Charles Fitch, Advent preacher and innovator, was dead, just eight days before he expected Jesus to return. In the wake of William Miller's preaching, Fitch had come to know Jesus as a true Friend and had given up his parish to preach the Coming King to congregations far and wide. According to the S. D. A. Encyclopedia, he was "one of the most fearless, aggressive, and successful Millerite leaders." He designed both a Daniel 2 image that could be taken apart for transport and the famous "1843 chart" of the lines of Bible prophecy. He edited a weekly Millerite journal. He threw his whole heart and soul into the cause, even dying "in the line of duty"—from an illness contracted after he conducted a prolonged outdoor baptism on a chilly autumn day in 1844.
Fitch had hoped to see Jesus come, but he died shortly before he expected the Lord to return. His family's hopes of a prompt reunion were dashed when Jesus did not come on October 22.
I had occasion to remember Fitch when I reflected recently on the life and death of a good friend and faithful soldier of the Lord, Dr. Gerhard Hasel.
In this issue you will find the life sketch that was read at his funeral, but no such document can really capture a person's life, much less Dr. Hasel's life. He was one of Adventism's finest scholars, whose writings were sought, respected and read outside the church as well as in it, and whose influence in support of thoroughly Adventist Bible interpretation has been unsurpassed in recent years. As a professor of Old Testament at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, he has influenced a generation of ministers and been instrumental in providing solid training for many Bible teachers who have been educated at Andrews.
Dr. Hasel wrote an amazing number of articles and a briefcase-full of books, as well as doing editorial work on the Journal of the Adventist Theological Society. His concerns reached beyond the esoteric domain of scholars: he could also preach and write for the average church member. He wrote the lead article for no less than five issues of ADVENTISTS AFFIRM, more than anyone else. No one who heard him tell the stories of God's leading and protection in his own life and in the lives of his family will forget their faith-inspiring impact.
Dr. Hasel stood firmly against compromises in Adventist Bible understanding and in our methods of Bible interpretation. As one tribute expressed it at his funeral, he did not wait until retirement before letting his true views be known. He paid a price for his firmness in defense of truth, but I never heard him complain about it.
He died "in the line of duty," having gone to a meeting of church leaders and scholars to present a paper on the days of creation. Some would like to stretch these days to cover long ages of evolution, but the Bible does not support such a view, Dr. Hasel wrote. The accident that took his life prevented him from reading the paper. The colleague who read it in his place the next day caught the impact of it when he told me at the funeral, "He died defending the days of creation."
A student told me the other day that at a recent camp meeting, Dr. Hasel had spoken of the second coming of Jesus and said that he expected to live to see Jesus come. Coming from a man nearing what are normally the retirement years, this impressed the student much more than if the statement had come from a younger man.
You can see why I thought of Charles Fitch while reflecting on Dr. Hasel's life. Both lived for the Advent hope their activities and contributions display some striking parallels-and both died in that hope.
In her first vision, Ellen G. White saw beyond the second coming to view the redeemed in the New Jerusalem. Among them she recognized Charles Fitch (see Life Sketches, p. 67). She saw Jesus coming, when He will call His sleeping saints. They have obeyed His voice in life, and they will obey it again in death when He cries, "Awake! awake! awake! ye that sleep in the dust, and arise" (ibid., p. 66). They will look up, see their Lord coming, and rise with the living saints to be forever with Jesus. Among them, we too will see people we know. I think I know who one of them will be not because of his formidable accomplishments, but because of his invincible Savior, whom he loved.
In this issue we are focusing on the meaning of the 1844 experience for today. Our Adventist forefathers expected Jesus to come by the spring of that year, and then later they expected Him on October 22. They were disappointed, but as with Jesus' own disciples, their disappointment led to a new and richer understanding of the Bible and of their Lord's ministry.