You know, there's a kind of hope that don't wear
a watch the kind that sells the house packs a
lunch and climbs the hill because maybe just
maybe The sky will split wide open and everything
wrong will finally make sense This ain't that
left -behind kind of fear -mongering no, this
is an old story older than charts and timelines
a Farmer cracked open his Bible and found a God
who might come back real soon. And you know what
folks believed him But October 22nd, 1844 came
and went. What do you do when heaven doesn't
show up on schedule? I'm Pastor Jim. This is
the Semiseminarian, a revival for your ears.
Today's story is about the end of the world that
didn't come and the sacred ache it left behind.
We call it the Great Disappointment, but maybe
it was the beginning of something better. So
pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of iced
tea or a strong cup of coffee and join us for
a Bible study where time bends, hope lingers
and disappointment just might be the doorway
to deeper grace. I'll see you on the other side.
Okay, well, I'm excited about this one. I hope
you are too. This might be too much history class
for you, but I like it. and tonight I want to
talk about a group you may or may not have ever
heard of before called the Millerites. Has anyone
ever heard of the Millerites? Okay. The Millerites
come out of what was called in Christian history
the Second Great Awakening. Happened in the middle
of the 1800s and this denomination, the disciples
of Christ, also came out of the Second Great
Awakening. And what it essentially was, was a
frontier movement, an expansion that corresponded
with America as it grew from east to west. Christianity
grew with it. And given the pioneer frontier
nature of the people's lives, one of the things
that they noticed was the rigid structure of
the church with bishops and archbishops and la
da da da da da da da. doesn't work in Kentucky
because we have a circuit preacher. You guys
know what a circuit preacher is? Circuit preacher
during that time would have been a guy who would
have, say, four churches that he would, on his
horse, ride in a circuit from Sunday to Sunday.
And you might get the pastor of your church on
Sunday once a month because he's at the other
three, the other three weeks of the month. So
a lot of Protestant Christian groups, like the
disciples of Christ, said, we don't think that
we need that rigid church structure anymore,
and we believe in something called the priesthood
of all believers, which means because I'm the
pastor, the Holy Spirit in me is not different
somehow than the Holy Spirit that's in you. And
if you would be willing to learn then, If I could
get up every Sunday and say things like, for
I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to
you, da da da da da, you can too. Because I don't
get some special blessing to say those words
over communion. It just comes from my spirit,
just like it would from yours. And so it was
a tip to return to a primitive form of Christianity
before the church, in air quotes, right? So all
kinds of groups of Christian groups were birthed
and traditions were birthed out of the Second
Great Awakening in America in the 1800s. The
Disciples of Christ, the Church of Christ movement,
groups like that, they come out of something
called the Stone Campbell movement. We're not
going to get into that tonight, although it would
be a fascinating discussion because I don't think
that a lot of us truly know, like, this church
we go to, where did it actually come from? I
mean, we'll spend some time in the future talking
about that, but then I want to talk about overall.
So groups like that, traditions like that were
formed, but also Mormonism comes out of that
period. And the Millerites, the Millerites also.
Now this is called the second great awakening
because about a hundred years earlier in Europe,
there was something called the first great awakening.
And that's where Protestantism the rejection
of the Catholic Church in Europe became cemented,
and it became what we call the word is trans
-denominational. In other words, there were all
different kinds of faith traditions now Protestant,
but they identified themselves as Protestant
compared to the Catholicism. That's Protestant
growth, denominational growth. In America, the
expansion of The United States led to a second
great awakening. Tonight, we're going to talk
about one of those specific groups, a group called
the Millerites. So as I love to do. Let me tell
you a story. It's 1844. You're standing in a
New England field with a group of believers.
Some are wearing white robes. Others are holding
lanterns. All. holding on to hope like it's their
last piece of the thread. The cows have been
sold. The dishes have been washed and stacked
like you're not going to need them anymore. You
kiss your children good night and then you stare
into the sky waiting because Jesus is supposed
to come back tonight. But he doesn't. And as
the night stretches on and dawn breaks over the
disappointed, we're left with what I want us
to explore tonight, something called the ache.
Not foolishness, not gullibility, not heresy,
just the ache of wanting Jesus to come back and
fix everything. This is the story of the Millerites.
But it's your story and it's my story, too. And
look, I think you maybe you don't realize right
now, but I think in a minute you'll see that
it's pretty easy to scoff at them and say things
like, how could anyone fall for that? But if
you give it a second, because when you sit with
their story long enough, Something strange begins
to happen. We stop rolling our eyes and we start
wiping them. We begin to understand the ache
that drove them, the grief, the hunger for Christ
to come and fix a broken world. And suddenly,
instead of condemnation, we might feel compassion.
Friends, that's grace. That's empathy. That's
the spirit nudging us to look a little deeper
here. Now, make no mistake, the Millerites did
get some stuff wrong, and we'll explain. Also,
we'll let you know that the Millerites eventually
will grow into a denomination called the Seventh
-day Adventists. Maybe you've heard of them.
Maybe you have heard of the Branch Davidians
in Waco, but didn't know they were seven day
Adventists. But now you do. OK, so we're going
to talk about some of the stuff they got wrong.
But I think there's some stuff they got right,
too. Because somewhere in the middle of all their
misguided certainty, they were holding on to
the same hope that we are. They didn't understand
the method, but they did understand the ache.
So, Millerites, where do we get this name? A
guy by the name of William Miller. He was no
televangelist. He didn't sell healing water or
golden fleece prayer mats. He was a farmer, a
war veteran. The revolution. Miller had come
home from battle and he needed to know that there
was more. There was something behind all the
death that he saw. There has to be meaning in
all of this. So he opened his Bible page by page,
verse by verse, and eventually landed on this,
the prophecy of Daniel chapter 8 and 14. For
2 ,300 evenings and mornings, then the sanctuary
shall be restored to its rightful state. Now,
Here's where we need to under slow down and understand
How did Miller come to believe he had somehow
unlocked this magic timeline? Miller believed
it requires some mental gymnastics, but stick
with me Miller believed the 2300 evenings and
mornings and Daniel weren't literal 24 -hour
days, but rather they were symbolic of 2300 years
and This is a method in prophetic interpretation
that's known as the day year principle, a view
that goes back to the very earliest of church
thinkers and very common amongst Protestants
of his era. So Miller started looking for some
sort of starting point, some sort of divine decree
that went out, something that he could use to
peg as an actual starting date. And he found
it in Ezra chapter 7, where the Persian king
Artaxerxes issues this decree allowing the Jews
to return to Jerusalem and restore the temple.
Ezra 7 and 21, I, Artaxerxes, the king, make
a decree to all the treasurers that whatever
Ezra the priest requires, let it be done with
all diligence. That decree was dated 457 BC,
and that is where Miller began his countdown.
So 457 BC plus 2300 years equals 1844 AD. He
believed the cleansing of the sanctuary referred
to the second coming of Christ. and the purification
of the world by his return. So he preached it.
And he started pointing some time between 1843
and 1844, but then later he got to a specific
date, October 22, 1844, a date calculated based
on the Jewish calendar reckoning the day of atonement.
And guess what, gang? That math moved thousands
of people. Tens of thousands of people believed
him, sold their property, quit their jobs, printed
religious tracts, stood in fields. And when nothing
happened on October 22nd, 1844, it became known
as the Great Disappointment. But let's not just
call it that. Let's call it what it really is.
The great eight. Because they didn't just want
information, they wanted Jesus. They were wrong
about the hour, but they weren't wrong to hope.
And maybe that's the tension we live in too.
Because maybe you've had your own October 22nd.
type event. Maybe you had a diagnosis that didn't
reverse. Maybe you buried someone that you thought
would get better. Maybe you stared at your own
sky, begged it to pour open, and nothing happened.
Except maybe you learned how to wait with your
lamp lit. Now, oh if at this point you're not
thinking this let me at least tease this into
your mind because i hope that you might be sitting
there wondering didn't they read their bible
didn't jesus say not to do this exact thing he
did matthew 24 and 36 but about the day or hour
no one knows not even the angels in heaven, nor
the Son, but only the Father. Acts chapter 1
and 7, it is not for you to know the times or
periods that the Father has set by His own authority.
Even the Son didn't know. But still, William
Miller and his followers tried to predict it.
Now here's the thing, guys. Jesus never asked
us to predict the date. He told us to be fateful
in the meantime. Matthew 24, 44, therefore you
must also be ready for the Son of Man is coming,
William, at an unexpected hour. Luke 12 and 43
says, blessed is the servant whom his master
will find at work when he arrives. This is not
about prediction. This is about presence. It's
about being the kind of person that won't flinch
when the door creaks open. It's about having
oil in your lamp, not because you think that
the groom is going to return specifically at
midnight, but because you know he will come and
you want to be ready. Matthew 25 and 13. Keep
awake, therefore, for you know neither the day
nor the hour. That verse is from the parable
of the ten bridesmaids. Five bridesmaids. Five
were foolish, five were wise. The difference?
Not theology, not eschatology, but readiness.
And readiness does not equal wearing a white
robe on a hill. It looks like a dish towel in
your hand. It looks like a casserole for your
neighbor. It looks like midnight prayers and
unpaid kindness. So let's bring this home, because
this isn't just a quirky little footnote in Christian
church history. This is a mirror, because it's
our story too. We've all stood on some kind of
hill, maybe not in a white robe, but in that
same emotional stance of desperation. Eyes to
the sky, heart full of ache. Wondering, God,
will you ever show up? Maybe it was after a divorce,
or when your kids stopped believing, or when
your prayers just seemed to bounce off the ceiling.
And like the Millerites, we want something to
come and end that waiting. We want the trumpet
to sound. We want the sky to break open. We want
justice, healing. Now. Peace. Now. But Jesus
doesn't promise a calendar. He promises presence.
He promises that in the eight we're not alone.
And that's how why and how we wait should matter.
So what do we do while we wait? Matthew 25, 35
and 36. For I was hungry and you gave me food.
I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed me in. I was
naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and
you took care of me. I was in prison and you
visited me. That's it. Not charts, not countdowns
to an end. Love. Faithfulness isn't flashy, it's
neighborly. The kingdom will not be ushered in
on a spreadsheet. It'll arrive like a whisper
in the middle of a meal, like a neighbor forgiving
someone, like a church staying open late for
the cold and the hungry. Luke 12, 35 through
40, paraphrasing. Be dressed for action and have
your lamps lit. You also must be ready for the
Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. We,
friends, are not waiting on a date, but we should
be waiting with readiness. So, here's the final
question. When he knocks, will you be caught
guessing or caught serving? Will He find you
watching the clouds or feeding the sheep? Because,
beloved, the ache is holy, the calendar is not.
Amen? Amen. Thanks, guys. You know, there's something
beautiful about people who wait with their bags
packed. keep their lamps lit even after midnight
comes and goes. Millerites didn't get the day
right but maybe they got the posture right. Eyes
up, heart open, feet ready. Jesus said no one
knows the hour and still every generation somebody
listens for the trumpet in the rustling trees.
I reckon that's what faith sounds like not perfect
predictions just folks loving each other like
the kingdoms already broke in and Maybe it has
I'm pastor Jim. You've been tuned into the semi
seminary and where we preach for the weary Remember
the forgotten and light a lamp for the ones who
thought God might have forgotten their address.
I'll see you next time Keep the coffee hot and
the radio on because friend grace Still in the
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