August 17, 2023 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Greetings, friends. As we continue through the book, The Great Controversy, we have met William Miller, an honest-hearted man who, through the Scriptures, found a friend in Jesus. He lived in a rural area of the state of New York during the late 18th through the middle of the 19th century.
William Miller was determined to understand the Bible for himself, and using nothing but the in-text references of his Bible, along with a concordance, he went verse by verse, beginning in the book of Genesis. Being careful to unpack the meaning of the verses, he compared Scripture with Scripture until the texts became clear.
Miller was especially interested in the books of Daniel and Revelation, and as he continued using the same principles of interpretation as in the other Scriptures, to his great joy, he found that the prophetic symbols could be understood!
We read, “He saw that the prophecies, so far as they had been fulfilled, had been fulfilled literally; that all the various figures, metaphors, parables, similitudes . . . were either explained in their immediate connection, or the terms in which they were expressed were defined in other scriptures, and when thus explained, were to be literally understood” (The Great Controversy, p. 320).
Miller was satisfied that by using this method, everyone should be able to understand the Scriptures, including its prophecies. “Link after link of the chain of truth rewarded his efforts, as step by step he traced down the great lines of prophecy. Angels of heaven were guiding his mind and opening the Scriptures to his understanding” (The Great Controversy, p. 321).
As he continued his careful study, Miller found the literal, personal coming of Christ to be plainly taught in the Scriptures. Passages such as the following spoke to his heart:
1 Thessalonians 4:16, ” The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God;”
Matthew 24:27, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be;” and Matthew 24:31, “He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect.”
Miller realized that at the coming of Christ, the righteous dead would be raised, and the righteous living would be changed. He also understood that it would not be until the personal advent of Christ that His people would receive the promised Kingdom.
As he studied the Scriptures, Miller became convinced that the events which were generally expected to take place before the coming of Christ, such as the universal reign of peace and the setting up of the Kingdom of God on Earth, would actually happen only after the second advent. Further, he realized that the signs of the times and the condition of the world lined up with the prophetic description of the last days.
“He was forced to the conclusion, from the study of Scripture alone,” writes Ellen White, that the period allotted for the continuance of the earth in its present state was about to close” (The Great Controversy, p. 323).
But there was more. In his study, William Miller noticed the chronology of the Scripture. “I found that predicted events, which had been fulfilled in the past, often occurred within a given time,” he wrote (The Great Controversy, p. 323).
Reading passages such as Deuteronomy 29:29—”The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever . . .” and Amos 3:7—”Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets,” Miller felt confident the students of God’s Word could “expect to find the most stupendous event to take place in human history clearly pointed out in the Scriptures of truth” (The Great Controversy, p. 324).
From then on, he dug even deeper into prophecy to see what would be revealed regarding the Second Coming of Christ, and what he learned astounded him greatly! I invite you to join us in our next video as we, along with William Miller, trace God’s hand through prophetic timing and see what is revealed.
Let’s pray together just now.
Father in Heaven, thank you for giving us the Word of God, for giving us ways in which to study God’s Word verse upon verse, text upon text, underlining and understanding those things, which certainly will help us to more clearly identify your hand in our lives and in the history and the future of this earth. We are grateful that William Miller, along with others, were able to truly understand the wonderful ways in which you were leading to direct their thoughts to your Second Coming. Now, Lord, we ask that you will help us as we further explore what the Bible prophecies actually have indicated and that your soon coming is imminent. Thank you for hearing us in this prayer. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen.