Look at the following chart for the prophecies of the 70 weeks and the 2,300 days. The prophecies start in 457 b.c. and foretell the events surrounding “Messiah the Prince,” upon whom the 70-week prophecy is grounded. With that solid foundation, the 2,300-day prophecy ends in the year 1844.

 “Like the first disciples, William Miller and his associates did not, themselves, fully comprehend the import of the message which they bore. Errors that had been long established in the church prevented them from arriving at a correct interpretation of an important point in the prophecy. Therefore, though they proclaimed the message which God had committed to them to be given to the world, yet through a misapprehension of its meaning they suffered disappointment.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy,pp. 351, 352.

 “Yet God accomplished His own beneficent purpose in permitting the warning of the judgment to be given just as it was. The great day was at hand, and in His providence the people were brought to the test of a definite time, in order to reveal to them what was in their hearts. The message was designed for the testing and purification of the church. They were to be led to see whether their affections were set upon this world or upon Christ and heaven. They professed to love the Saviour; now they were to prove their love. Were they ready to renounce their worldly hopes and ambitions, and welcome with joy the advent of their Lord? The message was designed to enable them to discern their true spiritual state; it was sent in mercy to arouse them to seek the Lord with repentance and humiliation.”—The Great Controversy,p. 353.

 1. What lessons can we learn from William Miller’s experience? Does God at times overrule our mistaken understanding?
 2. Why is an understanding of Daniel 9:24-27 so significant in establishing the integrity of the Bible and the divinity of Christ?
 3. What role does understanding prophecy play in the plan of salvation? Why is prophecy so significant in the plan of God?