P.S. I can't believe someone who seems like such a supported of the Spirit of Prophecy would make such a break from the path of the pioneers.
The prophecy was enlightened from God to a man who was inspired to prophesy the end of the Ottoman empire and exactly on the day that was prophecied the exact event foretold by the man who received the information was fulfilled.
Do you think it was just a coincidence that Josia Litch predicted the exact day and event in the fulfillment of Revelation 9?
Elder Litch was following the same Spirit that illuminated the 1844 message from William Miller and we as Adventists KNOW He was led by God, so what makes you think that you are more enlightened to be able to contradict one of the most prevelant Pioneers of The Advent Movement, who was led by God and rewarded by a huge influx of believers in the 1844 message?
Does God lead anyone to great disappointment? 1 Tim. 4:1-2
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He not only lead us to it, He lead us through it, and it was foretold almost 2000 years earlier...
Revelation 10:9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book (the 2300 year sealed time prophecy in Daniel). And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Was the death of Jesus a disappointment to the disciples? Very much so Until the truth of what happened was revealed. Our perceptions limit our understandings. The greatest event in the history of mankind had just taken place and those closest to Jesus were giving up on Him...strike the shephard and the sheep will scatter.
"The subject of the sanctuary was the key which unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It opened to view a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God’s hand had directed the great advent movement and revealing present duty as it brought to light the position and work of His people. As the disciples of Jesus after the terrible night of their anguish and disappointment were “glad when they saw the Lord,” so did those now rejoice who had looked in faith for His second coming. They had expected Him to appear in glory to give reward to His servants. As their hopes were disappointed, they had lost sight of Jesus, and with Mary at the sepulcher they cried: “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.” Now in the holy of holies they again beheld Him, their compassionate High Priest, soon to appear as their king and deliverer. Light from the sanctuary illumined the past, the present, and the future. They knew that God had led them by His unerring providence. Though, like the first disciples, they themselves had failed to understand the message which they bore, yet it had been in every respect correct. In proclaiming it they had fulfilled the purpose of God, and their labor had not been in vain in the Lord. Begotten “again unto a lively hope,” they rejoiced “with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” {CIHS 101.1}
Both the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, “Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” and the first angel’s message, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come,” pointed to Christ’s ministration in the most holy place, to the investigative judgment, and not to the coming of Christ for the redemption of His people and the destruction of the wicked. The mistake had not been in the reckoning of the prophetic periods, but in the event to take place at the end of the 2300 days. Through this error the believers had suffered disappointment, yet all that was foretold by the prophecy, and all that they had any Scripture warrant to expect, had been accomplished. At the very time when they were lamenting the failure of their hopes, the event had taken place which was foretold by the message, and which must be fulfilled before the Lord could appear to give reward to His servants. {CIHS 101.2}
Christ had come, not to the earth, as they expected, but, as foreshadowed in the type, to the most holy place of the temple of God in heaven. He is represented by the prophet Daniel as coming at this time to the Ancient of Days: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came”—not to the earth, but—“to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.” Daniel 7:13. {CIHS 102.1}
This coming is foretold also by the prophet Malachi: “The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:1. The coming of the Lord to His temple was sudden, unexpected, to His people. They were not looking for Him there. They expected Him to come to earth, “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel.” 2 Thessalonians 1:8. {CIHS 102.2}
But the people were not yet ready to meet their Lord. There was still a work of preparation to be accomplished for them. Light was to be given, directing their minds to the temple of God in heaven; and as they should by faith follow their High Priest in His ministration there, new duties would be revealed. Another message of warning and instruction was to be given to the church." {CIHS 102.3}