Our Day / In the Light of Prophecy

by William Ambrose Spicer

To this end, the Lord appointed the first day of the seventh month a day of sounding of the trumpets. Lev. 23:24. The silver trumpets, pealing forth on that day, proclaimed to all that the day of atonement was near at hand, when every case would be brought in review before the mercy-seat by the ministry of the high priest in the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary.

True to the type, as the year 1844 drew near, when the great antitypical day of atonement was to open and the closing work of Christ to begin in the most holy place of the heavenly temple, the trumpet call of the approaching judgment hour was set pealing through all Christendom.

Events of the closing years of the eighteenth century and the early decades of the nineteenth, had stirred up Bible students to give greater attention to the study of the prophetic scriptures. It was seen that signs of the latter days were appearing, and that every line of historic prophecy pointed to the near approach of Christ's second coming.

Here and there students of the Word saw that the 2300-year period of Dan. 8:14, as explained in the ninth chapter, would end soon; and some arrived at the correct date, and looked to the year 1844 as the time when the judgment hour would come.

Witnesses were raised up in Europe—in Holland, Germany, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries. Joseph Wolff, the missionary to the Levant, preached in Greece, Palestine, Turkey, Afghanistan, and other regions the coming of the judgment hour. William Miller and many associates preached the message throughout America.

Writing in the days just before 1844, Mourant Brock, a clergyman of the Church of England, said:

"It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. In America, about three hundred ministers of the word are thus preaching 'this gospel of the kingdom;' whilst in this country, about seven hundred of the Church of England are raising the same cry."—"Advent Tracts," Vol. II, p. 135 (1844).

Not all who joined in the awakening cry at this time explained the prophecies alike, or emphasized the definite year 1844 as the beginning of the hour of God's judgment; though in America, Europe, and Asia the clear message of the ending of the prophetic time in 1844 was proclaimed with power by many voices. And as the time came, the world was ringing with the call to prepare to meet the judgment hour, even as the hosts of Israel were called by trumpet peals to prepare for the typical day of atonement.

The nature of the event to come at the end of the 2300 years was not understood by these early heralds of the advent hope. The general expectation was that the judgment hour meant the end of the world and the coming of the Lord. Though the word of prophecy indicated clearly that there was a special work to be done on earth while the judgment hour was proceeding in heaven, this was not clear to Bible students at the time. So when the prophetic period ended and the Lord did not come, believers in the prophetic truths were disappointed and unbelievers scoffed. But the call to prepare for the judgment hour was the message due to the world at that time, and the awakening cry was raised on every continent.

In the days of the Saviour's first advent, the disciples and the populace had proclaimed the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. They were at once disappointed; instead of enthroning Him as king, they witnessed His crucifixion. But in proclaiming the coming of Zion's King to Jerusalem, they were fulfilling the prophecy that had been uttered, and were giving the message for that day, notwithstanding their mistaken view as to the events that would follow.