The Tarrying Time

The Adventists found consolation in the scriptural fact that when the announcement was made of the near coming of the Lord there would be connected with it a “tarrying time.” This they saw in our Saviour’s words in Matthew 25:5, 6, and in Habakkuk 2:1-3.GSAM 152.4

As to their attitude in the spring of 1844, we quote from the Midnight Cry of May 9, 1844:—GSAM 153.1

“Having passed the point of the apparent termination of the prophetic periods, we are placed in a position which God foresaw his children would be placed in at the end of the vision; and for which he made provision, by the prophet Habakkuk, when he says, ‘I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved,’ or as it reads in the margin, ‘argued with.’ ‘And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end [of the prophetic periods] it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry [beyond their apparent termination], wait for it; because it will surely come, [in the fullness of the prophetic times, beyond which] it will not tarry.’ ^{7Habakkuk 2:1-3.}GSAM 153.2

“That this admonition has reference to the present time, is evident from Paul’s quotation of it in Hebrews 10:36-39: ‘For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.’GSAM 153.3

“We believe that we are occupying that period spoken of by the Saviour, when the bridegroom tarries (Matthew 25:5)—to which the kingdom of heaven should be likened,—when ‘that evil servant [there having been an apparent failure in the time] shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken,’ and the Lord should ‘come in a day when he looketh not for him.’GSAM 153.4

“We believe that we are now occupying that period of time spoken of by Peter, when their ‘judgement now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not;’ where they were to ‘privily bring in damnable heresies.’ ^{82 Peter 2:1, 3.} These, Peter says, were to be, even as there were false prophets when the Scriptures were indited. As therefore they of the house of Israel said, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth,’ ^{9Ezekiel 12:22.} so must there have been a time when there would be an apparent passing of the time, that the scoffers of 2 Peter 3:4 might inquire, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’ and flatter themselves that ‘all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.’GSAM 154.1

“We believe it was in view of such a tarrying of the vision that the apostle James said, ‘Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord;’ ‘be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.’ And, ‘Behold, the Judge standeth before the door.’GSAM 154.2

“And we believe in anticipation of the passing by of the expected time that our Saviour admonished us, in the twelfth chapter of Luke, ‘Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.’ ^{10Luke 12:35, 36.} To wait implies a passing of the time, for till that time we do not wait. Therefore our Lord adds, ‘Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching.’GSAM 154.3

“We shall continue, God willing, to proclaim, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him;’ and, ‘The hour of his judgment is come.’ And we trust we shall not fail to continue to cry aloud to the world and church, to arouse themselves from their songs of ‘peace,’ and to listen to God’s overtures of mercy. We intend to continue waiting and watching for the coming of the Lord, believing that it is just upon us.”GSAM 154.4