This Day in History: November 13, 1833. Falling Stars Then and Now

Something very significant and prophetic took place 186 years ago and holds grave importance for us living in 2019. On November 13, 1833 the last prophetic sign under the sixth seal took place. Please note that there are only seven seals. In scripture, the number seven depicts completion, finality, perfection. It is under the seventh seal that Jesus comes. Directly following the final event brought to view under the sixth seal in scripture, we read the solemn words, “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:14-17. By now, you may be wondering, what that final event was that took place on November 13, 1833, 186 years ago, that unequivocally and accurately fulfilled the prophecy. It was the falling of the stars from heaven. Here is how the Bible describes the event. “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Revelation 6:13. The falling of the stars is also prophesied in Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:25 and Luke.

Please consider the following history: “In 1833, two years after Miller began to present in public the evidences of Christ’s soon coming, the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of His second advent. Said Jesus: ‘The stars shall fall from heaven.’ Matthew 24:29. And John in the Revelation declared, as he beheld in vision the scenes that should herald the day of God: ‘The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.’ Revelation 6:13. This prophecy received a striking and impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. That was the most extensive and wonderful display of falling stars which has ever been recorded; ‘the whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the community, or with so much dread and alarm by another.’ ‘Its sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds. . . . Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. . . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman’s Journal, was seen all over North America. . . . From two o’clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens.’”1 We ask our readers to consult the chapters “Heralds of the Morning” and “An American Reformer” in the book, The Great Controversy written by Ellen White for information regarding the falling of the stars and the other events under the sixth seal.

Please consider the following history: “In 1833, two years after Miller began to present in public the evidences of Christ’s soon coming, the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of His second advent. Said Jesus: ‘The stars shall fall from heaven.’ Matthew 24:29. And John in the Revelation declared, as he beheld in vision the scenes that should herald the day of God: ‘The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.’ Revelation 6:13. This prophecy received a striking and impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. That was the most extensive and wonderful display of falling stars which has ever been recorded; ‘the whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion! No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the community, or with so much dread and alarm by another.’ ‘Its sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds. . . . Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. . . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman’s Journal, was seen all over North America. . . . From two o’clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens.’”¹ We ask our readers to consult the chapters “Heralds of the Morning” and “An American Reformer” in the book, The Great Controversy written by Ellen White for information regarding the falling of the stars and the other events under the sixth seal.

To understand what the Seal of God is, it is essential to recognize the components of a literal seal. A literal seal has three components: name, title, and territory (see Esther 3:12; Esther 8:8 and 1 Kings 21:8). God’s seal, with the three components, is found in His law, the Ten Commandments, according to Isaiah 8:16, “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” Specifically, the seal of God is found in the fourth commandment and is the seventh-day Sabbath as it is the only commandment that mentions the components of the seal. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” Exodus 20:8-11.

Those who are keeping all of the commandments of God, including the Seventh-day Sabbath, which in the time-period of 1833 no denominations were abiding by and teaching the obligation of honoring it, will be sealed by God and thus able to stand in the day of God’s wrath. Shortly after 1833, the falling of the stars, the final sign before Jesus’ Second Coming was to take place, the group that began proclaiming the glorious truth of the seventh-day Sabbath was Seventh-Day Adventists. This by no means indicates that every person claiming to be Seventh-day Adventist or claiming to keep the Sabbath will be sealed and saved at last. Those only who keep all of God’s Commandments and have gotten victory over sin by God’s grace will receive His seal and inherit God’s kingdom. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” 2 Timothy 2:19. The significance of people being sealed in their foreheads is that they have made a conscious decision to follow God’s Word in every particular.

Again, at the closing of the final event transpiring under the sixth seal, it is mentioned that the great day of God’s wrath is come, in connection with the question “who shall be able to stand?” What is the great day of God’s wrath; and what brings it? The Bible clearly answers in Revelation 15:1 and Revelation 16:1 and 2: “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.” God’s wrath represents the outpouring of the seven last plagues which come as a result of men receiving the Mark of the Beast. The great and final test that earth’s inhabitants will encounter is over the Mark of the Beast versus the Seal of God– the commandments of men versus the commandments of God. Since God’s seal is the Seventh-day Sabbath, the Mark of the Beast is a counterfeit, which is 

enforced Sunday worship, not a microchip or a tattoo. In contrast to those who receive God’s seal and are able to stand in the day of God’s wrath, the falling of the seven last plagues, are those individuals who receive the Mark of the Beast in their foreheads or in their hands (see Revelation 13:16-18; Revelation 14:9-11). Just as the seal of God is connected with worship, so is the Mark of the Beast, as seen in Revelation 13:15 and 16. “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” A careful study of Revelation 13:1-10 reveals the identity of the Beast, which is the Roman Catholic Church, which fulfills to the very letter every specification of the prophecy. The Mark of the Beast, or mark of the authority of the beast, Roman Catholicism, is Sunday observance, of which the church boasts that it has been granted the authority from God to transfer the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. “As the sign of the authority of the Catholic Church, papist writers cite ‘the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; . . . because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin…’ What then is the change of the Sabbath, but the sign, or mark, of the authority of the Roman Church—‘the mark of the beast’?”² This fulfills another prophecy referring to the Roman Catholic Church in Daniel 7:25. “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” 

And so, “while the worshipers of God will be especially distinguished by their regard for the fourth commandment,–since this is the sign of His creative power and the witness to His claim upon man’s reverence and homage,–the worshipers of the beast will be distinguished by their efforts to tear down the Creator’s memorial, to exalt the institution of Rome. It was in behalf of the Sunday that popery first asserted its arrogant claims…and its first resort to the power of the state was to compel the observance of Sunday as ‘the Lord’s day.’”³ Please continue studying more concerning the Mark of the Beast by reading the chapter entitled “God’s Law Immutable” in The Great Controversy.

Although time has been extended because of God’s love and mercy (see 2 Peter 3:9), He will not wait forever, and unfortunately the majority will refuse God’s seal and receive the Mark of the Beast. We are extremely close to that time, closer than most realize. Based on Bible prophecy, the sad reality is that many among God’s professed people who once believed and even advocated the truth will be just like the falling stars in 1833 that were shaken of a mighty wind and consequently fell. Some of these “stars” will be shaken out because of the winds of false doctrines that they have accepted in denial of the truth (see Ephesians 4:14); others because of the straight testimony (see Early Writings page 270); while others will be shaken 

out for the comforts and pleasures of life. Another class will give up the faith and deny Christ because they have never been sanctified by obedience to the truth of Christ (see The Great Controversy page 608). It is our prayer dear reader, that you will allow God’s Word to sanctify you so that you will not become a fallen star, which is also one of the final signs before Jesus’ Second Coming. “The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The mark of the beast will be urged upon us. Those who have step by step yielded to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will not find it a hard matter to yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. In this time the gold will be separated from the dross in the church. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy will then go out in darkness.”⁴

• 1. White, Ellen. The Great Controversy (1911), page 333
• 2. White, Ellen. The Great Controversy (1911), page 448
• 3. White, Ellen. The Great Controversy (1911), page 446
• 4. White, Ellen. Testimonies for the Church, Volume 5 (1882-1889), page 81