Steps to Life

Prophecy Seminar

Session 24: Earth’s Final Generation

In Matthew 24, after giving some signs that would precede His second coming, Jesus said:

Matthew 24:34 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled."

This verse has intrigued Bible scholars for many centuries: "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled." What things was it that Jesus was talking about that would mark the final generation?

Matthew 24:29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Context of Matthew 24

At the beginning of Matthew 24, the disciples had shown Jesus the glories of the temple in Jerusalem. He replied as follows:

Matthew 24:2 "And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’ "

The disciples, still clinging to their carnal hope of Jewish glory on this earth, supposed that Jesus must be referring to the end of the world—they hoped Jerusalem and the temple would last until that time. Of course they didn’t, for old Jerusalem with its temple was destroyed by the Roman armies of Titus in A.D. 70. This was the event Jesus was referring to. The disciples next asked a question far more involved than just the fall of Jerusalem.

Matthew 24:3 "Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ "

The disciples, supposing the fall of Jerusalem must refer to the end of the world and Jesus’ second coming, asked when this would take place. Jesus, realizing their weakness, did not destroy their hope of earthly glory at this time. In just a few days He would be hanging upon a cross and that would be a big enough blow to their faith for the time being. So, without elaborating on their mistaken notions, Jesus answered both of their questions; He told them when the fall of Jerusalem would take place and when the end of the world would be, all in the same answer, though in His answer it became obvious that the two events were not the same, but would be separated by a large span of time known as the "great tribulation."

The Great Prophecy of Matthew 24

Matthew 24 is one of the greatest prophecies of all the Bible. It was Christ’s own description and prophecy about His second coming. The prophecy continues on through chapter 25. So important was this discourse of Christ that only one other dis- course of His received as much space in the Bible, and that was the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7. Matthew 24 and 25 parallel the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. Matthew 24 helps us to tie everything together. For example, we have the great period of tribulation described both in Daniel and Revelation. In Matthew 24 we find that the "great tribulation" would come sometime after the fall of Jerusalem. This tribulation lasted for over a thousand years during which time millions of Christians were martyred.

An Outline of the Chapter

1. The very first response of Jesus to His disciples’ question was a warning.

Matthew 24:4 "And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you.’ "

Revelation describes how Satan would deceive the whole world. Here Jesus’ first statement is a warning to be careful "that no one deceives you." Jesus recognized that there would be many, many deceptions and erroneous doctrines.

2. Jesus then gives several prophetic predictions of events that were applicable on a limited scale for Jerusalem before its fall, and on a wider scale for the whole earth before His second coming. Some of these predictions are as follows:

A . False christs and prophets would appear (verses 5, 11).

B. There would be a rejection of Christ’s true messengers and messages (verses 9, 10).

C. Wars and rumors of wars and international tension would abound (verses 6, 7).

D. There would be an increase of crime and a decline of morality (verse 12).

E. The true gospel, amid opposition, would yet go to all the world (verse 14).

All of these situations developed before the fall of Jerusalem. Take the last situation, for example, about the gospel going to all the world amid opposition. Did the gospel go to all the then-known world before the fall of Jerusalem?

Colossians 1:23 "If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister."

This prophecy was fulfilled before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Paul, who was martyred by Nero sometime prior to A.D. 66, said it had already been accomplished in his day. Will this prophecy be fulfilled again before Jesus’ second coming?

Revelation 14:6 "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people — "

And so we can see that the gospel going to all the world applies to both the period before the fall of Jerusalem and to the time right before the second coming of Jesus. We could thus go down the whole list and find that each prediction was applicable to both the fall of Jerusalem and to the end of the world. Jesus was a master teacher to be able to so directly answer the disciples’ question in such a manner.

3. Third, from verses 15 through 31, Jesus gives a chronological overview of the events of the world from the disciples’ day until the Second Coming. We could list six major events that would take place during that period of time:

A. The fall of Jerusalem (verses 15–20).

B. The great period of tribulation such as has never been before, when historically, millions of Christians were burned at the stake, tortured, and martyred by one method or another (verse 21).

C. Christ would mercifully shorten the time of persecution so that it would actually cease before the end of the 1,260-year reign of the little-horn beast power. This power came to its political end in 1798, but persecution had almost ceased around 1750. If it had not been for the mercy of God, all true religion would have been wiped out during the Middle Ages, as well as all records of the Holy Bible. But God mercifully preserved them both (verse 22).

D. Following the Dark Ages, when Satan so successfully worked to deceive people through superstition, ignorance, and torture; Satan would work in a new way. The Christian reformation brought about an increase of knowledge, a multiplication of Bibles, and a new age so Satan changes his tactics. His special tactics in the last days, as prophesied throughout the New Testament, would be to work through signs, miracles, and with spiritualistic manifestations in the name of Christ (verses 23-25). Would these methods of deception work?

Matthew 24:24 "For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect."

E. The next point of the prophecy states that "immediately after the tribulation" Christ would send His own special signs in the sun, moon, and stars.

Matthew 24:29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."

F. Finally, world events would close with Jesus’ second coming (verses 30, 31).

Can We Know When the End Will Be?

The purpose of all these signs and predictions is to help the true Christian understand what is happening in the world and what is going to happen next, and to know that there is someone in charge of these events. The true Christian who understands prophecy does not have to be deceived or caught off guard.

1 Thessalonians 5:1 "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober."

Matthew 24:32 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near."

We can know when Jesus’ coming is near. Jesus said, "When you see all these things, know that it (Jesus’ second coming) is near, at the very doors" (Matthew 24:33). What are all the things Jesus predicted? Obviously He is not speaking about the fall of Jerusalem, but about the final signs that He said would appear just before His coming in verses 29, 30. These included the sun being darkened, the moon not giving her light, and the stars falling from heaven. What did Jesus say about the generation that would witness these signs of His soon coming?

Matthew 24:34 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled."

The question we might like to ask next is, Have these signs taken place yet? Before seeking to answer that question, let us look at some parallel prophecies.

Mark 13:24 "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; 25 the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in heaven will be shaken. 26 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven."

Luke 21:24 "And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 25 And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."

A Parallel Prophecy in Revelation

After foretelling the great tribulation in Revelation 6, where "souls. . . had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held" (verse 9), the Lord foretold the following events:

Revelation 6:12 "I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath is come, and who is able to stand?’ "

Time after time the Bible records signs in the sun, moon and stars occurring "immediately" after the tribulation of the Middle Ages that foretold the nearness of Jesus’ coming. Jesus said that "when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near" (Luke 21:28).

As the little-horn reign of the antichrist power came to the end of its 1,260-year reign in 1798, and as Jesus said that He would cut short the tribulation—which He did, as almost all the persecution martyring the saints ceased by 1750—then have any of these signs in the heavens which were to occur "immediately after" this tribulation period (Matthew 24:29), taken place yet?

Yes, they have. Many people are surprised to find out how accurately and literally Jesus has fulfilled prophecy.

History of Fulfilling Prophecy

There are a host of important prophecies that cluster around the time of the end of the tribulation period and thereafter. In this, the last lesson of our prophecy seminar, I would like to show how they all fit together. I hope that you can get a clearer picture than ever before of exactly where we fit into the scheme of prophecy. Prophecies do have actual fulfillments. Not just in Jesus’ day or during the Dark Ages, but in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, prophecies are continuing to be fulfilled.

A Great Earthquake

Immediately after "those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held" was complete (Revelation 6:9–11), John was shown that "there was a great earthquake" (Revelation 6:12).

Hardly had the embers of the last of the martyrs cooled before the first of these signs was fulfilled. As the age of persecution was drawing to a close, on November 1, 1755, there occurred the most terrible earthquake that had ever been known up to that time. It has since been called the "Lisbon Earthquake." The earthquake "almost destroyed" Lisbon, Portugal — Grolier Universal Encyclopedia, New York, 1965, Vol. 12, p. 65 but was felt as far away as Great Britain, Sweden, and Greenland to the north, America to the west, much of Africa to the south, and most of France to the east. It was felt over an area of at least 4,000,000 square miles. (The forty-eight continental states have 2,968,000 square miles.) Much of Northern Africa was destroyed, with one village "of about eight or ten thousand persons, together with all their cattle, . . . swallowed up. Soon after, the earth closed again over them" A. R. Spofford and Charles Gibbon, The Library of Choice Literature, Vol. 8, pp. 162, 163. In Lisbon itself, of the 150,000 inhabitants "90,000 persons (60% of the population) are supposed to have been lost on that fatal day" Robert Sears, Wonders of the World, p. 50.

Thus we find the first of the signs, "a great earthquake," fulfilled right on time. Following this sign, Revelation says, "the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood" (Revelation 6:12). It is noteworthy that in every listing of these events (Joel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Revelation), they are ALWAYS listed in the same order. (They don’t all list all the events, but the events they do list—i.e. earthquake, darkening of the sun, moon as blood, and falling of the stars—are always listed in the same order.) The next event that was to occur "immediately after the tribulation," was the darkening of the sun and the moon turning red. This prophecy was fulfilled a few years later on May 19, 1780.

The Dark Day

In his book entitled Our First Century, p. 89, R. M. Devens states, "Almost, if not altogether alone, as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind, . . . stands the dark day of May 19, 1780, . . . a most unaccountable darkness of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere of New England."

This event was a most startling event, a harbinger in many minds of the end of the world. Many immediately recognized it as a striking fulfillment of Christ’s prediction of a darkening of the sun before His second coming. Those following the fulfillment of prophecy in its chronological happenings cannot fail of recognizing the fulfillment of prophecy. Except for the darkness of Egypt during the ninth plague, there has never been another recorded day of such darkness in all of history. This Dark Day has been noted by many of the greatest men of America. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote:

" ‘Twas on a May-day of the far old year

Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell

Over the bloom and sweet life of spring,

Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon,

A horror of great darkness, like the night

In day of which the Norland sages tell —

The twilight of the gods. The low-hung sky

Was black with ominous clouds, save where its rim

Was fringed with a dull glow, like that which climbs

The crater’s sides from the red hell below.

Birds ceased to sing, and all the barnyard fowls

Roosted; the cattle at the pasture bars

Lowed, and looked homeward; bats on leathern wings

Flitted abroad; the sounds of labor died;

Men prayed and women wept; all ears grew sharp

To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter

The black sky, that the dreadful face of Christ

Might look from the rent clouds, not as He looked

A loving Guest in Bethany, but stern

As justice and inexorable law."

Even John Fitzgerald Kennedy used this as an illustration in one of his speeches on September 20, 1960, as reported the next day in the New York Times. He stated: "In 1780 in Hartford, Connecticut, the skies at noon turned one day from blue to gray, and by mid-afternoon the city had darkened over so densely that in that religious age men fell on their knees and begged a final blessing before the end came." He then went on to draw a parallel to this day of moral and political darkness.

The strange darkness continued during the following night. As Samuel Tenny described it, "it was probably as gross (a darkness) as ever has been observed since the Almighty fiat gave birth to light. . . A sheet of white paper held within a few inches of the eyes, was equally invisible with the blackest velvet" — Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society for the Year 1792, Vol. 1, pp. 97, 98. This was in spite of a full moon (which was unobserved because of clouds) until about 1:00 a.m., at which time it appeared red, seemingly shedding no light. Thus, we see the second part of the prophecy receiving a striking fulfillment at exactly the right time.

The Gospel To All the World

It was shortly after this that the Lord began to warn the world of the coming day of judgment. The close of the 2,300-day/year prophecy of Daniel 8:14 was hastening on, and the honest in heart in the world must know. The event that had been predicted every year in the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) service of the earthly sanctuary for 1,400 years up until Jesus’ death was about to be fulfilled in the heavenly sanctuary. On October 22, 1844, Jesus was to enter the court of heaven to begin the investigation of every person whose name had ever been written in the book of life to determine who would be found to have been truly converted and worthy, by the grace of God, to go to heaven, and who would be lost. Jesus wanted the people of earth to be aware of this momentous event and to begin to prepare for His second coming. Therefore He raised up messengers all over the world to call people’s attention to these awesome prophecies.

In 1821 Dr. Joseph Wolff, a converted Jew who became known as "the missionary to the world," began to proclaim the Lord’s soon coming. Wolff, like many of the early Advent reformers, did not realize that the investigative judgment of the heaven- ly sanctuary preceded the Second Coming, but rather thought that the Day of Atonement and cleansing of the sanctuary must refer to the Second Coming.

A Misunderstanding By the Lord’s Disciples

At times the Lord has used even a misunderstanding of prophecy to bring about a great reformation and a closer study of the Scriptures. Before Jesus’ crucifixion, the religious world was engrossed in its endless round of ceremonies, totally oblivious to the fact that the greatest event of all the ages was about to take place. And so five days before His death, on what some call "Palm Sunday," Jesus sent the disciples out with this startling message:

Luke 19:38 " ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’ "

Jesus came following the disciples, riding on a colt, the custom for a new king about to ascend his throne, while the multitude laid down palm branches and their own clothing for Jesus to ride on. It was a royal entrance and the disciples proclaimed and fully expected Jesus to begin His temporal reign of glory at that Passover occasion. They gave a message at the direction of Christ, but it was a totally different event which occurred at the Passover from what they expected.

The scribes and Pharisees told Jesus to " ‘Rebuke Your disciples.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out’ " (Luke 19:39, 40).

The people’s attention must be awakened, even if they did not fully understand the event to take place—for the most important event in earth’s history must not go by unnoticed.

Thus it was in 1844—the second greatest event in earth’s history as evidenced by the great importance placed upon the Day of Atonement service of the sanctuary by Jehovah. This event, the second greatest event between the creation of the earth and Jesus’ second coming, must not go by unnoticed either. Again, as the disciples did, the early Advent reformers misinterpreted the event, but it served the purpose for which God intended it to serve. The disciples expected Christ to ascend His throne of glory at the Passover season. Instead, He ascended His cross of shame. The early Advent reformers expected Christ to come to earth in glory in 1844. Instead He entered the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary in preparation for His second coming, to begin the judgment process of all men and women who have ever lived. But in both cases the message was ordained by God and attended by His Spirit.

Messengers of the Lord

Joseph Wolff, like the other Advent reformers, expected Christ to come about 1844. He traveled to almost every country of the world with his gospel. When he visited America, ex-President John Quincy Adams proposed to the House, and the House unanimously approved, inviting Dr. Wolff to speak to the assembled Congress. When he presented his views, he was "honored with the presence of all the members of Congress. . . and of the clergy and citizens of Washington" — Journal of the Reverend Joseph Wolff, pp. 398, 399.

There were other reformers that took up the same message. In England, about seven hundred ministers of the Church of England began to preach the same message. In South America, a Spanish Jesuit named Lacunza began to preach the message and wrote a clear exposition on the subject which was translated into the English language and created a great stir in England. In Germany, the Lutheran minister Bengel taught the same truth. All of these reformers arrived at the same conclusion indepen- dent of one another. Bengel himself, however, had been preceded in Germany three hundred years earlier by Martin Luther, who also recognized prophecy as pointing forward to the judgment hour beginning sometime in the early to middle 1800s. He stated: "I persuade myself verily that the day of judgment will not be full three hundred years" — The Reign of Christ on Earth, or The Voice of the Church in All Ages, by Daniel T. Taylor, Boston, 1882, p. 158. Luther, like the rest, did not yet recognize the difference between the starting of the investigative judgment and the second coming of Christ. The Lord unfolded one truth at a time in His own order and time.

So from country to country the message was carried with power that the judgment was to begin in 1844—this judgment was associated with the Second Coming. Like the disciples on that memorial journey into Jerusalem, they gave the message God intended to wake up a lost world and to call atten- tion to what was about to happen.

An American Reformer

Nowhere was the message given with more power than in America. In America, God chose as His servant a humble farmer who was also a diligent scholar, named William Miller.

Miller had been raised in a Baptist home, yet he himself became—with Jefferson, Franklin, Webster, and others—a deist. That is, he believed there was a God who had at some time created the world but who then left it to run on its own. He did not believe in the miracles or the prophecies of the Bible.

As time went on he began to sense his need of a Savior. As a young successful farmer, who held a number of local political offices, he began to realize the sinfulness and emptiness of man, and he also felt the emptiness within himself.

Miller, like Abraham Lincoln, was a self-taught scholar. He had read every book for miles around. Finally he turned to the Bible. "Ah, if I could only believe that what it says it true," he said to himself. He fell in love with the Savior, and as he continued to study he became convinced that the Bible was true, and he gave his heart to the Lord.

His old deist friends began to point out to him all the old objections to the Bible that he himself had once used. He replied that if the Bible was really God’s book there were no contradictions and he would prove it or remain a deist still.

So in the year 1816, he began a diligent search of the Bible, beginning with Genesis 1:1, and determining to go no faster than he could understand each portion. As every Bible scholar should do, he decided to lay aside all human commentaries until he had diligently searched the Scriptures for himself first. He took a concordance and the Bible and began to spend many hours every day in his search. As he progressed, he noticed how every difficult portion of the Scriptures was thoroughly explained somewhere else in Scripture. He was enthralled with how accurately prophecy after prophecy had been fulfilled to the letter. After many months of this diligent studying of the Scriptures, he finally came to the book of Daniel.

As he compared the prophecies of Daniel with those of Matthew and Revelation, he realized that the tribulation had passed, the earthquake had come right on time, and the darkening of the sun had also come exactly on time. The only heavenly sign left was the falling of the stars and the judgment.

As Miller compared scripture with scripture, he recognized that Jesus had said that, in His day anyway, no one knew the day or hour of the Second Coming—but He did not say we would never know. Furthermore, He had said we would know when it was "near, at the very doors." As he studied further he noted that Paul had said that God "has appointed a day on which He will judge the world," and God said further that "the hour of His judgment" was to be "preached" with a "loud voice" "to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" (Acts 17:31; Revelation 14:6, 7). As he continued to study Daniel, he realized that the 2,300-day/year prophecy for the judgment period of cleansing of the sanctuary reached forward to about 1843 or 1844. This was in the year 1818.

Immediately he felt a strong burden, as he says, to warn the world. If Jesus really was coming in about twenty five years, the world should know.

However, he shrank from the task. Like other reformers, he supposed that all Christians would rejoice at the thought of the soon coming of the Lord. At that time most of the religious community did not believe in the second coming of Jesus which is taught throughout Scripture. They believed that there was shortly to come a 1,000-year reign of peace and prosperity. William Miller supposed that when the Christian community should see the fulfilling of the prophecies, all pointing toward the literal return of Christ in the near future, they would be so overjoyed at going home with the Savior that in their great joy many would receive the doctrine without really examining the Scriptures for themselves. "Then suppose I should be wrong," he said, "and be the means of misleading others?"

He therefore set about diligently to review all that he had learned and to investigate every portion of Scripture dealing with the judgment and the Second Coming, and to closely investigate every possible objection to see if he could possibly be wrong. For five years he continued this search until he was finally convinced of the correctness of his position.

Now the duty of making known to others what he had learned was urged upon him again, but he shrank from such an experience. The Lord kept calling him. "When I was about my business," he said, "it was continually ringing in my ears, ‘Go and tell the world of their danger.’ This text was continually occurring to me: "When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul" (Ezekiel 33:8, 9).

For nine years he resisted the pleading of the Spirit while he continued to study the Bible. How would you feel if the Lord put such a burden on you?

Finally, in 1831, he broke down and said, "O.K., Lord, if someone asks me to speak, I will do it." For the first time he felt a great peace—and he was confident no one would ask a fifty-year-old farmer to speak. But within thirty minutes there was a knock on his door with the invitation.

When the invitation came, Miller retreated in great haste and agitation to a grove behind his farm. He was angry with himself for making such an agreement with God, angry with God for answering, and very much afraid. "No, God—Thou knowest that I cannot preach. Please send someone else," he prayed. But after an hour he fully surrendered to the Lord, and then what peace came into his soul!

From that point on the calls and invitations for speaking came in faster than he could respond. Thousands came to hear; thousands of others derided and scoffed. Wherever he went a great religious revival ensued. In nearly every town he entered, scores, in some hundreds, were converted as the result of his preaching. In many places, Protestant churches of nearly all denominations were thrown open to him, and the invitation to labor usually came from the ministers of several congregations.

The Falling of the Stars

In 1833, two years after William Miller began to present in public the evidences of Christ’s soon coming, the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Savior as tokens of His second advent. After the earthquake and the darkening of the sun, Jesus said "the stars will fall from heaven." In Revelation it is recorded that "the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind" (Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:13). This prophecy received a striking and impressive fulfillment in the great mete- oric shower of November 13, 1833.

R. M. Devens described it in his book entitled, American Progress, or The Great Events of the Greatest Century. "The whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country. . . which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the commu- nity, or with so much dread and alarm by another." "Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. . . from two o’clock until broad daylight" — Chapter 28, pars. 1–5.

"It seemed as if the whole starry heavens had congregated at one point near the zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet they are not exhausted—thousands swiftly followed in the tracks of thousands, as if created for the occasion" — F. Reed, The Christian Advocate and Journal, December 13, 1833.

The dazzling display lighted up the night, awaking the sleeping inhabitants. Those who failed to wake up by the light were awakened by the shouts and exclamations of the neighbors. One astronomer named Arago, from Boston, computed that "not less than two hundred and forty thousand meteors were at the same time visible above the horizon of Boston" — Our First Century, R. M. Devens, p. 329.

Thus was displayed the last of those signs of His coming, concerning which Jesus bade His disciples "When you see all these things, know that it is near, at the very doors" (Matthew 24:33).

What was the next event beheld by John after the falling of the stars?

Revelation 6:13 "And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the moun- tains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’ "

The Millerite Movement

With fulfilling prophecies such as the Dark Day and the falling of the stars, the work of the Millerites went forward with great power and efficiency. There was a heart-felt turning to the Lord, a putting away of sins, a searching of Scripture, and an ab- sence of shouting, external excitement, and fanati- cism rarely witnessed in a revival of such magnitude. Hundreds of ministers of all different Protestant denominations joined with William Miller in pro- claiming the Advent message.

As the time drew nearer, some of the ministers, from studying the sanctuary, realized that the day of atonement came on October 22, of that year. They reasoned that as the first sixty-nine and one-half weeks of the prophecy ended right on the Day of Passover, so the close of the 2,300 days would end on the Day of Atonement.

A Great Disappointment

When the expected day arrived, Jesus did not come in the clouds of heaven. Their hopes were dashed to the ground and they were terribly disappointed, much as the disciples were when Jesus was crucified. The hopes of both were crushed.

Yet, God had predicted this very disappointment.

Revelation 10:1 "And I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2 And he had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land . . . . 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, 7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets."

This mighty angel held a little book open. The book that had been "sealed" that God said was to be opened in the last days, was the book of Daniel (Daniel 12:4). When this little book was unsealed, following the great tribulation, it was proclaimed that "there should be time no longer" (Revelation 10:6, KJV). (The word "delay" as translated in the NKJV is translated literally and correctly in the King James Bible as "time." It is from the Greek word "chronos," from which we get the English word chronology, or chronometer, which means a clock. This is the same word Jesus used in Mark 1:15 when He said after His baptism, "The time is fulfilled," referring to the fulfillment of prophetic time.)

Prophetic time extended until 1844. After that date, there was to be no more prophetic time. As soon as God’s people on earth were ready for Him to come and had completed their work of giving the gospel to the world, and as soon as the judgment was finished in heaven, Jesus would come.

It seemed obvious to the reformers, however, that "time no longer" must refer to Jesus’ second coming. As with the disciples on that journey to Jerusalem, they had the right date but the wrong event—but God had them give the message to wake up a lost world and call attention to fulfilling prophecy.

After the opening of the prophetic book of Daniel, what did the prophecy of Revelation 10 next predict?

Revelation 10:8 "Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, ‘Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.’ 9 And I went to the angel and said to him, ‘Give me the little book.’ And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.’ 10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter."

The proclamation of "time no longer," which came from the unsealing of the book of Daniel, which had been sealed up to that point, was indeed as "sweet as honey in the mouth." It was the greatest joy for the true Christian to look forward to the Lord’s soon coming. But when the time came, it "became bitter in the stomach." Why?

Revelation 10:11 "And he said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.’ "

They understood "time no longer" to refer to the end of the world, not to the end of prophetic time and to the end of the longest time prophecy in the Bible pointing forward to the pre-Advent judgment. When they learned the correct meaning of the prophecy, and that their work on earth was not yet finished but that they still had to "prophecy again about (literally "before," as translated in the KJV) many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings," it was indeed a bitter disappointment.

The Final Movement Began With a Disappointment

October 22, 1844, proved to be a great disappointment to the believers in Christ’s soon coming. But it served a very real purpose—it sifted out the insincere and caused the others to study more deeply until the mystery was revealed.

Hebrews 12:25 "See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ 27 Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire."

God has a way of sifting out the true from the insincere. The Advent movement did not die out because of the Great Disappointment, but rather it drove the remnant to remain on their knees and to study the Bible as never before. It was as a result of this deeper searching that the rest of the last-day truths were uncovered, such as the sanctity of the seventh-day Sabbath, the state of the dead, and the meaning of the heavenly sanctuary and the inves- tigative judgment. These are truths that must also be proclaimed to the world before Jesus returns.

It was out of this disappointment that the great Second Advent Movement (God’s last remnant movement according to the identifying marks of Revelation 12:17) arose. Though some may wonder, yet historic Adventists are not ashamed of the Disappointment, for it was a part of prophecy and of God’s great plan, just as was the proclamation the disciples made on that Sunday journey into Jerusalem, which also ended in a great disappointment for them.

The cross was a point of derision among the Jews because it represented a great disappointment and a mistaken hope of the disciples. The disciples had been confident that Jesus was going to reign on the throne of David during the passover, but instead He hung on a cross. They had been wrong in their expectations and in their understanding of their proclamation. The cross represented a disappointment, but was Paul ashamed of the cross?

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."

1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

The disappointment of 1844 no more disproves the message of God today than did the disappoint- ment of A.D. 31 when Jesus was crucified. But rather the movement God started in 1844 will yet accomplish all that He intended it to accomplish.

A Called-Out People

Jesus has always had a called-out group of people. (The word church is from the Greek word "ekklesia" — which literally means "called out.") Jesus has established His church on truth, apart from human traditions. That was the foundation upon which the church was established (see Matthew 16:13–18). Sometimes it takes a disappointment to lead us to greater Bible study and away from human traditions. As Christ established the apostolic church and purified it with a disappointment, and then poured upon it the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so He has done in every particular with the last remnant movement that He established to finish His work on earth and prepare the way for His second coming. This movement, Christ promised, would be His last movement on earth and would not pass away until it had accomplished His purpose for it.

Ephesians 5:27 "That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish."

Revelation 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."

Today that process in beginning to happen. Christ is purifying His church and the message is beginning to go forth with power. Soon Jesus will come. The signs of the times all foretell that the last days of earth’s history are here. Today Jesus is calling out a people to Himself. I have chosen to be a part of Christ’s last movement that keep the command- ments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Today, Christ is calling you to follow Him step by step as He leads you away from the traditions of the world and into a closer fellowship with Him. He wants to fill you with His Spirit and make you one of His remnant people. Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God’s ideal for you. He loves you. Will you choose to follow Him today?

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Last Updated: 06/18/03