XII. Stand on Imminent Premillennial Advent Platform

But more vital, they hold, is the basic issue of premillennialism. Is the advent of Christ to be personal and premillennial? “Is the everlasting kingdom of God to be set up under the whole heaven in the regenerated earth?” Even Stuart says the Scriptures are to be interpreted in a “plain, and primary, and literal sense,” unless there is good reason to do otherwise. On any other premise we have no assurance of their true meaning, and are left to the whim and fancy of man. And it has never yet been shown that the second advent of Christ, the destruction of the Man of Sin, the judgment of the quick and the dead, and the reign of the saints on earth are not to be understood literally but only spiritually.PFF4 873.2

Those who reject a Bible truth by explaining away its positive meaning, they hold to be equally guilty with those rejecting the Scripture itself. Stuart claims that Christ’s literal, personal appearing is figurative and poetic imagery. But the church through the centuries has interpreted it literally. In the light of this survey of all the facts, the Adventists conclude:PFF4 873.3

“We are more than ever convinced of the reality and the nearness of those eternal scenes for which we look; and which we believe are in accordance with the faith once delivered to the saints;—looking for those things, and those only, which Moses and the prophets did say should come.” ^{44[Bliss?], “Address to the Opposers of Our Hope,” Supplement. Advent Herald, Dec. 4, 1844, p. 31.}PFF4 873.4

Inasmuch, then, as “definite time is no longer a dividing question,” and the second advent must be very near, the Adventists present the following summary of their prophetic faith as the great issue:PFF4 874.1

“We are looking for the personal Advent of Christ, at the termination of the prophetic periods, near the end of which we believe we must now be; that those periods are years;—that the visions of Daniel and John carry us to the end of the world, the fourth beast being Rome, and the little horn, papacy; that this world, being cleansed by fire, will become the New Heavens and New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;—that the resurrected saints will inherit it;—and that the everlasting kingdom, the kingdom of God, will be set up under the whole heaven.” ^45Ibid.PFF4 874.2

That those who oppose this Biblical platform do not have the truth is evidenced, they maintained, by their “varied and opposing views,” the novelties to which they constantly have recourse, and the readiness with which they misrepresent the Millerite views, “malign our motives, falsify our actions, and circulate every silly and foolish story which might bring contempt upon the [advent] cause, or destroy the influence of those who have been prominent in it.” ^{46Ibid., p. 32.} The very forms of opposition employed but strengthen our faith, they contend, for were we to leave these positions (the Historical School of prophetic interpretation), we would be compelled either to go back toward Rome or to turn away to German rationalism. Either course-without light, hope, or help—would be unthinkable. That, in substance, was the Adventist answer to their public opponents. They thus agree with the learned Hinton:PFF4 874.3

“We do not think it presumptuous to prefer the scheme adopted by Mede, Sir Isaac and Bishop Newton, and other learned investigators of prophecy whose names are an honor to the past age, and whose labors exhibit, in our opinion, both greater extent of research, more thorough acquaintance with this particular department of biblical science, and above all, inconceivably greater soundness of judgment, than are evinced in the Professor of Andover’s ‘Hints on the Interpretation of Prophecy.’” ^{47I. T. Hinton, op. cit., p. 231.}PFF4 874.4