The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 322

a fool, need not err therein.”—Bliss, page 70. Link after link of the
chain of truth rewarded his efforts, as step by step he traced down the
great lines of prophecy. Angels of heaven were guiding his mind and
opening the Scriptures to his understanding.
Taking the manner in which the prophecies had been fulfilled in
the past as a criterion by which to judge of the fulfillment of those
which were still future, he became satisfied that the popular view of the
spiritual reign of Christ—a temporal millennium before the end of the
world—was not sustained by the word of God. This doctrine, pointing to
a thousand years of righteousness and peace before the personal coming
of the Lord, put far off the terrors of the day of God. But, pleasing though
it may be, it is contrary to the teachings of Christ and His apostles,
who declared that the wheat and the tares and to grow together until
the harvest, the end of the world; that “evil men and seducers shall wax
worse and worse;” that “in the last days perilous times shall come;” and
that the kingdom of darkness shall continue until the advent of the Lord
and shall be consumed with the spirit of His mouth and be destroyed
with the brightness of His coming. Matthew 13:30, 38-41; 2 Timothy
3:13, 1; 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
The doctrine of the world’s conversion and the spiritual reign of
Christ was not held by the apostolic church. It was not generally
accepted by Christians until about the beginning of the eighteenth
century. Like every other error, its results were evil. It taught men to
look far in the future for the coming of the Lord and prevented them from
giving heed to the signs heralding His approach. It induced a feeling
of confidence and security that was not well founded and led many to
neglect the preparation necessary in order to meet their Lord.
Miller found the literal, personal coming of Christ to be plainly
taught in the Scriptures. Says Paul: “The Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice

321