Once again, the specter of time-setting is haunting various conservative Adventist minds, both in the church or on its edge.

I well remember when I first encountered persons drawn to this siren call. During my graduate school years, a physician from northern California wrote a book that made the rounds among certain of the striving faithful, recalculating certain of the time prophecies in Daniel and Revelation and placing them in the future. Soon thereafter another popular revivalist began teaching similar concepts, and others followed in quick succession. Some employed one or another version of the so-called “Jubilee cycle,” concluding that Jesus had to come in 1987—and when that date came and went, it was postponed to 1994.

During the first decade of the present century, another high-profile lecturer came forward with a similar theory. He insisted—on what grounds, he wasn’t very clear—that Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden thirty-one years before they sinned and were expelled, and that therefore, using the six thousand year chronology found in the writings of Ellen White, Jesus couldn’t possibly return any later than 2031. The one promoting this theory quickly lost traction among thoughtful conservative Adventists, and his speaking invitations quickly dried up.

“Jesus must come in the next few years.”

And now, this heresy is back.

Again, using Ellen White’s six thousand year chronology of the earth’s existence—one beyond dispute so far as Ellen White’s writings are concerned—at least two individuals are now claiming that the coming of Christ is likely to occur at some point between 2027 and 2031, give or take a few years. (Most of these folks are careful not to be too exact, for obvious reasons.)

One of them states in a recent online video, “I’ve not made a time, brothers and sisters, I’ve just looked at what the Spirit of Prophecy says.”

But actually, he hasn’t.

The writings of Ellen White are in no way exact so far as the age of the earth is concerned, though they repeatedly approximate the earth’s age at six thousand years. In several statements where Ellen White speaks of the age of the earth, this use of approximate language is clear. In one statement, refuting the theories of infidel geologists regarding long ages of time, she declares:

Many who profess to believe the Bible record are at a loss to account for wonderful things which are found in the earth, with the view that creation week was only seven literal days, and that the world is now only about six thousand years old [##1|Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 3, p. 92.##].

Amid the general gloom and moral wretchedness, man has wandered from the gates of Paradise for nearly six thousand years, subject to sickness, pain, sorrow, tears, and death [##2|——Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, p. 7.##].

The great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon to close; and the wicked one redoubles his efforts to defeat the work of Christ in man’s behalf and to fasten souls in his snares [##3|——The Great Controversy, p. 514.##].

Nowhere does Ellen White give an exact date for the beginning of earth’s history, and the above statements do not permit us to establish an exact length of time for how long that history will continue. The approximate length of six thousand years is unassailable, but on the basis of the above statements, one cannot claim exactitude for this time frame. So any claim, based on this chronology, that “Jesus must come in the next few years” (the exact words of one of these presenters) cannot rightly base itself on the witness of the inspired pen.

“No Time Proclamation”

Ellen White’s writings are unmistakable in their warnings against making time predictions a component of the Seventh-day Adventist message. In one of her clearest warnings against such diversions, she writes:

The times and the seasons God has put in His own power. And why has not God given us this knowledge?—Because we would not make a right use of it if He did. A condition of things would result from this knowledge among our people that would greatly retard the work of God in preparing a people to stand in the great day that is to come. We are not to live upon time excitement. We are not to be engrossed with speculation in regard to the times and the seasons which God has not revealed. Jesus has told His disciples to “watch,” but not for a definite time. His followers are to be in the position of those who are listening for the orders of their Captain; they are to watch, wait, pray, and work, as they approach the time for the coming of the Lord; but no one will be able to predict just when that time will come; for “of that day and hour knoweth no man.” You will not be able to say that He will come in one, two, or five years, neither are you to put off His coming by stating that it may not be for ten or twenty years [##4|——Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 189.##].

This new focus of certain ones on 2027 and 2031 clearly militates against the above counsel from God’s prophet. And the following warning is clearer still as to how no time proclamation is to be heard from God’s people since the close of the final time prophecy in 1844:

Our position has been one of waiting and watching, with no time proclamation to intervene between the close of the prophetic periods in 1844 and the time of our Lord’s coming [##5|——Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 270.##].

This command disallows any placing or reapplication of Biblical time prophecies, whether in literal or prophetic time, between 1844 and the second coming of Christ. A certain allurement persists in certain minds for this kind of speculation, but the inspired text forbids it without qualification.

Conclusion: Watching the Wrong Calendar

The biggest problem for this fascination with eschatological time-setting is its distraction from the calendar that really matters—the character calendar. Both Scripture and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy are clear that God isn’t waiting on some arbitrary celestial clock for the return of Jesus. Rather, God is waiting for the perfecting of character that will reproduce the purity of Christ in the lives of His saints and bring the great controversy to a close (Zeph. 3:13; I Thess. 5:23; I Tim. 6:13-14; II Peter 3:10-14; I John 3:2-3; Rev. 3:21; 14:5).

Even if one were to understand the six thousand year chronology as exact, it could not be used as a precise determination of when Jesus will come. Jonah’s prophecy of Nineveh’s overthrow in forty days (Jonah 3:4) bears this out. The forty-day deadline was certainly exact, but it was still dependent on the spiritual response of those receiving God’s message. The same holds true today.

Watching the signs noted by Jesus as indicating the near approach of the second advent is something we are commanded to do. In fact, Jesus says the viewing of these signs will bring rejoicing to our hearts (Luke 21:28). But the world has always been more ready for the advent than the church. God isn’t waiting on the world to get worse; He’s waiting on His people to claim His grace and power to get better.

REFERENCES

1. Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 3, p. 92.

2. ----Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, p. 7.

3. ----The Great Controversy, p. 518.

4. ----Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 189.

5. ----Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 270.