1844 and the Sanctuary: Adventism's Message for the Last Days

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Adventist Theological Society

P. Gerard Damsteegt

How a Mistake in the 70-Week Prophecy Led to the Correct Dating of Christ’s Most Holy Ministry

While working on this presentation, I changed the title.

I called it now the First Angels Message and the End of the 2300 Days.

And this period that we cover is from 1831 to 1844.

And it is really amazing what God did during that period as a demonstration of the first angel's message.

We can say a lot about how it originated, but I will concentrate myself on William Miller's view on the 2300 years.

There are many people who focused on the end of that period, but depending on the little horn and the sanctuary, they all came to different conclusions.

And we would have never come to where we are now was it not for the insight that the Lord gave to William Miller.

In fact, the chapter on William Miller in the book Early Writings, which is a part of the spiritual experiences, the early Christian experiences, Among us, you find that a fantastic story how God moved upon the mind of a farmer who had not believed in the Bible, and communicated with him.

Time and time again, angels visited that individual, leading his mind to explore prophecies that had been darkness to God's people forever.

But I guess God wanted to have a person that when the person sees the light, he follows the light no matter what.

And you will see here that 1844 split Christianity and brought about the remnant.

Because all the other people, unless they joined Adventism, they never saw the light.

Even some of our pioneers, like Miller, Josiah Litch, Josiah Himes, and many others, were not willing to follow the light, that after 1844 came the light of the sanctuary, the light of the Sabbath.

And so here, keep in mind, William Miller's role in salvation history.

God called him, Miller, to leave his farm, as he called Elijah, to leave his oxen and fields of his labor to follow Elijah.

With trembling, Miller began to unfold to the people the mysteries of the kingdom of God, carrying his hearers down through the prophecies to the second advent of Christ.

And you know, just being exposed to the scriptures changes individuals.

Because William Miller noticed that in the War of 1812, many of his colleagues and friends were killed, but he not.

Grenades exploded around him and it didn't hurt him.

And he was puzzled about it as a deist, why not me?

Then he retired and then his mother, a faithful Baptist, encouraged him to come to church.

He says, you know, why should I go to church?

And those who read the sermons cannot even speak English.

So his mother said cleverly, William, you're such a literary figure.

And so he started to read it, Sunday after Sunday.

And the result is 1 day, he reflected and spoke about the sermon about Isaiah 53.

And during that sermon, the Holy Spirit influenced him so much that he broke down.

And he started to study the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

And every time that he didn't understand it, he went back and he didn't go further until he knew.

And therefore, he came at a time on those prophecies.

And he discovered a light that we can still cherish, although his names in the academic literature never is being mentioned.

In fact, some of the papers that I had to present at the task, the theology of ordination thing, I referred to William Miller's hermeneutic.

And my colleague says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

We are based on something better than William Miller.

Anyway, during this controversy, the Adventist preachers used the Bible and the Bible only as the watchword.

You find this in great controversy, page 63.

And this morning I told you, I am a firm believer that we can solve our present controversies by the Bible and the Bible only.

And if you don't believe it, survey the literature, And you see that presently there are 2 different trends opposite each other on biblical interpretation.

Miller's rule again in salvation history.

As John the Baptist heralded the first advent of Jesus and prepared the way for his coming.

So William Miller and those who joined him proclaimed the second advent of the Son of God, early writings 230 and 231.

And so here in this character sketch, we see that William Miller represented the Elijah message of the last days and the John the Baptist message to prepare the Lord's coming.

Why should you stand on 2 opinions, decide for the Lord?

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus coming.

Conclusion, Miller was called to lead the movement that prepares the world for Christ's second advent.

And I hope there is no doubt in your mind that we are not in just another church, that we are God's movement, called in the fullness of time to prepare the world.

And 99.7% of the world has no idea what seventh day Adventists do.

And God reaches your heart, and you have the compassion of Jesus to see the multitudes perishing around you.

You go to London, Berlin, Rome, Los Angeles, Detroit.

How many today are preparing for Jesus' coming?

They're all lost presently, unless you and I listen to the marching orders of Jesus Christ.

And so here is William Miller's religious experience.

Quote, when brought almost to despair, William Miller said, God by his Holy Spirit opened my eyes "'and I saw Jesus as a friend and my only help "'and the word of God as the perfect rule of duty.'" Midnight Cried Journal, November 17, 1842, page 1.

And so here is a statement by the spirit of prophecy endorsing William Miller's rules of Bible interpretation.

And if you don't follow those rules, perhaps you are in the darkness that has come on Christianity.

Quote, Those who are engaged in proclaiming the third angel's message are searching the scriptures upon the same plan that Father Miller adopted.

Elon Meyer, Revue and Herald, November 25, 1884.

And so we have to be very, very familiar with this kind of approaches.

Now, presently we have a more sophisticated document.

It was voted in 1989, methods of Bible study.

William Miller's rules of interpretation.

I have it here in my book on foundations of Adventism.

And we look at William Miller's rules, and we see that it's only 2 pages.

The document voted by the General Conference is 6 pages, very dense material.

And today in our church, both parties who are diametrically opposed claim the General Conference voted rules of biblical interpretation as being the faithful mandate of their interpretation.

Interesting that you come to complete contrary interpretations based on the same document.

Maybe we need to go a little bit simpler and see if we follow also William Miller's interpretation that has been endorsed by Ellen White.

Of course as a scholar I have to be more sophisticated, but this is William Miller's view.

And it was only if you follow this interpretation, and not many of the other interpretations of all the Bible commentaries, that you come to our position.

William Miller had 6 explanations, but the 1 he chose was that the sanctuary is the church and or the earth.

And when those are being cleansed, when will it be?

The cleansing of the earth and of the church in 1843.

At the end of the 2300 years, about 1843.

William Miller didn't want to be pressed into a corner.

How a Mistake in the 70-Week Prophecy Led to the Correct Dating of Christ’s Most Holy Ministry

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