Adventism

A Brief history of

Seventh-day Adventism

The Seventh-day Adventist Church came out of a nineteenth- century movement known as the Advent Movement.

In the early 1800's, a Baptist minister named William Miller, was studying the book of Daniel. His studies led him to Daniel 8:14, which says, "Unto 2300 days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." When William Miller calculated the 2300 time period, he discovered that this period would expire in the year 1844 (he originally thought it would end in 1843).

Although William Miller correctly calculated the time of this prophecy, he unfortunately, misinterpreted what the cleansing of the sanctuary meant and began to preach that Jesus was coming on October 22, 1844.

William Miller's message caught fire and believers from various denominations began preaching that Christ's second "advent" was soon to happen. As the message picked up steam, they began to call themselves Adventists. When October 22, arrived, Adventists everywhere watched the sky with anticipation, but Jesus obviously did not come and the people were greatly disappointed. As a matter of fact, this event went down in history as the Great Disappointment.

Following the disappointment of 1844, a group of Adventists continued studying Daniel 8:14. Unable to reconcile William Miller's miscalculations and seeking to comprehend the delayed return of Christ, they earnestly pursued a deeper understanding. After a period of intense study, an Adventist named Hiram Edson had a revelation regarding the sanctuary. He saw that there was a temple in heaven and that the 2300-day prophecy pertained to this sanctuary, rather than the earth. This fresh comprehension of the sanctuary and the 2300-day prophecy gave rise to a new movement and a revised interpretation of Bible prophecy.

As this group of Adventists kept diving deep into their studies, a tract about the seventh-day Sabbath was shared with them by Joseph Bates. Even though they, like many other Christians, thought the Sabbath was only for the Jews, everything changed when Ellen White, who had also been receiving divine revelations, had a revelation about the Sabbath. God showed her that all ten commandments were still binding on humanity, and thus the seventh-day Sabbath was just as important. Once the truth of the Sabbath was accepted, it was then that these Adventists became Seventh-day Adventists. And to this day, our hope is founded in seeing our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ come through those clouds to take us home!

The Seventh-day Adventist Church came out of a nineteenth-century movement known as the Advent Movement.

William Miller's message caught fire and believers from various denominations began to preaching that Christ's second "advent" was soon to happen. As the message picked up steam they began to call themselves Adventists. When October 22, arrived, Adventists everywhere watched the sky with anticipaion, but Jesus obviously did not come and the people were greatly disappointed. As a matter of fact, this event went down in history as the Great Disappointment.