HOW DID SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM GROW OUT OF THE MILLERITE MOVEMENT?
Ellen White, Sabbath observance, sanctuary teaching, and Adventist organization
On October 22, 1844, thousands of people expected Jesus Christ to return.
He did not.
For many who had followed William Miller's interpretation of biblical prophecy, the disappointment was devastating. Some abandoned the calculations. Others continued to believe Christ would return soon but stopped trying to determine the date.
A smaller group reached a different conclusion.
They believed that the date had been correct, but that they had misunderstood what was supposed to happen.
Instead of returning to earth, they concluded that Christ had begun a new phase of His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.
Over the following years, this group also adopted seventh-day Sabbath observance, accepted the visions of Ellen G. White as a manifestation of the prophetic gift, and developed a formal church organization.
In 1863, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was officially organized.
But William Miller himself was not a Seventh-day Adventist. He died in 1849, fourteen years before the denomination was established. Nor did all Millerites become Seventh-day Adventists. Several different Adventist movements emerged after the Great Disappointment.
Advent Christian Church
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Our purpose is to understand how one of those movements developed and then examine its distinctive teachings beside the New Testament.
The central question is not whether Adventists sincerely desire to follow Christ. It is whether the biblical passages used to support their distinctive teachings establish the conclusions drawn from them.
1. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MILLERITES AFTER OCTOBER 22, 1844?
The Millerites had expected Christ to return visibly.
When that did not happen, they faced a difficult question: Had they misunderstood the prophetic timetable, the event they expected, or both?
Different groups answered differently.
Some rejected the calculations that had led to 1844. Others continued to expect Christ's return without accepting the sanctuary explanation that would become central to Seventh-day Adventism.
Still others believed that the calculation remained correct and began searching Scripture for an event that could have occurred on that date.
This last group became particularly interested in Daniel 8:14.
Read Daniel 8:14.
The KJV says:
“Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”
The question was no longer simply when the 2,300 days ended.
It was now:
What sanctuary was to be cleansed, and what did that cleansing mean?
That question would shape the emerging Adventist movement.
2. WHO WAS HIRAM EDSON, AND WHY DID HIS EXPLANATION MATTER?
Hiram Edson was a Millerite believer who lived in New York.
After the disappointment, he and other believers continued examining the prophecies. Edson later described an experience that led him to understand Christ's activity in relation to the heavenly sanctuary rather than an immediate return to earth.
The developing interpretation was that October 22, 1844, marked a change in Christ's heavenly ministry.
Edson was not the only person involved in developing the sanctuary teaching. O. R. L. Crosier and others helped formulate and publish the interpretation.
It took time for the explanation to develop into the doctrine later adopted by Seventh-day Adventists.
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Notice the important distinction.
The original Millerite prediction concerned a visible event: Christ's return.
The new interpretation concerned an event in heaven that could not be observed from earth.
That does not automatically make the new interpretation false. Hebrews certainly teaches that Christ ministers in heaven.
But an invisible event requires biblical evidence just as much as a visible one.
We cannot establish that something happened in heaven on October 22, 1844, merely because the earlier prediction failed.
3. WHAT DID THE EARLY ADVENTISTS BELIEVE HAPPENED IN 1844?
The emerging Sabbatarian Adventists concluded that the 2,300-day prophecy ended in 1844 and that Christ then entered the final phase of His heavenly sanctuary ministry.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church continues to teach that Christ began an investigative judgment in 1844, associated with the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary and the Day of Atonement.
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This teaching requires several connected conclusions:
Daniel's 2,300 days represent 2,300 years.
The prophetic period begins at the historical date identified through the interpretation of Daniel 9.
The period ends in 1844.
The sanctuary to be cleansed is the heavenly sanctuary.
Its cleansing corresponds to a new phase of Christ's high-priestly ministry.
That phase began in 1844.
We should examine each conclusion separately.
If the New Testament teaches that Christ ministers in heaven, that establishes His heavenly ministry.
It does not, by itself, establish that a new phase began in 1844.
4. DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT TEACH THAT CHRIST IS OUR HIGH PRIEST IN HEAVEN?
Yes.
Read Hebrews 4:14–16.
The writer describes Jesus as our great High Priest who has passed into the heavens.
Read Hebrews 8:1–2.
The writer says:
“We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”
Hebrews clearly teaches that Christ ministers in the heavenly sanctuary.
That is not a distinctive Adventist discovery. It is part of the New Testament's teaching about Christ.
The question is more specific:
Does Hebrews say that Christ waited until 1844 to begin a second phase of His heavenly ministry?
To answer that question, we must read Hebrews in its own context.
5. WHAT DOES HEBREWS SAY CHRIST DID WHEN HE ENTERED HEAVEN?
Read Hebrews 9:11–12.
The writer describes Christ entering the holy place by His own blood and obtaining eternal redemption.
Read Hebrews 9:24.
“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Read Hebrews 10:12–14.
Christ offered one sacrifice for sins and sat down at God's right hand. His sacrifice does not need to be repeated.
These passages connect Christ's heavenly entrance and priestly ministry with His death, resurrection, and exaltation.
They do not mention 1844.
Seventh-day Adventists understand the earthly sanctuary's two-part ministry as a pattern of successive phases in Christ's heavenly ministry. Their interpretation distinguishes His ministry following the ascension from the final phase they believe began in 1844.
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The question for us is whether Hebrews itself establishes that chronological division.
6. DOES THE EARTHLY TABERNACLE REQUIRE TWO CHRONOLOGICAL PHASES IN CHRIST'S HEAVENLY MINISTRY?
Read Leviticus 16.
Under the law of Moses, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place on the annual Day of Atonement.
Now read Hebrews 9:6–12.
The writer uses the earthly tabernacle and its priestly services to explain Christ's superior priesthood and sacrifice.
The earthly high priest entered repeatedly with animal blood.
Christ entered through His own blood and obtained eternal redemption.
The comparison is clear.
But does the comparison require us to conclude that Christ entered one heavenly compartment at His ascension and another in 1844?
That is a further interpretation.
Hebrews 9 emphasizes the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice and His access to God's presence. It does not supply a date for a nineteenth-century transition.
We must distinguish what the earthly pattern illustrates from additional chronological conclusions drawn from that pattern.
7. WHAT IS THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT?
The Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches that the investigative judgment is part of Christ's final heavenly ministry.
According to its official statement of belief, this judgment reveals who among the dead are in Christ and who among the living are abiding in Him. Adventists understand it as demonstrating the justice of God's judgment before the Second Coming.
Their official teaching also affirms that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was offered once for all and that His heavenly ministry makes the benefits of that sacrifice available to believers.
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We should represent that position accurately.
Adventists do not officially teach that Jesus must die again or that His sacrifice on the cross was insufficient.
Their claim concerns the application of His completed sacrifice and the final judgment associated with His heavenly ministry.
But we still need to ask:
Does the New Testament describe an investigative judgment beginning in 1844?
8. DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT TEACH A FUTURE JUDGMENT?
Yes.
Read Acts 17:30–31.
Paul says God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world through the risen Christ.
Read Romans 14:10–12 and 2 Corinthians 5:10.
Paul teaches that people will give account before God and appear before Christ's judgment seat.
Read Revelation 20:11–15.
John describes the dead standing before the great white throne, with books opened and judgment rendered.
The New Testament plainly teaches judgment.
The question is not whether God judges.
The question is whether these passages establish a distinct investigative judgment that began in 1844.
None of the passages just listed gives that date.
A proposed connection between Daniel 8, Daniel 7, Leviticus 16, Hebrews, and Revelation must therefore be examined rather than assumed.
9. DOES DANIEL 8 SAY THAT THE SANCTUARY WOULD BE CLEANSED IN 1844?
Return to Daniel 8.
Read the whole chapter before beginning with verse 14.
The vision concerns a ram, a goat, the rise of another power, opposition to God's people, and interference with the sanctuary.
The interpreting angel identifies the ram with Media and Persia and the goat with Greece.
Read Daniel 8:20–21.
That is the historical setting supplied by the passage itself.
Daniel 8:14 speaks of 2,300 days and the cleansing of the sanctuary.
It does not explicitly identify the period as 2,300 years, give 457 B.C. as its starting point, or identify 1844 as its ending point.
It also does not explicitly say that Christ would begin an investigative judgment in heaven at the end of that period.
Those conclusions come from connecting Daniel 8 with other passages and applying a particular interpretive method.
We should examine the connections carefully, but we should not present the completed calculation as though every step appears in Daniel 8:14.
10. WHAT DID THE SABBATH HAVE TO DO WITH THE NEW MOVEMENT?
The Millerite movement had concentrated on Christ's expected return.
After 1844, some former Millerites began giving greater attention to the seventh-day Sabbath.
The idea did not originate with Ellen White.
Seventh Day Baptists had already been observing Saturday as the Sabbath. Rachel Oakes, a Seventh Day Baptist, influenced the thinking of Frederick Wheeler, a Millerite minister. Thomas M. Preble also promoted seventh-day observance.
Joseph Bates became an especially influential advocate of the Sabbath among former Millerites.
In 1846, Bates published a tract defending seventh-day Sabbath observance. He helped persuade James and Ellen White and other emerging Adventist leaders to adopt the practice.
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The movement was gradually developing two closely connected distinctive teachings:
Christ's heavenly sanctuary ministry associated with 1844.
The continuing obligation to observe the seventh-day Sabbath.
Both would become central to Seventh-day Adventist identity.
11. WHY DID THE SEVENTH DAY BECOME SO IMPORTANT?
Read Genesis 2:1–3.
God rested on the seventh day and blessed it.
Read Exodus 20:8–11.
The fourth commandment instructs Israel to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
The command identifies the seventh day.
Seventh-day Adventists argue that the Sabbath was established at creation, reaffirmed in the Ten Commandments, and remains binding upon Christians. They observe it from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
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Their position deserves careful consideration because the seventh day is not an invention of nineteenth-century Adventism.
It is plainly present in Scripture.
The question is whether the New Testament requires Christians under the new covenant to observe the seventh day as Israel was commanded to do under the law of Moses.
12. DID JESUS OBSERVE THE SABBATH?
Yes.
Read Luke 4:16.
Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, as was His custom.
Read Mark 2:23–28.
Jesus challenged the way certain religious leaders applied Sabbath restrictions.
He said:
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.” — Mark 2:27, KJV
He also declared Himself Lord of the Sabbath.
These passages establish that Jesus observed the Sabbath and taught about its proper place.
But Jesus lived under the law of Moses.
We should not assume that every practice Jesus observed under that covenant automatically became a command for the church after His death and resurrection.
We must examine what the apostles taught Christians about the Sabbath.
13. DID THE APOSTLES REQUIRE GENTILE CHRISTIANS TO KEEP THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH?
Read Acts 15.
The apostles and elders met to consider whether Gentile believers were required to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses.
The resulting letter addressed specific matters necessary for fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers.
It did not instruct Gentile Christians to begin observing the seventh-day Sabbath.
That omission alone does not settle every question about Christian Sabbath observance.
But it matters when we ask whether the apostles imposed the Mosaic covenant's Sabbath requirement upon Gentile believers.
Now read Galatians 4:9–11.
Paul expresses concern that the Galatians are observing days, months, times, and years in a way connected with their return to religious bondage.
Read Colossians 2:16–17.
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
Adventists distinguish the weekly seventh-day Sabbath from certain ceremonial sabbaths when interpreting this passage.
Other Christians understand Paul's reference to holy days, new moons, and sabbaths as including the weekly Sabbath.
The question must be settled by examining Paul's language, his Old Testament background, and the purpose of his argument.
We should not dismiss the passage merely because it challenges a conclusion we already hold.
14. DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT COMMAND CHRISTIANS TO WORSHIP ON SUNDAY INSTEAD?
We should be just as careful with this question.
Read Acts 20:7.
The disciples gathered on the first day of the week to break bread.
Read 1 Corinthians 16:1–2.
Paul instructed Christians to make provision on the first day of the week for a collection.
Read Revelation 1:10.
John speaks of being in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.
Christians have long associated the first day of the week with Christ's resurrection and the church's gatherings.
But Acts 20:7 does not explicitly say:
“The fourth commandment has been changed from Saturday to Sunday.”
Neither does it command Christians to treat Sunday as the Jewish Sabbath under another name.
We should distinguish the New Testament's first-day pattern from the further claim that the Mosaic Sabbath command was transferred to Sunday.
The question is not whether Christians may assemble on Saturday or Sunday.
It is whether Scripture makes observance of a particular day a universal condition of faithfulness under the new covenant.
15. WHAT DOES ROMANS 14 SAY ABOUT OBSERVING DAYS?
Read Romans 14:5–6.
Paul writes:
“One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”
Paul addresses differences of conviction among believers and calls them to act in honor of the Lord.
Christians disagree about whether this passage includes the weekly Sabbath or concerns other religious observances.
We should examine that question rather than assume the answer.
But Paul's instruction certainly challenges the practice of judging another Christian merely because that person does not share our preference for a particular day.
The larger question remains:
Has God commanded every Christian to observe the seventh day as a covenant obligation?
That claim requires New Testament evidence.
16. WHO WAS ELLEN G. WHITE?
Ellen Harmon was born in 1827.
As a young woman, she accepted William Miller's preaching about Christ's imminent return and experienced the Great Disappointment.
In December 1844, she reported receiving a vision. She continued to report visions and spiritual experiences throughout her life.
In 1846, she married James White, another former Millerite.
Together with Joseph Bates and other believers, they helped shape the emerging Sabbatarian Adventist movement.
Ellen White became a prolific religious writer and an influential figure in the denomination's development. She died in 1915.
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Her role introduces another question that goes beyond Sabbath observance and the sanctuary:
What authority should Christians give to someone who claims to receive visions from God?
17. DID ELLEN WHITE CLAIM TO RECEIVE REVELATION?
Yes.
Ellen White reported visions and messages that she believed came from God.
Seventh-day Adventists regard her ministry as a manifestation of the biblical gift of prophecy.
The church teaches that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested, while recognizing Ellen White's writings as having a special prophetic role within the movement.
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That distinction should be represented fairly.
Adventists do not officially describe Ellen White's writings as replacing the Bible.
Nevertheless, when a religious teacher claims to communicate messages from God, those messages carry an authority claim that must be examined.
If a message is truly from God, it cannot be dismissed as merely a human opinion.
If it is not from God, it must not be treated as divine instruction.
So the question is not simply whether Ellen White wrote helpful material.
It is whether her claimed prophetic authority is established.
18. DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT SAY THAT EVERY CLAIMED PROPHET SHOULD BE BELIEVED?
No.
Read 1 John 4:1.
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:19–22.
Paul tells believers not to despise prophesyings, but also to test everything and hold fast what is good.
These instructions belong together.
Christians should not reject a claim merely because it is unfamiliar.
Neither should they accept it merely because someone reports a vision, an angelic appearance, or a message from God.
The message must be tested.
And that standard applies to Ellen White just as it applies to Joseph Smith or anyone else who claims divine revelation.
19. WHAT WOULD ESTABLISH ELLEN WHITE'S PROPHETIC AUTHORITY?
A person's sincerity does not establish prophetic authority.
Neither does the number of books that person writes, the growth of a religious movement, or the good accomplished through its work.
We should ask what Ellen White claimed God revealed and how those claims can be tested against Scripture.
Read Galatians 1:8–9.
Paul warns against accepting a different gospel, even if it is presented by an angel.
Read Acts 17:10–12.
The Bereans examined the Scriptures rather than accepting a message solely because of the speaker's reputation.
We should apply the same method here.
What did Ellen White teach?
Which teachings did she present as divine revelation?
Do those teachings agree with the apostolic message?
Where a claim depends on a particular interpretation of prophecy, does the passage actually establish that interpretation?
These questions require examination of specific teachings, not a judgment based on either admiration or suspicion.
20. DID ELLEN WHITE SINGLE-HANDEDLY CREATE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM?
No.
The movement developed through the work of several people.
Hiram Edson and others contributed to the sanctuary interpretation.
Joseph Bates was particularly influential in spreading seventh-day Sabbath observance.
James White helped develop the movement's publications and organization.
Ellen White's reported visions and writings helped encourage and guide the emerging community.
The church's distinctive teachings took shape through years of study, discussion, publication, and organization.
Denominational Organization, 1860–1863
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It would therefore be inaccurate to describe Seventh-day Adventism as a movement whose entire system of teaching came from one woman.
But it would also be inaccurate to overlook the significant authority Adventists attribute to Ellen White's prophetic ministry.
Both parts of the history matter.
21. HOW DID THE SABBATH AND THE SANCTUARY BECOME CONNECTED WITH REVELATION?
Early Sabbatarian Adventists increasingly connected their teachings with the messages of the three angels in Revelation 14:6–12.
They understood the announcement of judgment, the call to worship the Creator, and the description of those who keep God's commandments as especially relevant to their movement.
The seventh-day Sabbath became connected with worshiping God as Creator.
The sanctuary teaching became connected with the announcement that the hour of God's judgment had come.
This combination helped shape the movement's understanding of its mission.
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Now we need to examine Revelation itself.
Read Revelation 14:6–12.
The passage speaks of the everlasting gospel, judgment, worship, Babylon, the beast, and the endurance of the saints.
But does it explicitly identify the seventh-day Sabbath as the decisive issue in a future worldwide conflict?
Does it identify October 22, 1844, as the beginning of the announced judgment?
Those conclusions require additional interpretation.
We should not confuse the words John wrote with the later prophetic system constructed from them.
22. DOES REVELATION 14 IDENTIFY THE SABBATH AS THE SEAL OF GOD?
Read Revelation 7:1–4 and 14:1–5.
John describes God's servants being sealed and the Lamb's people bearing His name.
Read Revelation 14:12.
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
Adventists connect commandment-keeping, worship of the Creator, and the seventh-day Sabbath with their interpretation of the final conflict.
But Revelation 14:12 does not explicitly identify the Sabbath as the seal of God.
Nor does it explicitly say that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast.
Those are further interpretive claims that must be examined in the context of Revelation's symbolic language and its message to the churches.
We should also remember that the New Testament speaks of believers being sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Read Ephesians 1:13–14 and 4:30.
Any interpretation of Revelation's sealing imagery should account for those passages rather than build a doctrine from one image alone.
23. WHAT DID THE EARLY ADVENTISTS BELIEVE ABOUT ORGANIZING A CHURCH?
At first, some Sabbatarian Adventists were reluctant to establish a formal denomination.
They had experienced rejection by established churches during the Millerite period, and some feared that creating another religious organization would reproduce the problems they believed existed in those churches.
But as the movement grew, practical questions became unavoidable.
Who would recognize and support ministers?
How would congregations cooperate?
Who would hold property?
How would publications and missionary work be organized?
James White became an important advocate of formal organization. Others remained concerned about the dangers of centralized religious authority.
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This sounds familiar.
Our earlier studies showed that Christians in several movements faced similar questions.
A group begins with a desire to follow Scripture.
As it grows, it develops arrangements for cooperation.
The question is whether those arrangements remain useful means of carrying out the church's work or acquire authority that Scripture has not given them.
24. WHEN WAS THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH ORGANIZED?
The name Seventh-day Adventist was adopted in 1860.
The denomination was formally organized in May 1863, when the General Conference was established.
At that time, the movement included approximately 125 churches and 3,500 members.
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The name expressed two central convictions.
Seventh-day referred to the Sabbath.
Adventist referred to the expectation of Christ's Second Coming.
The new organization helped coordinate ministry, publications, missions, and other activities across its congregations.
But formal organization also raises the same question we asked in our studies of bishops, councils, and missionary societies:
What authority may a church organization exercise over local congregations, and where does that authority come from?
25. DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT PROVIDE FOR COOPERATION AMONG CONGREGATIONS?
Yes.
Read 2 Corinthians 8–9.
Paul describes cooperation among congregations in providing assistance to Christians in need.
Read Philippians 4:14–18.
The Philippian congregation supported Paul's work.
Read Acts 15.
A serious disagreement involving Gentile believers was considered by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, and the resulting decision was communicated to other congregations.
These passages show that congregations did not necessarily operate in complete isolation.
But they do not, by themselves, settle every question about permanent denominational organization.
We must distinguish cooperation from the creation of a governing body that claims authority over congregations.
And we should apply the same standard to Adventist organization that we apply to every other religious movement.
26. WHAT OTHER TEACHINGS BECAME ASSOCIATED WITH SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM?
Seventh-day Adventism eventually developed a broader system of teaching than the Sabbath and the sanctuary alone.
Its official beliefs include teachings about the state of the dead, the resurrection, the millennium, Christian conduct, health, and the final destruction of evil.
Some of these teachings overlap with those of other Christian traditions. Others differ from positions commonly held in Protestant churches.
For example, Adventists teach that the dead remain unconscious until the resurrection, rather than that every person possesses an immortal soul that remains consciously active between death and resurrection.
They also teach that the wicked will ultimately be destroyed rather than suffer endless conscious torment.
These subjects deserve careful studies of their own.
We should not assume that accepting or rejecting the sanctuary doctrine automatically settles every other Adventist teaching.
Each teaching must be examined in its own biblical context.
27. DOES THE FAILURE OF THE 1844 PREDICTION AUTOMATICALLY DISPROVE EVERY ADVENTIST TEACHING?
No.
That would be poor reasoning.
The seventh day was the biblical Sabbath long before William Miller was born.
Hebrews taught Christ's heavenly priesthood long before the Great Disappointment.
The New Testament taught Christ's return long before the nineteenth century.
Those teachings do not become false because Miller's prediction failed.
But neither does the truth of those biblical teachings establish the distinctive Adventist conclusions attached to them.
The fact that Christ is our heavenly High Priest does not, by itself, establish that He began an investigative judgment in 1844.
The fact that God commanded Israel to observe the seventh-day Sabbath does not, by itself, establish that every Christian must observe it as a new-covenant obligation.
The fact that the New Testament discusses prophecy does not, by itself, establish Ellen White's prophetic authority.
Each claim needs its own evidence.
28. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM?
The history shows how a religious movement can develop after a major disappointment.
The Millerites expected Christ to return in 1844.
He did not.
One group retained the prophetic date but changed its understanding of the predicted event.
That group continued studying Scripture and adopted additional teachings concerning the heavenly sanctuary, the seventh-day Sabbath, and the prophetic messages of Revelation.
Ellen White's reported visions became an important part of the movement's identity.
Over time, the group developed publications, congregations, leadership arrangements, and a formal denominational organization.
That history explains how Seventh-day Adventism emerged.
It does not, by itself, establish whether its distinctive doctrines are correct.
Historical explanation and biblical authority are two different questions.
We need both, but we must not confuse them.
29. WHERE SHOULD THIS STUDY LEAVE US?
Return to Hebrews 10:19–23.
The writer directs Christians to approach God through Jesus Christ, our great High Priest.
Our confidence rests in Christ and His sacrifice.
Now read Matthew 24:36–44.
Jesus tells His disciples to watch and remain ready for His coming.
The New Testament gives us every reason to trust Christ's promise that He will return.
It does not give us permission to turn our interpretations into divine announcements of a date He has not revealed.
We should also be willing to examine any claim of prophetic authority, whether it comes from a familiar church tradition or a movement that began in the nineteenth century.
That includes the claims made by Seventh-day Adventists.
It includes the claims made by those who disagree with them.
And it includes our own conclusions.
We have examined four important developments: the sanctuary interpretation, seventh-day Sabbath observance, Ellen White's prophetic ministry, and the organization of the Adventist Church.
The history explains how those teachings and institutions developed.
The New Testament must now be allowed to speak for itself.
Does Daniel establish an investigative judgment beginning in 1844?
Does the new covenant require Christians to observe the seventh-day Sabbath?
How should claims of continuing prophetic revelation be tested?
What authority may a religious organization exercise over Christ's congregations?
We should answer each question from the passages that actually address it, not from loyalty to a religious movement or opposition to one.
Read first. Conclude later.
And remain willing to examine the conclusion again.
TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.
RETURN TO MAIN SERIES: ONE CHURCH, SO MANY DIVISIONS—WHAT HAPPENED?
NEXT STUDY: HOW DID THE BIBLE STUDENT MOVEMENT BECOME JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES?