A Young Millerite-1

February 9  A Young Millerite-1

 

In My Father's house are many namsions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and recieve you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:2, 3, NKJV.

Ellen Harmon had first heard William Miller in a series in Portland, Maine, during March 1840. When he returned for a second set of meetings in June 1842 she gladly attended.

She had accepted Miller's message but still could not escape the nagging fear that she wasn't "good enough." Beyond that, the thought of God torturing people in a never-ending hell troubled her.

While Ellen was in that mental state, her mother suggested that she counsel with Levi Stockman, a Methodist minister who had accepted Millerism. Stockman relieved Ellen's mind by telling her "of the love of God for His erring children, that instead of rejoicing in their destruction, He longed to draw them to Himself in simple faith and trust. He dwelt upon the great love of Christ and the plan of redemption."

"Go, free," he told her, "return to your home trusting in Jesus, for He will not withhold His love from anyh ture seeker"(1T 30). That interview was one of the major turning points in Ellen Harmon's life. From then forward she looked upon God "as a kind and tender parent, rather than a stern tyrant compelling men to blind obedience." Her heart "went our toward Him in a deep and fervent love. Obedience to His will[now] seemed a joy; it was a pleasure to be in His service"(LS 39).

Her new understanding of God as a tender parent aided young Ellen in several ways. Not the least of which was the nature of hell, a topic that we will examine in a future reading.

The kindly parent view of God also helped her look forward to the Second Advent with joyful enthusiasm. She saw that she had nothing to fear from such a Being, but everything to hope.

And what a blessed hope it is! All to often we in the twenty-first century get caught up with our daily lives to such an extent that we fail to realize the magnitude of the promises of the Second Coming.

Whatever good things our "tender parent" has given us on this earth, we know from the Bible that what is yet to come will be infinitely better.

We can be thankful for our "tender parent.".

God gives to us in trust, that we may feed the hungry(TFMB 112).

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