Light Through Darkness
295
Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right message at the
right time. But as the early disciples declared, “The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand,“ based on the prophecy of
Daniel
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9
, while they failed to perceive that the death of the Messiah was
foretold in the same scripture, so Miller and his associates preached
the message based on
Daniel 8:14
and
Revelation 14:7
, and failed to
see that there were still other messages brought to view in
Revelation
14
, which were also to be given before the advent of the Lord. As
the disciples were mistaken in regard to the kingdom to be set up at
the end of the seventy weeks, so Adventists were mistaken in regard
to the event to take place at the expiration of the 2300 days. In both
cases there was an acceptance of, or rather an adherence to, popular
errors that blinded the mind to the truth. Both classes fulfilled the will
of God in delivering the message which He desired to be given, and
both, through their own misapprehension of their message, suffered
disappointment.
Yet God accomplished His own beneficent purpose in permitting
the warning of the judgment to be given just as it was. The great day
was at hand, and in His providence the people were brought to the
test of a definite time, in order to reveal to them what was in their
hearts. The message was designed for the testing and purification of
the church. They were to be led to see whether their affections were
set upon this world or upon Christ and heaven. They professed to love
the Saviour; now they were to prove their love. Were they ready to
renounce their worldly hopes and ambitions, and welcome with joy
the advent of their Lord? The message was designed to enable them to
discern their true spiritual state; it was sent in mercy to arouse them to
seek the Lord with repentance and humiliation.
The disappointment also, though the result of their own misap-
prehension of the message which they gave, was to be overruled for
good. It would test the hearts of those who had professed to receive the
warning. In the face of their disappointment would they rashly give
up their experience and cast away their confidence in God’s word? or
would they, in prayer and humility, seek to discern where they had
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failed to comprehend the significance of the prophecy? How many
had moved from fear, or from impulse and excitement? How many
were halfhearted and unbelieving? Multitudes professed to love the
appearing of the Lord. When called to endure the scoffs and reproach