What was the Great Disappointment?

Answer

The Great Disappointment refers to a period in Seventh-day Adventist history when followers of William Miller (1782—1849) were deeply disillusioned after his predictions for the second coming of Christ in 1843 and later in 1844 did not materialize.

William Miller, a farmer and army captain in the War of 1812, converted from Deism to Christianity in 1816. He began studying the Scriptures and eventually became a licensed Baptist minister in 1833.

After fourteen years of intensive Bible study, focusing primarily on the books of Daniel and Revelation, Miller believed he had unlocked the secrets of Daniel’s prophecies. In 1831, he forecasted that Jesus Christ would return within a year of March 21, 1843. His teachings were documented in a book published in 1836 titled Evidence from Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ, about the Year 1843.

Miller’s preaching on the imminent return of Christ garnered significant interest among Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians in America. These followers, criticized as Millerites, numbered in the hundreds of thousands as the anticipated date approached. Some followers left their jobs and distributed their belongings, fully convinced of the imminent return of Christ.

After the expected date passed without incident, Miller recalculated a new specific date for Christ’s return, settling on October 22, 1844. When this date also came and went without the anticipated return, most of Miller’s followers abandoned the movement. Miller himself faded into obscurity and passed away a few years later. Those who had embraced Miller’s teachings experienced profound sadness and disappointment—believing they would ascend to heaven in 1844, only to have their hopes dashed. Life went on for them as usual. This event became known as “the Great Disappointment.”At Disappointment.” Those who remained in the movement referred to themselves as the “remnant” and laid the groundwork for the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Advent Christian Church.

Later Adventists sought to save face regarding the Great Disappointment by reinterpreting the prophecies that Miller had used to establish his dates. Instead of signifying Jesus’ return to earth, they claimed that October 1844 marked the commencement of Jesus’ final atoning work. According to the remnant, this was the moment when Jesus entered the Most Holy Place in the heavenly sanctuary to commence judgment on who would be saved—His final act before His second coming.

Miller was not the initial nor the final misguided preacher to predict the end of the age, but he might have been the most convincing and infamous in recent Christian history. The Great Disappointment could have been averted if Miller and his followers had only grasped a crucial biblical truth. Indeed, followers of Jesus Christ are urged to live with confident anticipation of the Lord’s imminent return «looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; », (Titus 2:13). Additionally, Revelation 22, the final chapter in the Bible, assures us that Jesus Christ will come soon. Miller was correct on this fundamental point. However, despite his thorough study of Scripture, Miller overlooked a crucial truth. Our anticipation of Christ’s second coming should be balanced with the fact that Jesus clearly stated: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” « But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. », (Matthew 24:36). God has deliberately chosen not to disclose the day or time of Christ’s return.