Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right message at the right time . But as the early disciples declared , " The time is fulfilled , and the kingdom of God is at hand ," based on the prophecy of Daniel 9 , while they failed to perceive that the death of the Messiah was foretold in the same scripture , so Miller and his associates preached the message based on Daniel 8:14 and Revelation 14:7 , and failed to see that there were still other messages brought to view in Revelation 14 , which were also to be given before the advent of the Lord . As the disciples were mistaken in regard to the kingdom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks , so Adventists were mistaken in regard to the event to take place at the expiration of the 2300 days . In both cases there was an acceptance of , or rather an adherence to , popular errors that blinded the mind to the truth . Both classes fulfilled the will of God in delivering the message which He desired to be given , and both , through their own misapprehension of their message , suffered disappointment .
Yet God accomplished His own beneficent purpose in permitting the warning of the judgment to be given just as it was . The great day was at hand , and in His providence the people were brought to the test of a definite time , in order to reveal to them what was in their hearts . The message was designed for the testing and purification of the church . They were to be led to see whether their affections were set upon this world or upon Christ and heaven . They professed to love the Saviour ; now they were to prove their love . Were they ready to renounce their worldly hopes and ambitions , and welcome with joy the advent of their Lord ? The message was designed to enable them to discern their true spiritual state ; it was sent in mercy to arouse them to seek the Lord with repentance and humiliation .
The disappointment also , though the result of their own misapprehension of the message which they gave , was to be overruled for good . It would test the hearts of those who had professed to receive the warning . In the face of their disappointment would they rashly give up their experience and cast away their confidence in God ' s word ? or would they , in prayer and humility , seek to discern where they had failed to comprehend the significance of the prophecy ? How many had moved from fear , or from impulse and excitement ? How many were halfhearted and unbelieving ? Multitudes professed to love the appearing of the Lord . When called to endure the scoffs and reproach of the world , and the test of delay and disappointment , would they renounce the faith ? Because they did not immediately understand the dealings of God with them , would they cast aside truths sustained by the clearest testimony of His word ?
This test would reveal the strength of those who with real faith had obeyed what they believed to be the teaching of the word and the Spirit of God . It would teach them , as only such an experience could , the danger of accepting the theories and interpretations of men , instead of making the Bible its own interpreter . To the children of faith the perplexity and sorrow resulting from their error would work the needed correction . They would be led to a closer study of the prophetic word . They
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