In American history it's known as "The Great Disappointment." In 1844 tens of thousands of people thought that Jesus Christ was returning to the earth in visible glory. Jesus didn't arrive and thousands were left disillusioned. Over the years many have proclaimed Christ's return. Does the Bible teach that Jesus is coming back to this earth?
The movement began in the late 1820s when William Miller, a Vermont farmer, began telling his neighbors that Jesus was arriving in 1843. After Miller shared his prophetic interpretations at a local church in 1831, his fame began to spread. In 1838 he published Evidence From Scripture and History of the Second Coming of Christ, About the Year 1843. The Adventist movement was born.
William Miller lectured across New England where he met Joshua V. Hines, a Baptist minister and a whiz at publicity. He constructed prophetic charts outlining Miller's Advent calculations. Hines sponsored Millerite tent meetings throughout the Northeast and edited two religious magazines—the Midnight Cry in New York and Signs of the Times in Boston. Soon ministers, lay people and entire congregations were attracted to the hope of Christ's imminent return. By some estimates, more than 50,000 people became Adventists while as many as a million others showed interest in the second coming.
Eventually, William Miller claimed that Christ's second coming would occur between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. Needless to say, that period was an exciting and anxious time for the Adventists. Some people sold all their possessions. Others secluded themselves and spent their time preparing for Christ's coming.
The prophesied time came and Jesus didn't. In April 1844 Miller announced that he had made a mistake in calculating prophecy. Some Adventists reckoned new dates. They searched the Scriptures and concluded that Adventists were to "tarry," or wait, until Oct. 22, 1844. When that date also failed, many Adventists became disillusioned.
Over 150 years have passed since the "Great Disappointment." The people who knew William Miller and longed for their Savior's return have passed into history. The question that motivated them still remains: What does the Bible reveal about Christ's second coming?
Is Christ's second coming visible?
One of the most important prophecies is the outline Christ gave on the Mount of Olives in which He outlines the events preceding His return (Matthew 24:29-31).
Notice that Jesus says, "all the tribes of the earth...will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds." Christ's second coming isn't secret or a figure of speech, meaning He comes into people's hearts. In verses 23 to 27 Jesus warns His followers against false claims that His return will be a hidden event. Clearly, all humanity will witness the wonder.
Where will Christ return?
The Old Testament prophet Zechariah was inspired to write, "Behold, the day of the LORD is coming... And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives" (Zechariah 14:1-4). Not only does the prophet show where Christ returns, but also that the world will fight the Messiah, instead of welcoming Him. "I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem," says the prophecy (verse 2).
After Jesus' resurrection He spent 40 days with His disciples. At the end of that time, He gathered them together to witness another miraculous event in salvation history. Two powerful angels appeared to them, telling them that Christ is going to visibly return to earth just as He visibly ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-12).
What His disciples witnessed pales in comparison to the glory and splendor of His second coming! And where were the disciples when Jesus ascended into heaven? In verse 12 Luke writes, "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem."
What is the reward of the saints?
In the Olivet Prophecy Jesus teaches that His return will be visible, and audible, accompanied with "a great sound of a trumpet" (Matthew 24:31).
The apostle Paul writes about this trumpet sound in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, showing that God will resurrect the righteous dead and change the living Christians to spirit at the instant of the trumpet blast.
One of the most important tenets of Christianity is that Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, rose from the dead. Paul says, "if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus" (verse 14). This resurrection at Christ's return is the hope of those who accept Jesus as the Messiah.
The trumpet sound of Jesus' Olivet Prophecy, and of Paul's letter to the church at Thessalonica, corresponds with the last of the seven trumpet events foretold in the book of Revelation, which culminate in Christ's return.
In Revelation 20:1-6 the apostle John was inspired to write of pivotal end-time events. This passage clearly shows that at the return of Christ, God resurrects the saints, binds Satan and the Messiah then rules on earth for 1,000 years. This prophetic time is often called the Millennium.
Where is the Messiah's capital?
In the section of the Bible often called the Minor Prophets, the prophet Micah writes about the time when Christ establishes His Father's government on earth, "Many nations shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD [in Hebrew poetry, mountains and hills are symbols for kingdoms and nations], to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" (Micah 4:2).
Jesus will establish His capital in the city of Jerusalem, the city that has been the center of so much conflict and suffering over the centuries.
Micah continues, "He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken" (verses 3-4).
Jesus Christ will begin to teach all peoples the way of peace and the law of God. Fear of crime, hunger and disease, and the scourge of war will begin to disappear from human experience. Using the nature of animals as an illustration, God inspired the prophet Isaiah to predict a world in which natural enemies live in peace with each other (Isaiah 11:6-9).
What will happen to Israel?
It wasn't just William Miller's establishment of dates that created such a commotion when he preached Christ's imminent return in the 1840s. His concept of Christ's return before the establishment of a millennial kingdom on the earth disagreed with the most common teaching of his day—amillennialism.
This interpretation views the Church as the Kingdom of God on earth with Christ ruling from heaven.
Amillennialism promotes the idea that the 1,000 years of Revelation is a symbolic reference to the period of Satan's influence on humanity and God's work in the Church. When the Church finishes its work, Christ returns, the Kingdom of God is perfected, the resurrection occurs and the judgment takes place.
This interpretation tries to analogize some clear declarations of the Bible, especially the prophecies concerning Israel. According to amillennialism, the end-time prophecies concerning Israel are not literal, but rather apply to the New Testament Church.
Believing this idea requires that we believe that God was less than honest with the promises He made to the ancient Israelites. God inspired Ezekiel to write of a time when Judah and the lost tribes of Israel will reunite as one people.
God commanded Ezekiel to take two sticks and tie them together so that they became one. He was then to proclaim, "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again'" (Ezekiel 37:21-22).
The passage goes on to explain that this event will take place when David is king over Israel and all the world recognizes them as a special people of God. King David had been dead for many years at the time of Ezekiel.
In understanding biblical prophecy, it is important to determine when the passage is to be taken literally and when it is symbolic. In Ezekiel 37 the "sticks" are symbolic; Israel and Judah are the literal descendants of the ancient Israelites. Israel and Judah have not yet been united under the rulership of King David, who is in the grave awaiting the resurrection (Acts 2:29, 34).
The biblical return of Christ
What have we clearly been able to determine about Christ's second coming from Scripture?
•Christ is going to visibly return to the Mount of Olives.
•There will be human resistance to Christ.
•The saints will be resurrected at His coming and rule with Him for 1,000 years.
•Satan will be bound.
•Physical people will still exist on the earth after His return. All nations will convert to the worship of the true God, and Christ's reign will bring healing to the physical creation, peace and prosperity.
•Judah and Israel will be reunited under the reign of King David.
Anyone who waits for the return of Christ, looking in the wrong place or at the wrong time, can suffer his or her own "Great Disappointment." The stresses and evil of the present world can cloud the biblical vision of God's Kingdom.
Make no mistake about it! The Bible is clear about the fact that Christ is returning to set up His Father's Kingdom on the earth! Christians must keep that hope alive, living every day with His return as the ultimate goal! With that hope deep in our hearts, no matter when He returns, we will be ready to meet Him when He appears in the clouds. WNP
