46
Life Sketches of Ellen G. White
An Error in Reckoning
Our calculation of the prophetic time was so simple and plain that
even children could understand it. From the date of the decree of the
king of Persia, found in
Ezra 7
, which was given in 457 before Christ,
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the 2300 years of
Daniel 8:14
were supposed to terminate with 1843.
Accordingly we looked to the end of this year for the coming of the
Lord. We were sadly disappointed when the year entirely passed away,
and the Saviour had not come.
It was not at first perceived that if the decree did not go forth at
the beginning of the year 457 B. C., the 2300 years would not be
completed at the close of 1843. But it was ascertained that the decree
was given near the close of the year 457 B. C., and therefore the
prophetic period must reach to the fall of the year 1844. Therefore the
vision of time did not tarry, though it had seemed to do so. We learned
to rest upon the language of the prophet: “The vision is yet for an
appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry,
wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Habakkuk
2:3
.
God tested and proved His people by the passing of the time in
1843. The mistake made in reckoning the prophetic periods was not at
once discovered, even by learned men who opposed the views of those
who were looking for Christ’s coming. Scholars declared that Mr.
Miller was right in his calculation of the time, though they disputed
him in regard to the event that would crown that period. But they, and
the waiting people of God, were in a common error on the question of
time.
Those who had been disappointed were not long left in darkness;
for in searching the prophetic periods with earnest prayer the error was
discovered, and the tracing of the prophetic pencil down through the
tarrying time. In the joyful expectation of the coming of Christ, the
apparent tarrying of the vision had not been taken into account, and
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was a sad and unlooked-for surprise. Yet this very trial was necessary
to develop and strengthen the sincere believers in the truth.