And that's the thing. William Miller did not set the date. Daniel 8:14 set the date. Miller just happened to find it, and he rang the first.
“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. ”
Daniel 8:14 KJV
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William Miller, along with numerous others throughout the world, was prompted by the holy Spirit to study prophecy as a part of God's Great Awakening in the early 19th century, which ushered in the final days. (Which can also be proved from prophecy). Miller wasn't alone to discover that prophecy, and subsequently Daniel and Revelation revealed that the last days were literally on the doorstep. Those wasn't new. The reformers taught this. Men like Newton, Wesley and many others knew that the events that were to usher in the second coming were close.
In fact, this was God's warning to the world. Time is short. The judgement is coming. Prepare to meet Christ because he's coming back. Soon.
In order to determine the starting point of the cleansing of the sanctuary, which many believed to be the earth and it's cleansing by fire at the second coming, Miller studied other sections of prophecy, and particularly...
“24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. ”
Daniel 9:24-26 KJV
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Careful and prayerful study brought Miller to October 1844. The obvious conclusion for him, Jesus is coming in 1844. Considering other prophetic fulfilments that had taken place in the previous few decades, made the case stronger.
If you have an argument against Miller's conclusion, that's fine. No-one will disagree with you, Jesus didn't come back in 1844. Obviously. But take care when criticising him for the date. The event was wrong sure, but the date? No-one at that time could prove him wrong. And none today can do better. All you have to do is figure out what the event was.
What those early Adventists discovered, those who refused to let go of what they knew to be a leading of the holy Spirit, and after entire nights in prayer, fasting, and the study of scripture, (Adventists do not get their doctrines from corn flakes packets) they found our High Priest moving from the holy place to the most holy place in the antitypical heavenly enactment of the day of atonement, when the high priest entered the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary, portrayed as a time of judgement and a cleansing of God's people through repentance and sanctification by many Hebrew scholars throughout the centuries.
Read the OT, particularly as it pertains to the sanctuary and it's services, and you will learn much concerning the character and actions of our God today, and about what is taking place in the heavenly sanctuary on our behalf. I remember you once said you understood the Adventist teachings regarding this matter. I just hope you learned it from those who did understand it, and not from those who are ignorant of the teaching and criticise it without knowledge. Your constant harping and criticism tells me that you only took notice of the latter.
I just had a thought concerning the Sabbath and the 4th commandment. Achan stole a Babylonian garment from Jericho. He was destroyed because of it. Clothing throughout scripture is a metaphor for righteousness. We are told to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. That righteousness is a gift, which comes to us by faith through the sanctification of the holy Spirit through God's word.
Like Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah. Clothed by the Angel. In Psalms we are told that all God's commandments are righteousness. What was the man wearing to the wedding feast, and why was he thrown out? Connect the dots. Whose garment are you wearing in rejecting the Lord's Sabbath? Whose authority are you surrendered to? Where is the "thus sayeth the Lord" in defence of your theories and beliefs? Adventists have Exodus 20 and the numerous overwhelming support of scripture, Christ's and the apostles' examples, and Christian history that cries aloud the sacredness of the Lord's Day, the Sabbath of the 4th commandment which Jesus declared would never change, not even if heaven and earth should pass away. Jesus said, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...". Not ours, not the world's. God has set the only benchmark for righteousness, and written out on the fleshly tables of the hearts and minds of those surrendered to His will.
Ellen White is not my authority in spiritual or religious matters. Nor is David in New Jersey, nor is Amigo in Texas. Nor is the pope in Rome, the local Pentecostal televangelist, or the president of the SDA general conference. The only true authority for doctrine, faith, and practise is scripture. Scripture is our only safeguard. As Ellen White said herself, and which you would be a hypocrite to disagree with,
But God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines, and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of learned men, the deductions of science, the creeds or decisions of ecclesiastical councils, as numerous and discordant as are the churches which they represent, the voice of the majority,—not one or all of these should be regarded as evidence for or against any point of religious faith. Before accepting any doctrine or precept, we should demand a plain “Thus saith the Lord” in its support. GC88 595.1