Love Under Fire

Messages Given at the Right Time

Similarly, Miller and his associates fulfilled prophecy and gave a message that Inspiration had foretold should go to the world. They could not have given it if they had fully understood the prophecies pointing out their disappointment and presenting another message that would have to be preached to all nations before the Lord returns. The first and second angels’ messages were given at the right time and accomplished the work that God intended them to accomplish. LF 167.2

The world had been expecting that if Christ did not appear, people would give up their Adventism. Many did surrender their faith, but there were some who stood firm. The fruits of the Advent movement—the spirit of heart searching, of renouncing the world and of reforming the life—testified that it was from God. They dared not deny that the Holy Spirit had blessed the preaching of the Second Advent. They could find no error in the prophetic periods. Their opponents had not succeeded in disproving their prophetic interpretation. They could not agree to renounce beliefs they had come to through earnest, prayerful study of the Scriptures, by minds enlightened by the Spirit of God and hearts burning with its living power, and which had stood firm against the arguments of educated and eloquent opponents. LF 167.3

Adventists believed that God had led them to give the warning of the judgment. They declared, “It has tested the hearts of all who heard it, ... so that those who will examine their own hearts may know on which side ... they would have been found, if the Lord had come then—whether they would have exclaimed, ‘Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us;’ or whether they would have called to the rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of Him who sits on the throne!”² LF 167.4

William Miller expressed the feelings of those who still believed that God had led them: “My hope in the coming of Christ is as strong as ever. I have done only what I felt it my duty to do, after years of solemn consideration.” “To all human appearance, many thousands have been made to study the Scriptures by the preaching of the time; and by that means they have been reconciled to God through faith and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ.”³ LF 167.5