BOY: (SHOUTS) Read all about it!

Read all about Christ's return!

Read all about it!

I'd like to see the view from up in those clouds.

WOMAN: You will soon enough. We all will.

BOY: (SHOUTS) Read all about Christ's return!

Don't forget your paper!

Read all about it!

MAN: I'll take a copy, lad.

So, people find intrigue in the news of the Lord's return?

Well, people want to hear about the end of the world, sir.

(TOWNSPEOPLE CHATTER NEARBY)

(COINS JINGLE)

BOY: Read all about it!

Read all about Christ's return!

(ARTILLERY FIRE AND EXPLOSIONS ECHO)

MAN: (SHOUTS) Captain Miller, sir?!

MAN: (SHOUTS) No! No more!

(EXPLOSIONS AND SHOUTING CONTINUE)

MAN: Captain, we've got no more rounds!

Captain?! Captain?!

Captain Miller?!

(GASPS)

(BREATHES RAPIDLY)

(GASPS)

(READS) “But how conceive a God supremely good,

“Who heaps his favours on the sons he loves,

“Yet scatters evil with as large a hand?

“A God came down to lift our stricken race -

“He visited the earth and changed it not.”

(PIG GRUNTS)

The children have asked for you.

Will you take them some bread with butter and cheese?

Yes, my dear.

(SIGHS) And what are you thinking about today, Mr Miller?

Voltaire.

Voltaire believes there is a supreme power.

But he does not accept that God has anything to do with us personally.

I...survived that battle in Plattsburgh, Lucy and...

..I have to know why.

And Voltaire's words provide no answers, then?

(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)

God reached down to the battlefield to...meddle in the lives of men?

It goes against reason, William. It's not logical.

If you had seen the shells and the blood that day,

you'd know the only explanation for our victory

was some sort of divine intervention.

And what of the men and boys who died around you?

Was it the hand of God that put them in the grave?

I don't have the answer for that, Abner.

All I know is I should be dead and I am not.

Perhaps the Bible has an answer.

Come now, Mr Miller.

The Bible is an ancient fairytale. You have no proof of its validity.

WILLIAM: You don't have proof to the contrary.

Both views require a leap of faith.

Surely one demands as much attention as the other.

So, now an ancient text is your authority on all things?

It just may have the answers I seek.

Well, I'll tell you what I seek.

Another pint.

William...

Hello.

We need a minister for today's service...

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION CONTINUES)

(CHURCH ORGAN PLAYS)

Abner has fallen ill.

- Oh. - So, they...

They've asked me to read the sermon.

And your response was...?

This is what I get for speaking in front of Mother.

I told her that I would next read the sermon when Elihu was away.

She...must have told one of the elders.

“Indeed, all parental instructions, unless enforced by becoming examples,

“will expose not only the truths taught,

“but the parents themselves...”

“Many remained hardened,

“thoughtless of God who created them and of Jesus who bled to redeem them.”

(MAN COUGHS)

“Be not deceived, beloved parents.

“If you would train up your children in the way they should go,

“you must not merely instruct,

“but your actions must corres...

“..corres...

“..your actions must correspond to God's calling on your heart.”

(WHISPERED MURMURING)

(READS) “For God so loved the world,

“that he gave his only begotten Son,

“that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,

“but have everlasting life.”

“I have loved thee with an everlasting love,

“therefore with loving...”

“I am the Lord, your God, your Saviour...”

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,

“and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time...”

“And if I go, I will come again.”

Little one...

What is it?

The baby bird is dead.

Oh...

My sweet child.

There, there.

It's going to be alright.

No.

It's not.

Come.

Let us lay this gentle creature to rest.

Papa...

..I don't want to die.

Oh, my precious one.

Mmm.

You will yet live for many, many years.

But...

..each of us must one day pass from this earth.

Aren't you afraid of that?

No.

Not anymore.

For I have found a friend in Jesus.

“August 16th, 1818.

“Now, after two years of study,

“I am satisfied that many of the prophetic promises in the Bible

“have been fulfilled.

“I must wonder, then,

“why not the promise of his Second Coming?”

LUCY: Back to Daniel's vision, are we?

Well, speak up, so the whole family can hear.

“Then I heard one saint speaking...

..“'How long shall the vision

“'concerning the sanctuary and the host be trodden under foot?'

“And he said unto me,

“'Unto two thousand and three hundred days -

“'then shall the sanctuary be cleansed'.”

Hmm, that's a long time to wait in Daniel's day.

More than that, I think.

The sanctuary here refers to the earth...

..and...

The sanctuary refers to the earth

and the cleansing

must be the...cleansing of the earth

after the Second Coming of Christ.

If each day represents one year...

William, what is it?

Christ is coming.

The glorious appearing, yes.

Some day. Our blessed hope.

Lucy, you do not understand.

If...

..each of Daniel's days is one year,

and...then the 2,300 days

will be 2,300 years until the Second Coming of Christ,

and the time period begins at 457 BC,

as indicated in Daniel 9, and confirmed by historians,

then that brings us to...

..1843.

Christ is coming.

My Saviour from Plattsburgh is coming.

1843.

(CLOCK CHIMES)

(CLOCK TICKS)

William?

William, my love?

- (GROANS) - Come to bed.

(SIGHS)

The Bible holds the answer to the timing of our Saviour's return.

God's Word has lasted these many centuries.

It will still be there in the morning.

Can you believe what the Lord has shown us?

Indeed.

I shall never again doubt the faithfulness of Scripture.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

“and a light unto my path.”

(HORSE NEIGHS AND SNORTS)

MAN: Just...

LUCY: What have they hit?

I'm unsure.

Whatever it is, it will not move.

LUCY: Mm.

The ground is as stubborn as the man who holds the title.

Lucy...

I have explained my position.

The Baptists, the Methodists, the Presbyterians,

they all believe that Christ will return

at the end of the millennium foretold in Revelation.

As if...we could usher in a thousand years of peace on our own!

(SIGHS)

If these many years of studying the Bible have shown me anything,

it's that Christ will return to cleanse the earth

at the beginning of the thousand years, not at their end.

This must go beyond just our family.

You must tell others, William.

I am no theologian.

Nor has anyone asked me to be the watchman.

Is that so?

(SIGHS) Lucy...

..I'm a gentleman farmer.

I shall soon be 50. I'm too old to take on such a challenge.

And “How, then, shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

“And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?

“And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

I shall make a covenant with God.

I shall speak if I am asked.

Well, it's your choice.

Are you the rock or are you the plough?

And how long will it be before someone steps forward

and asks to hear your wisdom?

(KNOCK AT DOOR)

LUCY: Come in.

- Irving. - Aunt Lucy.

To what do we owe this unexpected visit?

Uh, the pastor of our Baptist church has been called away.

So, Mother and Father were hoping you could speak in his place tomorrow.

They thought you could minister on the prophesies

you've been studying in the Bible.

WILLIAM: I'm not a theologian,

nor has anyone asked me to be the watchman.

LUCY: Are you the rock or are you the plough?

And how long must it take before someone...?

WILLIAM: I shall make a covenant with God.

I will speak if I am asked.

No!

God! No!

I cannot preach!

I'm not qualified, nor am I a watchman.

I beg You, do not put this burden upon my shoulders!

Send someone else!

(SOBS)

But I made You a promise.

How can I do less now?

Can I deny the only One who has ever truly forgiven me my failings -

who has saved me from myself?

(SIGHS) I cannot.

As we know, there is much evidence in Daniel's vision

that the cleansing of the sanctuary

is symbolic of Christ's return to cleanse our suffering earth,

which we have ravaged with war and sullied with sin.

But the proof is strong that Daniel's vision

began 457 years before Christ.

Now...

..take 457 from 2,300

and you are left with 1,843 years after Christ,

when the vision will be fulfilled.

The conclusion must be that some time about 1843,

our Saviour, Jesus Christ, will come to take us home.

(GASPING AND MURMURING)

I think your brother-in-law has gone mad.

My dear friends and family,

are you prepared for this great and important event?

Are you ready for Jesus to return?

Here...

..here is strong evidence that the time is not far off.

Remember the old world?

They thought Noah was a maniac, but the flood came.

Be warned - fly to the ark,

take refuge in the beautiful promise of Jesus Christ,

who said, “I will come again.”