William Miller observed that events predicted by the prophets were precisely fulfilled: the 400 years of the sojourn of Abraham’s descendants, Israel’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the 70 years of Israel’s captivity, and Daniel’s 70 weeks allotted to Israel (Gen. 15:13, Num. 14:34, Jer. 25:11, and Dan. 9:24).

 Read Mark 1:15, Galatians 4:4, and Romans 5:6. What do these verses tell us about God’s timetable for the First Advent?

 As Miller studied the prophecies, comparing scripture with scripture, he concluded that if God had a divine timetable throughout the Bible, God must have a divine timetable when it comes to our Lord’s second coming.

 Read Daniel 8:14. What event was to occur at the end of the 2,300 days?

 William Miller accepted the popular view that the “cleansing of the sanctuary” was the purification of the earth by fire. He diligently studied the Scriptures to understand an event of such stupendous importance. He discovered the linkage between Daniel 8 and Daniel 9. In Daniel 8, the angel was instructed to “make this man understand the vision” (Dan. 8:16). By the end of the chapter, the only portion of the entire vision of Daniel 8 left unexplained (see Dan. 8:27) was the part about the 2,300 days. Later the angel returned to Daniel and declared, “ ‘I have now come forth to give you skill to understand’ ” (Dan. 9:22, NKJV; see also Dan. 9:23, 25-27). This was to help him understand about the 2,300 days.

 We know this because, after bidding Daniel to “ ‘consider the matter, and understand the vision’ ” (Dan. 9:23, NKJV), the first words of the angel were: “ ‘Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city’ ” (Dan. 9:24, NKJV). The word translated “determined” literally means “cut off.” Seventy weeks, 490 years, are to be cut off. But from what? The vision of the 2,300 days, obviously—the only part of Daniel 8 that Daniel did not understand, and that the angel now came to explain.

 And since the starting point of the 70 weeks was “ ‘from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem’ ” (Dan. 9:25, NKJV), Miller knew that if he had that date, he could know the beginning of the 70 weeks and the 2,300-day prophecy.