Steps toward the revealing of "New Light"

by refiners fire 5 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • refiners fire
    refiners fire

    Years before CT Russell had to explain any false prophecies, before He had to Rationalize. There was:

    “The Great Controversy” (1888) Author, Ellen G White.

    Chapter: “What is the Sanctuary ?”

    Can anyone doubt the Dubs learnt from their forefathers bitter experiences ?

    QUOTE: “The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the declaration: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Daniel 8:14. These had been familiar words to all believers in the Lord's soon coming. By the lips of thousands was this prophecy repeated as the watchword of their faith. All felt that upon the events therein foretold depended their brightest expectations and most cherished hopes. These prophetic days had been shown to terminate in the autumn of 1844. In common with the rest of the Christian world, Adventists then held that the earth, or some portion of it, was the sanctuary. They understood that the cleansing of the sanctuary was the purification of the earth by the fires of the last great day, and that this would take place at the second advent. Hence the conclusion that Christ would return to the earth in 1844. But the appointed time had passed, and the Lord had not appeared. The believers knew that God's word could not fail; their interpretation of the prophecy must be at fault; but where was the mistake? Many rashly cut the knot of difficulty by denying that the 2300 days ended in 1844. No reason could be given for this except that Christ had not come at the time they expected Him. They argued that if the prophetic days had ended in 1844, Christ would then have returned to cleanse the sanctuary by the purification of the earth by fire; and that since He had not come, the days could not have ended”

    And so, brothers, they diligently Searched the scriptures. Searching for “new light”

    QUOTE: “To accept this conclusion was to renounce the former reckoning of the prophetic periods. The 2300 days had been found to begin when the commandment of Artaxerxes for the restoration and building of Jerusalem went into effect, in the autumn of 457 B.C. Taking this as the starting point, there was perfect harmony in the application of all the events foretold in the explanation of that period in Daniel 9:25-27. Sixty-nine weeks, the first 483 of the 2300 years, were to reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One; and Christ's baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit, A.D. 27, exactly fulfilled the specification. In the midst of the seventieth week, Messiah was to be cut off. Three and a half years after His baptism, Christ was crucified, in the spring of A.D. 31. The seventy weeks, or 490 years, were to pertain especially to the Jews. At the expiration of this period the nation sealed its rejection of Christ by the persecution of His disciples, and the apostles turned to the Gentiles, A.D. 34. The first 490 years of the 2300 having then ended, 1810 years would remain. From A.D. 34, 1810 years extend to 1844. "Then," said the angel, "shall the sanctuary be cleansed." All the preceding specifications of the prophecy had been unquestionably fulfilled at the time appointed. With this reckoning, all was clear and harmonious, except that it was not seen that any event answering to the cleansing of the sanctuary had taken place in 1844. To deny that the days ended at that time was to involve the whole question in confusion, and to renounce positions which had been established by unmistakable fulfillments of prophecy.”

    The SACRED MATHEMATICS couldn’t be in error brothers. 2520 – 607 = 1914!! Who can deny that is true??

    QUOTE “The question, What is the sanctuary? is clearly answered in the Scriptures. The term "sanctuary," as used in the Bible, refers, first, to the tabernacle built by Moses, as a pattern of heavenly things; and, secondly, to the "true tabernacle" in heaven, to which the earthly sanctuary pointed. At the death of Christ the typical service ended. The "true tabernacle" in heaven is the sanctuary of the new covenant. And as the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 is fulfilled in this dispensation, the sanctuary to which it refers must be the sanctuary of the new covenant. At the termination of the 2300 days, in 1844, there had been no sanctuary on earth for many centuries. Thus the prophecy, "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed," unquestionably points to the sanctuary in heaven…Thus those who followed in the light of the prophetic word saw that, instead of coming to the earth at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844, Christ then entered the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary to perform the closing work of atonement preparatory to His coming.”

    At last, Light! Of course, the “Fair weather” believers will not SEE the newly revealed truth of the INVISIBLE FULFILLMENT. But those with understanding shall see thru the eyes of faith. Lol brothers.

  • Maverick
    Maverick

    Great post RF. When I read this I could not help but wonder, why didn't they consider that the whole year for a day premise might be wrong? They used a unit of measure to establish an event, question the event but never the unit they measured it against. They took in into the paranormal where no human could verify its legitimacy. And today the WatchTower does that as a matter of policy. Even incorporating JW Conventions as proof of fulfulled Bible prophesy. Maverick

  • greven
    greven

    when studying the roots of jw's I came across the same thing: they learned well from Miller, Barbour and other Adventists. If an expectation fails there are several options:

    -Claim it was fulfilled, but invisible. "expecting the wrong thing at the correct time"

    -Redo your calculations find a maze and rescedule the date ahead by, oh, let's say, ten years?

    -Claim you have been deceived by Satan himself.

    -Claim Jehovah made the false prediction.

    -Blaim it on the individual members: reading things into it that were not there.

    -Deny ever having made the prediction.

    -Deny the certainty of the prediction.

    -Accept resposibility. Admit to have been foolish and mend your ways.

    I have seen it all except the last one. Sad really.

    Greven

  • OICU8it2
    OICU8it2

    very interesting piece of work thanks alot. de ja vu , huh?

  • benext
    benext

    -Accept resposibility. Admit to have been foolish and mend your ways.

    Don't think we'll ever live to see that one.

  • refiners fire
    refiners fire

    Further from "The Great Controversy" (1888 edition). So the Adventist prophecy was deemed to have been fulfilled invisibly. The expected literal return in 1844 became the Invisible return of 1844.

    QUOTE: The mistake had not been in the reckoning of the prophetic periods, but in the event to take place at the end of the 2300 days. Through this error the believers had suffered disappointment, yet all that was foretold by the prophecy, and all that they had any Scripture warrant to expect, had been accomplished. At the very time when they were lamenting the failure of their hopes, the event had taken place which was foretold by the message

    But it was not for no reason that Christ decided not to return to recieve his followers unto himself at that time. In fact, his followers were not Prepared to meet him.They were Unclean! Christ had spared them by not returning, else he would have had to destroy them in their impurity!

    QUOTE…But the people were not yet ready to meet their Lord. There was still a work of preparation to be accomplished for them. Light was to be given, directing their minds to the temple of God in heaven; and as they should by faith follow their High Priest in His ministration there, new duties would be revealed. Another message of warning and instruction was to be given to the church. Says the prophet: "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?

    And why were they impure? because the followers of Christ had not been performing pure worship. There were correct forms of worship, necessary to salvation, lost since apostolic times. Worship practises that now must be restored that the believers may be fit to meet their lord.

    QUOTE: Those who are living upon the earth when the intercession of Christ shall cease in the sanctuary above are to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator… Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil…. there is to be a special work of purification, of putting away of sin, among God's people upon earth…When this work shall have been accomplished, the followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing

    And what was this special work? This purifying form of sacred worship that had to be restored?

    QUOTE: Within the holy of holies, in the sanctuary in heaven, the divine law is sacredly enshrined--the law that was spoken by God Himself amid the thunders of Sinai and written with His own finger on the tables of stone…Those who arrived at an understanding of this important point were thus led to see the sacred, unchanging character of the divine law. They saw, as never before, the force of the Saviour's words: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." …. "All His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever." ….In the very bosom of the Decalogue is the fourth commandment, as it was first proclaimed: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.... The Spirit of God impressed the hearts of those students of His word. The conviction was urged upon them that they had ignorantly transgressed this precept by disregarding the Creator's rest day… They had been honestly seeking to know and to do God's will; now, as they saw themselves transgressors of His law, sorrow filled their hearts”…

    Yes, the Faithful and Discreet slave had been in captivity to False worship practises all this time.They repented. Now they beheld that the Lord had a mighty work for them to do and that the disappointment of their expectations was actually a precursor to the restoration of pure practises in worship .

    Sabbatarianism / Preaching door to door.

    Take your pick.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit