The Centrality Of The Shut Door

February 13  The Centrality Of The Shut Door

 

And while [the foolish virgins] went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Matt. 25:10-12.

Some biblical symbols pick up more than one meaning across time. Thus it was with that of the shut door in post-Millerite Adventism during the late 1840s.

Earlier we saw that Miller as early as 1836 had viewed the shut door of Matthew 25:10 as the close of human probation would cease by that time. He continued to hold that view after the October disappointment. on November 18, 1844, for example, he wrote that "we have [finished] our work in warning sinners. . . God, in his providence has shut the door; we can only stir up one another to be patient."

But that wasn't the only view point on the confusing happenings of the autumn of 1844. J. V. Himes, for example, as early as November 5 had concluded that no prophecy had been fulfilled in October  1844. And if that were the case, the door of probation had not shut. Therefore God's people still needed to give the message of salvation.

As strange as it may seem to us today, it was differing understandings of the shut door that separated the various strands of Adventism in 1845 and beyond. In order to grasp the issues it is important to realize that by early 1845 the phrase "the shut door" had picked up two meanings:

     (1) the close of probation
     (2) that prophecy had been fulfilled in October 1844

With that recognition in mind, we can think of the Albany Adventists who followed Himes as "open-door Adventists" and the fanatical spiritualizers and the developing Sabbatarians as "shut-door Adventists."

James White was so intent on the fact that prophecy had been fulfilled at the end of the 2300-day prophecy that he came to characterize the Sabbatarians as "the seventh day shut door people." (We can be thankful that the name didn't stick.)

Meanwhile, the theological task of teh Sabbatarians during the late 1840s was to separate themselves from their fanatical cousins in the shut door sector of Adventism. That could only happen through further Bible study and God's leading.

In teaching us to ask every day for what we need--both temporal and spiritual blessings--God has a purpose to accomplish for our good. He would have us realize our dependence upon His constant care, for He is seeking to draw us into communion with Himself. In this communion with Christ, through prayer and the study of the great and precious truths of His word, we shall as hungry souls be fed; as those that thirst, we shall be refreshed at the fountain of life(TFMB 113).

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