The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

II. The Prophetic Truth Whose Time Had Come

Nothing in this old earth is more powerful than a prophetic truth whose time has come. When Rome was ruling the Western world, a large group of contemporary students of prophecy recognized and proclaimed the identity and fate of the fourth prophetic world empire. When Rome was in process of tenfold division, another cluster of expositors left the written record of their perception, and their fears, of the corning Antichrist. When the papal Little Horn had unveiled its real character and identity, a great host of Reformers in many lands gave their witness to this advancing and then-present fulfillment of prophecy-so powerfully that it brought on the Counter Reformation with its clever countersystems of interpretation. When the 1260 years were ending, this solemn fact was also proclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic as then in process of fulfillment, while men awaited the next great event. PFF3 741.3

And now when the judgment hour was approaching, with the ending of prophetic time, and the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary and the imminence of the advent had come, suddenly the witness was heard in different continents and many lands, giving startlingly similar testimony and exposition of prophecy thereon-so much so that William Miller, in America, wrote in his first book, in 1830, that “one or two on every quarter of the globe have proclaimed the news, and agree in the time.” ² And yet that was two years before other ministers had definitely associated with Miller in that proclamation in America! He had definite knowledge of these men and their dominant message-more fully than we have today, for many never left a writ ten record of their preaching or exposition that was well known then. But the attesting witness of over fifty men has been found. PFF3 741.4

To visualize the really amazing extent of the emphasis and application of the 2300 year-days in relation to the other prophecies, the accompanying tabular listing is here presented, with an explanatory note. It will repay careful scrutiny, as it portrays the powerful world character of the enunciation of the 2300-year prophecy when due. God never leaves a fundamental truth to a single witness. The table shows conclusively that this exposition was no one-man hobby or obsession, no localized emphasis. Instead, it was a world awakening upon a prophetic truth whose time had fully come. PFF3 742.1

With the coming of that hour the heralding witnesses appeared in different lands-just as they had done in the past for each truth for the time then present. And when adults refused to give it, as in Scandinavia, God placed His Spirit upon the children, that the message of the impending judgment might be given to men. PFF3 742.2

But the tabulation reveals something else-grave divergences as well as similarities of exposition of the 2300-year prophecy. And therein is revealed the occasion of the ultimate breakdown of the great Advent Awakening in Great Britain and the Old World. The causes are not difficult to determine. But providentially, as the concepts became blurred and the voices waned in Europe, they came to the forefront in America with growing clarity, unity, and power, for the message must be heralded, as the hour of proclamation had come. PFF3 742.3

Nevertheless, the advent heralds first arose in the Old World, provided the initial literature from there, and afforded a great inspiration to other lands. Regrettably, they failed to “go on to perfection.” So others caught up the strain, and the center of study and proclamation shifted to the New World, as will be seen in the concluding volume. PFF3 743.1