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Why the Great Disappointment?
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message God had committed to them, yet through a misapprehension
of its meaning they suffered disappointment.
Miller adopted the general view that the earth is the “sanctuary,”
and he believed that the “cleansing of the sanctuary” represented the
purification of the earth by fire at the coming of the Lord. Therefore,
the close of the 2300 days, he concluded, revealed the time of the
second advent.
The cleansing of the sanctuary was the last service performed by
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the high priest in the yearly round of ministration. It was the closing
work of the atonement—a removal or putting away of sin from Israel.
It prefigured the closing work of our High Priest in heaven in the
removal or blotting out of the sins of His people which are registered
in the heavenly records. This service involves investigation, a work
of judgment, and it immediately precedes the coming of Christ in the
clouds of heaven, for when He comes every case has been decided.
Says Jesus: “My reward is with me, to give every man according as
his work shall be.”
Revelation 22:12
. It is this work of judgment that
is announced in the first angel’s message of
Revelation 14:7
: “Fear
God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.”
Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right message at the
right time. 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 popular errors blinded the mind to truth.
Both fulfilled the will of God in delivering the message He desired
to be given, and both through misapprehension of their message
suffered disappointment.
Yet God accomplished His purpose in permitting the warning of
judgment to be given as it was. In His providence the message was
for the testing and purification of the church. Were their affections
set upon this world or upon Christ and heaven? Were they ready to
renounce their worldly ambitions and welcome the advent of their
Lord?
The disappointment also would test the hearts of those who had
professed to receive the warning. Would they rashly give up their
experience and cast away their confidence in God’s Word when
called to endure the reproach of the world and the test of delay and
disappointment? Because they did not immediately understand the