What About Date Setting?-1

April 6  What About Date Setting?-1

 


But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Matt. 24:36, RSV.

In spite of Jesus' clear words on the topic, and in spite of the Millerite crisis in trying to set the date for th Second Advent, it has proved to be a constant temptation for Adventists to either set a date or to come as close as possible to one. And we must admit that it is an exciting possibility. But the inevitable failure has a deadenign affect on the church and its members.

After the failure of the prediction that Christ would return in October 1844, it seemed only natural for the disappointed Adventists to continue to establish dates for that event on the basis of the various prophecies. Thus William Miller and Josiah Litch came to expect that Jesus would appear befor the end of the Jewish year 1844 (that is, by the spring of 1845). H. H. Gross, Joseph Marsh, and others projected dates in 1846, and when that year passed Gross discovered reasons to look for Christ in 1847.

The early Sabbatarian Adventists were not immune from date setting. In September 1845 James White firmly believed that Jesus would arrive on the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month in October of that year. That is the reason that he aruged publicly that an Adventist couple who had announced their marriage had fallen for a "wile of the Devil," and had "denied their faith" in the Second Advent since "such a step seemd to contemplate years of life in this world."

Yet "a few days before the time passed," James recalled, "I was at Fairhaven and Dartmouth, Mass., with a message on this point of time. At this time Ellen was with the band at Carver, Mass., where she saw in vison, that we should be disappointed, and that the saints must pass through the 'time of Jacob's trouble,' which was future. Her view of Jacob's trouble was entirely new to us, as well as herself."

That experience apparently cured James white of speculating on the date of the Second Advent. But, as we will see tomorrow, it centainly didn't halt Joseph Bates.

Date setting for the Second Advent!

It certainly seems natural to most of us. That is what the disciples wanted Jesus to do in Matthew 24. But He refused. And He still refuses. There is an important lesson here that we need to learn.

        

The golden rule is the principle of true courtesy, and its truest illustration is seen in the life and character of Jesus. Oh, what rays of softness and beauty shone forth in the daily life of our Saviour! What sweetness flowed from His very presence! The same spirit will be revealed in His children. Those with whom Christ dwells will be surrounded with a divine atmosphere. Their white robes of purity will be fragrant with perfume from the garden of the Lord. Their faces will reflect light from His, brightening the path for stumbling and weary feet(TFMB, 135).

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