"In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what God has wrought, I am filled with astonishment, and with confidence in Christ as leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history." {CET 204.1}

The Adventist Pioneers, spent hours in prayer and Bible study, seeking truth. They wanted to know the truth as it was revealed in scripture.

Ellen White writes of the experience:


If we are to regain the vision of out pioneers we must regain what it was that motivated them to give so much of their time and money to the cause?

First -- do we actually believe the Adventist view of truth and of interpretation of prophetic world events is really REALITY?



One of the foundational blocks to how we view the prophetic message revealed in scripture is the historicist method of interpreting prophecy.

The whole Adventist understanding of future events is a direct outgrowth of the historicist method of interpretation.
Historicism is the view that the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation describes history as it has been unfolding from the time of the prophet to the time of eternal restoration.

We can go back further and realize that the power of the Reformation was based largely on the historicist method of prophetic teaching. Though now most Protestants find it rather embarrassing and would just as soon forget about that fact, it is still fact that the reformers came to a unanimous decision that scripture pointed to the papacy as the main antichrist. And this conviction enabled them to make the break with the church that controlled the people -- they were able to courageously stand up for what they found in scripture.

It was the historicist method of interpreting scripture that brought religious freedom from the papal tyranny.


It was the historicist method of interpreting prophecy that enabled William Miller and his associates to realize the "time of the end" was near, and the hour of God's judgement was at hand.

It enabled Adventist Pioneers to grasp the meaning of the three angel's messages. It enabled the Midnight Cry -- the "light behind" us.



BUT
In our day

1) The historicist method is almost wholly replaced by the futurist and preterits counterreformation methods of prophetic interpretation in the Christian world.

During the Reformation the Papal church realized they needed to divert the prophetic finger that was pointing at them as the antichrist (in the place of Christ).
So two other ways of interpreting prophecy were presented,
one placing most of the prophetic utterances in the past, the other placing them in the future. Both managing to divert these prophecies away from the Christian era.

The first systematic preterist exposition of prophecy was written by the Jesuit Luis de Alcasar during the Counter Reformation. Daniel is interpreted as events that happened in the second century BC, while Revelation is interpreted as events that happened in the first century AD. Preterism holds that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian church at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70

The Futurist exposition was put together by Roman Catholic Jesuit Francisco Ribera (1537–1591) Futurism, as it pertains to Biblical prophecy, is the theory that most of the events of Revelation, and the 70th week of Daniel 9, are to be fulfilled sometime in the future.

2) The religious movements are working for unity-- and the papacy is encouraging them all to return under his "shepherding" influence

3) Even some Adventists tend to be trying to change much of the historical interpretations and put them in the future. But can one mix historicist method of interpretation with futurist method by taking the foundation stones out and placing them on the roof without the building toppling?

These three methods of interpreting prophecy have been in conflict for many years now.. No combination has ever been successful.

Some might say, let's accept what historicists say happened during the Christian era, then take what the futurist say will happen in the future.

The problem is that both use the SAME PROPHECIES, but put very different meanings to them. It ends up saying a figure is symbolic in one place and literal in another, or representing one thing in the historicist interpretation, and another thing in the future application. This creates a confusion. Like saying the 1260 years are symbolic in one verse but literal in another. Everything becomes rather arbitrary and open to a multitude of interpretations.

The Bible is very detailed in giving a historical picture of God's dealings with His people.

OLD TESTAMENT
The Old Testament tells the history of God's dealings and purposes, and the people's response covering the history from Creation to about 400 B.C. True, it is also full of prophecies of Christ's first coming, (as well as pointing to endtimes)
However the point is that the Old Testament is very much a revelation of how God worked with His people from creation to about 400 BC.

NEW TESTAMENT:
Again we see a very detailed revelation of the history of God's purposes, and dealings with the human race, from about 4 BC until about 90 A.D. Four books deal with the history of Jesus life on earth, while the fifth is the history of the early spread of Christianity.

Are we to think that during the next 1920+ years, -- 90 AD to our time, God was not interested in speaking to His people about events over that time span?

John wrote the book of Revelation at the end of the first century, around 96 AD. And his visions cover the Christian era. That is the historicist interpretation.

We look at Daniel (the companion book of Revelation)
How is the unfolding of the future presented to Daniel?
Is it a progressive view all through his book, or is it a repetitious view, going over the same period of time with different emphases each time?

Daniel 2 (Time covered from Babylon to Christ's coming)
Daniel 7 (Time covered from Babylon to final inheritance)
Daniel 8 (time covered from Media Persia to Judgment)
Daniel 11 (time covered from Media Persia to Deliverance of God's people.

Revelation does the same thing, it is a repetitious presentation of the unfolding of the Christian era.

Rev. 2-3 (Time covered is the whole Christian era)
Rev. 4-7 (Time from Christ's ascension and His sacrifice declared worthy for Him to begin the work as our High Priest and Mediator -- to the final sealing of God's people and the second coming)

Rev. 8-11 (Time covered from the fall of Jerusalem, to the fall of all earthly kingdoms.
With the story of the "deadly wound" of the Papacy, the rise of secularism, AND the rise of the last day church placed between the 6th and 7th trumpet.

Rev. 12 shows the Great Controversy showing Satan's work in opposing Christ and His church
(Deals mainly with time from Christ's birth -Satan's attempt to destroy Christ -- Satan's attempt to destroy the church during the 1260 years of tribulation, -- to the time of the end when satan makes his last great attempt to destroy God's people)

From here on (still with references to the origin of the powers used) the last conflict is being dealt with.



The historicist method of interpretation builds a foundation upon which the yet future events rest. It alerts us to the powers that play important roles in the last conflict.

The futurist view takes away this foundation and inserts a gap into the lineup of prophetic symbols.
Thus it leaves open to the imagination who those powers will be?

It was the historicist interpretations of prophecy upon which our beliefs were built.