coming. Denominations that follow the church yearcelebrate Advent, or Advent season, during the four weeks leading up to

Christmas. On Sundays during Advent they look at the Old Testamentprophecies predicting the Messiah's birth. Depending on the ministers’preferences, they may also refer to prophecies about His second advent,sooner or later in the future.

Thus it was that in the 1830s William Miller did not preach aboutChrist's advent at the end of the 2,300 days; he preached about His secondadvent. As the Millerite movement swelled in size and activity in the early1840s, its camp meetings and other big rallies were known as Second

Advent meetings. The movement itself became known as the Second Advent movement. And William Miller's followers became known asSecond Adventists. That's right!

But “Second Adventists” is a mouthful. And inasmuch as there were noChristians around called First Adventists, people naturally fell into thehabit of abbreviating the name to Adventists.

Today Seventh-day Adventists call their main denominationalperiodical the Adventist Review. When it first appeared, in October 1850, itsfull name wasSecond Advent Reviewand Sabbath Herald. The first half of thename, “Second Advent Review,” indicated that the editor, James White,planned to review the evidence that God had been at work in the Second Advent movement of 1840-1844.

Note this carefully. Miller and his Second Adventists believed that thesecond advent would occur soon because of the fulfillment of the 2,300days. Before the great disappointment, they believed that the secondadvent would occur at the actual ending of the 2,300 days in 1844. Afterthe great disappointment, those who continued to believe that the 2,300

days ended in 1844 now believed that the second advent would occursoon because in 1844, the final judgment began.

The name “Seventh-day Adventist” was officially voted in Battle Creekin 1860. You are now prepared to recognize that the “Adventist” part didnot mean simply that the pioneers believed that Christ was coming soon.It meant that they believed Christ was coming soon in view of the fulfillment of the 2,300 days.

In our next chapter we want to see that even the “seventh-day” part of

the name is based on the 2,300 days. For now, I would like to enlarge alittle on the fact that 1844 is the clearest sign that Christ is coming soon.



1844 AND BEING “ADVENTIST” 91

1844 AS THE SUPREME SIGN OF THE SECOND COMING. The reason 1844 isthe clearest sign that Christ is coming soon is that in that year the final judgment began. Almost all Christians in all times and places haveassociated the final judgment with the actual second coming. Tell them

that the second coming is near, and they assume you mean that the final judgment is also near. But it is our privilege and responsibility under thefirst angel's message to tell people that the final judgment has already begun.

And if the final judgment has already begun, we have surely reached theend time!

1844 IN PERSPECTIVE. Yet we acknowledge that 1844 seems like a long

time ago. How can it arouse people in the 990s to a sense that the secondcoming isnear ?We need a change of perspective. Instead of looking back to 1844 and

finding it around 150 years in the past, let us go back to the beginning ofhuman history and view 1844 as almost six thousand years in the future.

Let us stand beside Adam and Eve on a hilltop outside Eden and helpthem look forward, through their tears, to the time when on the cross, Jesus would die for their sin. To discover the cross from Eden, we mustscrutinize four thousand future years! Together we search the first twothousand years and find ourselves barely past Noah's flood and the life of Abraham. About five hundred years after Abraham, we reach only as faras the Exodus. (We remember that five hundred years is more than twicethe total age of the United States and more than three times thechronological distance between 1844 and the 1990s.)

With Adam and Eve we continue to scan their future. Some fivehundred years after the Exodus, we enjoy a sudden thrill as we watchDavid sling a stone at the giant Goliath. But we find it's still another five

hundred years after David before we reach Daniel and the rise ofBabylon … followed by the rise and fall of Media-Persia … and ofGreece … and the rise of Rome. Suddenly we burst into tears at the sightof our dear Jesus hanging on the cross, fully four thousand years after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.

In our imagination, we leave our first parents to meditate about thecross with mixed emotions as we continue our quest for the secondcoming. We must search through yet another five hundred years, more or

less, before we come to an event that today we consider ancient history,the fall of Rome (in A.D. 476) and then the beginning of the 1260 days




(in 538). We have nearly one thousand more years to go before we reachEurope's discovery of America (in 1492), and approximately another threehundred years to the Declaration of Independence (in 1776).

The day has grown late, and the western 5l(y is aglow as finally, at long

last, when we have nearly given up, a triumphant cheer bursts throughoutlips. “There they are,” we cry, “the three angels! They're flying in theclouds of sunset!” Searching carefully beneath them, we discover a pillarof prophetic fulfillment engraved with the golden numbers “1844.”

From the perspective of Eden at the beginning of earth's six thousand years, the remaining distance between 1844 and the 1990s is hardlydiscernible. These 150 years between 1844 and the 1990s represent onlyone-fortieth, 2.5 percent, of human history. More than 97 percent of

human history took place prior to 1844. Yes, we are indeed in the endtime. The final judgment began only yesterday, as it were. Christ's secondadvent is coming soon.

1844 NOT ALONE. But although 1844 is the clearest sign of the nearnessof the second coming, it does not stand alone. Several other majorprophetic signs were fulfilled during the decades leading up to 1844, andtaken together they contribute to the status of 1844 as the supreme sign ofthe second coming.

The 1260-day prophecy began in 538, during a major change in churchand world history. It closed in 1798, during another major change inchurch and world history that included epochal developments like the American and French revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, and theglobal surge of European colonialism, vast consequences of which remainto this day. The 1260 days deserved to be mentioned seven times in Danieland Revelation (see Daniel 7:25; 12:4-7; Revelation 11:2,3; 12:6, 14;13:5). Whole books could be written about them, and years ago I wrote

one.2 Daniel 12:4-7 expressly indicates that the close of the 1260 dayswould mark the onset of the “time of the end.” The 1260 days ended in1798. Thus 1798 stands along with 1844 as a colossal monument, atowering gatepost, past which humanity entered into the end time.

1844 AND THE NATURE SIGNS. Other prophetic fulfillments that addstature to 1844 are the classic “nature” signs – the Lisbon earthquake of1755, the dark day and bloody moon of May 19, 1780, and the falling of

the stars on November 13, 1833 – predicted in Matthew 24:29,30 andRevelation 6:13.




Sometimes overlooked today, these natural signs merit a revival ofinterest. Each was outstanding in its own right, and together they came atthe right time and in the right places to fulfill Bible prophecy.

Consider the magnitude of the Lisbon earthquake. It shook millions of

square miles, from North Africa (where it leveled twin cities five hundredmiles south of Lisbon) to Scandinavia (where it altered the water level oflakes) to the cities of Eastern Europe (where it rang church bells). IfLisbon had been San Francisco, this earthquake would have destroyed Los Angeles as well as San Francisco and would have disturbed Hudson Bay innortheastern Canada!

As recently as 1980, the widely respected seismologist G. A. Eiby, inchapter 11 of his Earthquakes,3 ranked the Lisbon earthquake as “the

largest shock ever” and reckoned that it may well have reached an almostincredible 9.0 on the Richter scale, seven times stronger than the 1906 SanFrancisco earthquake. In 1955, on the two hundredth anniversary of theLisbon tremor, Sir Thomas Kendrick, director of the great BritishMuseum, released a book 4 demonstrating that the terrifying Lisbonearthquake ended a long era of optimism and opened a period of gloomthat led directly to the French Revolution, which, in its turn, opened a newera in human destiny.

The dark day of May 19, 1780, has not been equaled in North Americain the two hundred years that have since come and gone. The Leonidshower of November 13, 1833, gave birth to a new branch of astronomy.From the mid-Atlantic to California a maximum of sixty thousandmeteors were seen falling every hour, many exploding noiselessly intosubshowers of stars, as the vast shimmering spectacle sailed silentlywestward. Like the Lisbon earthquake and the famous dark day, it too hasnot been matched, in spite of scientific expectations that it would be. The1966 shower, though perhaps as brilliant while it lasted, was much shorter

in duration and was visible over a much smaller area, merely a portion ofthe American southwest.

The location of the classic signs was highly significant. They happened inEurope and America primarily, where people were studying the Bible andpondering the prophecies. A dark day on the Sahara Desert or a starshower over New Guinea would have said little in those days about thesecond coming of Christ to cannibal headhunters or Muslim nomads.Events need not be universal to deliver a global message. A few square

miles at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sufficient to announce the atomicage. A stable in Bethlehem ushered in the Christian era. Only a few




hundred people saw Jesus after His resurrection – but they told others.The nature signs happened at the right time. Jesus said that the sun and

moon would be darkened and the stars would fall “immediately after thetribulation of those days [the 1260 days]” (Matthew 24:29). And so they

were. The last overt European persecution of Protestants is said to haveoccurred in 1762. The dark day came in 1780 and the star shower fifty-three years later, in 1833. Almost immediately, in 1844, Jesus traveled asSon of Man on the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days to inauguratethe final judgment.

1844 AND CONTEMPORY SIGNS. We have said nothing about morecontemporary signs of Christ's coming, such as the amazing prominence

of Pope John Paul II, the emergence of the United States as the world'sonly superpower after the Gulf War, evangelistic successes in Russia, andsoaring crime rates in America. Whether the current exciting headlinesmean that Christ is coming right away we cannot say with certainty.Unlike the other signs we have been speaking about, these specificdevelopments do nor precisely fulfill specific prophecies. We have beenwarned that “we are not to live upon time excitement. … You will notbe able to say that He will come in one, two, or five years, neither are youto put off His coming by stating that it may not be for ten or twenty years.”5

But when such current events are evaluated in thelight of 1844, they cansurely be viewed as striking reminders that we are indeed in the end timeand that final events will be rapid ones.

1844 AND STILL OTHER PROPHECIES. It is most important that we seeclearly the relationship between 1844 and the Seventh-day Adventist beliefin the nearness of the second coming. The year 1844 is the kingpin in a

system of prophetic interpretation that, taken together, should affect ourmost vital personal decisions. We are going to take up some of theseprophetic relationships and their implications in the next few chapters.For now, let us remind ourselves that 1844 signaled the time for theproclamation of the first angel's message (“the hour of his judgment hascome”), activating the commission to proclaim the gospel in its judgment-hour setting to the entire world, “to every nation and tribe and tongue andpeople.” This global commission we have not yet completed.

Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal




gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation andtribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, "FearGod and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; andworship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains

of water.”

If 1844 signaled the onset of the first angel's message, it also signaledthe time for the second angel's message about the fall of Babylon and thetime for the third angel's message about the mark of the beast and faith-filled commandment keeping.

By letting us know that we are in the end time, 1844 (along with 1798)tells us that we are nearing the time for the final showdown on the

Sabbath question foretold in Revelation 13. Seventh-day Adventists havebecome so accustomed to seeing the United States in the prophecy ofRevelation 13 that it is easy for us to forget that the biblical reason wehave for knowing that the fulfillment of Revelation 13 lies in the nearfuture is the fulfillment of the 2,300 days in 1844, along with thefulfillment of the 1260 days in 1798.

It is because of 1844 and the way it triggered the three angels' messagesthat we know that Sabbath and Sunday will, in fact, be the final issue, thatthe final crisis will take the form of the mark of the beast versus the sealof God, and that the seal of God is Sabbath keeping in a life that emulatesthe character of Christ.

By introducing many related prophecies, 1844 cautions us againstsaying that Jesus might appear at any moment the way thedispensationalists do, just as it also cautions us not to put the secondcoming far off into the future the way the postmillennialists do. We knowthat Jesus is coming soon, for the final judgment has already begun. Butwe also know that Jesus isn't about to come at any moment, for several

essential prophecies have yet to be fulfilled. The gospel of the kingdom isnot yet preached to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. TheSabbath question has not yet become a global issue. The United States hasnot yet led world Protestantism into a concerted attack on Sabbathkeepers. All these development may – and we sincerely hope will – takeplace in a relatively short period; but they do have to happen before Jesuscan appear. Thus 1844 both encourages us with the knowledge that Jesusis coming soon and cautions us with the knowledge that He isn't coming

today or tomorrow.“We are not to live upon time excitement. … You will not be able to




say that He will come in one, two, or five years, neither are you to put offHis coming by stating that it may not be for ten or twenty years.”6

1844 AND PERSONAL DECISIONS. Consider the value of viewing the second

coming as not closer than five years but possibly not more distant than ten years. Such a view dampens fanaticism and helps prevent repeateddisappointments. True, viewing the second coming as several years offrather than a few months away can lead to carelessness and complaisance,but it also can lead to a sense of purpose and responsibility.

If Christ is coming soon but not at once, young people should finishtheir education, both because they have time to finish it and because theireducation will be needed for world evangelism and for the final crisis.

Couples should marry with the awareness that their marriages will need toendure beyond the honeymoon. Congregations should lay long-rangeplans for reaching their entire cities with the three angels' messages ratherthan launching one “final” project after another. Believers who aregrowing older should realize that it is not wise to expect the secondcoming as soon as they would like and that it is not wrong to planfinancially for at least five to ten future years.

On the other hand, if Jesus may well comewithin five to ten years, howshould we arrange our priorities? If within five or ten years we may besurrounded with the incomprehensible luxuries of heaven, can we notmake cheerful sacrifices today? Should we not revive the old Seventh-day Adventist custom, when laying plans for the future, of adding the words,“If time lasts that long”? If the final judgment has already begun, can wenot leave to Jesus the injustices we stiffer, knowing that Me will take careof them soon, leaving us free to get on with the business of doing goodeven to our enemies? (See Romans 12:14-21.)

Driving a long distance alone some years ago, I found my mind

distracted by many thoughts. I asked God to help me concentrate on whatthe second coming could mean to specific people I knew. At once I beganto see a paralyzed friend running and jumping. I pictured a lonely widow Iknew, gleefully surrounded by her family. I imagined my own older sister,suffering then from an incurable disease, young and pretty again. Mythoughts went on and on, from one relative and friend to another. It was a joyous time that I have since renewed in my mind, thinking of what thesecond coming will mean to various people.

If the joys of the second coming are being delayed till the three angels'messages get preached to everyone in the world, should not Seventh-day




Adventists become deeply involved, one way or another, in getting thesemessages preached? If Jesus is waiting with longing desire for the beautyof His character to be sealed in His people, should not every Seventh-day Adventist become deeply rooted in Jesus, so His divine nature can indeed

flow into them?The Seventh-day Adventist brand of the second-coming hope is

special, and rightly so, in light of the great disappointment of 1844. Forthe same reason the Seventh-day Adventist brand of Sabbath keeping isalso special, and rightly so, as we shall see in our next chapter.

1. Raptureis not a bad word in itself. It has an old-fashioned meaning, as whenan army rescues and carries away its soldiers that an enemy has captured or aswhen Jesus will rescue and carry away His people from earth at the secondcoming.

2. C. Mervyn Mixwell, “An Exegetical and Historical Examination of theBeginning and Ending of the 1260 Years” (M.A. thesis, Seventh-day AdventistTheological Seminary, 1951).

3. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1980.4. T. D. Kendrick, The Lisbon Earthquake (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott

Company [1955]). Dr. Daniel Augsburger of Andrews University confirmsKendrick's thesis on the basis of his own wide study of European literature of theperiod between the earthquake and the French Revolution.

5. Ellen C. White,Selected Messages, 1:189.6. Ibid.



99

CHAPTER 8

1844 ANDTHE SABBATH

In our previous chapter we saw that the name “Adventist” originally

referred to a person who believed Christ was coming soon becauseof the fulfillment of the 2,300 days. In this present chapter, I want to show youthat the “seventh-day” part of our name is also rooted in the fulfillmentof the 2,300 days. The distinctive significance that 1844 contributes tothe Sabbath is a part of the magnificence of the great disappointment.

RERORMATION HERITAGE. To get a helpful perspective, I would like youto let me digress a bit and take you to the Reformation of the 1500s. Stay

by, and you'll soon see the reason.When Martin Luther started the Reformation in l517, one of theproblems European Christians faced was a huge number of holy days.There may have been as many as 150 holy days in addition to the fifty-two weekly Sundays. Many of them were named in honor of this or thatsaint and were presented as being even more holy than Sundays. Nowonder the economy of Europe stagnated for centuries. No wonder,either, that ordinary people came to treat all “holy days” as merely“holidays.”

Luther and his helpers reacted to this intolerable situation by declaring




no day holy! Yet people need to hear the Word and celebrate the Lord'sSupper, so Lutherans said that Christians should continue to attend churchon Sunday, though without regarding it as the Sabbath.

Thus, although Luther opposed the multiplicity of Catholic holy days,

he regrettably preserved the “holiday” concept of Sunday. He was not onlywrong about the day , he was also wrong about the way Sabbath should beobserved.

Much of what Luther taught was adopted by the official church inEngland, the Anglican Church. But soon Bible students in England beganpointing out that the Church of England needed additional purification.Because of their noble desire to purify the official church, their enemiesscorned them as “Puritans.”

The Puritans discarded the annual holy days that the Lutherans haddiscarded, but they retained the weekly Sunday, calling it “Sabbath” forthe first time in Christian history. Believing that Sunday was the Sabbath ofthe fourth commandment, they taught that it should be kept holy fromsundown to sundown. In lucid, scholarly volumes, they taught oneanother how to use the whole day for spiritual matters, attendingthoughtfully to preaching on Sunday morning and Sunday evening,guarding their words and thoughts, instructing their children, and doingneighborly kindnesses to people in need. They distinguished the weeklySabbath of the Ten Commandments from the annual ceremonial“sabbaths” listed in Leviticus 23. And they showed that the Sabbath is a“perpetual sign of the covenant” that God made with His people tosanctify them (see Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

So much did the Sabbath (really Sunday) mean to the Puritans thatsome of them left their homes in England, where they were persecuted,and fled first to Holland and later to America. Did you realize that thePilgrim fathers who landed neat Plymouth Rock in 1620 came to America

at great personal risk and loss of life in order to find freedom to keep theSabbath.?1

Although the Puritans still had the wrong day, they had gone a longdistance toward reestablishing the tight “way.”

The English Puritans divided into two denominations, the Congrega-tionalists and the Presbyterians, which grew very large in America. The American Congregationalists, in turn, gave birth to the Baptists. Each ofthese major denominations originally taught the same theology of the

Sabbath and attempted to keep it in the same way. And what was theupshot of this?



1844 AND THE SABBATH 101

By the time the Seventh-day Adventist denomination arose in the 1860s,a large number of Americans already knew that the Ten Commandmentsrequire people to keep the seventh day holy, and a great many Americans were attempting to do so, though on the wrong day.

Thus when Joseph Bates published his first tract on the Sabbathquestion in August 1846, he referred to the Sabbath right on the title pageas “A Perpetual Sign” of the covenant. He knew that his readers alreadyapplied this term to Sunday. Bates's burden was to show them they werekeeping the wrong day.

SEVENTH DAY BAPTIST HERITAGE. But how did Bates learn that hisreaders – and he himself, until recently – had been wrong about the day?

As most Seventh-day Adventists are aware, the new light came to himfrom Seventh Day Baptists.Back in Britain, when the Puritans had been agitating for the holiness

of the Sunday Sabbath, a very few people had discovered in their Biblesthat they ought to be agitating instead for the Sabbath Sabbath. Theseseventh-day Sabbath keepers were soon known as Seventh Day Baptists. Among their leaders in the 1600s were Thomas Bampfield, who actuallystarted up a Sabbath-keeping congregation among fellow prisoners whilebeing persecuted in jail, and John James, who was falsely accused oftreason and brutally hanged, drawn, and quartered. By contrast, anotherSabbath keeper in England, Dr. Peter Chamberlen, was honored by kingsfor his unique skill at difficult royal childbirths.2

Seventh Day Baptists used virtually the same Bible arguments as thePuritans. The Sabbath, they said, was inaugurated at Creation, requiredby the Ten Commandments, observed by Jesus, given as a perpetual signof the covenant, and was intended to be kept holy from sundown tosundown. The Seventh Day Baptists differed from the Puritans mainly in

keeping the real Sabbath instead of Sunday.Seventh Day Baptists had both the right way of keeping the Sabbath

and theright day .In the person of Stephen Mumford, they shipped the right way and the

right day to America, where, disappointingly, the true Sabbath made onlyslow progress.

William Miller was a Baptist; hence, he was a good Sabbath keeper –on Sunday. T. M. Preble, a Millerite Adventist, was a minister of the Free

Will Baptists. Perhaps Preble got the true Sabbath from FrederickWheeler, who got it from the Seventh Day Baptist lady, Rachel Oaks. Or




perhaps he got it from some other Seventh Day Baptist. But he got it! Andsoon he was sitting down to write a book about the right day. This bookby T. M. Preble, A Tract, Showingthat theSeventh Day Should BeObservedas theSabbath, Instead of theFirst Day , fell into the hands of former sea

captain Joseph Bates. Through this book and his own Bible study, Bates,himself a devout observer of the wrong day in the right way, became aseventh-day Sabbath keeper. Soon after, he published a small book of hisown to which we have already made reference, TheSeventh Day Sabbath, A Perpetual Sign.

The principal difference on the Sabbath question between the Puritansand the Seventh Day Baptists was, as we have said, confined to the choiceof day, the true seventh day in place of Sunday.

But now please notice that the Seventh Day Baptists, who countedaround 6,000 members when they attracted the attention of Adventistsin the 1840s,3 have 60,000 members today. But Seventh-day Adventists,who had 3,500 members when their denomination was organized in1863, have today grown to more than seven million members and are stillgrowing.

The difference – and it is a very substantial difference – lies in 1844,as Joseph Bates quickly recognized.

JOSEPH BATES AND THE SABBATH. Joseph Bates learned about theseventh-day Sabbath sometime in 1845 from reading the little book by T.M. Preble. Early the following year he read the Day-Star Extra of February7, 1846, that we spoke about in chapter 6 and became convinced that thesanctuary of Daniel 8:14 is the one in heaven.

In the summer of 1846, Captain Bates wrote his first small book aboutthe Sabbath, the one we've talked about already called TheSeventh DaySabbath, A Perpetual Sign, showing which day of the week is the real

Sabbath. It came out in August, on the thirtieth of which month JamesWhite and Ellen Harmon were married. Heretofore James and Ellen hadadmired Captain Bates but had been puzzled by his emphasis on theSabbath commandment.4 After they read his book and restudied the Bible,they became Sabbath keepers too, probably in September.

Now in this little book, Joseph Bates said mostly the same things thatthe Seventh Day Baptists were saying. But in one notable respect, his littlebook became the first of its kind ever, a true milestone in a brand new

development of Sabbath understanding.On page 24 of his Seventh-day Sabbath, A Perpetual Sign, Joseph Bates




referred to the three angels' messages. After pointing out what everyMillerite Adventist had known, that the Millerites had preached the firstangel's message about the judgment and the second angel's message aboutthe fall of Babylon, Bates did what no one before him had ever done. He

pointed out that a special time had now come for Sabbath keeping becausethe time had come for the third angel's message. He didn't understandthis idea clearly quite yet, but it was there.

What idea? That the Sabbath has a unique timeliness in view of 1844.The idea was to become much clearer over the next couple of years as

Bates and the Whites and other Adventist pioneers studied the Bibletogether.

Bates became increasingly eager to visit the people who had published

the Day-Star Extra – O. R. L. Crosier, Hiram Edson, and F. B. Hahn. Sosometime in the fall of 1846, he traveled out to western New York, takingwith him his new light on the Sabbath. From Edson, Crosier, and Hahn,Captain Bates brought home a clearer understanding of the heavenlysanctuary. Full of new excitement, he got his printer to put out a secondedition of TheSeventh Day Sabbath, A Perpetual Sign, but not before he hadadded two further epochal pieces of new light.

For one thing, on page 59, Bates proposed that keeping Sunday insteadof the true Sabbath was amark of thebeast. This was the first time anyonehad published this interpretation of the mark of the beast in the thirdangel's message. For another thing, in his new preface, he called attentionto Revelation 11:19: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, andthere was seen in his temple theark of his covenant” (KJV).

As Bates and the others had looked at this text together in western New York, great new light had flashed into their minds. The ark of the covenantcontains the Ten Commandments, including the fourth commandment.In the Old Testament, it was located in the most holy place, and in 1844

Jesus entered heaven's most holy place. Was it possible, they won-dered – was it really possible – that the new interest Bates and others weretaking in the Sabbath question was a result of Christ's recent entrance intoheaven's most holy place? If so, it would coincide remarkably with thesequence of the three angels: (1) judgment hour; (2) fall of Babylon; (3)faith-in-Christ commandment keeping.

Bates, as I said, hurried home and got out that second edition, in thepreface of which he ventured, cautiously, to reveal his excitement about

Revelation 11:19: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and therewas seen in his temple theark of his covenant.”




Bates's caution about the relationship of the true Sabbath to Christ'snew work in the heavenly sanctuary was removed within a couple ofmonths. On March 6 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and again on April 3 inTopsham, Maine,5 newly married, newly Sabbath-keeping Ellen White

had her first vision about the Sabbath. Appropriately, it was centered on Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary.

She wrote out what she had seen, and Joseph Bates published it forher.6 She reported that an angel had carried her swiftly to heaven, whereshe saw Jesus waiting for her at a little model temple, evidently the sameone that had been shown to Moses.7 Jesus took her through the holy placeand into the most holy place and there, yes, He showed her two tablets ofstone with the Ten Commandments written on them. The first four

commandments occupied one of the tablets and glowed brighter than theother six; but the fourth commandment glowed brighter than any of theothers. It had a “halo of glory” around it. This surprised Ellen White, forthough she and James had come to see that Captain Bates was right aboutthe Sabbath, she hadn't thought it was this important. It was seeing theSabbath in the presence of Jesus, in the most holy place with a halo ofglory around it, that now made it seem so important.

Mrs. White was deeply impressed that the Sabbath was the “greatquestion” that would “unite God's dear waiting saints” and also separatethem from unbelievers. Further, she was shown that believers were to “goout and proclaim the Sabbath more fully.”8

PROCLAIMING THE SABBATH MORE FULLY. To “proclaim the Sabbathmore fully” meant at least this – to proclaim it more fully than, anyone hadproclaimed it before. Thus far, the Seventh Day Baptists had proclaimed itas the true Sabbath, but they had not taught that its observance was vital,and they had shown only spasmodic zeal in winning people to it. They felt

that the Sabbath was good to know about and, if you knew about it, wasgood to keep. Yet it wasn't exactly a life-and-death matter.

But the vision had spoken of the Sabbath as the “great question” thatwould “unite God's dear waiting saints” and also separate them fromunbelievers.

Joseph Bates and the other believers quickly understood; or at least,they partly understood. The first angel's message had brought humanityto the judgment hour, 1844. The second angel had called attention to the

fallen state of the popular Sunday-keeping churches. The third angelcalled attention to the commandments. Jesus was calling attention to the




Sabbath in a wholly new way since entering the most holy place andstanding beside the ark of the covenant.

The vision was perfectly in harmony with what Bates had already foundin the Bible. Immediately he stepped up his efforts to take the new light

about the Sabbath to former Millerites.But he ran into a stone wall! When he told friends from the Millerite

days that the Sabbath was important because in 1844 Jesus entered themost holy place, they were unconvinced. They were glad to see CaptainBates, but as for 1844, they told him it had all been a mistake.

So Bates sat down to write another little book, this one with thefascinating title Second Advent Way Marks and High Heaps. By “highheaps” he had in mind the piles of stones that formed monuments to

God's grace in Old Testament times. By “way marks” he meant sign posts.The force of the booklet was this: By reviewing the evidence – the waymarks and high heaps – which once had convinced Millerite Adventiststhat God was truly fulfilling the 2,300 days in 1844 – Bates hoped to laythe groundwork for convincing them that because of 1844, the trueSabbath had now become crucial.

Near the end of the year Bates wrote what turned out to be his largestbook – A Vindication of theSabbath. It had 116 pages and was the one thathe was writing (in the well-known story) when his financial reserves werereduced to a single coin, a York shilling. It was published in January 1848.

No copy of this book was known to exist in recent times until Godfrey Anderson, sometime president of Loma Linda University, discovered acopy in the Boston Public Library. We now know just what message Joseph Bates and James and Ellen White were prepared to take to thosefamous 1848 Sabbath Conferences.

Better designated as “Sabbath and Sanctuary Conferences,” we nowknow that they were like seminars.9 Bates came well prepared to teach

about the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. James White showed thatthe Sabbath is crucially important because of 1844. And Ellen Whiteexhorted the people to live in harmony with the new light.10

SEAL OF GOD AND MARK OF THE BEAST. Part of the new light focused onthe seal of God and the mark of the beast. The third angel, who callsattention to faith-in-Christ commandment keeping, warns very urgentlyagainst receiving the mark of the beast.11

But not everyone who has kept Sunday has received the mark of thebeast. Bates and the Whites and most of the people who attended their




meetings had all found spiritual blessing in keeping Sunday. In 1849 EllenWhite had a vision that specifically reassured her that the test on theSabbath question did not begin until Jesus passed from the holy place tothe most holy place in 1844.12 Sunday keepers receive the mark of the

beast only when they have a chance to know the truth and choose todisregard it.13

And the seal of God? Revelation does not explicitly equate the seal ofGod with the Sabbath. However, it does present the seal as the oppositeof the mark and as something that is received by commandment keepers.The seal includes true Sabbath observance as a part of commandmentkeeping, yet it must be even more than Sabbath observance, for the peoplewho receive the seal in their foreheads are spoken of as having God's

name (or character) in their foreheads (see Revelation 7:1-3; 14:1-5).Sabbath keeping is the seal of God when it truly changes a person throughand through. The seal of God is “a settling into the truth, bothintellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved.”14

ELLEN WHITE AND THE SABBATH. We have seen that Ellen White beganto keep the Sabbath (in September 1846) several months before receiving a vision about it (in March 1847). We have also seen that in her first Sabbath vision she was taken to the most holy place, where Jesus personallyrevealed its importance to her. God could have taken her to creation orMt. Sinai. He could have called her attention merely to selected Bible textsand even left Jesus out. But God centered this first Sabbath vision on theheavenly sanctuary and on Jesus. The message is plain. God wanted Hispeople to associate the Sabbath in a new way with Jesus and His newsanctuary ministry.

In His new sanctuary ministry in the most holy place, Jesus is callingspecial attention to the Sabbath as a doctrine, yes, but even more so as an

outliving of Himself in daily life. He is very interested in His holy day, butHe is even more interested in reproducing His own beautiful kind ofholiness in a holy people. We recall page 283 inTheDesireof Ages: “In orderto keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy.”

Ellen White is here thinking about Exodus 20:8 and Exodus 22:31. Sheexplains: “When the command was given to Israel, ‘Remember theSabbath day, to keep it holy,’ the Lord said also to them, ‘Ye shall be holymen unto Me.’ ”

But how can we sinners become holy enough to keep the Sabbath holy?Ezekiel 20:12 comes to our rescue. “I gave them my sabbaths, … that




they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Our passage inTheDesireof Ages explains that in order for people to be holy enough tokeep the Sabbath holy, "through faith they must become partakers of therighteousness of Christ" (my italics).

Page 469 in TheGreat Controversy takes up the theme: “The followers ofChrist are to become like Him, – by thegraceof God to form characters inharmony with the principles of His holy law. This is Bible sanctification”(my italics).

This kind of sanctification is important. True Sabbath keepers want toexperience it. They don't make the day a holiday. They want to takeadvantage of every minute of it for worship, witnessing, and characterdevelopment, because they know that time is running out.

But not all Seventh-day Adventists have realized the special differencethat 1844 makes to the Sabbath. In her early days, Ellen White learned of aminister who was preaching the Sabbath without placing it in its end-timesetting. He was preaching the Sabbath of Creation and Mt. Sinai but notthe Sabbath of the judgment hour and the third angel's message, not theseal of God in contrast to the mark of the beast. Thus he was preaching itwithout its true end-of-time urgency, its unique timeliness at this specialpoint in time.

Deeply disappointed with his tame presentation, she wrote,

Elder K knows not of what spirit he is. … As far as the Sabbathis concerned, he occupies the same position as the Seventh DayBaptists. Separate the Sabbath from the [three angels’] messages,and it loses its power; but when connected with the message of thethird angel, a power attends it which convicts unbelievers andinfidels, and brings them out with strength to stand, to live, grow,and flourish in the Lord.15

1844 AND THE SABBATH. A well-informed Seventh-day Adventist is aperson who believes that Christ is coming soon because of the fulfillmentof the 2,300 days and who keeps the seventh-day Sabbath because of thefulfillment of the 2,300 days. Such a person knows that because the 2,300days ended in 1844, the time has come for the urgent warning of the thirdangel against the mark of the beast. The time has come for men andwomen of “every nation and tribe and tongue and people” to choose the

Lord and to enter by choice into a relationship with Jesus so that they willbecome holy and can keep the Sabbath holy. To become “holy enough”




means to become, in the finest and most attractive sense, a person whoresembles the loving, gracious, dependable ways of our heavenly FatherHimself.

The time to emphasize true, wholehearted Christ-like Sabbath keeping

is now. Now! Now, because Jesus has already entered the most holy placeto begin the final judgment. Now, because from the most holy place, Jesusis shedding onto the world the radiant glory of true Sabbath keeping inHis final effort to develop a people with characters like His own and thusprepare them for the time of trouble just ahead and for the gloriouseternity that follows.

1. For a fascinating eyewitness account of the loyalty of the Pilgrim fathers tothe Sunday Sabbath, see Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Applewood Books of Cambridge and Boston, Mass., puts out an edition.

2. TheSeventh Day Baptists in Europeand America, 3 vols. (Plainfield, N.J.: TheSeventh Day Baptist General Conference, 1910, 1972), 1:64-66,72-73,78-79.

3. Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America, 1:233n.4. Ellen G. White, LifeSketches, 95.5. Evidence that Ellen White saw the “halo of glory” vision twice is found by

comparing her Lift Sketches, 95 and 96 with 100-103, and is confirmed by anexplicit statement by Joseph Bates at the end of the second giving of the vision aspublished under the name A Vision. See next footnote.

6. A vision, 7April 1847. This publication was printed in “broadsheet” form, onone side only of a single sheet. Its date was the date when Ellen White wrote theletter.

7. Hebrews 8:5 says that God required Moses to make his earthly tabernacleaccording to the “pattern” God showed him on Mt. Sinai. The Greek word heretranslated “pattern” is the same word usually translated “type.” In other words,God showed Moses a type of the heavenly sanctuary rather than the actualsanctuary itself. In one of her earliest books, Spiritual Gifts (Battle Creek, 1864),4:5, Ellen White says that Moses was told to make the tabernacle according to the“miniature model” that God showed him.

8. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 33.9. Arthur L. White uses the new term “Sabbath and Sanctuary Conferences” as

the title for chapter 9 of the first volume of his six-volume biography of Ellen G.White (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1985). The all-night prayer-and-study sessions often associated with these 1848 conferences (seeEllen G. White, Selected Messages, 1:206) now appear to have been conducted onother occasions, possibly in 1847.




10. An early study calling attention to the “seminar” nature of the 1848 Sabbathand Sanctuary Conferences was Gordon O. Martinborough, “The Beginnings of aTheology of the Sabbath among American Sabbatarian Adventists, 1842-1850”(M.A. thesis, Loma Linda University, 1976), especially chapter 6.

11. The mark of the beast is opposed to commandment keeping. The beast ofRevelation 13:1-10, which shares its mark with end-time people, is the same as thelittle horn of Daniel 7, which, according to prophecy, was to rise out of theRoman Empire, persecute God's people, and try to change God's laws. TheRoman Church is noted for its severe persecution of heretics and for being theoutstanding champion of Sunday and opponent of Sabbath in Christian history.Thus the characteristic mark of the beast appears to be Sunday keeping, or rather,coercive Sunday keeping after someone knows better. For an extended study, seeC. Mervyn Maxwell, "The Mark of the Beast," in Daniel and Revelation CommitteeSeries, Frank B. Holbrook, ed. (Silver Spring, Md.: Biblical Research Institute,General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1992), 7:41-132.

12. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 42, 43.13. See Ellen G. White,TheGreat Controversy , 605.14. The passage from which this famous clause is taken was written in 1902 and

is found in the Ellen G. White Comments section of the Seventh-day Adventist BibleCommentary , 4:1161: “Just as soon as the people of God are sealed in theirforehead – it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth,both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot be moved – just as soon as God'speople are sealed and prepared for the shaking, it will come. Indeed, it has begun

already; the judgments of God are now upon the land, to give us warning, that wemay know what is coming”(MS 173, 1902).

15. Ellen C. White,Testimonies, 1:337.



CHAPTER 9

1844 ANDBEINGREADY

The material we are going to study in this chapter is among the most

solemn but encouraging aspects of the meaning of 1844 and themagnificent disappointment.

Thus far we have made good use of Daniel 8:14 (the 2,300 days),Daniel 7:9-14 (the Son of man coming on clouds to the judgment scene),Leviticus 16 (the Day of Atonement), Luke 12:35-37 (waiting till the Lordreturns from the wedding), and Revelation 14:6-12 (the three angels'messages). These texts were used heavily by Seventh-day Adventistpioneers. They also made significant use of Malaehi 3:1-5.

You will remember that near the end of chapter 6, “Investigative Judgment: A Seventh-day Adventists Invention?” I referred to athoughtful paragraph from a letter by O. K. L. Crosier, Hiram Edson'sfriend, in the April 18, 1846, issue of the Day-Star . Its spiritual emphasiswas particularly attractive to Ellen White. It was based on 1 Corinthians 6,where Christians ate called temples of God, and on Malachi 3, which saysthat Christ was to come to His temple and cleanse the sons of Levi.Notice especially the final sentence in the quotation:

Many seem not to have discovered that there is a literal and a




spiritual temple – the literal being the Sanctuary in New Jerusalem(literal city), and the spiritual the church – the literal occupied by Jesus Christ, our King and Priest, John 14:2. Heb. 8:2; 9:11; thespiritual by the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. 3:~7; 6:19. Eph. 2:20-22.

Between these two there is a perfect concert of action, as Christ“prepares theplace” the Spirit does the people. When he came to histemple, the sanctuary, to cleanse it; the Spirit commenced thespecial cleansing of the people. Mal. 3:1-3.

The concept that the cleansing of the sanctuary involves a specialcleansing of the people who worship at the sanctuary was taught inLeviticus 16, the Day of Atonement chapter. “On this day shall atonement

be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be cleanbefore the Lord” (verse 30). Malachi 3:1-5 offers a similar promise. I haveitalicized some of the phrases that we'll be talking about.

Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, andthe Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; themessenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he iscoming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of hiscoming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fireand like fullers' soap; he will sit as arefiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify thesons of Levi andrefine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to theLord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalemwill bepleasingto theLord as in the days of old and as in former years.Then I will draw near to you for judgment.

NOT THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE. Many Bible commentators have assumed

that this passage refers to Christ's first coming and the way He cleansedthe Jerusalem temple of cattle, pigeons, and money-changers. But itcannot be a prophecy of Christ's coming to the Jerusalem temple, for itpromises that He will purify the priests, the “sons of Levi,” to the pointthat they will offer acceptable sacrifices. Deplorably, when Jesus finishedHis work on earth, the opposition of the priests compelled Him towithdraw His Spirit from the Jerusalem temple and declare it “desolate”(Matthew 23:38).

Seventh-day Adventist pioneers were right to observe that Malachi 3:1-5 describes Christ's coming to the most holy place of the heavenly temple



GOOD NEWS OR BAD NEWS? 113

in 1844 and to His special work of purifying His end-time people whoworship at that temple.

Many years after the great event, TheGreat Controversy , looking back,observed that “the coming of Christ as our high priest to the most holy

place, for the cleansing of the sanctuary, brought to view in Daniel 8:14;the coming of the Son of man to the Ancient of Days, as presented inDaniel 7:13; and the coming of the Lord to His temple, foretold by Malachi [my italics], are descriptions of the same event; and this is alsorepresented by the coming of the Bridegroom to the marriage, describedby Christ in the parable of the ten virgins, of Matthew 25.”

TheGreat Controversy , page 424, is explicit. “This coming [of Christ tothe 1844 judgment] is foretold … by the prophet Malachi: ‘The Lord,

whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger ofthe covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lordof hosts.’ Malachi 3:1. The coming of the Lord to His temple was sudden,unexpected, to His people. They were not looking for Him there. Theyexpected Him to come to earth.”

BEAUTIFUL CHRISTIANS. Now before we proceed any farther with theGreat Controversy commentary on Malachi 3:1-5, I invite you to prepare fora deeply spiritual surprise. Please try to remember everything you haveheard about the spirituality of the best of the Millerite Adventists. Wetalked about their ardor and earnestness in chapter 4. Here is a furtheraccount from someone who passed through the experience as one ofthem.

At that time there was faith that brought answers to prayer – faiththat had respect to the recompense of reward. Like showers of rainupon the thirsty earth, the Spirit of grace descended upon the

earnest seekers. Those who expected soon to stand face to face withtheir Redeemer felt a solemn joy that was unutterable. The softening,subduing power of the Holy Spirit melted the heart as His blessingwas bestowed in rich measure upon the faithful, believing ones.

Carefully and solemnly those who received the message came upto the time when they hoped to meet their Lord. Every morningthey felt that it was their first duty to secure the evidence of theiracceptance with God. Their hearts were closely united, and they

prayed much with and for one another. They often met together insecluded places to commune with God, and the voice of intercession




ascended to heaven from the fields and groves. The assurance of theSaviour's approval was more necessary to them than their daily food;and if a cloud darkened their minds, they did not rest until it wasswept away. As they felt the witness of pardoning grace, they longed

to behold Him whom their souls loved.1

NOT YET BEADY. Now are you prepared for our solemn surprise?Speaking expressly of these Adventist people who had accepted Miller'smessage and were so sincere and earnest in looking for Jesus to return,TheGreat Controversy , page 424, says, “But the people were not yet ready tomeet their Lord.”

The Adventist people in 1844 werenot yet ready to meet their Lord! Yet they were beautiful people! They loved one another. They loved

even their enemies. They had true assurance in Christ, and they deservedto have assurance, for they repented, confessed, witnessed, sacrificed,studied, prayed, and praised; and they surely loved the Lord with all theirhearts. We read a moment ago, “They longed to behold Him whom theirsouls loved.”

Yet eventhey “were not yet ready to meet their Lord”!Perhaps what TheGreat Controversy says next will help us understand.

Here it is:

There was still a work of preparation to be accomplished forthem. Light was to be given, directing their minds to the temple ofGod in heaven; and as they should by faith follow their High Priestin His ministration there, new duties would be revealed. Anothermessage of warning and instruction was to be given to the church.

Look at those lines again. They are encouraging. Although they say thatthe Millerite Adventists needed an additional work of preparation, they say

that the preparation was to be accomplished “for” them. Light was to be“given.” God knew that they needed the additional preparation and wasprepared to make it available to them.

But what specifically are we talking about? Read the passage again. Asthey studied Christ's new ministry in the most holy place, they were to begiven “another message of warning and instruction” that would involve“new duties.” As Millerite Adventists they had proclaimed the first angel'smessage, about the arrival of judgment hour, and the second angel'smessage, about the fall of Babylon, but so far they had been entirelyunaware of their duty to proclaim the third angel's message. Their added




work of preparation involved the discovery that they were to instructpeople about the Sabbath and to warn them about the mark of the beast,the content of the third angel's message.

READY BUT NOT READY. The best of the Millerite Adventists werecertainly ready for death. We know specifically of two of their mostspiritual ministers, Levi Stockman, who died in the spring of 1844, andCharles Fitch, who died on Monday, October 14, eight days before heexpected to see Jesus coming on the clouds. In December, in her first vision, young Sister Ellen was shown the future of these men after theresurrection. She saw them sitting under the tree of life. She learned thatGod had “laid [them] in the grave to save them.”2 Yes, the best of the

Millerite Adventists who died in Christ before October 22 died ready tobe raised in the first resurrection. But they were “not yet ready to meettheir Lord,” that is, to meet Him at the second coming, while they werestill alive on earth.

Why not?Stop and think. Won't those of us who live to see the second coming

be required to go through the crisis over the mark of the beast? Won't webe required to live through the time of trouble?

Were the Millerite Adventists ready for the time of trouble?Pathetically, challenged by the great disappointment, the faith of most ofthem withered like pumpkin leaves at the first frost. We are warned that“the season of distress before us will require a faith that can endureweariness, delay, and hunger.”3

Were they ready for the crisis over the mark of the beast? Most of themwere devout Sunday keepers, and when they later heard about theSabbath, they refused to accept it. Even Sister Ellen was a Sunday keeper(and a pig eater too.), and even she resisted the Sabbath for a while after

she first heard about it.The Millerite Adventists loved Jesus and were spiritually alert. But we

are reminded again that the seal of God, so unavoidably essential for victory in the final crisis, involves both intellectual and spiritual maturity.“It is not any seal or mark that can be seen,” wrote Ellen White, “but asettling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so they cannot bemoved.”4

Those who will live successfully through earth's final events and see

Jesus at His coming will knowwhat they believe, feel what they believe,and do what they believe. We're not talking about mere Sabbath




observance but genuine spiritual Sabbath keeping that sanctifies andpurifies a person through and through. We're talking about people whoactually “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”(Revelation 14:12).

REFINER'S FIRE AND FULLERS' SOAP. Returning now to The GreatControversy , pages 424, 425, we read, “Says the prophet [Malachi]: ‘Whomay abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when Heappeareth?’ ”

We may well ask, as I always do when I restudy this material, If thosebeautiful Millerite Adventists were not ready for the second coming, whowill ever be ready? But wait! Still quoting Malachi 3, TheGreat Controversy continues, “ ‘For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap.’ ” Fullers'

soap is used to clean dirty wool, not destroy it; and a “refiner's” fire is onethat makes a metal better, not worse. Is there, perhaps, a promise here,intended to encourage us?

Indeed there is!TheGreat Controversy continues the quotation from Malachi 3: “ ‘And He

shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons ofLevi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lordan offering in righteousness.’ ”

Remember that the “sons of Levi” were the priests, and in Christ Jesuswe are all priests, all children of Levi. First Peter 2:9 says, “You are achosen race, a royal priesthood,” and Revelation 1:5, 6 reads, “To him wholoves us … and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father.” InMalachi 3, the purification of the priests, the “sons of Levi,” is for us.

In giving us the third angel's message, about the mark of the beast andfaith-in-Jesus commandment keeping, and by calling our attention to the“testimony of Jesus,” which is the “spirit of prophecy,” God intends tocleanse and purify us, if only we will cooperate. It is a part of His special

work of purification.

WITHOUT A MEDIATOR. The Great Controversy , page 425, continues:“Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shallcease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy Godwithout a mediator.”

Here is truly a challenge: “To stand in the sight of a holy God without amediator.” But let us not suppose it was made in order to frighten or

threaten us. It is a simple statement off act. One of these days, inevitably, Jesus will come to the end of His work as High Priest. This news implies a




marvelous promise. God would not think of leaving His true followerswithout a mediator for sin as long as they needed one. The implication isas obvious as the cross itself that the time is coming when God's truefollowers will not need a mediator for sin anymore.

“God's ideal for His children is higher than the highest human thoughtcan reach. ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heavenis perfect.’ This command is a promise. The plan of redemption contemplatesour complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separatesthe contrite soul fl-nm sin. He came to destroy the works of the devil, andHe has made provision that the Holy Spirit shall be imparted to everyrepentant soul, to keep him from sinning."5

To “live in the sight of a holy God without a mediator” is a promise;

but it is not a playful promise. It is one of those deeply spiritual concernsthat we referred to at the beginning of this chapter.Do we have any real idea what it means to live in the sight of a holy

God without a mediator for sin?On May 14, 1851, Ellen White, married and in her early twenties, had

an experience that helped her understand what it means. “I saw the beautyand loveliness of Jesus,” she wrote later. “As I beheld His glory, thethought did not occur to me that I should ever be separated from Hispresence. I saw a light coming from the glory that encircled the Father,and as it approached near to me, my body trembled and shook like a leaf.I thought that if it should come near me I would be struck out ofexistence, but the light passed me. Then could I have some sense of thegreat and terrible God with whom we have to do. I saw then what faint views some have of the holiness of God. … I also saw that many do notrealize what they must be in order to live in the sight of the Lord withouta high priest in the sanctuary through the time of trouble.”

She added, “Those who receive the seal of the living God and are

protected in the time of trouble must reflect the image of Jesus fully.”6 Here is beauty! To be as gracious as Jesus, as kind as Jesus, as sensitive,

as dependable, as generous, as prompt to do the right thing! This is everysincere Christian's prayer. “Be like Jesus, this my song, in the home and inthe throng; Be like Jesusall day long! I would be like Jesus.”7

But remember, it's a promise. “He shall purify the sons of Levi,” and, ifwe will, we are all “sons of Levi.”

THEY STILL HAVE JESUS! Does “without a mediator” mean that Christ'strue followers will be left during the time of trouble to wrestle with




temptation on their own? No, no! Jesus will still be their Guard and Guideand Stay, still their Lord and King, still their Helper in the time of storm.

Does it mean that God's true followers will have to stand during thetime of trouble without the aid of the Holy Spirit? On the contrary, they

will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Before the time of trouble begins, theHoly Spirit will be poured out in its richness for the very purpose ofenabling the saints to maintain their stand.8

Jesus has promised His true followers, “ ‘I will never fail you norforsake you.’ ” Hence we can confidently say, “ ‘The Lord is my helper, Iwill not be afraid’ ”(Hebrews 13:5, 6).

“At all times and in all places, in all sorrows and in all afflictions, whenthe outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and

alone, the Comforter will be sent in answer to the prayer of faith.Circumstances may separate us from every earthly friend; but nocircumstance, no distance, can separate us from the heavenly Comforter.Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is always at our right hand tosupport, sustain, uphold, and cheer.”9

GRACE AND DILIGENT EFFORT. We haven't completed The GreatControversy comments on Malachi 3:1-5. Our passage (424, 425) tells us stillmore about the preparation needed for the time when Christ's intercessionceases. “Their robes must be spotless, their characters must bepurified from sin by the blood of sprinkling. Through the grace of Godand their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle withevil.”

Don't overlook that last sentence. “Through the grace of God and theirown diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil.”

Some people feel a sharp conflict between the words “and their owndiligent effort” and the concept of “grace alone.” They worry that if we

talk about “diligent effort,” we run the risk of attempting salvation byworks. But what do you make of the counsel?

The passage doesn't mention “works,” either good or bad. It mentions“effort.” Now, don't we all face two basic obligations, (1) to meet the debtof our sins and (2) to develop Christ-like characters? The first obligation,to meet the debt of our sins, is infinite. Our sin debt is so absolutelybeyond our ability to pay that our only course is to turn it entirely over to Jesus, in humble, grateful faith.

But character development is something else, and we are talking hereabout growing into a character like the character of Jesus. If character




development is to take place at all, it is bound, by the very nature of it, toinvolve our doing something. At the very least we must make choices,sometimes hard choices, choices that involve obedience. To be valid andeffective, our choices must unavoidably be made with our hands in

Christ's hand; but they simply have to beour choices, or they cannot resultin character development.

Speaking to the students of Avondale College in Australia, in the long,narrow dining room that for a while was their only “church,” SisterWhite,10 sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit in unusual fullness, said,“The Lord does not propose to perform for us either the willing or thedoing. This is our proper work. As soon as we earnestly enter upon thework, God's grace is given to work in us to will and to do, but never as a

substitute for our effort. Our souls are to be aroused to cooperate.”11

Jesus taught us this. “ ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,”shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Fatherwho is in heaven’ ” (Matthew 7:21).

Hebrews 11 is rightly known as the faith chapter. Notice that by faith,Noah built an ark. By faith, Abraham left home for a strange country. Byfaith, Abraham laid Isaac on the altar. By faith, Moses gave up hisprestigious position in Egypt. In every case the heroes and heroines offaith listed in Hebrews 11 obeyed by faith. Hebrews 11:7 specifically says(are you ready for this?) that it was by faithfully buildingtheark that Noah“became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.”

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yetunseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of hishousehold; by this he condemned the world and became an heir oftherighteousness which comes by faith.

Let's be day-to-day practical. You pay tithe? You teach a Sabbath

School class? You lead your family in sundown worship?In doing these things, you express gratitude for the cross, and you pray

earnestly for God's grace. But, tell me, who writes your tithe checks? Doesan angel do it, or do you? Does the Holy Spirit take your place in front of your Sabbath School class, or do you have to stand there and teach? Does Jesus sit visibly in your living room for family worship?

Who takes your car back to the repairman, asking him to do the job athird time because he hasn't done it right the first two times? Who

represents the beautiful character of Jesus to your harried, embarrassedmechanic?




“By the grace of God, and their own diligent effort.” Yes, we do haveapart to play, choices to make, choosing to cling to Jesus for support andstepping out to do the right thing.

READY AT LAST. We're approaching the end of the Great Controversy comments on Malachi 3:1-5. “While the investigative judgment is goingforward in heaven, while the sins of penitent believers are being removedfrom the sanctuary, there is to be a special work of purification, of puttingaway of sin, among God's people upon earth. This work is more clearlypresented in the [three angels'] messages of Revelation 14.”

At the beginning of this chapter, we reminded ourselves of somethingthat Leviticus 16:30 says about the high priest on the Day of Atonement:

“For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you,that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.”We come now to the end of our selected passage, TheGreat Controversy ,

pages 424, 425. It has a happy ending. “When this work shall have beenaccomplished, the followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing.‘Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord,as in the days of old, and as in former years.’ Malachi 3:4. Then the churchwhich our Lord at His coming is to receive to Himself will be a ‘gloriouschurch, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.’ Ephesians 5:27.”

AN EARNEST APPEAL. We have been looking at one of the most spiritualimplications of 1844 for today, the need and opportunity to develop awell-informed, well-matured spirituality that far transcends even thebeautiful spirituality of the best of the Millerite Adventists. It seemsappropriate to close our chapter with an earnest appeal written by EllenWhite in 1851 that is as fresh and urgent as if written today:

I saw that many were neglecting the preparation so needful andwere looking to the time of “refreshing” [Acts 3:19, 20] and the“latter rain” [Joel 2:28,29] to fit them to stand in the day of the Lordand to live in His sight. Oh, how many I saw in the time of troublewithout a shelter! They had neglected the needful preparation;therefore they could not receive the refreshing that all must have tofit them to live in the sight of a holy God. … I saw that none couldshare the “refreshing” unless they obtain the victory over every

besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over everywrong word and action. We should, therefore, be drawing nearer and




nearer to the Lord and be earnestly seeking that preparationnecessary to enable us to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.Let all remember that God is holy and that none but holy beings canever dwell in His presence.12

This end-time call to deep, sweet, victorious Christ-likeness is a majorpart of the meaning of 1844, a major part of the magnificence that isimplicit in the great disappointment.

1. Ellen G. White,TheGreat Controversy , 402,403.2. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 17.3. Ellen G. White,TheGreat Controversy , 621.4. Ellen G. White Comments inSeventh-day Adventist BibleCommentay , 4:1161.5. Ellen C. White,TheDesireof Ages, 311, my italics.6. Ellen C. White, Early Writings, 70, 71.7. Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, no.311.8. See, e.g., Joel 2:28; Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 85; andTestimonies, 1:353.9. Ellen G. White,TheDesireof Ages, 669, 670.10. In her teens Ellen White was known as Sister Ellen and Sister Harmon.

After marriage, she was Mrs. White and Sister White. In her advanced years shewas known affectionately as “Mother White.” Probably she was never known

outside her family as Ellen White.11. Ellen G. White,Testimonies to Ministers, 240.12. Ellen G. White, Early Writings, 71, my italics.



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CHAPTER 10

INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT:GOODNEWS OR BADNEWS?

We have referred to the investigative judgment several times without

studying it in detail.But do we want to talk about the investigative judgment? If it's bad news,

we'd rather forget it. If it's good news, then OK. A moment of reflection will reveal that it must be both good news and

bad news. A friend of mine the other day thoughtfully misquoted Hebrews 9:27,

which is supposed to say, “It is appointed for men to die once, and afterthat comes judgment.” My friend quoted it assaying, “It is appointed for

men to die once, and after that – it's your decision.”What he meant, of course, was that in the judgment, God's decision willbe essentially our decision. After a manner of speaking, God in the judgment will “initial” the decisions we have already made. But do we needto worry about the heavenly documents that record our wrong decisions,provided we have made the one good decision, to accept Jesus Christ as ourSaviour?

BAD NEWS FOR THE FORGIVEN DEBTOR. In the famous parable of the two

debtors, the man who owed his employer ten thousand talents was freely




forgiven as soon as he showed that he was sorry. Unfortunately, no soonerhad he left the office than he had a fellow employee, who owed him onehundred pence, thrown in jail. Seeing what happened, the other workerswere greatly distressed and told their boss – who promptly summoned the

forgiven debtor and said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you allthat debt because you besought me; and should not you have had mercyon your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” Jesus closed the story bysaying, “In anger his lord delivered him to the jailers [actually, thetorturers], till he should pay all his debt.” Then Jesus drew the lesson forus: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do notforgive your brother from your heart” (see Matthew 18:23-35).

Jesus told this story to illustrate His answer to Peter's question about

forgiveness. Peter asked if he should forgive a brother seven times but Jesussaid “seventy times seven.” Then He told the story of the two debtors.Evidently God expects us to take His counsel seriously. When we ask

forgiveness for the ten thousand-talent sins we commit against Him, Heforgives us freely. But if afterward we refuse to forgive anybody's onehundred-penny sins against ourselves, He “unforgives” us.

In order to stay forgiven, we must remain forgivable; we must beforgiving. Our heavenly Father says so – for just as He is our Father, Heis also the Father of the person we won't forgive. “So also my heavenlyFather will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

One purpose of the investigative judgment has to do with people whosay they love Jesus but who don't love people. Such “Christians” wouldn'tmake very nice neighbors to live with through eternity. We need to take thisseriously, for “not everyone that says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter thekingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is inheaven” (Matthew 7:21).

BAD NEWS FOR THE LITTLE HORN. This statement by Jesus about saying“Lord, Lord” can serve to remind us that several times in this book we havequoted from Daniel 7 about the judgment and the arrival of the Son of manon the clouds, but that in doing so we have omitted verses 11 and 12, whichare appropriate to our present study.

What do those two verses, Daniel 7:11 and 12, say to us? They say that in vision Daniel saw, as one result of the judgment, that the beast on which the

little horn grew was to be “slain” and “burned with fire.” “As I looked,”says Daniel, “the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given over




to be burned with fire.”Obviously the investigative judgment was not good news for the beast

that grew the little horn.Now the beast that grew the little horn was “Rome” in its Christian

phase. We often speak of it as representing Roman Catholicism, that is,as representing Roman Catholicism at its worst without reference to thefine Catholic hospitals and social services. Daniel 7 is selective, showing thelittle horn persecuting God's people and attempting to change God'slaw. Very well, but don't forget that Roman Catholicism is Christian. Itregards its highest earthly leader, the pope, as the highest earthlyrepre-sentative of Jesus Christ. Its most characteristic worship service, themass, celebrates Christ's death. And a major purpose of its priesthood is

to give people assurance in Christ's name that their confessed sins areforgiven.This system that is called the “little horn” in Daniel is the same as the

leopard-bodied “beast” of Revelation 13 that shares with people the“mark of the beast”; and people who get the mark of the beast, the thirdangel says, will experience “God's wrath” and be “tormented with fire andbrimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of theLamb” (Revelation 14:9-11, KJV).

Let us not slip past this point lightly. Celebration of Christ's death for oursins, assurance that our sins are forgiven, claiming to be Christian, and livingin fellowship with a topmost Christian are not alone sufficient to make theinvestigative judgment good news.

JUDGMENT AND KING DAVID. But didn't David think of judgment asgood news? Didn't be plead with God, in Psalm 7:8 and several otherplaces, “Judge me, O Lord”? David would never have asked for judgment ifhe hadn't believed it was good news.

When David asked God to judge him, King Saul was threatening his life,and David was responding with extraordinary loyalty and forgiveness.David's actions harmonized with his faith; his conscience was clear anddeserved to be. He knew God would vindicate him. And when the best timecame, God did vindicate him.

But David didn't always think judgment was nice. We don't find himpleading with God to judge him immediately after he murdered Uriali andcommitted adultery with Bathsheba. And neither did Nathan the prophet

come to give him gospel assurance.Nathan the prophet came to David hoping that through repentance,




David would seek gospel assurance. But, as we all know, Nathan first talkedabout a grossly sinful landlord and then, pointing his finger at David,declared, “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7).

Does preaching judgment produce anxiety instead of assurance?

Sometimes it goes. Anxiety was precisely what David needed at thatmoment. Producing anxiety is right if it leads to the kind of repentance wefind David offering in Psalm 51. “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,and cleanse me from my Sin!” “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and puta new and right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:2,10).

Preaching only judgment to people who have never heard the gospel canproduce anxiety, discouragement, and legalism. But the first angel's messageof Revelation 14:6, 7 is gospel and judgment joined together. “With an

eternal gospel to proclaim … he said, … ‘The hour of his judgment hascome.’ ”The third angel's message warns us that if, even as Christians, we

continue to follow the ways of the beast, we will get the mark of the beastand suffer God's wrath. The “saints” are those only who through faith in Jesus choose loyally to observe all of God's commandments (see Revelation14:9-12).

The three angels' messages constitute a unified judgment-hour mes-sage that deals definitely with behavior – commandment keeping – aswell as with fearing God and having faith in Jesus. Evidently, both beliefand behavior must harmonize with God's will if Christians want the judgment to be good news. The gospel is not a method for filling heavenwith unkind, insensitive, disloyal, selfish people. Well, is it? No! It is a wayof giving people a second chance, their past sins forgiven, so they canaccept the Spirit's power to be born again and follow Christ's example andby His grace become kind, sensitive, loyal, generous, and nice “two-table”neighbors for everyone else to enjoy throughout eternity. (I'll explain “two-

table” in chapter 12.)

TYPE AND ANTITYPE. In the Old Testament, the annual day of judgmentwas the same as the annual Day of Atonement, a fact that has much toteach us about good news and bad news.

In chapters 4 and 6 we looked at how Miller and Snow and Crosier andEdson and others recognized that the Day of Atonement typein the OldTestament was to be fulfilled in antitypein connection with last-day events.

The ministry that Jesus started in 1844 is the antitype of the Old TestamentDay of Atonement outlined in Leviticus 16 and 23.




So what can we learn about good news and bad news from Leviticus 16and 23?

Leviticus 16 outlines the day's activities for the high priest, most ofwhich need not concern us at this moment, having more to do with the

priest than with the people. But one verse we must not overlook. Leviticus16:30 says, “On this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you;from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.” We looked at thispromise in chapter 9.

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest performed rituals thatsymbolically cleansed the earthly sanctuary from the defiling sins that hadbeen accumulating in it all year since the previous Day of Atonement. Butthe high priest did not cleanse only the sanctuary. He also cleansed the

people from the sins that had been defiling them. He cleansed them from“all” their sins, our verse says, meaning evidently from all their differentkinds of sins, sins of omission as well as commission, serious and casual,intentional and unintentional. Now that's good news without a doubt.

But there were conditions. For one thing, the cleansing was only for thepeople of God. People belonging to other tribes, close or far away, were notcleansed from their sins on the Day of Atonement. This means thateveryone must accept Jesus as personal Saviour.

Another condition, even among God's people, was that the cleansing wasrestricted to individuals who responded to the command to “afflict yourselves”(Leviticus 23:27). To afflict yourself means to search your soul insolemn repentance and confession and to get busy making things right.1

The Lord said to Moses, “On the tenth day of this seventh monthis the day of atonement; it shall be for you a time of holy convocation,and you shall afflict yourselves. … For whoever is not afflicted on thissame day shall be cut off from his people. And whoever does any

work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among hispeople” (Leviticus 23:26-29).

On this day the high priest, at the risk of his life, entered the most holyplace of the earthly sanctuary, where the presence of God was symbolizedby an intensely bright light. There he sprinkled the blood of an animal onthe mercy seat, located above the Ten Commandments, which the peoplehad broken. The animal represented the life and death of Jesus. As the

priest did this, the people outside were called on to feel the enormity oftheir sinfulness and to present their hearts before the Lord with intense




earnestness, sincerely detesting their wrongful ways, apologizing to theirneighbors for unkindnesses, and seeking the cleansing that God was eagerto provide. The people who responded, who “afflicted” themselves, werecleansed from all their sins. Good news indeed!

But what about the people who chose not to afflict themselves? Thesame God who provided the Day of Atonement specifically said whatwould happen to such people. He said, “I will destroy them.”

We are surprised that anyone would be destroyed on a day ofatonement. Atonement is at-one-ment and means “reconciliation.” The Day of Atonement was a day for the removal of all the sins that separate us fromGod (see Isaiah 59:2) and from our fellow humans. How could it be a dayof judgment?

The Day of Atonement becamea day of judgment for people who didn'tcare about being reconciled with God and neighbor, who preferred to go onsinning. For them, the day of reconciliation became, by their own choice, aday of destruction, of bad news.

Whether the day was one of reconciliation (atonement) or condemnation(judgment) was up to each individual. In a real sense, God placed His initialsby each person's own decision.

GOOD NEWS IN THE GREAT CONTROVERSY . The chapter on “Investigative Judgment” in TheGreat Controversy is based on the many parallels betweenthe Day of Atonement type in the Old Testament and its antitype going onin heaven since 1844. For instance, as in the Bible type, so in the “great dayof final atonement and investigative judgment the only cases considered arethose of the professed people of God.”2

Some of the good-news passages in this Great Controversy chapter aredeservedly famous. For instance, “The deepest interest manifested amongmen in the decisions of earthly tribunals but faintly represents the interest

evinced in the heavenly courts when the names entered in the book of lifecome up in review before the Judge of all the earth.”3

And again, “Jesus does not excuse their sins, but shows their penitenceand faith, and, claiming for them forgiveness, He lifts His wounded handsbefore the Father and the holy angels, saying: I know them by name. I havegraven them on the palms of my hands.”4

The good news reaches a climax just before the close of probation:“Thus will be realized the complete fulfillment of the new-covenant

promise: ‘I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin nomore.’ ‘In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of lsrael




shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and theyshall not be found’ (1ercmiah 31:34; 50:20).”5

As in the type, so also in the antitype, the people who afflict their soulsexperience the removal of all their sins.

To this marvelous good news of forgiveness we can add additional goodnews about remembrance. That's right. Sins will be blotted out, but gooddeeds will be remembered. Malachi 3:16 talks about God's Book ofRemembrance. “A book of remembrance was written before him of thosewho feared the Lord and thought on his name.” The Great Controversy comments appropriately, “There every temptation resisted, every evilovercome, every word of tender pity expressed, is faithfully chronicled. Andevery act of sacrifice, every suffering and sorrow endured for Christ's sake,

is recorded.”6

This Book of Remembrance is evidently one of the “books” (Daniel7:10) that are open and read during the investigative judgment. In the Reviewfor November 22, 1898, Ellen White wrote, “In his teachings, Christsought to impress men with the certainty of the coming judgment, and withits publicity. … It is to be held in the presence of other worlds, that thelove, the integrity, the service, of man for God, may be honored to thehighest degree. There will be no lack of glory and honor.” Here is part ofthe magnificence of the great disappointment.

Picture a family, newly taken to heaven at the second coming, nowwandering wide-eyed around New Jerusalem, after the welcomingceremonies have been completed. While the family members are looking ata particularly impressive home or garden or park or whatever, they suddenlynotice a small group of angels looking at them. The angels come over andintroduce themselves. Then one of the angels says, “Aren't you our BrotherSo-and-so, who gave up buying a new home so you could have moneyenough to sponsor a child through church school? Aren't you our Sister So-

and-so, who used to help older ladies find what they wanted at bargain salesbefore you took what you wanted? And aren't you Jimmy So-and-so, whooften volunteered to do the dishes when you saw that your mother wastired?”

The family is pleased but embarrassed. They say, “Oh, but that wasnothing. Look at what Jesus has done for us. And anyway, who told you wedid those little things?”

The angels reply, “Jesus told us, when He came to your names in the

investigative judgment. He told us a lot more besides. He seemed so proudof you. He said He wanted us angels to know what you'd done so we would




feel really good about welcoming you here. And weareglad you've come.”The judgment “is to be held in the presence of other worlds, that the

love, the integrity, the service, of man for God, may be honored to thehighest degree. There will be no lack of glory and honor.”

IMPORTANCE OF BEHAVIOR. If there is a wealth of good news in theinvestigative judgment about forgiveness and the Book of Remembrance,we must still be honest with ourselves and admit there is some potentiallybad news as well: “God will bring every deed into judgment, with everysecret thing, whether good or evil,” says Ecclesiastes 12:14.

Not simply every deed and every secret thing! Every word as well. JesusHimself, our Judge, cautioned us in Matthew 12:36 that “in the day of

judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will becondemned.” And we cannot forget His warning about saying, “Lord,Lord,” without actually doing the will of His Father (see Matthew 7:21).

TheGreat Controversy is in harmony with Scripture when it says that everyman’s work passes in review before God and is registered for faithfulness orunfaithfulness. Opposite each name in the books of heaven is entered withterrible exactness every wrong word, every selfish act, every unfulfilled duty,and every secret sin, with every artful dissembling.”7

“Artful dissembling” is an old-fashioned way of saying “skillfuldishonesty,” like painting over the rust on your old car and telling peoplewhen you try to sell it that there isn't any rust.

The passage continues: “Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected,wasted moments, unimproved opportunities, the influenceexerted for goodor for evil, with its far-reaching results, all are chronicled by the recordingangel” (my emphasis).

Warnings and reproofs neglected. Doing our own thing heedless of our

influence on others. Can things like these be forgiven? Yes; but only if weare serious, if we hate them, if we're in earnest, if we “afflict” ourselves andby Christ's sanctifying grace make real changes.

All who have truly repented of sin, and by faith claimed the bloodof Christ as their atoning sacrifice, have had pardon entered againsttheir names in the books of heaven; [This part of the sentence iswonderful; but it goes on:] as they have become partakers of the

righteousness of Christ, and their characters are found to be in harmonywith the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they




themselves will be accounted worthy of eternal life.8

There is that character concern again. Character is what we choose to be,contrasted with what we merely want to be. By God's grace we can have our

sins blotted out, provided we “afflict” ourselves; provided we are deeplycommitted to character development.

Let none deceive themselves with the belief that they can becomeholy while willfully violating one of God's requirements. Thecommission of a known sin silences the witnessing voice of the Spirit,and separates the soul from God.9

“Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he does not hear” (Isaiah59:2). The Day of Atonement (day of reconciliation) is a day for removingthe sins that separate. But how can God forgive sins that we don't confess? Howcan Heblot out sins that wechooseto go on committing? Sins separate; they donot “at-one” us with others.

What sins? You say you are not like the little horn. You don't persecutepeople, and you haven't tried to change God's law.

No; but then, maybe you never had a chance to be pope. And maybe, in your own sphere you like to gossip, grossly undermin-

ing people's reputations. Maybe you get easily angry with your spouse orchildren and in this way “persecute” them. Maybe – dare I suggestit? – you sometimes criticize people sharply who won't read books about1844, like this one.

Or perhaps you keep the law about the Sabbath but change the lawagainst adultery, making it seem all right for you to enjoy lustful videos.Or maybe you change the laws about honesty and cheat on your income

tax. You haven't committed adultery and murder like David; but have you

deeply enjoyed, been entertained by, adultery and murder hour after houron your silver screen?

Sin need not keep any one of us out of heaven. The entire plan ofsalvation is designed to take care of sins that could keep us out of heaven.But even one sin can keep us out. If we choose to cling to a single knownsin, it will destroy us.

IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDE. Sin has to do with attitude as well as with




behavior. Jesus summed up the law as supreme love to God and humanity(see Matthew 22:37-39), and love is ultimately an attitude. On this Day of Atonement, if our attitude (love) is right, we'll do all we can to be at onewith both God and neighbor. If we choose instead to hold onto any kind of

known sin, we show that our attitude is wrong. Cherishing even a single sinreveals a perilously warped attitude.

The ten thousand-talent debtor was sorry for his sin against his employer,but he had a very bad attitude toward his one hundred-penny fellow worker.He thereby disqualified himself from the happy society of heaven. The factthat the pre-advent judgment will keep out of heaven selfish people whowould spoil the happiness of everyone else is bad news for selfish peoplebut very good news for God's people. It is part of the magnificence of the

great disappointment.Mothers find it easy to forgive boys who steal a cookie from the cookie jar; but what about the boy who grabs a cookie away from his little brotherand does it again, day after day? Can the mother forgive big brother Bobbywithout first requiring him to apologize to little brother Billy and makethings right? If Mother doesn't require Bobby to apologize and make thingsright, what will Billy learn about his mother? And will their mother bepreparing either boy for the happy society of heaven? Even one sinful habit,one forgivable little sinful habit, cherished against God or man, destroys us,makes us unfit for eternity.

It is a perilous thing to allow an unchristian trait to live in theheart. One cherished sin will, little by little, debase the character,bringing all its nobler powers into subjection to the evil desire. Theremoval of one safeguard from the conscience, the indulgence of oneevil habit, one neglect of the high claims of duty, breaks down thedefenses of the soul and opens the way for Satan to come in and lead

us astray.10

The three angels' messages combine gospel, judgment, and command-ment keeping. What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.

DAY OF ATONEMENT APPEALS. The potential for joy and for sorrow inconnection with heaven's Day of Atonement, day of judgment, is soimmense that we owe it to ourselves as well as to our Saviour to pay earnest

attention to His loving appeals.“We are now living in the great day of atonement,” says a solemn




passage in The Great Controversy .11 “In the typical service, while the highpriest was making the atonement for Israel, all were required to afflict theirsouls by repentance of sin and humiliation before the Lord, lest they becut off from among the people. In like manner, all who would have their

names retained in the book of life should now, in the few remaining daysof their probation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and truerepentance. There must be deep, faithful searching of heart. The light,frivolous spirit indulged by so many professed Christians must be putaway. There is earnest warfare before all who would subdue the eviltendencies that strive for the mastery. The work of preparation is anindividual work. We are not saved in groups. The purity and devotion ofone will not offset the want of these qualities in another.”

How sad that in Bible times some people, through sheer neglect chose todeprive themselves of the joys of at-one-ment. How sad to think that in thelast days anyone will be lost because he or shedoesn't care.

The chapter in TheGreat Controversy that we've been following closes withthese words:12

“Watch ye therefore: … lest coming suddenly He find yousleeping.” Mark 13:35,36. Perilous is the condition of those who,growing weary of their watch, turn to the attractions of the world.While the man of business is absorbed in the pursuit of gain, whilethe pleasure lover is seeking indulgence, while the daughter offashion is arranging her adornments – it may be in that hour the Judge of all the earth will pronounce the sentence: “Thou artweighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” Daniel 5:27.

Let us, both you and me, reread the Great Controversy chapter on theinvestigative judgment from time to time. Maybe this coming Sabbath or

even right now. Let us not overlook the bad news. We may especially needit. And let us not overlook any of the good news either.

For 1844 is both bad news for those who don't choose to become Christ-like and very good news for those who do.

1. See Ezekiel 33:15, 16, “If the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what hehas taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he

shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the sins that he has committed shall beremembered against him.”




2. Ellen G. White,TheGreat Controversy , 480.3. Ibid., 483, 484.4. Ibid., 484.5. Ibid., 485.6. Ibid., 481.7. Ibid., 482.8. See ibid., 485, my italics.9. Ibid., 472.10. Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, 452.11. Ellen G. White,TheGreat Controversy , 489, 490.12. Ibid., 491.



137

CHAPTER 11

1844 ANDWORSHIP

It is time to look at the difference 1844 can make in the way we

worship.Does 1844 really say something about worship? Yes, indeed!The first angel's message, the one that deals with the arrival of the

judgment hour in 1844, tells the whole world to “worship him who madeheaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water” (Revelation 14:7).

The third angel's message, the one that contrasts the mark of the beastwith commandment keeping, also deals with worship. It warns the wholeworld that “if any one worships the beast and its image, … he also shall

drink the wine of God's wrath” (Revelation 14:9, 10). Very well; but what reallyis worship?

WHAT IS WORSHIP? Literally, the word comes from “worth-ship” – ourresponse to another person's worth. So, how should we respond to God's“worth,” His unlimited authority, His unspeakable purity, and Hisincomprehensible love?

Humility suggests itself! Who are we, in the presence of such a Being?Disgust also suggests itself, disgust with our ugly impurities. But in view

of God's unfathomable love, worship also suggests reaching out for




forgiveness and a passionate longing to belong to such a wonderfulPerson and to do anything He might ask.

The Bible describes a worship experience like this in the life of Isaiahthe prophet, when he was young (see Isaiah 6). In vision Isaiah saw God

on His throne surrounded by heavenly beings singing, “Holy, holy, holy, isthe Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3). At once Isaiah felt humbled andembarrassed. In his distress he cried, “Woe is me … for I am a man ofunclean lips” (verse 5). To his great relief, an angel in the vision came witha burning coal from the altar and touched his lips, cleansing him.

Ready now for anything God might ask, Isaiah heard a voice calling fora volunteer: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiahimmediately responded, “Here am I; send me.” Thereupon an angel gave

him instructions so he might truly do what God wanted, warning him notto be discouraged if people didn't respond.Praise (by the angels). Humility (by Isaiah). Confession. Forgiveness.

Dedication. Attention to God's instructions.Worship!Worship is our response to what God is worth. It is humblingourselves

before God's authority, repenting in the presence of His purity, praising Him for His goodness, dedicatingourselves obediently to His service, andlisteningcarefully to learn how we can serve Him best.

But we're not quite through. Because Isaiah didn't happen to ask Godfor anything on this famous occasion, we have overlooked the matter of“praying for” things, or supplication. But in the Lord's Prayer, Jesustaught us to ask for things, even for so mundane but necessary a thing asour daily bread.

But judgment is going on in the place where Jesus is our Mediator. Tocome to God asking for something while clinging to known sin would bemockery. To say, “Lord, Lord” – or to sing, “Lord, Lord” – will not get us

into the kingdom unless we do the Father's will (see Matthew 7:21). Tocome to God even while repenting requires a mediator. “No one comes tothe Father, but by me,” Jesus said in John 14:6. “The religious services,the prayers, the praise, the penitent confession of sin ascend from truebelievers as incense to the heavenly sanctuary, but passing through thecorrupt channels of humanity, they are so defiled that unless purified byblood, they can never be of value with God. … All incense from earthlytabernacles must be moist with the cleansing drops of the blood of

Christ.”1

So worship is humility, confession, praise, supplication, dedication,



1844 AND WORSHIP 139

learning how to obey, and above all, obedience to Jesus. Worship is ourresponse to God's “worth.”

GOD WORSHIP, BEAST WORSHIP. As we noted a moment ago, the three

angels' messages contrast the worship of God with the worship of thebeast, the entity represented by the little horn in Daniel 7, which issentenced to destruction by the investigative judgment.

Seventh-day Adventists learned long ago from the Bible that the beastsymbolizes a fallen religion that combines many good things with manybad ones. The beast replaces one or more of God's commandments withdecrees of its own. When conditions are favorable, the beast even tries toenforce its wrongful decrees. The mark of the beast, the beast's essential

character, is the coercive enforcement of a form of the Ten Command-ments that consciously differs from God's original form. People whoreceive the mark of the beast knowingly, in the name of religion, disobey one or more of God's commandments. They show that the beast is worthmore to them than God. In disobeying God, they worship the beast.

On the other hand, God's true saints, according to the third angel'smessage, obey His commandments, clinging to the Lord, being “thosewho keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation14:12). These are the people who respond to the first angel's call to“worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains ofwaters.” This means that they remember to keep the Sabbath holy, “For insix days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them,and rested the seventh day” (Exodus 20:11). God is worth so much tothem that theyobey Him at any cost to themselves. They worship God andgive glory to Him.

WORSHIP AS OBEDIENCE. Worship is far more than celebration and

praise, in spite of the popular emphasis on these features today. Worshipinvolves praise, but at its root, worship is obedience. The distinctionbetween worshiping God and worshiping the beast lies in our choice ofwhich entity we choose to obey.

Seventh-day Adventists have long realized that obedience is the core oftrue worship. Educator W. W. Prescott, in his gloriously Christ-centeredbooklet Christ and theSabbath, said a century ago (1893), “The highestform of worship is in obedience.” Similarly, Ellen White in 1911 observed

that “there is no other way of manifesting reverence so pleasing to Him asby obedience to that which He has spoken."2 On another occasion she




said, “It is working together with Christ that is true worship. Prayers,exhortation, and talk are cheap fruits, which are frequently tied on; butfruits that are manifested in good works, in caring for the needy, thefatherless, and widows, are genuine fruits, and grow naturally upon a good

tree."3 Through its intimate relationship with the three angels' messages, 1844

teaches us that worship is far more than singing hymns, far more thananything we do in church. As a true response to God's worth, trueworship can be nothing less than a lifestyle of praise, repentance, learning,and obedience. Without a born-again change in our basic attitudes, singingpraise is actually repugnant to God! “Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll

down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream” (Amos5:23, 24). “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter thekingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is inheaven” (Matthew 7:21).

We've been talking about worship as transformed lifestyle. Now weneed to talk about worship as a meeting or a church service. So we ask if1844 says anything about how to conduct a worship service.

CHURCH AND/ OR MOVEMENT. To answer the question of whether 1844can teach us something about Seventh-day Adventist worship services, wereally need to reflect on what sort of an organization Seventh-day Adventists are supposed to constitute.

I think we know what kind of organization we arenot supposed to be.We are not supposed to be a mere social club. Nor are we supposed to bea sort of entertainment syndicate offering religious concerts.

Our pioneers early recognized that we constitute a church, but even so,they didn't see themselves as constituting a church in the ordinary sense of

the term. They much preferred to think in terms of a movement. Theysaw themselves as a movement symbolized by those three angels ofRevelation 14:6-12, going somewhere, “flying in midheaven,” proclaiminga message.

J. N. Loughborough, lifetime pioneer, titled his 1905 history TheGreat Second Advent Movement. WA. Spicer, for eight years a belovedGeneral Conference president, in 1929 put out his Certainties of the Advent Movement. As late as 1968, the Review and Herald Publishing

Association issued a revision of Emma Howell Cooper's TheGreat Advent Movement. In the preface to his major work, Origin and Progress of




Seventh-day Adventists (1925), M. Ellsworth Olsen expressly stated that hewas writing about a “religious movement rather than. … a denomina-tion.”

What is a movement? According to my Webster's, whereas a church is

“a body of religious believers,” a movement is “an organized effort topromoteor attain an end [or goal],” such as the civil rights movement. Theend, or goal, of the Seventh-day Adventist movement is the fulfillment ofthe three angels of Revelation 14:6-12, carrying their messages into all theworld and producing, under God, men and women who actually keepGod's commandments, including the commandments about the Sabbathand about loving God supremely and our neighbors as ourselves.

Membership in many denominations is achieved by infant baptism,

before a person knows what is happening. Membership in a movement isalways voluntary. Membership in many churches is nominal, requiringlittle if any commitment. Membership in a movement always impliescommitment. Membership in some churches implies little more thanparticipation in ceremonies and attention to routine sermons. Membershipin a religious movement implies active participation in the spreading of themovement's message, and this implies thoroughgoing instruction in thecontent and meaning of its message.

WORSHIP SERVICE IN A MOVEMENT. If Seventh-day Adventists are indeeda movement, we need to ask what kind of worship service is mostappropriate for us.

Isaiah's experience can help provide a basic pattern. A true worship service appropriately begins with a hymn of praise (like

the angels' song “Holy, holy, holy,” in Isaiah's vision), lifting people'sattention to God's power, holiness, and love. The hymn should be sung“with the spirit and. … with the mind,” as 1 Corinthians 14:15 teaches

us. (I enjoy leading hymns, getting the organist and people to put life intothem.) Their awareness of God reawakened, the people kneel reverentlyand confess, with Isaiah, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.”Forgiven at once, like Isaiah, they accept forgiveness and do somethingthat Isaiah isn't said to have done but that Jesus in the Lord's Prayer andHebrews 4:16 invite us to do, “with confidence draw near to the throneof grace” to supplicate, to make petitions to the all-powerful, all-lovingOne.

So far, the worship service in a movement is little different from aservice appropriate for an ordinary thoughtful church. A significant




difference, however, comes with the sermon. In his sermon, a minister inthe Seventh-day Adventist movement teaches his people clearly andimpellingly some particular facet of truth related to God's special message for thelist days – the everlasting gospel plus the judgment plus the fall of

popular religions plus the danger of the mark of the beast plus faith-filled,Christ-centered commandment keeping. The minister preaches earnestly,as if the Seventh-day Adventist messagemattered, for eternal life or eternaldeath.

The minister should begin as if he knew he was bearing a messagefrom God. He should make the essential truth as distinct asmileposts, so that people cannot fail to see them.4

His burden is to teach the message so well that his people will actuallydo what the Bible says and be able to tell others about it. In response, thepeople dedicate themselves to remember what their pastor taught, to do it,and to share it. They also report on how God helped them make use oflast week's sermon.

The greatest help that can be given our people is to teach themto work for God, and to depend on Him, not on the minis-ters. … Let church members, during the week, act their partfaithfully, and on the Sabbath relate their experience. The meetingwill then be as meat in due season, bringing to all present new lifeand fresh vigor.5

We have looked at the basics of a Seventh-day Adventist worshipservice; but there is more.

ENCOURAGING ONE ANOTHER. Hebrews 10:24,25 says, “Let us considerhow to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting tomeet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, andall the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

The “Day” referred to here is the great day, the day of Christ's secondcoming. In view of 1844, we know that this day is far nearer now than itwas in Paul's day. So what are we to do as we “see the Day drawing near”?

The Bible says we are not to forsake meeting together, even though

other church members may be negligent (“as is the habit of some”). Weare to meet together faithfully. For what purpose? To “stir up one another




to love and good works,” “encouraging one another,” or, as Elder Spicerused to say, “cheering the brethren on.”6

This instruction in Hebrews 10:24, 25 shows that even in NewTestament times people were staying home from church and that even

many of those who went to church needed encouragement. You have arole to fill here.

Does your church seem cold? Warm it up!Does it seem dead? Put life into it!Do church members seem not to want you? Never mind! You didn't

join a club. You committed yourself to a movement with a message. Youare as much a member of the movement as anyone else. The Bible says to you, “Stir up one another to love and good works,” “encouraging one

another.”But you are timid.May the God who made us all different bless you and turn your timidity

into a spiritual gift. Scan your congregation for some other timid soul,sitting alone. Gently, softly, smile and ask his name, or hers, and try toshare cheer and courage in little ways at first. Sooner or later, your needfor a friend will be met by meeting that person's need for a friend.

So part of our time on Sabbath should be devoted to sharingencouragement. Informally, this can be done as you arrive and leave; moreformally, it can be done during Sabbath School, the announcement time,and after a short sermon. “The sermon should frequently be short, so thatthe people may express their thanksgiving to God.”7

“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Sharing encouragementis not optional. God calls us to it. Doing it is part of keeping God'scommandments. Even more, sharing our testimony, when done throughfaith in Jesus and with a sense of total commitment, is one of God's waysto meet our need for self-control and victory! Revelation 12:11 says of the

saints of all ages, “They have conquered him [the devil] by the blood ofthe Lamb and by theword of their testimony , for they loved not their liveseven unto death.”

True Seventh-day Adventist worship focuses attention on God in Hisholiness, love, and power, to which we respond with humility, confession,gratitude, supplication, attention to His end-time instruction, andespecially obedience, a part of which obedience involves encouraging thepeople around us.

WORSHIP AND BABYLON. In contrast to the true kind of worship service




that we have been talking about, the services in some denominationsoccupy much time with relatively superficial songs accompanied byrhythmic clapping and noisy music. Some of these churches offer analmost exclusive emphasis on meeting people's felt needs and on talking

assurance and joy. They appeal to people's emotions more than to theirreasoning powers. They announce, perform, and applaud musicalnumbers as if the service were a concert.

Is it true that people today won't sing the grand hymns that haveendured the test of time? One of the most popular religious songs today,in season, is “Silent Night.” It was composed on a Christmas Eve in 1818,more than 170 years ago. Perhaps the most popular hymn today is“Amazing Grace.” It was written in 1779, well over two hundred years

ago.People young and old like to sing songs they know or are taught in afriendly, enthusiastic manner, no matter how old the songs are. The gradeschoolers in the small congregation I belong to once sang “Joyful, JoyfulWe Adore Thee” to the tune of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony8 bymemory and with evident relish.9

People who like to clap a lot in church often quote Psalm 47:1.However, there are more than 140 other references to singers and singingin the Bible. More than one hundred and forty! Only this one, Psalm 47:1,suggests that people might clap in connection with their music. Clappingwas evidently very rare among ancient Jewish people. It is nowherecommended in the New Testament. We have no information that it willbe practiced in heaven. We don't even know the way the ancient Jewsclapped or what the clapping meant to them.

The normal response to Scripture reading and words of praise in Bibletimes was “Amen.” Instruction to say Amen occurs several times in thePsalms (as in 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48). Deuteronomy 27 contains

twelve injunctions to “let all the people say Amen.” And 1 Corinthians14:16 reveals that saying Amen was practiced in the New Testamentchurch.

Second-century Christians used Amen. In chapter 65 of his Apology , Justin Martyr told government authorities that “when he [the worshipleader] has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people expresstheir assent by saying Amen.”

Most impressive to me is the fact that Amen is the response of choice

among those beings privileged to worship God face to face. At theconclusion of the magnificent universal anthem that John witnessed in




Revelation 5, the four living creature – the beings closest of all to God Himself – responded reverently by saying Amen (see Revelation 5:14;compare 19:4).

Saying a reverent Amen means, “Yes, that is true,” or “May God make

that promise come true.” Amen is a confirmation of a message. It is not a formof applause. In my study of the Bible, I find no place for applause in aworship service. Applause is a secular response, and worship is spiritual. Applause encourages preachers and musicians to be ever more superficialand entertaining, whereas the hushed and reverent Amen encouragesthem to be ever more penetrating and spiritual.

WHAT IS MISSING? In some places, the emotional worship forms we have

just been discussing have been brought into Seventh-day Adventistworship services. Is this good or bad?Whatever may be said about clapping, noisy music, and the choice of

songs, the most worrisome aspect of these program innovations to me iswhat is missing from them. All too often, what is missing, even whenpracticed in Seventh-day Adventist churches, is the three angels' mes-sages.

Missing also, in many instances, is a conviction that Seventh-day Adventism is a unique end-time movement with a unique end-timemessage. Missing is any ambient sense that the final judgment is in sessionand that everyone everywhere, including everyone in the congregation, isobliged by God to keep the Sabbath, to keep it holy, all of it, fromsundown to sundown, or be lost. Almost missing are calls for deep-seatedrepentance of popular sins and for ongoing sanctification. Almost missingis the promise of total victory. Almost missing are attempts to stir peopleup by referring to theirunfelt needs.

The sure result of attempting to bolster attendance by appealing

primarily to emotions would be destruction of the Seventh-day Adventistmovement, for without emphasis on its end-time message, this movementhas no right to exist.

Popular revivals are too often carried by appeals to theimagination, by exciting the emotions, by gratifying the love for whatis new and startling. Converts thus gained have little desire to listento Bible truth, little interest in the testimony of prophets and

apostles. Unless a religious service has something of a sensationalcharacter, it has no attractions for them. A message which appeals to




unimpassioned reason awakens no response. The plain warnings ofGod's word, relating directly to their eternal interests, areunheeded.10

OUR HERITAGE. Adventist pioneers, who, under God, launched ourmovement by proclaiming its message, knew that artificially stimulatedemotions have no rightful place in worship service.

For example, in the days when William Miller preached the first angel'smessage, his preaching contrasted strikingly with that of most otherrevivalists. Most evangelistic preaching was flamboyant, teeming withgraphic word pictures and emotional illustrations. But Miller and hisleading associates presented cerebral messages combined with spiritual

appeals that required careful analysis of complex Bible prophecies,thereby setting the format that Seventh-day Adventist evangelists haveemulated ever since. Miller became deeply concerned when he heard arumor that in some Millerite meetings people were shouting “Bless theLord” and similar slogans. When Joshua V. Himes, Miller's administrativeassociate, rebuked people who were indulging in “bodily manifestations,”someone accused him of throwing cold water on the Holy Spirit. Himesreplied that he would throw the Atlantic Ocean on such behavior beforehe would let it continue.11

In chapter 4, we read about the “seventh month movement,” the eagerresponse of the Millerite Adventists to the “true midnight cry” that Jesuswas coming on the tenth day of the seventh month. Far from producingfanaticism, the message of Christ's soon return and the nearness of the judgment hour produced a rich quality of repentance which in its turn ledto unspeakably sweet assurance.

“Language cannot describe the solemnity of that hour,” wrote JamesWhite at the conclusion of the Exeter, New Hampshire, camp meeting

when the new light was first presented. “The time for shouting, anddisplay of talent in speaking, singing and praying seemed to be past. Thebrethren and sisters calmly consecrated themselves and their all to theLord and his cause, and with humble prayers and tears sought his pardonand his favor.”12

Of another series of meetings shortly afterward in Orrington, Maine,Elder White wrote, “There was no more heard the irreverent shout of the fanatic, nor the heartless prayer of the formalist.” Instead, “sins were

confessed with tears, and there was a general breaking down before God,and strong pleadings for pardon, and a fitness to meet the Lord at his




coming.” Before the meetings closed, hundreds testified with tears ofjoythat they had sought the Lord and found Him and had tasted the sweetsof sins forgiven.13

Here is the way to joy and assurance! Believe the first angel's message!

Not by preaching the gospel alone but by preaching it in the setting of the judgment hour, the way God commissioned us.

Ten years after the great disappointment, that is, in 1854, some non-Sabbath-keeping Adventists got excited over the mistaken idea that Christwas coming back within that year, 1854. He didn't come; and some timelater, some of these Adventists accepted the Sabbath – and began creatingtrouble. They wanted constantly to relive the emotional highs they hadexperienced back in the 1854 expectancy.

In 1863, Ellen White's attention was directed to these excitement-hungry Seventh-day Adventists, and what she said about them isinstructive for us today: “Some are nor satisfied with a meeting unless theyhave a powerful and happy time. They work for this, and get up anexcitement of feeling.”14 Disagreeing, she said, “The most profitablemeetings for spiritual advancement are those which are characterized withsolemnity and deep searching of heart.”15

It is part of our heritage.

WORSHIP AND 1844. True worship has always involved humility, confes-sion, praise, supplication, dedication, and instruction. But since 1844,heightened emphasis on repentance, obedience, Sabbath keeping, and victorious, loving preparation to see God face to face has becomeessential.

1844 tells us that Jesus has moved into the most holy place tocommence the final judgment, to vindicate His downtrodden saints of allages, to teach the living about the Sabbath and holiness and Himself, and

to call everyone to repent so their sins can be overcome and blotted out. Jesus is working for us; He is our Friend. But He isn't playing church,

so it isn't good enough for us to play church. On this great day ofatonement, the joy of assurance is reserved for those who afflict theirsouls. Our lifestyle response should be faith-filled, Christ-centered, lovingobedience. Our Sabbath-morning response should be regular churchattendance, sharing encouragement, learning our duty, and showingreverence and repentance as well as joy and peace.

1844, with its magnificent disappointment, has many implications forthe way we worship.




1Selected Mcssages, 2:344.2. Ellen G. White, Counsels to Teachers, 111.3. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, 2:24.4. Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, 168.5. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, 7:19.6. See Godfrey Anderson, Spicer: Leader With theCommon Touch (Washington,

D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 1983), 56, 82, 83.7. Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, 171.8.TheSeventh-day Adventist Hymnal, no.12.9. TheSeventh-day Adventist Hymnal contains a three-column index of hymns that

young people are known to enjoy singing!10. Ellen G. White,TheGreat Controversy , 463.11. See Francis D. Nichol, TheMidnight Cry , 308,309,481-484 (Miller's italics).12. James White, LifeIncidents (Battle Creek, 1868), 166 (my italics).13. Ibid., 167 (my italics).14. Ellen G. White,Testimonies, 1:412.15. Ibid.



151

CHAPTER 12

1844 ANDBEINGLIKE JESUS

The Adventist movement grew out of William Miller's discovery that

Jesus was his friend. “The Scriptures became my delight,” he wrote, “andin Jesus I found a friend.”

The Millerite Adventist movement was a preparation to meet Jesus.The people “longed to behold Him whom their souls loved.”1 Becausethey loved Jesus and longed to see Him, they sought earnestly to patterntheir lives after His.

As we start this chapter on “1844 and Being Like Jesus,” I cannot keepfrom telling you that for at least forty years I have cherished the following

famous passage inChrist's Object Lessons:

Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation ofHimself in His church. When the character of Christ shall beperfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim themas His own.2

This passage used to be a favorite of virtually all the Seventh-day Adventists I knew. If you were an Adventist back, say, in the 1950s, I

expect you also enjoyed it then. If you were indeed an Adventist in the




1950s, you probably still enjoy it.No one need be alarmed by the term perfectly reproduced It is not

describing a fanatical perfection. It is certainly not defending that grosslyfalse concept of perfectionism that perversely excuses immorality. No, no.

It is talking about the perfection of our dear friend Jesus! It says, “Christ iswaiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in Hischurch,” and goes on to say, “When the character of Christ shall beperfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them asHis own.”

Be like Jesus, this my song,In the home and in the throng;

Be like Jesus, all day long!I would be like Jesus.

Can you think of anything in the entire universe that you would ratherbe, all day long, than like Jesus? If you love Him – and I believe you dolove Him – I know you want to be like Him. And Jesus wants us to be likeHim! “Jesus is waiting with longingdesire, for the manifestation of Himselfin His church.”

I make no secret of it. I am enthusiastic in my desire, by Cod's mercy,to be part of that final generation that some Adventists talk about. Ifeveryone in it is going to be like Jesus, doesn't this mean that they are allgoing to be nice? Who wouldn't want to be part of a big bunch of nicepeople?

WAYS IN WHICH JESIIS WAS NICE. Jesus was nice, wasn't He? He wasn'twimpy nice, to be sure. His was niceness with guts. He had the gift ofconstructive confrontation. One night He dated tell an important man

like Nicodemus that even he needed to be born again! He said it in sucha way that Nicodemus came to love Him for it. Another time, Jesus hadthe honest courage to tell a group of leading ministers, to their faces inpublic, that they were hypocrites. But He told them with the voice of aman who was offering to be executed in their place before the week wasout.

Jesusdid niceness. He spent time with people, traveled distances to helpthem, and went without things so He could be generous. Instead of

getting cross with awkward people, He was patient and encouraged them. Jesus was polite, courteous, and thoughtful. He was kind. Completely



1844 AND BEING LIKE JESUS 153

honest. Prompt to do the right thing. Unafraid to stand up for others. Absolutely fair. At the same time, He was a true Sabbath keeper, for Hewas “two-table nice.”

In chapter 10 I promised a definition of “two-table.” Here it is. It

means adhering to both tables of the law, the first four commandmentsabout obeying God written on one table (or tablet of stone) and on theother table the other six commandments about how to treat people. Jesussummarized the two tables as two core commandments when He said,“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all yoursoul, and with all your mind This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself On thesetwo commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matthew

22:37-40).Some people who aren't religious pride themselves on being polite andhonest. Other people who are rude and discourteous pride themselves onbeing very religious. Neither is better than the other. The enemy of oursouls doesn't mind which table of the law we emphasize, provided weneglect the other one.

Jesus was both courteous and religious. He was “two-table” nice. Hehonored both tables of the law, the one about loving God with our heart,soul, and strength, and also the one about loving our neighbors asourselves.

Because God teaches us to love one another, Christ's total loyalty toHis heavenly Father made Him completely unselfish. He was two-tablenice. Good and nice. Even the onlooking angels, accustomed to havingone another be good and nice for thousands of years, were astonished atChrist's supernatural goodness and niceness.

Jesus is waiting with longing desire for the reproduction of Himself inHis church!

Please don't cheat yourself by saying it can't be done. Christ's characterqualifications are listed as the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22, 23.“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” These characteristics develop inpeople who are “born of … the Spirit” (1ohn 3:5). People who are bornof the Spirit experience not merely an improvement on their old ways,marvelous as that would be, but also a transformation of nature (seeRomans 12:2). “The Christian’s life is not a modification or improvement

of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin,and a new life altogether. This change can be brought about only by the




effectual working of the Holy Spirit.”3 You were born with a sinful nature. You know this. Now please don't

hang on to your sinful nature as if you were proud of it. Get a new nature!Get born from above, born of the Holy Spirit, who is as divine as God

Himself. Become a partaker of the divine nature.In daily terms: When you and I are treating people wrong, it does little

good to pray that we won't get irritated with them anymore or say meanthings. What we need is to choose, by God's grace, to have an entirely newattitude toward the people. We need a new birth on this point, atransformation of nature.

When we find that we are selfishly indulging ourselves, it does only alittle good to pray for self-control. What we need is, by God's grace, to

receive an entirely new attitude toward our idol. We need anew birth onthis point, a transformation of nature. If the Sabbath seems inconvenientor too long or dull, let us go to God and ask for a new attitude, a newbirth in respect to Sabbath keeping, a transformation of nature.

In the final analysis, choosing a new attitude by faith is the only wayany of us can be among those triumphant saints who “keep thecommandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).Happily, helping people make this choice is the special procedure that theHoly Spirit is dedicated to. The Spirit comes to us as the principal divine Agent in the process of sanctification, the process of becoming Christ-like, of becoming nice, with guts.

“Christ is waiting with longing desire for the reproduction of Himselfin His church.” Don't say He will have to wait forever! I know better.First John 3: says, “When he shall appear, we shall be like him”! It's aBible promise. “It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know thatwhen he appears weshall belike him.”

Our passage in Christ's Object Lessons is also a promise. “When the

character of Christ shall beperfectly reproduced in His people, then Hewill come to claim them as His own.”

1844 AND THE FINAL GENEFATION. A few pages I used the term finalgeneration. It's a term that seemed to be used by all the Seventh-day Adventists I knew in my boyhood and in academy and college The finalgeneration would be made up of the people in whom Christ's characterwas to be perfectly reproduced. In the 1960s the concept of a final

generation began to fall out of fashion in some quarters, though it'scoming back in again, I understand. The reason it was given up, as I




remember, was that some Bible teachers said that God would neverrequire more of one generation in human history than of any othergeneration.

We can all agree that in a very basic sense, God will not require more of

the final generation than of any other. Christ's most basic standard inevery generation has been that we love God with all our heart, mind, andstrength and our neighbors as ourselves. We quoted the passage a couplepages ago. Such a standard is in one sense a limited one. It is limited towhat our emotions, our mind, and our health are capable of. God doesnot ask us to give Him the quantity of devotion expressed, say, by the fourliving creatures of Revelation, who are able to praise Him without ceasingday and night (see Revelation 4:8); He knows that we need to sleep and

eat and earn a living.So, yes, the basic standard of loyalty is a limited one. God takes intoconsideration our frailties. “He knows our frame; he remembers that weare dust” (Psalm 103:14). What He really wants in every generation isintegrity, single-minded loyalty, honesty free of all hypocrisy.

Precisely because this basic character requirement of honesty andintegrity is related to our capability, it varies according to our time andplace. Inevitably. God does not ask of us today what He asked of Noah-to spend 120 years building an ark. We aren't facing a worldwide flood,and we don't live for 120 years. In our time and place, God is asking us toprepare for the crisis facing our generation, the unleashing of Satan in themost deceptive role he has ever filled.

Remember Christ's warning that “everyone to whom much is given,of him will much be required” (Luke 12:48). Here is the integrityprinciple again, living honestly in harmony with our possibilities. In thiscase, it means living honestly in harmony with the amount of light wehave.

And how much light we do have! Several Bibles in many Seventh-day Adventist homes – and, since1844, an understanding of fulfilled prophecysuch as no generation has had before; and since 1844, light on theSabbath question such as no generation has had before this side of thecross; and since 1844, the inspired writings of Ellen White, occupyingseveral times as many pages as the Bible itself.

Does God require more of the final generation than of any other? No,not if you mean integrity, living honestly in harmony with all available

light. But, yes, indeed, He does require more of us in the sense that wehave received more light than any previous generation.




If you and I are to qualify for membership among the end-time saintswho keep the commandments holding onto Jesus, then, yes, more isexpected of us than those who have lived before.

1844 AND ELLEN C. WHITE. Earlier I mentioned as part of our end-timelight the inspired writings of Ellen White. Please do join me in looking atthe ministry of Ellen White as one of the means Jesus has chosen to helpus develop a character like Christ's and to know better what it means to beholy, loyal, and nice in the Christ-like sense. The saints in the third angel'smessage who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”show up in Revelation 12:17 as the “remnant” who “keep thecommandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. “4 Revelation

19:10, as every well-informed Adventist knows, defines the “testimony of Jesus” as the “spirit of prophecy.”The Spirit of Prophecy as manifested in these last days through Ellen

White is the “testimony of Jesus.” It is a series of communications fromChrist Himself, our High Priest in the most holy place, the One who isblotting out sins and revealing to the world the radiant glory of trueSabbath observance.

It is no mere coincidence that Ellen White's first vision came inDecember 1844. It came right after the great disappointment and bore acommunication about the disappointment. It taught, you remember, thatthe “midnight cry” about the tenth day of the seventh month was truelight set up at the beginning of the final pathway that the saints would betraveling to the holy city.5

Soon afterward, in February 1845, came the substantial “Bridegroom” vision that we have also looked at, showing Father and Son leaving theHoly Place to enter the most holy place in 1844.6 Two years later came the“Halo of Glory” vision, showing Jesus in the most holy place holding up

God's commandments and calling special attention to the Sabbath.7 The visions came because of 1844. The writings of Ellen White are a

special end-time gift from Jesus, designed to show us what faith-in-Jesuscommandment keeping is all about, what it means to be sanctified and tolive and love like our Lord. They are a gift from our Friend, who traveledon the clouds of heaven to the judgment scene and is now engaged inmaking us like Himself in character so we will be able to pass earth's finaltest – and also so we can complete the gospel commission.

1844 AND GLOBAL MISSION. Being like Jesus is vital to the performance of




our part in completing the gospel commission. Just before Jesusascended to heaven, He commissioned His followers to take His messageto the whole world. Matthew 28:18-20 contains the words “Go thereforeand make disciples of all nations, … teaching them to observe all that I

have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of theage.”

Jesus intends His gospel commission to be carried out. In Matthew24:14, He said to His disciples, “This gospel of the kingdom will bepreached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; andthen the end will come.”

“And then the end will come.” As soon as the job is finished, but notuntil, will the end come. This explains why the first angel of Revelation

14 is so insistent that in the judgment hour the “eternal gospel” bepreached with a “loud voice” to “every nation and tribe and tongue andpeople.”

We note that Jesus said it is the “gospel of the kingdom” that will bepreached in all the world before the end comes. It is the true gospel, thegospel about the goodness of the King, about His willingness to forgiveand His promise to animate us with loyalty to His royal rules. Iris thegospel of God's mercy in forgiving our sins and of God's grace in writingHis law on our hearts and minds. It is the gospel of faith in Jesus and ofcommandment keeping – the gospel of commandment keepingby faith in Jesus. It is the gospel of the three angels’ messages, preached in the settingof earth’s judgment hour.

The difference between the gospel of the kingdom in Matthew 24:14and the eternal gospel in the first angel's message is only the urgency ofprophetic fulfillment, of the arrival of judgment hour, and of the time oftrouble that is close at hand.

In 1990 the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists announced

a “global mission” to reach all the still-unreached peoples in the world.The General Conference was right to do this. We must cooperate in everysuitable way.

Within the dimensions of global mission we find numerous unreachedpersons living quite close to us – in our neighborhoods and in the placeswhere we work. On the personal level, 1844 challenges us to represent Jesus by becoming like Him in order to win those nearest to us. Ourquotation fromChrist’s Object Lessons continues with this in mind:

It is the privilege of every Christian, not only to look for but to




hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:12, margin).Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, howquickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel.Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would

come to gather the precious grain.8

Individually, we can deprive ourselves of this “privilege of everyChristian.” We may choose not to become fully like Jesus, or we maysimply not make any focused choice. But if we choose to become like Jesus, our passage promises that we can indeed enjoy the privilege ofhastening Christ's coming. “Were all who profess His name bearing fruitto His glory, how quickly the wholeworld [global mission] would be sown

with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would beripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain.”So 1844 means that we should seek to be like Jesus, not only because

being like Jesus is the most beautiful thing we can experience, and notonly so we can overcome all the end-time deceptions, but even more so,in order to attract the people around us to love Jesus and thereby helpsave their souls and hasten the second coming. Becoming like Jesus in theshort time left to us before the second coming is one of the mostmagnificent implications of the great disappointment.

1. Ellen G. White, TheGreat Controversy , 403.2. Ellen G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, 69.3. Ellen C. White,TheDesireof Ages, 172.4. The KJV translation of Revelation 12:17, used here, is more faithful to the

underlying Greek than some modern translations. For a discussion of thetranslation of Revelation 12:17 that shows the superiority of the King James Version in this instance, seeGod Cares, 2:403-405.

5. Ellen C. White, Early Writings, 13-17; discussed in chapter 6 above.6. Ibid., 54-56; discussed in chapter 6 above.7. Ellen C. White, LifeSketches, 95,96,100-103; discussed in chapter 8 above.8. Ellen G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, 69.



161

CHAPTER 13

1844 ANDLIFESTYLE

We have seen that 1844 should have a pervasive impact on the way we

think and act, in view of its status as the supreme sign of the secondcoming and because of its relationship to the judgment, the Day of Atonement, and the three angels' messages. We still need to touch on anumber of other ways in which 1844 should speak to us.

1844 AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. In chapters 7 and 8 we looked at therelationship between 1844 and the name Seventh-day Adventist. Butinasmuch as 1844 triggered the three angels' messages, we need to look at

what the second angel's message says about church membership.The first angel, who announced the 1844 arrival of judgment hour, wasquickly followed by the second, with a message about the fall of Babylon.This second angel's message, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great”(Revelation 14:8), is related to an urgent invitation by Jesus in Revelation18:4. After hearing yet another angel, in Revelation 18:2, repeat theannouncement, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great,” Jesus says inRevelation 18:4, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in hersins, lest you share in her plagues.”

Babylon, we know, is a symbol for all churches that reject the three




angels' messages.1 In Revelation, there are many false churches, but onlyone true church; and the one true church at the end of time is composedof those who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”(Revelation 14:12). They cherish the “testimony of Jesus,” which is the

“spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 12:17; 19:10).Now if the time has come – and it has come – to proclaim the fall of

Babylon, the time has also come for Christ's true people to “come out ofher.” The time has come for everyone who loves Jesus to join the one truechurch and come out of every other religious affiliation. Anyone who is inearnest about being like Jesus will want to belong to the one church thatkeeps His commandments and has the benefit of His “testimony.”

“There shall be one flock, one shepherd,” Jesus said in John 10:16,

adding, in reference to His true sheep, “They will heed my voice.” The lastopportunity for Christ's sheep to heed His voice and come out of theother flocks into the one flock is here now and is not likely to last muchlonger. For every person not now a Seventh-day Adventist, 1844 implies achange in church membership, no matter how difficult the change maybeor how radical the lifestyle change that may be involved.

To every person now a Seventh-day Adventist, 1844 calls for continuingloyalty – even when we find “tares” (weeds) growing among the “wheat”(see Matthew 13). Didn't Jesus warn that the weeds would be there? Just asChrist has people still in Babylon, so there are still weeds among theremnant. Don't let the hypocrites discourage you! Let no one “seize yourcrown” (Revelation 3:11). Instead, let the “tares” redouble yourdetermination not to be like them; for “all who will gather warmth fromthe coldness of others, courage from their defections, and loyalty fromtheir treason, will triumph with the third angel's message.”2

If in the end rime everyone is supposed to link up with Seventh-day Adventists, how important that people be able to see Jesus in us. How

important that we live and love like Jesus, so we can make the Sabbath and Jesus seem attractive.

1844 AND HEALTHIUL LIVING. Nowadays, few people see a relationshipbetween a healthful lifestyle and the year 1844. But Seventh-day Adventistswho lived back in the 1860s, when Sister White received her main health-reform visions, saw the connection. In the Reviewand Herald for August 7,1866,3 Elder J. H. Waggoner said that the visions placed healthful living

“on a level with the great truths of the third angel's message.”In the early 1860s, Seventh-day Adventist pioneers considered the




preaching of the three angels' messages so important that they gave littleconsideration to anything else. They worked so hard that by the mid-1860s most of them were more or less ill. To their amazement, the visionsshowed that guarding one's health is as important in its way as keeping the

Sabbath. The visions placed healthful living on a level with the great truthsof the third angel's message.

After describing the new health information as being on a level with thegreat truths of the third angel's message, Elder Waggoner explained whathe meant. He saw health reform on a level with the third angel's message“as a means whereby a weak people may be made strong to overcome,and … fitted for translation.”

The purpose our pioneers saw in healthful living was not to set a

longevity statistic for the Guinness Book of World Records. Fresh air,sunshine, vegetarianism, and all the other good things were given to helppeople be healthy, not so they could increase their life expectancy, but sothey could be overcomers and be fitted for translation and, in themeantime, be fitted for soul winning.

“Whatever injures the health,” wrote Ellen White, “not only lessensphysical vigor, but tends to weaken the mental and moral powers.Indulgence in any unhealthful practice makes it more difficult for one todiscriminate between right and wrong, and hence more difficult to resistevil.” “The body is the only medium through which the mind and the soulare developed for the upbuilding of character.”4

Said she of health reformers, “They seek to preserve every power in thebest possible condition for highest service to God and man.”5

The strange modern argument that wine drinking is good because somestatistics hint that wine drinkers live a little longer than other people iscompletely irrelevant. Merely living a couple of extra years was never thepurpose of health reform. Keeping minds clear, developing characters, and

winning souls are the purposes of health reform. Alcohol produces theopposite. “Through intemperance [which includes even small amounts ofwine drinking], Satan works to destroy the mental and moral powers thatGod gave to man as a priceless endowment. Thus it becomes impossiblefor men to appreciate things of eternal worth.”6

Anyone wanting to develop a character like Christ's will want to keepthe body as healthy as possible and the mind as clear as possible. Integrity,spiritual honesty, a longing to love God with all one's soul, mind, and

strength, will impel a Christian to avoid all alcoholic beverages. Of course!




1844 AND LIFESTYLE STANDARDS. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that bybeholding we become changed. The verse is speaking about beingchanged into Christ's likeness as we meditate on His goodness. On theone hand, numerous studies have shown that beholding violent and

immoral movies, videos, and television changes people in the otherdirection.7 On the other hand, 1844 tells us that at this very moment Jesusis engaged in blotting out the sins of people who want them blotted out,is communicating to the world the radiance of true Sabbath holiness, andis bringing into judgment the intensely sinful activities portrayed as movieentertainment. How can Seventh-day Adventists who know that Jesuslongs to see His beautiful character reproduced in them settle down andenjoy such disgusting things? Here is a Christ-centered, end-time basis for

the Seventh-day Adventist standard about not going to the movies,whether going to the movies means a trip to a theater or to a video storeor just into the living room. It's a basis that makes special sense in the lightof 1844.

Similarly, 1844 is a Christ-centered, end-time basis for the Seventh-day Adventist standard of modesty in dress, including the avoidance ofbody jewelry. This standard, once almost universally honored, seemsirrelevant today to some believers in some places. But 1844 keeps itrelevant. Since 1844, we have been living in the antitypical Day of Atonement, a time for serious spiritual reflection, for “afflicting oursouls,” for solid revival and reformation.

It is true that in Bible times many women wore jewelry. In times ofrevival and special spiritual growth, however, they took their jewelry off.When Jacob, at God's personal command, returned to Bethel in his oldage to give thanks and renew his commitment, he asked his womenfolkto remove their jewelry. “So they gave to Jacob … the rings that were intheir ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem”

(see Genesis 35:1-4).When the Israelites camped at Mt. Sinai began to realize their

sinfulness in a new way, Moses instructed them to give evidence of theirrepentance by taking off their ornaments. “Therefore the people of Israelstripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward”(Exodus 33:5, 6). Most notably, on the Day of Atonement, even the highpriest left off his elaborate robes and wore instead garments of plain whitelinen (see Leviticus 16:4).

We are now living in the great day of atonement. In the typical




service, while the high priest was making the atonement for Israel, allwere required to afflict their souls by repentance of sin andhumiliation before the Lord, lest they be cut off from among thepeople. In like manner, all who would have their names retained in

the book of life should now, in the few remaining days of theirprobation, afflict their souls before God by sorrow for sin and truerepentance.8

“If you lower the standard in order to secure popularity and an increaseof numbers, and then make this increase a cause of rejoicing, you showgreat blindness,” Ellen White said once about the lowering of lifestylestandards at a Seventh-day Adventist school.

If numbers were an evidence of success, Satan might claim thepre-eminence; for, in this world, his followers are largely in themajority. It is the degree of moral power pervading the college, that isa test of its prosperity. It is the virtue, intelligence, and piety of thepeople composing our churches, not their numbers, that should be asource ofjoy.9

1844 AND THE TIME OF TROUBLE. We have spoken of 1844 as the clearestsign of the second coming. As the clearest sign of the second coming,1844 is, along with the 1260 days and 1798, the clearest sign that theprophecies of Revelation 13:11-18 are about to be fulfilled. These are theprophecies about the lamb-horned beast of Revelation 13 – the UnitedStates in prophecy – and the decrees about buying and selling and aboutworshiping the beast and its image.

Now is the time to get ready for that time. Now is the time to cooperatewith God in getting His seal implanted in our foreheads (see Revelation

7:1-3). The seal, as we know, is true Sabbath keeping as an expression offull sanctification and Christ-likeness. It is both a spiritual and aknowledgeable seal. It represents a “settling into the truth, both intellectuallyand spiritually , so they cannot be moved.”10

We desire the seal, for it symbolizes maturity in Christ-likeness. Andwe need the seal, because the upcoming “season of distress and anguishwill require an effort of earnestness and determined faith that can enduredelay and hunger, and will not fail under weakness, though severely

tried. … Jacob's earnest, persevering wrestling with the angel, should be anexample for Christians. Jacob prevailed because he was persevering and




determined.” Take heart! “All who desire the blessing of God, as did Jacob, and will lay hold of the promises as he did, and be as earnest andpersevering as he was, will succeed as he succeeded.”11

1844 AND STUDY HABITS. In order to become settled into the truthintellectually and spiritually, end-time Sabbath keepers need to be avidstudents of the Bible. “So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true thatit will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the HolyScriptures.”12 Impossible …except. Think of it!

Do you believe this? Do you believe that your Bible is the Word ofGod? Do you believe that your Bible, the copy you hold in your ownhands from time to time, is, in fact, an absolutely essential weapon for the

last days?If the study of such a book seems difficult, all you need may be regularpractice at studying it. Or you may need guidance, in which case yourpastor or a Bible-using Sabbath School teacher may help. But if you need abasic change of attitude toward the Bible, remember that the Holy Spirit isin the business of changing basic attitudes. Choose to ask for a “newbirth” on this point, as you have on other points.

We know that Jesus, the Person we most want to be like, knew HisBible and used it successfully against Satan. He believed it was the Word ofGod. “It is written,” He said. Long before He entered the wilderness oftemptation, He formed the habit of believing the Bible and obeying it.

The worst storm of deception is still future, but the winds of deceptionare already blowing. Thousands of Seventh-day Adventists have alreadybeen deceived into thinking they can choose regularly to stay away fromchurch and still keep Sabbath. Thousands more, who go to church, aredeceived into thinking they don't need to keep holy Friday night andSabbath afternoon. Many thousands of Christians are deceived into

thinking they can watch nasty stuff on their TV screens and still end upnice like Jesus. Thousands these days are being deceived into thinking thatworship is singing fun songs rather than obedience to the Word of theLord.

As a principal epoch marker of the end time, 1844 warns us that the“last great delusion is soon to open before us,”13 and we should prepare forit.

1844 AND CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. If the last great delusion is soon toopen before us, and if mastery of the Bible is essential preparation, what is




the responsibility of adult Seventh-day Adventists for the charactereducation of young people?

Demographics indicate that when probation closes, half the world'spopulation will be under twenty-five, mostly under age twenty. The

thought of preparing Seventh-day Adventist teenagers and juniors for thefinal conflict when some three billion of their peers are lining up with theenemy is sobering. So is the thought of preparing vast numbers of youngpeople who haven't yet become Sabbath keepers.

Movies and videos saturated with immorality and violence, mind-confusing drugs available at almost every street corner, and the so-calledsecular humanism that pervades public schools and enervates even manyprivate schools are un-preparing young people for the realities that lie

ahead. Young people are daily deluged with arguments that there are no moralabsolutes and no ultimate authority.

Young people whom Christ calls to self-sacrifice are being told there isno higher goal than self-fulfillment.

Young people whom Christ needs to win souls for Him are encouragedby their culture to accumulate things for themselves.

Young people who need to develop unequaled endurance are constantlytitillated with instant gratification.14

In an age of cynicism, materialism, and submission to peer pressure,1844 calls young people to seek fromJesus power to make right choices, todo the right thing at any cost, to “love not their lives even unto death”(Revelation 12:11), to resist peer pressure when the whole world appearsto wonder after the beast (see Revelation 13:3).

And 1844 calls young people to seek from Christ a sense ofvalues thatplaces service to others ahead of “buying and selling” for themselves (seeRevelation l3:17).

By alerting us to the nearness of the end, 1844 calls young people toknow thoroughly what they believe and also to express that belief inwords. The reasons they must learn how to express their faith in words arethat the people of God, including the young ones, are to be channels oftruth to others (see Revelation 22:17), and they are to overcome Satanthrough the “word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11).

But if 1844 means all these serious things to young people, it means thatwell-rooted adult believers are to nurture the youth with utmost

commitment, making sure they are qualified for the future and showingthem how to labor for one another and others.




Thus 1844 implies a unique system of Seventh-day Adventist educa-tion.

Because youth often fumble and are even more often scolded, theyneed big doses of reassurance, of what theologians call “justification by

faith.” We must remind them repeatedly that they are growing in Christ,not to Him. Many young people who seem frivolous or rebellious inpublic are earnest and sincere when you speak with them alone. Youngpeople should be encouraged to claim as their own the famous promise,“If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinfulas your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous.Christ's character stands in place of your character, and you areacceptedbeforeGod just as if you had not sinned.”15

SABBATH KEEPING. In the three angels' messages, God combines gospel, judgment, and commandment keeping. What God has joined together, letno one put asunder.

In this Day of Atonement judgment hour, the fourth commandment isinvested with a splendid distinction, a halo of glory in the most holy place. Just knowing that it is holy isn't good enough; we are to keep it holy.God's Sabbath commandment requires us to “remember the Sabbath dayto keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). It is a lifestyle implication of 1844.

We are to remember the Sabbath so we can be ready for it. “On Fridaylet the preparation for the Sabbath be completed. … Before the Sabbathbegins, the mind as well as the body should be withdrawn from worldlybusiness.”16 We are to remember the Sabbath so we can be ready for it ontime. “We should jealously guard the edges of the Sabbath. Rememberthat every moment is consecrated, holy time.” We are to remember theSabbath so we can start and close it with simple, pleasant periods ofworship, of family worship if we have a family. “Before the setting of the

sun, let the members of the family assemble to read God's word, to singand pray.”

We are to remember the Sabbath because, in some respects, Sabbathkeeping is an end in itself. It is obedience to our God. It is family time (thecommandment mentions “you and your son and your daughter”), and it isresting time (“in it, you shall do no work”). But first and foremost and bestof all, the Sabbath is holy time, saturated with the presence of the HolyOne, our Saviour. We are to keep it holy, because ultimately Sabbath

keeping is not an end itself. It is a means to an end, and the end issanctification, the development of an attractive, Christ-like character




through intelligent, spiritual relationship with the One whose presence fillsthe day.

“I gave them my sabbaths … that they might know that I the Lordsanctify them” (Ezekiel 20:12). “In order to keep the Sabbath holy, men

must themselves be holy. Through faith they must become partakers ofthe righteousness ofChrist.”17 “The followers of Christ are to become likeHim, – by the grace of God to form characters in harmony with theprinciples of His holy law. This is Bible sanctification.”18

1844 AND LIKENESS TO CHRIST. Finally, 1844 and the Sabbath remind usthat the most essential lifestyle preparation for the times Thead is likenessto Jesus.

Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation ofHimself in His church. When the character of Christ shall beperfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim themas His own.19

The commandment keeping of the end-time saints includes thecommandments written on both tables of the law, love to God at any cost,including Sabbath keeping even when times get tough, and love toneighbor at any cost; commandment keeping such as Jesus manifested, amarvelously attractive combination of goodness and niceness. He was“two-table nice,” loving God as well as people.

Seventh-day Adventists who are aware of 1844 meet their obligations,because they want Christ and His end-time movement to look attractive toChrist's other sheep. They can be depended on. They treat peoplegraciously. They don't complain unless they have to, and when they do,they complain as pleasantly as Jesus did when He said of His disciples in

Gethsemane, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew26:41). When they are wronged, they give people a second chance toredeem themselves; they “turn the other cheek.”

Think what Christ-likeness means in the family. Genuinely Christianspouses honor and cherish each other in adversity as well as in prosperity,the way they promised to. Genuinely Christian husbands don't gripe,however much their wives may nag. Genuinely Christian wives don't nag,however much their husbands may gripe. Genuinely Christian fathers

and mothers don't snarl at their kids. Genuine Christians consistently usea pleasant tone of voice. Oh, who wouldn't want to be like Jesus if it were




possible? Remember, 1844 reminds us, through Revelation 14:12 andthrough the Spirit of Prophecy writings, that it is indeed possible.

Ultimately 1844 implies a complete transformation of our life-styles …and of our lives, through a complete transformation of our hearts.

1. Babylon in Revelation is both the name of a woman and of a city. In theBible, a morally pure woman symbolizes God's true church, and a morally impurewoman symbolizes a false church. Likewise, the city New Jerusalem symbolizesall the people collectively who make up Christ's kingdom, and the city Babylonsymbolizes the “kingdom” of all those who oppose Jesus. In Revelation 17,Babylon appears as a “mother of harlots,” that is, as a mother of other morallyimpure symbols representing all the false churches to which the false mother

church has given birth.2. Ellen G. White, Reviewand Herald, 8 June 1897.3. Review and Herald, 7 August 1866,76,77. The immediate context is: “We

do not profess,” Elder Waggoner wrote, “to be pioneers in the general principlesof the health reform. … But we do claim that by the method of God'schoice” – that is, through Ellen White's visions – “it [health reform] has beenmore clearly and powerfully unfolded, and is thereby producing an effect” – thegeneral adoption of the principles by Seventh-day Adventists – “which we couldnot have looked for from any other means.” The visions, Elder Waggoner went

on, have placed healthful living “on a level with the great truths of the third angel'smessage” as “the means whereby a weak people may be made strong to overcome,and … fitted for translation.”

4. Ellen C. White,TheMinistry of Healing, 128,130.5. Ibid., 319.6. Ellen G. White, TheDesireof Ages, 122.7. For one informative study on the effects of commercial entertainment

television, see John Glass, “What You See Is What You Get” (D. Min. project, Andrews University, 1992).

8. Ellen C. White,TheGreat Controversy , 489, 490.9. Ellen C. White,Counsel' to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 94.10. Ellen G. White Comments, Seventh-day Adventist BibleCommentary , 4:1161, my

italics.11. Ellen G. White,TheSpirit of Prophecy , 1:124.12. Ellen C. White,TheGreat Controversy , 593.13. Ibid.14. For several ideas in this section, see Beatrice S. Neall, The Concept of

Character in theApocalypsewith Implications for Character Education (Washington, D.C.:

University Press of America, 1983), 166,167,198-207.15. Ellen G. White,Steps to Christ, 62.




16. Ellen G. White,Testimonies, 6:355, 356.17. Ellen G. White,TheDesireof Ages, 283.18. Ellen G. White,TheGreat Controversy , 469.19. Ellen G. White,Christ's Object Lessons, 69.



173

CHAPTER 14

THE MEANINGOF 1844

What meaning does 1844, with its magnificent disappointment, hold for

people in the 1990s?I hope this question has been at least partially answered in this book.First, 1844 is tremendously significant because it marks the close of the

2,300 days of Daniel 8:14 – the moment when the Father moved Histhrone to a new place in heaven and Jesus, the Son of man, traveledmagnificently on “the clouds of heaven” to join Him there, as foreseen inDaniel 7:9-14.

By marking the close of the 2,300 days, 1844 also marks the onset of the

end time and the grand commencement of both the final judgment andheaven's Day of Atonement. By doing these things, 1844 constitutes thecue for the preaching of the three angels' messages – messages thatcombine a renewed proclamation of the everlasting gospel with thestartling announcement that the final judgment has already begun, Babylonhas fallen, God's wrath is about to fall on the disobedient, and God's end-time saints will be found actually keeping all the commandments of Godthrough their vital faith in Jesus.

Second, 1844 enlightens us by showing what Jesus is doing while we

wait for Him – still interceding for us as much as ever (see Hebrews 7:25),




but now also judging everyone who has ever believed in Him andcleansing living believers fromall their sins.

Third, 1844 shows us why we are Adventists, believing that He iscoming soon, because the final judgment has already begun, but knowing

that He is not coming right away, because a few prophecies are stillunfulfilled.

Fourth, 1844 gives us timely new reasons to keep the Sabbath, for inour day, Jesus has moved into the most holy place, where the “ark of Hiscovenant” is kept, and that ark is shedding on the world the glowingradiance of the fourth commandment.

Even more important than the information that 1844 teaches us tobelieveis the lifestyle it calls us to live. For example, by calling attention to

the three angels' messages, 1844 has much to say about how we are towitness to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people around the world,including the people on our street and in our homes; so –

Fifth, 1844 persuades us to live and love like Jesus at home, where wework, where we go shopping, and even when we relax. As we seek to growmore like Jesus, we will attract more and more people to come to Jesus. Ifwe're tempted to think we don t want to be this good, 1844 prompts us toget a new attitude through the new birth so that by faith in Jesus, we can join the people who really keep God's loving commandments.

Sixth, 1844 shows us that time for winning others is growing short. Ittherefore adds urgency to our need to reflect Christ's character to thosearound us. That way, when the words “Come out of her, My people”strike home to them, many of them will enthusiastically choose to join themovement thatwebelong to.

Seventh, because 1844 alerts us to the ongoing heavenly Day of Atonement, it reminds us to “afflict our souls” in repentance. It teaches usto avoid all entertainment and all bitterness that corrupt the soul and to

make things right with those we have wronged. When we do these things,we will enter fully into that “special work of purification on earth” that isparallel to Christ's cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.

Eighth, 1844 calls us to “come out” of every form of “Babylon” andbecome dedicated, active members of the Seventh-day Adventist remnantchurch.

Ninth, 1844 reminds us to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy from sundown to sundown. It encourages us to have family worship as the

Sabbath begins and ends, to attend Sabbath School and church regularly,there to encourage fellow believers and to worship God intelligently. True



THE MEANING OF 1844 175

worship is manifested in obedience, whereas disobedience to God in theend time constitutes worship of the beast.

Tenth, 1844 persuades us to study our Bibles far better than most otherChristians do. We know that the time of trouble is looming, with the most

alluring deceptions that Satan can devise. We know that even we ourselveswill be deceived if we don't prepare.

Eleventh, 1844 motivates us to pay close attention to the spiritualeducation of our children. We are to put them in church school whateverthe cost in money, or home-school them whatever the sacrifice in time. Byour example – through our Bible study and prayer, our holy but happySabbath keeping, our close relationship with Jesus, our honesty andpatience, even the tone of our voices – we are to do all in our power to

prepare our children for the time of trouble dead ahead, as we hope to beprepared for it ourselves.In short, 1844 gives us a vitalizing hope and an encouraging sense of

direction and of urgency. If we are repentant, 1844 energizes us with theawareness that we are living in the time when our sins will be completelyblottedout neverto bementionedagain WithJesusrightnowin themost

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