In Defense of the Faith

Discovering Miller’s Mistake

But some of these earnest Christians who had been disappointed, instead of seeking readjustment of time, or simply waiting, began a diligent study of the Scriptures, and shortly found that the earth is not the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14, and that the prophecy foretold, not the cleansing of the earth by fire in the year 1844, but the beginning of the closing work of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, in the true sanctuary in heaven, and that Christ could not come until the completion of that work. DOF 310.3

They came to see clearly that the sanctuary whose cleansing was to begin in 1844, at the close of the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14, was the sanctuary of God in heaven and not the earth, and that its cleansing involved the work of the investigative judgment, which was to take place immediately preceding our Lord’s return, of which we have spoken more specifically in a previous chapter. DOF 310.4

It was in this same year (1844) that a number of Adventist believers began the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, and thus became in fact Seventh-day Adventists, although this name was not formally adopted until 1860. DOF 310.5

We do not suggest, however, that the doctrines held by the Seventh-day Adventists are new. Quite to the contrary; they have been held through past ages by both patriarchs and prophets, whose faith in them has been fittingly recorded in the Holy Scriptures. DOF 311.1

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of the Second Advent of Christ, and was among those who recognized the binding claims of the law of God and the seventh-day Sabbath. Abraham was another, Moses was another, and the prophets and apostles were others. Even Jesus our Lord, during His earthly life, both taught and practiced these doctrines. But these truths had been largely lost sight of in the apostasy of the early centuries and the Dark Ages, and it became necessary to raise up a people to set them again in their proper light before the world that was about to meet an offended Lord over His broken law. DOF 311.2

The acceptance of the Scriptural doctrine that the sanctuary is in heaven, opened an entirely new field to the vision of these Advent believers. They saw that there was an essential and solemn work to be wrought by our great High Priest in the most holy apartment of the heavenly temple before He could come to earth, and that during the same time a work of great magnitude and importance must be accomplished by the church upon the earth. They read in an entirely new light the striking prophecy of Revelation 11:19: “The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament.” DOF 311.3

They remembered that the ark was kept only in the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary, and that that apartment was opened only when the high priest went in on the tenth day of the seventh month to make final atonement before the ark to cleanse the sanctuary and the people. Here they saw the same work revealed in heaven. Here, then, was the cleansing of the sanctuary which was to begin at the end of the 2300 days in 1844. DOF 311.4

They now received a new view of the law of God, since its position in the antitypical sanctuary or temple in heaven was found to be exactly the same as was its position in the typical sanctuary upon earth, thus utterly and forever precluding the idea of any change in that law through all the intervening ages. It must read in the ark in heaven just exactly as it read in the ark upon earth. Vividly there came now to their minds the words of Jesus when He said, “One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law” (Matthew 5:18); and remembering that the law emphatically declares that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8-11), they recognized that Christians are under obligation to keep this original Sabbath of the fourth commandment. DOF 312.1

For some time the burden of those who had become Seventh day Adventists by embracing the Bible Sabbath was for “the scattered flock,” or in other words, for those who had accepted the message of the Second Advent as preached by William Miller and some three hundred other ministers in this country, of nearly all the orthodox denominations. DOF 312.2

They later, however, came to see that before Christ’s coming a great reform message must go to the world, warning men of the approaching day of God, and urging them to make full preparation for it by repentance of sin and belief of the gospel. They further saw that this reform message would be similar to the work of Elijah, and would call men everywhere to the keeping of the commandments of God as revealed in the Ten Commandments, or Ten Commandments, including the fourth commandment, which clearly enjoins the observance of the seventh day of the week (Saturday) as the holy Sabbath; that while righteousness comes only through faith in the atonement made by our Lord Jesus Christ, yet that faith does not make void the law of Jehovah, nor free Christians from obligation to keep it. DOF 312.3

Being profoundly convinced that these things were true, the few Seventh-day Adventist believers, after several years’ study and adjustment, began to plan for the dissemination of what to them was a message of great importance and urgency. They concluded that the message of the soon coming of Christ and the warning to prepare for that momentous event must be world wide in its application, and since no other branch of the Christian church seemed to feel any particular burden to give it, they decided that it was incumbent upon them to carry it to the entire world, and this is what they then set out to do. Their convictions in this matter were based upon such texts of Scripture as the following: DOF 313.1

“Behold, I will send My messenger, and He shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, He shall come, says the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:1. DOF 313.2

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14. DOF 313.3

“Blow you the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My Holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord comes, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2:11. DOF 313.4

“Sanctify you a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord, Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” Joel 1:14, 15. DOF 314.1

“I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6, 7. DOF 314.2

As already indicated, Seventh-day Adventists believe these scriptures clearly teach that just before Jesus comes, He will raise up messengers to prepare the way before Him, as John the Baptist was raised up to prepare the way for the first advent of Jesus. This preparatory message must be world wide in extent, going “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” It is a warning message, and is reformatory in its nature; and as John the revelator wrote of it, he clearly indicated that it would result in gathering out of the nations a people of whom it is said, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12. DOF 314.3