The disciples were disappointed when Jesus was put to death and buried; the Adventist people were disappointed when Jesus did not come in 1844. Is there any scripture which clearly shows that the people of God will not be disappointed again at His second coming?
G. W. S.
The disappointment was clearly foretold at the time of the first advent. Our Lord had warned them again and again as to just what was to come, the trial, the crucifixion, and all the events connected with these; but they would not, could not, see. They were blinded with the idea of a temporal kingdom. Even so the disappointment in 1844 was foretold in the book which was bitter after John ate it (Rev. 10:9); in the intimation, both in Habakkuk and Hebrews, that the vision tarry, wait for it. See Hab. 2:1-3; Heb. 10:36. The very context in Habakkuk would indicate that those who looked for the vision and it did not come would need argument to strengthen them; and the prophet is represented as waiting to see what he shall answer when he is reproved, or argued with; consequently the Lord told him to write out the vision. But He assured him that tho it seemed to tarry, it would come, and would not tarry longer.
There is this difference between the great event which awaits us and the two that are referred to: Both of those were marked with definite time. The very year of Christ's first advent was marked. Various events of that advent were marked. Men chose to be disappointed at that time. They would not look upon the words of our Saviour as expressing real, literal truth. Consequently they thought that He would then redeem Israel by a manifestation of great power and pomp and glory. He did redeem Israel in His death, but not in the way they looked for. So in regard to the advent movement in 1844. The 2,300 days reached to that very year. Men thought that the cleansing of the sanctuary meant the cleansing of the earth by fire, and therefore Christ must then come; but He did not come, and many were disappointed, sorely tested and tried, as the prophecy declared to be the case.
But there is no definite time to mark His second coming, no one special point in time to which people can look. God gives the signs which show that His coming is near, and then tells His people to watch and to wait, but assures them that He will come and will not tarry. The very nature of the event itself, coming at an indefinite time, shows that there will be no disappointment to the faithful, but there may be many surprises.