Book Report: Millennial Fever and the End of the World: A Study of Millerite Adventism

George R. Knight’s Millennial Fever and the End of the World: A Study of Millerite Adventism examines the history of Millerism immediately before, during, and after 1843-1844, when William Miller and his followers expected the Lord to come.

Of particular interest to me was a relatively small portion of the book dealing with the theological development of the post-disappointment Sabbatarian Adventists.

In 1841-1842 Josiah wrote about the necessity of a pre-advent judgment, since some will be raised to everlasting life at the coming of Jesus. That theme was developed more thoroughly after the disappointment of 1843-1844.

William Miller had already linked the cleansing of the sanctuary to judgment, though he thought the judgment referred to the second coming.

Hiram Edson received a vision that he believed shed light on the disappointment, and he, with O.R.L. Crosier and F.B. Hahn, studied Leviticus, Hebrews, Daniel, and the Revelation. They concluded that the end of the 2300 day prophecy of Dan 8:14 was not the second coming of Jesus, but a change in His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. It was not much of a logical leap for Joseph Bates to believe that the cleansing of the sanctuary referred to a pre-advent investigative judgment phase of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Bates, Edson, Crosier, and Hahn believed that the pre-advent judgment was the message of the first angel of Rev 14.

Bates was instrumental in the development of the eschatological importance of keeping the seventh-day of the week as the Sabbath. He concluded that the biblical Sabbath would be a visible sign during the final battle, with one side showing their allegiance to God by keeping the Sabbath, and the other showing their allegiance to the beast by not obeying God. The doctrines of the second advent, investigative judgment, and importance of the Sabbath were intertwined in the minds of those that would eventually organize the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

But even more important than the basic doctrines, Knight demonstrates the urgency that men like William Miller, Joshua Himes, Charles Fitch, Josiah Litch, Joseph Bates, and James White felt before, during, and after 1843-44. Their theological belief that the world was ending required them to warn others of the impending judgment. Knight believes that Seventh-day Adventists in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries need to remember their prophetic heritage and recapture that sense of duty. In his words, “[t]o deny its prophetic heritage is a certain way to kill its ‘millennial fever.’” p. 342.

Knight, George R. Millennial Fever and the End of the World: A Study of Millerite Adventism. Berrien Springs, MI: LithoTech, Andrews University, 2005.