Between 1831 and 1844, on the basis of his study of the
Bible, and particularly the prophecy of Daniel 8:14—"Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed"—William Miller, a rural
New York farmer and
Baptist lay preacher, predicted and preached the return of
Jesus Christ to the earth. Miller's teachings form the theological foundation of
Seventh-day Adventism. Four topics were especially important: • Miller's use of the Bible; • his
eschatology; • his perspective on the first and second angel's messages of Revelation 14; and; • the seven-month movement that ended with the "Great Disappointment".
Miller's use of the Bible Miller's approach was thorough and methodical, intensive and extensive. His central principle for interpreting the Bible was that "all scripture is necessary" and that no part should be bypassed. To understand a doctrine, Miller said one needed to "bring all scriptures together on the subject you wish to know; then let every word have its proper influence, and if you can form your theory without a contradiction you cannot be in error." He held that the Bible should be its own expositor. By comparing scripture with scripture, a person could unlock the meaning of the Bible. In that way the Bible became a person's authority, whereas if a creed of other individuals or their writings served as the basis of authority, then that external authority became central rather than the teaching of the Bible itself. Miller's guidelines concerning the interpretation of
Bible prophecy was built upon the same concepts set forth in his general rules. The Bible, so far as Miller and his followers were concerned, was the supreme authority in all matters of faith and doctrine.
Second Advent The Millerite movement was primarily concerned with the return of Jesus, literally, visually, in the clouds of heaven. The
French Revolution was one of several factors that caused many Bible students around the world who shared Miller's concerns to delve into the time prophecies of Daniel using the historicist methodology of interpretation. They concluded, to their satisfaction, that the end of the 1,260-"day" prophecy of Daniel 7:25 in 1798 started the era of "time of the end". They next considered the 2,300 "days" of Daniel 8:14. in the seventh year of his reign (457 BC), as recorded in
Ezra, marks the beginning of 70 "weeks". Reigns of kings were counted from New Year to New Year following an "accession year". The Persian new year began in Nisan (March–April). The Jewish civil new year began in Tishri (September–October). There were three things that Miller determined about this text: • that the 2,300 symbolic days represented 2,300 real years, as evidenced in Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34; • that the sanctuary represents the earth or church; and • by referring to 2 Peter 3:7, that the 2,300 years ended with the burning of the earth at the Second Advent. Miller tied the 2,300-day vision to the
Prophecy of Seventy Weeks in Daniel 9 where a beginning date is given. He concluded that the 70 weeks (or 70 sevens, or 490 days) were the first 490 years of the 2,300 years. The 490 years were to begin with the command to rebuild and restore
Jerusalem. The Bible records four decrees concerning Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity: •
536 BC: Decree by
Cyrus to rebuild the temple. •
519 BC: Decree by
Darius I to finish the temple. •
457 BC: Decree by
Artaxerxes I of Persia. •
444 BC: Decree by Artaxerxes to
Nehemiah to finish the wall at Jerusalem. The decree by Artaxerxes empowered Ezra to ordain laws and to set up magistrates and judges for the restored Jewish state. It also gave him unlimited funds to rebuild whatever he wanted at Jerusalem. Miller concluded that 457
BC was the beginning of the 2,300-day (or -year) prophecy, which meant that it would end about 1843–1844 (457 BC + 2300 years = 1843 AD). And so, too, the Second Advent would happen about that time. Miller assumed that the "cleansing of the sanctuary" represented purification of the earth by fire at Christ's
Second Coming. Using an interpretive principle known as the
day-year principle, Miller, along with others, interpreted a prophetic "day" to read not as a 24-hour period, but rather a
calendar year. Miller became convinced that the 2,300-day period started in 457 BC, the date of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of Persia. His interpretation led Miller to believeand predict, when pressed by his supportersthat Christ would return in "about 1843". Miller narrowed the time period to sometime in the
Jewish year 5604, stating: "My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844." March 21, 1844, passed without incident, but the majority of Millerites maintained their faith. After further discussion and study, Miller briefly adopted a new date—April 18, 1844—one based on the
Karaite Jewish calendar (as opposed to the
Rabbinic calendar). Like the previous date, April 18 passed without Christ's return. In the
Advent Herald of April 24,
Joshua Himes wrote that all the "expected and published time" had passed and admitted that they had been "mistaken in the precise time of the termination of the prophetic period".
Josiah Litch surmised that the Adventists were probably "only in error relative to the event which marked its close". Miller published a letter "To Second Advent Believers", writing, "I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment; yet I still believe that the day of the Lord is near, even at the door." In August 1844, at a camp meeting in
Exeter, New Hampshire,
Samuel S. Snow presented a new interpretation, which became known as the "seventh-month message" or the "true midnight cry". In a complex discussion based on
scriptural typology, Snow presented his conclusion (still based on the 2,300-day prophecy in Daniel 8:14) that Christ would return on "the tenth day of the seventh month of the present year, 1844". Using the calendar of the Karaite Jews, he determined this date to be October 22, 1844. This "seventh-month message" "spread with a rapidity unparalleled in the Millerites experience" amongst the general population. ==October 22, 1844==