In Defense of the Faith

Chapter 15 — Who Are The Seventh-day Adventists?

Seventh-day Adventists date the origin of their movement from the years 1844-50. Many of the original founders of the Seventh-day Adventist faith were former associates of William Miller (a lay Baptist preacher) and many others who, previous to 1844, with great earnestness proclaimed the approaching Second Advent of the Lord to the earth. These people, who represented many Protestant denominations, were known as Adventists because of their faith in the imminence of the personal return of Jesus, and their message resounded throughout the world and claimed converts from many nations. This message produced a great religious awakening such as had not been witnessed since the Reformation of the sixteenth century. DOF 306.1

Expectation of the coming of Christ about the year 1844 was built on a study of certain Bible prophecies containing the time element. In the exposition of such prophecies the generally accepted rule of interpretation was, and still is, a day for a year, according to Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6. DOF 306.2

The particular prophecy which led Mr. Miller and his associates to set a date for the Second Advent was Daniel 8:14, which declares, in part: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” DOF 306.3

As pointed out in the previous chapter, Daniel 9:24, 25 furnished an event from which to count these day-years, in the words: “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” This command, or decree, went forth in 457 BC. (See Ezra 6:14.) DOF 306.4

Knowing that the earth, once destroyed and purged by water, is, according to 2 Peter 3:6, 7, to be again destroyed and purged, this time by fire, and mistakenly supposing the earth to be the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14, it was only natural for the Advent believers of that day to conclude that the end would come at the expiration of the 2300 days, which time period ended in the autumn of 1844, on the twenty-second day of October. DOF 307.1

Profoundly convinced that the world was about to witness the glory of its descending Lord, and that all men, rich and poor, were to be summoned before the great white throne, there to face the judge and to hear His sentence pronounced upon them, Miller and his associates raised throughout all Christendom the solemn cry, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Their message rang like a trumpet call throughout the world. This produced a great religious awakening, and people everywhere turned to God and repented of their sins. DOF 307.2

This movement extended from 1833 to 1844. In America the message was proclaimed by some three hundred ministers belonging to many different denominations. In Great Britain some seven hundred Church of England clergymen took up the cry. DOF 307.3

Books and charts on the Second Advent were distributed intensively in Norway, and literature on the Second Advent was sent to most of the mission stations in heathen lands. DOF 307.4

Dr. Joseph Wolff, a noted itinerant missionary, “down to the year 1845, proclaimed the, Lord’s speedy Advent in Palestine, Egypt, on the shores of the Red Sea, Mesopotamia, the Crimea, Persia, Georgia, throughout the Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Arabia, Turkey, Bokhara, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Hindostan, Tibet, in Holland, Scotland, Ireland, at Constantinople, Jerusalem, St. Helena, also on shipboard in the Mediterranean, and in New York City to all denominations. He declares that he has preached among Jews, Turks, Mohammedans, Parsees, Hindus, Chaldeans, Yesedes, Syrians, Sabaeans, to Pashas, sheiks, shahs, the kings of Organtsh and Bokhara, the queen of Greece, etc.”—Voice of the Church, p. 343; cited in The Great Second Advent Movement, by J. N. Loughborough, p. 101. DOF 307.5

Everywhere the burden of the message given was, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” Revelation 14:7. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, adherents of the Church of England, and people of many other persuasions joined the movement, and helped to swell the cry. Most of these people, however, retained their membership in the churches to which they had always belonged. Mr. Miller’s preaching of this doctrine apparently did not disqualify him for membership in the Baptist Church, for his biographer states: DOF 308.1

“In 1833 Miller received a license to preach from the Baptist Church, of which he was a member. A large number of ministers of his denomination also approved his work, and it was with their formal sanction that he continued his labors.” DOF 308.2

He continued in the Baptist Church until his death. DOF 308.3

Mr. Miller had the date figured out correctly. No one from that time to this has ever been able to refute the accuracy of his reckoning. But he was clearly mistaken regarding the event, that was to take place. The Miller Adventists thought that the sanctuary spoken of in the prophecy, and which was to be cleansed, was this sin-defiled earth. They saw from other scriptures that when the earth is finally purified, its purification will be accomplished by fire, and that this cleansing work will be connected with the appearing of our Lord. They concluded, therefore, that if the time for cleansing the sanctuary was to begin in 1844, it must be that the Lord would return at that time and save His people out of the world before the cleansing of fire began. DOF 308.4

Their failure, therefore, lay in a wrong view of what the sanctuary was. They did not, at that time, understand the types and antitypes of the Old Testament, as men have come to understand them since. They did not grasp the thought of a heavenly sanctuary, “of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Hebrews 8:2), and of which Jesus, our High Priest, is minister. They did not see that in heaven there was to be a work of judgment, the antitype of the Day of Atonement solemnized in ancient Israel once each year (Leviticus 16), and that this judgment, mentioned in Daniel 7:9, 10, must be completed before the Lord’s return to earth; for at that time the destiny of all will have been decided, and Jesus will bring His rewards with Him, “to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:12. DOF 309.1

When the twenty-second day of October of that year passed without bringing the end ‘Of all things earthly, those who had confidently looked for the return of their Lord were thrown into great perplexity. Some entirely gave up their faith in the Second Advent. Others sought to establish some other date for the realization of their hopes. DOF 309.2

Others, and among them was Mr. Miller himself, thought that for some unaccountable reason the Advent was simply delayed, and might occur any day. To Joshua V. Himes, a devout clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a faithful fellow in heralding the Advent near, Mr. Miller wrote: DOF 310.1

“We have done our work in ‘warning sinners, and in trying to awake a formal church. God in His providence has shut the door; we can only stir one another up to be patient, and be diligent to make our calling and election sure.” Advent Herald, Dec. 11, 1844. DOF 310.2