My Hope Is Built on . . . ?

A few years back a writer in the Review, reflecting on the great upheaval going on in the world, shared a refrain that’s probably very familiar to Seventh-day Adventist ears. “Amid all this confusion and uncertainty there are still some things we can be certain about,” the writer reflected. “We may know that we are living in the last days of this world’s history. We may know that Jesus is soon coming again. This certainty is based upon the unfailing prophetic word of God, which is being fulfilled before our eyes.”[1]

I say that this was shared a “few years back,” but I use the term very loosely. It was written in 1942, at the height of the Second World War, and it sought to provide readers with the assurance that in the face of chaotic and uncertain times, they could rest in the certainty that prophecy was being fulfilled and that Jesus was therefore returning very soon.

This is, of course, a sentiment that we as Adventists have expressed repeatedly throughout our history. Indeed, just three years later, as the war neared its end and there were movements afoot to establish a world “peace table,” another writer, noting a push to make the pope the head of the initiative, similarly viewed such a movement as the fulfillment of prophecy and a sure sign that Jesus was on the cusp of returning. “It is very evident that the prophetic word of God is being fulfilled,” he thus wrote. “The final steps in the development of papal restoration to power will be rapid ones. The time is to come when the Roman church is to boast ‘in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.’ That day is fast approaching.”[2]

Again, this was written in 1945.

As I said, such sentiments have been—and continue to be—repeated often throughout our history. Since before our official founding, we’ve made sign-watching an Adventist pastime, trying to figure out how world events fit into our prophetic timelines, and looking for indications that Christ’s return is about to happen very soon.

Let’s resist the urge to turn everything into a ‘sign’ of His return, recognizing that our eschatological interpretations are always fallible, and that Jesus Himself is compelling enough.

Thus, whether it was the American Civil War, the crash of the stock market, various world wars, the pope speaking to the United States Congress, or worldwide pandemics, we’ve often been quick to declare that such events are a sure indication that prophecy is “being fulfilled” and that Christ’s return is just around the corner.

Not Just an Adventist Phenomenon

Actually, such a phenomenon isn’t at all unique to Adventists. Ever since John wrote his apocalyptic book, Christians have been trying to figure out how the Apocalypse connects to whatever it is that’s going on around us in the world. Such a pursuit started to especially crescendo as a result of the Protestant Reformation, which saw in John’s book a history of the Roman Church.

The examples I could give are legion.

Thus, Cotton Mather, perhaps the greatest Puritan mind in America before the rise of Jonathan Edwards, predicted in the seventeenth century, based on his prophetic calculations, that the antichrist—whom he identified as Rome—would fall in 1697. When that didn’t happen, he recalculated it to 1736, and then later adjusted it again to 1716. He died in 1728, having not witnessed the return of Jesus, of course—but his faith in the fulfillment of prophecy, and his ability to apprehend it, remained unwavering.[3]

A century later, evangelist Charles Finney similarly tried his hand at prophetic prognosticating. Though Finney was a postmillennialist, believing that Christ would return after 1,000 years of peace and prosperity, he nevertheless displayed optimism in his ability to predict when that millennium would begin—and in Christians’ contribution to making it happen. If all who took on Christ’s name were faithful and diligent, he thus explained in 1830, pursuing with great zeal the task of bringing the gospel to the world, they could “convert the world and bring on the millennium in three months.”[4]

Of course, as Adventists, we’re very familiar with the limits and challenges of making predictions about the end of the world, having started in the wake of just such an event in 1844. Though we later corrected course, understanding the prophecy of Daniel 8:14 to refer to a different event, it nevertheless gave us—and should continue to give us—pause when it comes to predicting just how and when the Bible’s apocalyptic material meets its fulfillment. These lessons from apocalyptic history should therefore nudge us more toward humility than certainty regarding our ability to anticipate events.

This isn’t to say that it’s a useless exercise, or that we should bury our heads in the sand when it comes to what’s happening in the world around us. At the very least, however, I think Isaac Newton’s reflections are apropos in relation to God’s intention for prophecy. “The folly of Interpreters has been, to foretel [sic] times and things by [prophecies], as if God designed to make them Prophets,” he explained in 1733. “By this rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought the Prophecy also into contempt,” he continued. “The design of God was much otherwise . . . he gave [them] not to gratify men’s curiosities, by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event.”[5] Prophecy is best understood in retrospect, Newton cautiously explained, rather than trying to turn us into predictors of the future.

A Question of Faith

More important, at least for me, such failed predictions cause me to reevaluate where I put my confidence when it comes to faith. Admittedly—and I may be somewhat unique in my Adventism when it comes to this—my faith doesn’t really get buoyed by the supposed fulfillment of a particular prophecy. If anything, it feels like my faith is resting on sinking sand, setting myself up for disappointment and disillusionment, when I tie it too tightly to the fulfillment of any particular prophecy. I need something more stable, more secure, more lasting.

Prophecy is best understood in retrospect, rather than trying to turn us into predictors of the future.

At the risk of setting up a false dichotomy, my ultimate hope is in—and finds its inspiration from—Jesus. He is the only one I’m willing to place my ultimate confidence in. He’s also—though this may sound strange—the only one I’m willing to be wrong about, since the love He embodied changed the world in ways that eschatological interpretation likely never can. After all, “whether there are prophecies, they will fail,” but “love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:8).

Incidentally, Ellen White, at least at times, seemed to promote this perspective. Recognizing the tendency of some to use the signs of the times to energize and motivate their faith, she noted—in the aptly named Signs of the Times—in 1887 that the “shortness of time is frequently urged as an incentive for seeking righteousness and making Christ our friend.” But this, she continued, “should not be the great motive with us; for it savors of selfishness.” She then wondered: “Is it necessary that the terrors of the day of God should be held before us, that we may be compelled to right action through fear? It ought not to be so. Jesus is attractive. He is full of love, mercy, and compassion.”[6]

So, yes, let’s be aware of the broad strokes of God’s apocalyptic story, recognizing that Jesus is, indeed, coming very soon. But let’s also resist the urge to turn everything into a “sign” of that return, recognizing that our eschatological interpretations are always fallible, and that Jesus Himself is compelling enough.

Indeed, as for me and my household, we will sing with great conviction:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

[1] N. P. Neilsen, “Standing the Test,” Review and Herald, Oct. 8, 1942, p. 5.

[2] C. S. Longacre, “Shall the Church Sit at the Peace Table?” Review and Herald, Feb. 1, 1945, p. 11.

[3] See James West Davidson, The Logic of Millennial Thought: Eighteenth-Century New England (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1977), pp. 13-16.

[4] Quoted in Grant Underwood, The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1993), p. 8.

[5] Isaac Newton, Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of Saint John (London: J. Darby and T. Browne, 1733), p. 251.

[6] Ellen G. White, “Rest in Christ,” Signs of the Times, Mar. 17, 1887,p. 161.