GEO. I. BUTLER by George I. Butler

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 27, 1916

GEO. I. BUTLER

By George I. Butler

The Early Experiences of the Advent Believers, as They Entered upon the Time of the Saints’ Patience

GEO. I. BUTLER

In Rev. 14: 6-12 we have a prophecy of the advent proclamation to prepare a people for the coming of our Saviour the second time. That coming will be the greatest event that has ever occurred in the history of mankind, or ever will occur in all the future. It will close up the drama of earth’s history, and bring to an end Satan’s rule in the affairs of men. It will gather all the good of past and present ages to their eternal reward, and destroy all the wicked living.

This proclamation is threefold. The first message announces to the world, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, the closing phase of the gospel message, and the beginning of the judgment in the courts of heaven; and it continues till the close of probation. The second message proclaims the moral fall of all who reject the warnings of the first message. The third message presents the final doom of that great apostasy which has corrupted the truths of the gospel, and has caused the death of millions of God’s martyrs. This message is the final warning against that power and all its false doctrines, and it brings to view the special truths God’s people proclaim in the last work of God on earth: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” It also brings to view the patience of the saints, which characterizes the true people of God in the last days. The next event is the Lord’s second coming in the clouds of heavenly angels.

This is a special work to prepare a people for Christ’s coming. There is only one church on earth proclaiming these messages,—the Seventh-day Adventist. No other people or denomination pretends to explain these messages. The first message was announced to the world by William Miller and his fellow laborers from 1836-44. It stirred the religious world. The nearness of Christ’s coming had been in a measure preached before this, but not with such power. Mr. Miller’s message was a time message. The very words of that message imply this feature: “The hour [or period] of his judgment is come.” That is a stupendous fact. In the heavenly courts the work of deciding the destiny of every person for weal or woe will be done before the coming of Christ to execute the decisions of that great tribunal. There must of necessity be such a decision before Christ could come. God would have his church on earth warned of the beginning of that grand assize, so important is it to each individual.

Paul told the Athenians, in A. D. 53, that God had appointed such a day. Acts 17:31. Where is the record of this appointment? It is found in only one place in the Bible. Daniel says, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” or “purified” (8:14, margin). The longest prophetic period—“two thousand and three hundred days”—is fully explained to Daniel in the latter part of the ninth chapter, after the prophet had especially prayed for light. The angel’s words give clear evidence that Daniel greatly desired to understand when the long period was to begin: “Seventy weeks [of prophetic time] are determined [literal Hebrew reads “cut off”] upon thy people [the Jews] 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.” Verse 24. This seventy weeks of years (490 in all) “cut off” for Daniel’s people, the Jews, evidently embraces the time God would regard that people as his peculiar heritage. The language immediately following this makes the matter very clear.

The great point of interest in this prophecy is to learn when this period of twenty-three hundred prophetic days, or years, begins, and this the angel explicitly states: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto 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.” Verse 25. Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks would be sixty-nine weeks of years; that is, 483 prophetic years of the 490 years “cut off” as the Jewish nation’s

allotment. “The going forth of the decree to restore and build Jerusalem” evidently refers to the letter of the Persian king Artaxerxes, which was given to Ezra the scribe, authorizing the complete rebuilding of Jerusalem and its wall, and the full reestablishment of the nation and the law of God. This decree is recorded in full in the seventh chapter of Ezra.

This decree of Artaxerxes went into effect in 457 B. C., in the autumn of that year, when Ezra reached Jerusalem. Twenty-three hundred years from that point would reach to the autumn of A. D. 1844, or the time spoken of by the angel to the prophet Daniel: “Unto two thousand and three hundred days [years]; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8:14. The clearest and most positive evidence establishes these facts. This prophecy covers several most important events, giving the exact point of time when they should occur.

Seven weeks (or 49 years) after Artaxerxes’ decree went into effect, the city of Jerusalem and its wall, the Jewish system of polity, were fully established. After sixty-nine weeks of years (483 years), in the fall of the year A. D. 27, the Messiah (“the anointed one”) should enter upon his ministerial work. When at his baptism the Holy Spirit descended and anointed him, he began his work. The last week of his ministry on earth remained to complete the four hundred and ninety years “cut off” for that people. We are told that in the midst of the week (the middle of that last week) the Messiah should be cut off. Christ’s ministry lasted three years and a half, when he was crucified. The first preaching of the disciples was to the Jews only. Then when the Jewish nation persecuted and killed the disciples, and slew Stephen, the gospel work began among the Gentiles. Paul was raised up and sent to the Gentiles with a special mission. Then the special privileges and blessings of the Jewish nation ceased, and the 490 years “cut off” from the 2300 years terminated, in the year A. D. 34.

There remained 1,810 years of that long period, and during these years the gospel was to go to all nations alike. At its close the time for the cleansing, or justifying, of the sanctuary must begin; for “unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” said the angel Gabriel to Daniel, yea, and to all people.

The advent people believed the cleansing of the sanctuary was the cleansing of this earth by fire at the coming of Christ. But Christ did not come. Perhaps never in the history of this world were God’s people called to meet a greater disappointment.

(To be continued)

Bowling Green, Fla.