Understanding Ellen White

Temporary misinterpretation of some aspect of a vision

Ellen White, at times, misinterpreted an aspect of what she was shown in vision. God would over time correct this misunderstanding through Bible study or additional visions as He helped her understand unfolding truth. Examples include the “shut door” interpretation (discussed in chapter 12) and the development of Adventist understanding on the time to begin the Sabbath. UEGW 88.4

James and Ellen White accepted the Sabbath in the late summer or early fall of 1846 through reading Joseph Bates’s tract The Seventh Day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign in connection with their own Bible study. Bates taught that the Sabbath should begin at 6:00 P.M. ¹⁸ Through his influence, Sabbatarian Adventists continued to keep the Sabbath from 6:00 P.M. Friday to 6:00 P.M. Saturday until November 1855. During those nine years of transition, some Adventists thought the Sabbath should begin at sundown and others said sunrise. In 1847, at Topsham, Maine, Ellen White had a vision clarifying that sunrise could not be the correct time. The angel said to her, “From even to even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.” Perhaps at the urging of Joseph Bates, those present, including Ellen White, interpreted this to mean that the Sabbath should begin at 6:00 P.M. ¹⁹ Ellen White and others drew conclusions from her vision that she had not actually been shown. J. N. Andrews studied the subject from the Bible and history, and his findings were presented on November 17, 1855, at a gathering of Adventists in Battle Creek, Michigan. Most accepted his presentation, except Joseph Bates and Ellen White! Several days later, on November 20, Ellen White had a correcting vision that validated Andrews’s Bible study, and both she and Joseph Bates capitulated wholeheartedly. UEGW 89.1

Later, Uriah Smith wrote a response to J. V. Himes, who charged that Ellen White only had “visions” that were convenient for her and supported her positions. Smith wrote: “Lest any should say that Sr. White, having changed her sentiments, had a vision accordingly, we will state that what was shown her in vision concerning the commencement of the Sabbath, was contrary to her own sentiment at the time the vision was given.” ²⁰ Thus on occasion after the church had engaged in careful Bible study, Ellen White also grew in her own understanding and was aided by clarifying visions. ²¹ UEGW 89.2

In 1858, she wrote to her close friends, the Haskells, rebuking them for insisting that eating pork was a violation of Leviticus 11:7: “I saw that your views concerning swine’s flesh would prove no injury if you have them to yourselves; but in your judgment and opinion you have made this question a test If God requires His people to abstain from swine’s flesh, He will convict them on the matter.” ²² She was not necessarily saying that pork eating was allowed, but rather that God would work with the church in their study of the Bible on the topic. UEGW 89.3

But light did come to Ellen White in her 1863 health vision, validating Haskell’s Bible study. In 1864, in her first published presentation of that vision, a fifty-page chapter entitled “Health,” in Spiritual Gifts, volume 4, she said: “God never designed the swine to be eaten under any circumstances.” ²³ UEGW 89.4

Here we learn how Ellen White changed her mind between 1858 and 1863. (1) She had received no light from God on swine’s flesh before 1863. (2) She didn’t think it should cause division among Adventists, because she didn’t think the issue was a test question. (3) When God makes His will known, it will be revealed to more “than two or three.” (4) The test of this logic is that when the vision did come, the whole church saw the issue clearly—no division arose. UEGW 90.1

There is biblical precedent for this type of help by God in the revelation process. Daniel is a good example of the prophet needing to have additional help to correct a misunderstanding of a vision. Daniel 8:14 showed a period of 2,300days or years. When Daniel received this vision, he “fainted, and was sick certain days” (Dan. 8:27). The angel had told him that the vision was for “many days” and the “last end.” Daniel interpreted the vision as being in reference to the return of the Jews from exile. This greatly distressed him. UEGW 90.2

Several years passed. In 538-537 B.C., Darius the conqueror of Babylon was king. Daniel had studied the prophecy of Jeremiah 25:10-14, that the Jewish captivity in Babylon would last only seventy years. But he kept thinking about the 2,300 day/years. He thought God was changing His plan and that the Jews would be in captivity for thousands of years. In his prayer recorded in Daniel 9, Daniel begs God not to defer His promise. The angel Gabriel is sent to answer his prayer and explain the previous vision. He begins by saying that “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people” (Dan. 9:24). The Hebrew word for determined literally means “cut off.” The seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, are cut off from the 2,300 years, and the angel explains when the prophecy would begin. The key point here is that Daniel misunderstood part of his Daniel 8 vision for some years until God finally made it plain. UEGW 90.3