January 22  The Year Of The End Of The World

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him. Rev. 1:7, RSV.

This year. . .is the last year that Satan will reign in our earth. Jesus Christ will come. . .The kingdom of the earth will be dashed to pieces. . .The shout of victory will be heard in heaven. . .Time shall be no more." Thus wrote William Miller in his "New Year's Address to Second Advent Belivers" on January 1, 1843. At long last the year of the end of the world had arrived.

And, as we might expect, the excitement was high. But they weren't quite sure as to when in the year they should be looking. Miller himself, knwoing that Christ had said that no person knew the day or the hour, had been quite cautious on the topic. "About the year 1843" was about as precise as he wanted to be.

But by December 1842 his disciples were pushing him to be more specific. After all, they very next month would begin 1843. Miller concluded tht he could indeed be more specific. Basing his calculations on the Jewish feast of Passover, he wrote that he believed that Jesus would appear in the clouds of heaven sometime bewtwwn March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844.

Those who thought that they had discovered some formula for pinpointing the exact day set many specific dates between the two points. Miller himself held for a late-in -the-year fulfillment, since he thought their faith would be tried.

And tried it was. The Second Advent did not occur on March 21, 1844. The hopeful decided that they had miscalculated the date for Passover. Perhaps it was April 21. But that date also passed. And thus the Millerite groups went through their first or spring disappointment.

The movement avoided disintegration at that time because they had not put too much hope in a specific date. On the other hand, they did feel downhearted. They continued to study their Bibles to discern where they were in prophetic time. Then in earlty summer they discovered Habbakkuk 2:3, "For 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." They concluded that they were in the "tarrying time." After all, didn't Matthew 25:5 plainly teach that the "bridegroom tarried"?

Their faith had a resilience that we must admire. Yes, they were disappointed. But rather than give up, they turned to their Bibles to discover their whereabouts in prophetic history. That is not what they wanted to be doing, but it is the only option for those of us who continue to cry out "how long, O Lord"(Rev. 6:10).

Jesus teaches us to call His Father our Father. He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews 2:11. So ready, so eager, is the Saviour's heart to welcome us as members of the family of God, that in the very first words we are to use in approaching God He places the assurance of our divine relationship, "Our Father."(TFMB 103).