On October 22, 1844, thousands of people were waiting for the return of Jesus Christ\u2014and He did not come.<\/b> For most, this became the end of the movement. But for a small group of sincere people, it became the beginning of a deeper study of Scripture. It was from this group that the Seventh-day Adventist Church grew.<\/i><\/p>\nThe Great Disappointment and the first insight<\/h2>\n
William Miller, preaching on the basis of Daniel 8:14, concluded that the \u201ccleansing of the sanctuary\u201d meant the coming of Christ. But this did not happen. On the morning after October 22, Hiram Edson, walking through a cornfield in New York, experienced a spiritual insight<\/b>: the event of 1844 did take place\u2014but not on earth, rather in heaven. Christ did not come to earth; instead, a new phase of Christ\u2019s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary began.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle.\u201d Heb 8:1\u20132<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Edson, together with F. G. Crosier and Dr. D. P. Hahn, conducted a careful study of Hebrews, Daniel, and Leviticus. Crosier wrote an article in 1846<\/b>, in which he set forth the principle that the earthly sanctuary was a pattern of the heavenly one, and that the year 1844 corresponded to the Day of Atonement\u2014the moment when the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place.<\/p>\n Ellen White confirmed and deepened this understanding through her visions. She did not invent the doctrine\u2014she confirmed what the researchers were finding in the Bible. Josiah Byington<\/b>, the first president of the General Conference, J. N. Andrews, and James White systematized this theology in the 1850s and 1860s.<\/p>\nThe discovery of the heavenly sanctuary<\/h2>\n
The systematization of theology<\/h2>\n
What revealed the meaning of 1844<\/h2>\n