And saying, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 2Peter 3:4
The Lord, in His infinite mercy, He delays His coming to give the world a larger span for repentance, sinners flatter themselves that He will never come. The Great Disappointment of 1844 refers to the grief experienced by the 100,000 Millerites who expected Jesus to return on October 22,1844 lost the hope of salvation. Manuscript Releases Volume 10, page 265.2
From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Matthew 16:21
Read Matt.25:1-12 & Zechariah 4:12-14
Oil: Symbolize the presences of the Holy Spirit
For several years, the intensity had been building but without great emotional expressions. For most Millerites, it was a time of searching the heart and confession of sin. Looking back, no other collapse of Christian hope is comparable except the crushing despairs of the disciples when Jesus was tried and crucified.
And while they went to buy to buy the oil, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Matt.25:10-12
And the same lesson applies even as the disciples soon learned that Jesus had not failed in His mission, that He was victorious over sin, so the disappointed Millerites soon learned that Jesus had also not failed them. Obviously, Jesus did not return in 1844. But the error was not in the Millerite message that is, not an error in computation or the date, but an error in the nature of the event.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth? 1 Timothy 2:4
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all. GC 261.3
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
God does not deal with us as finite men deal with one another. His thoughts are thoughts of mercy, love, and tenderest compassion. He will abundantly pardon.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Heb.8:12
He says, I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions. Isaiah 44:22/Our Father Cares Page 104
Peter begins by reminding his readers how the Scriptures warned there would be scoffers in the last days who depart from the truth and follow sinful desires. They would question the promise of God’s return, citing that ever since the patriarchs died, all things have continued just as they were from the beginning. They purposefully overlook the fact that God had intervened before, both in the account of creation and the flood. God would surely intervene again on a final day of reckoning for the unrighteous and rescue for the righteous.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 2 Peter 3:8-10