William Miller

Some are tauntingly enquiring, "Have you not gone up?"  Even little children in the streets are shouting continually to passersby, "Have you a ticket to go up?" 

Based on his study of the book of Daniel (especially Daniel 8:14), a 19th-century American preacher named William Miller concluded in 1818 that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would occur sometime during 1844.  Click here for an explanation of his reasoning.  Another preacher later predicted that the exact date of the Second Coming would be October 22, 1844.  

As that date approached, thousands of Miller's followers gave away their possessions and waited for the Savior's coming, at which time the righteous dead would be resurrected and together with the righteous living would ascend into heaven.  When Jesus did not appear on October 22, the day became known as the "Great Disappointment."

One group of Millerites later concluded that October 22, 1844 was not in fact the prophesied date for the Second Coming, but rather the date of an important heavenly event.  That group eventually became the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which now has a worldwide membership of about 16 million members.  Their interpretation of the "Great Disappointment" forms the basis for that denomination's unique doctrine of "investigative judgment."  Click here to learn more about that doctrine.

A Seventh-day Adventist poster