October 22

I can't let this day go by without commenting on its significance. I have to ask myself, What would it have been like to be a Millerite and to be alive on October 22, 1844? Oh, to see a revival of the spirit of the seventh-month movement that started with the midnight cry on Aug. 12-17 with messages by Samuel S. Snow.

Revelation 10 foretells of Jesus starting the 2nd Advent movement by pointing to the prophecies of the "open book" of Daniel. It also foretold of the great disappointment at the end of the chapter, but it admonishes the Advent movement to prophesy again in a world-wide fashion.

Why are we still here 162 years later? EGW tells us Jesus could have come shortly after 1844. These are important questions to ponder everytime October 22 comes around. COL 69 says it best: "When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own."

We must never forget that since October 22, 1844, we have been living in the judgment hour. We are also told by EGW that it is the "worldliness, unconsecration, and unbelief that has kept us in this world so many years."

As we see yet another year go by that extends the delay in the second coming, let us with true hearts draw nigh to God, asking that He will empower us to be like Jesus and to finish His work and hasten His soon return.

At Advent HOPE this Sabbath, we heard a wonderful sermon on "The Blessed Hope" by Elder Siegfried Roeske and he talked about October 22 and the nearness of the 2nd Coming of Jesus in our day.