Heritage Sabbath Materials, October 21, 2006

The words to this hymn are based on Psalm 104. The poem is not strictly a paraphrase of the psalm, but several verses are followed quite closely in it. The author, Robert Grant (1779-1838), was born in India but went to England for his education. He received two degrees from Magdalen College, Cambridge, and then studied law and became a lawyer. He became a member of Parliament in 1818, a privy counselor in 1831, and judge advocate-general in 1832. In 1834 he was knighted and appointed governor of Bombay (Mumbai). Grant died in his homeland, in western India, in 1838.

The tune to which we sing these words was probably composed in 1770, before Robert Grant was born. Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806), younger brother of the more famous Franz Joseph Haydn, is the composer. Born in Austria, Haydn began his musical career in Vienna at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, where he was a chorister and deputy organist from 1745 to 1755, or from about ages 8 to 18! By about age 25 he had been appointed by the archbishop of Saltzburg as musical director and concertmaster. Despite tempting offers from Vienna, he served the rest of his days in Salzburg, composing a great deal of music, including about 300 pieces for the church, which he dedicated “All for the Greater Glory of God.” William Gardiner (1770-1835) arranged the tune as we have it in our hymnals.

Adapted from Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White, Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988).

As told by Arthur L. White

No matter what secret things we decide on, God knows all about it. There are no secrets hidden from God. One time the Lord led Sister White to use two secret signs to help to keep a publishing house worker from giving up the truth.

Early in our work in Australia, a business man, Mr. Faulkhead, heard the preaching of the message and became a Seventh-day Adventist. We needed a treasurer in our publishing house and Mr. Faulkhead seemed to be just the man for this position. He accepted the invitation and joined the publishing house staff. He did good work. Everyone liked Brother Faulkhead.

Mr. Faulkhead, however, was a member of several secret societies. He belonged to these societies before he was an Adventist. When he became a member of the church, he should easily have seen in the Bible those counsels which make it plain that a believer must not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. He should have understood the words of Jesus that a man cannot serve two masters. Mr. Faulkhead enjoyed his association in these secret societies and he thought he could be a good Seventh-day Adventist and a good member of these secret societies, too.

As time went on, he became more and more wrapped up in the work of these secret societies and became the manager of one of them. His fellow-workers at the publishing house could see that as he became more and more involved in the work of the secret societies, he was not so much interested in the work of the church and in spiritual things. Some of our men talked with him, but he said, “I won’t give up my connection with these secret societies no matter what any minister says.” He said he knew what he was doing and he was not going to be taught by the preachers.

It was just at this time that Sister White went to Australia. She made the journey by ocean liner from California and stopped at New Zealand on the way. As the journey was nearly finished, and they were traveling between New Zealand and Australia, a vision was given to Mrs. White one night, in which she was shown that when she reached Australia there were three men in particular that she would meet. The history of their lives and their experience was revealed to her. When she arrived at Melbourne, the city where our publishing house was located, she met the treasurer, Brother Faulkhead, and she recognized that he was one of the men that had been shown to her in the vision.

Carefully she wrote out what the Lord had revealed to her concerning Mr. Faulkhead’s dangers and the influence that his connection with these secret societies had on his experience. As she prepared to send this message to Brother Faulkhead, she was instructed by the Lord that she should not send it yet. She laid it aside, and then two or three months later, as she was going through some of her papers, she ran across this message and she thought, “I must send it to Brother Faulkhead.” And again the Spirit of the Lord instructed her that she should not send it.

A whole year went by and the testimony was not sent. During this time, Mr. Faulkhead became more and more involved in these secret societies.

On the day of the closing exercises of our school in Melbourne, a board meeting was held in the afternoon and Mr. Faulkhead, a member of the school board, was present. Sister White was not at the board meeting, but she was there at the school, and she sent word that she wanted to see Brother Faulkhead. After the board meeting, Brother Faulkhead walked down the hall to Sister White’s room. He knocked at the door and she came to the door and greeted him and she said, “Brother Faulkhead, the burden of your case is on my mind. I have a message for you and for your wife. Several times I have thought to send it to you, but each time I have been forbidden by the Spirit of God to do so.”

Then Brother Faulkhead asked, “Can you not give it to me now?”

Sister White said “Yes.” And she went to the stand and opened the drawer, took out some typewritten sheets and then sat down to talk to Brother Faulkhead and to read to him what she had written.

She told him of how his experience had been opened up to her in vision, where she had seen his early experience, his loyalty to the church, and his earnest work in the publishing house. Then she told him that she had been shown about his connection with the secret societies. She pointed out that the believer must not link himself up with unbelievers. She pointed out that no man can serve two masters. She told Brother Faulkhead of what took place in the secret meetings. She told him just where she saw him sitting in the lodge hall, and of what he said in his conversation with his associates.

Then she said, “I saw some of the men come and speak to you and they addressed you as ‘Worshipful Master.’” When she used these words, Brother Faulkhead shuddered. These were secret words used in a secret meeting. It made him feel very strange.

Then Sister White told of how in vision she saw him in the church service and they were taking up the offering. He picked out the little coins from his purse and put them into the offering on Sabbath morning. Then in vision she had seen him in the lodge hall and she had seen him take out the larger pieces of money from his purse and put them into the work of the lodge.

This told quite a story, didn’t it? Where was his heart? What was he interested in? Where did he place his money?

Then Sister White talked with him, pointing out that a follower of Jesus must give himself whole-heartedly to God. His interests cannot be divided. Then she said, “I cannot relate all that was given to me,” and as she said this, she moved her hand in a certain way. Mr. Faulkhead was startled. He turned pale. He touched Sister White on the shoulder and he asked, “Do you know what you have done?”

“I have not done anything,” she said.

“Oh, yes you have!” he said. “You have made the secret sign of the secret society which I manage!”

They talked on, Sister White urging that Brother Faulkhead cut off his connection with these secret societies. Then she moved her hand another way. Then Brother Faulkhead turned pale again, and he trembled all over. He said, “Sister White, you have done it again! But this time you have made the secret sign of the highest order of the secret society to which I belong!”

Sister White replied, “My attending angel made it to me.” This secret sign which the angel gave to Sister White and which she gave to Brother Faulkhead was known to only six people in all of Australia. Mr. Faulkhead himself did not know what that sign was ten days before. He said no woman could know that sign because it was held very secret, and when they met in their meetings, the door was guarded outside and inside against strangers.

When Sister White made the two secret signs, Brother Faulkhead said, “That really put the fear of God into my heart, to see how the Lord is working to arrest me from these things.”

This convinced him that the message was from God. Sister White continued speaking to him, urging him to give his heart wholly to the Lord, and as she talked to him, tears came to his eyes and he answered Sister White, “I accept every word. All of it belongs to me. I accept the light the Lord has sent me through you. I will act upon it. I am a member of five lodges. Three other lodges are under my control. I transact all of their business. Now I shall attend no more of their meetings. I shall close my business relations with them as fast as possible.”

As Mr. Faulkhead told the story later, he said that he had always enjoyed hearing Sister White preach. He had enjoyed visiting with Sister White, but when it came to the testimonies, well, he just didn’t have any use for those things. Now how differently things looked; God sent a message just for him, pointing out dangers which he didn’t see. Oh, how he loved the Lord! He was determined in his heart to bring his life into harmony with God’s will for him.

Mr. Faulkhead pointed out also that Sister White did not bring any attack upon the lodge. She didn’t criticize the secret societies. That was not her work. If she had done so, he would have tried to defend them and it would have been very difficult for Brother Faulkhead to receive the message. But Sister White just pointed out that a Christian cannot serve two masters.

It was late in the evening when Brother Faulkhead left Sister White’s room. As he walked home, he looked up at the stars and he thought, “God, who created these planets and these suns and guides them in their course through boundless space, looked down to this little world and to Australia, and He saw me here in Melbourne, and He sent a message just for me, to point out dangers which I didn’t see.” How he did resolve in his heart to serve God fully!

The next morning he sent in his resignation to all of the secret societies. It took him a little time to sever his connections with them because he was involved in their business management, but he was determined to follow the light which God had given to him through Sister White, and he gave himself whole-heartedly to the Lord’s work. He was connected with our publishing house in Australia for many, many years, and he died an earnest, loyal Seventh-day Adventist. His children were in our work after him.

There are no secrets hidden from God, and to save Brother Faulkhead and to encourage others who may be tempted to belong to these secret societies, God revealed the secret signs to Sister White, and she in turn gave them to Brother Faulkhead. Everyone knew that the message came from God.

For Ellen G. White’s counsels written to Mr. Faulkhead, see Selected Messages, Bk. 2, pages 121-140.

Ivan Leigh Warden
Associate Director, Ellen G. White Estate

“Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

Introduction

What a powerful verse! What assurance for tomorrow and the next day! What a loving and caring picture of our Lord God! We face no surprise quizzes, exams, or assignments. The Lord God informs us, He tells us, He shares with us events that will occur and affect our lives. “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

Why does God do this? Because He loves us. His love drives Him to reach across the sin barrier using His prophets, people like us. Through them He calls us to repentance for our sins and tells us what is coming so that we will be prepared. The prophets are on a mission of love from the Father Himself. Their purpose is to see that as many people as possible will be saved in His kingdom. This is why “He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

Today we will look at how this has worked in Bible times and beyond.

I. By His prophets, God warned ancient Israel and other nations of their danger and tried to draw them to Himself.

Amos opens with warnings of coming punishment on the nations surrounding Israel and Judah for their sins. But Amos’s message soon turns to Judah and then to his main concern, the northern kingdom of Israel. A careful reading of Amos reveals the sins of the people: pride, selfishness, and oppression, to name a few, were visible in both the northern and southern kingdoms. The situation was worse in Israel because of calf worship, instituted by its first king, Jeroboam I (see 1 Kings 12:25-33). God commissioned both Amos and Hosea to prophesy especially against the northern kingdom, but Amos gives more attention to the details and circumstances of the sins of the people than Hosea does. Graphically he reveals transgressions in the events of the people’s daily lives. No evil practice seems to have escaped his notice. He counted it his duty to warn Israel, Judah, as well as the surrounding nations, of the divine judgments that were sure to come upon them if they persisted in sin. Amos closed his book with a glorious picture of the ultimate triumph of righteousness over iniquity.

Please notice a pattern—God is love. He gives us a chance to confess and forsake our sins. Amos 5:4, 6 says, “For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel, ‘Seek Me and live; . . . Seek the Lord and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph.” In love, God gives His warnings so that people may come to Him and live. Ezekiel 33:11 says, “‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” Even in their sternest messages of warning, God’s prophets are giving His message of love, hoping to secure their repentance and salvation. This is why He pulls back the curtain on the future and shows what will result if people do not change. “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

But if God pronounces a coming judgment on a nation or people, is it already too late for them to repent? God’s answer of love is that He will change the outcome if they repent. Jeremiah 18:7-10 gives God’s word on this: “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.” Ellen G. White wrote regarding this principle that “the promises and threatenings of God are alike conditional” (Selected Messages, book 1, p. 67).

Before destroying Nineveh, God sent Jonah to warn the people, and give them an opportunity to repent (Jonah 1:1, 2). “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” Though Jonah’s message as given in Scripture did not mention that God might change the outcome, the people turned to God and He did avert the disaster (Jonah 3:5-10). God gives us an opportunity to confess and forsake our sins.

That is what God was doing through Amos, as well. Because of the people’s religious formalism and moral degeneracy, God gave Amos the mandate to tell the Northern Kingdom that disaster was coming. In chapter 7, God appeared to Amos standing on a wall, with a plumb line in His hand (verses 7, 8). Builders at that time used a string with a weight on it to tell if a wall was going up straight and not leaning. Now God was examining Israel. If the nation proved not to be upright and true, judgments would come. Amos called for repentance and a change of behavior. The people must not trust to offerings and religious actions without a thorough reformation: “But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24).

So we see that through His prophets, God in love warned Israel and the other nations of their danger and tried to draw them to Himself. Look carefully and you will discover, our God is always looking out for us, to warn us and woo us. “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

II. By His prophets, God told us in advance of His central redeeming act to bring us to Himself—that He would send a Savior to live and die for us.

The first hint of God’s plan came to Adam and Eve just after their sin. God Himself told the serpent in their hearing, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

Abraham, who is called a prophet in Genesis 20:7, was commanded to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22). Though at the last moment he was spared the agony of giving his own son, he got a glimpse of what God would later do when He gave His only Son on the cross.

Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole in the wilderness, so that any who looked at the serpent in faith could be healed of their deadly snake bites (Numbers 21:6-9). John 3:14, 15 indicates that this prefigured Jesus’ death on the cross for us.

Micah 5:2 said that the coming Ruler in Israel, who was “from everlasting,” would come forth from Bethlehem. Daniel 9:24-27 predicted when “Messiah the Prince” would make His appearance, and when He would be “cut off, but not for Himself.” Isaiah 53 told of the Suffering Servant who would bear the sins of the people. Psalm 22 described some of the sufferings Jesus would endure on the cross.

As the time approached for Jesus to make His appearance, God raised up a prophet, John the Baptist, to call the people to repentance and to proclaim of Jesus, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). To John’s Jewish hearers, the clear meaning was that here was the One whom all the sacrificial lambs through the ages had represented. Jesus’ blood would be shed to reconcile sinners to God. His death alone could provide forgiveness for sin.

Jesus’ death on Calvary is the ultimate indicator of God’s love for us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God gave His Son to die so that we might have an opportunity to live with Him eternally in the home that He is preparing for us. What greater proof of His love could there be! And because He wanted us to receive His Son and believe on Him, He sent those prophetic messages far ahead of time, so we would recognize the Savior when He came. “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

But why did God raise up another prophet, John the Baptist, to announce the coming King just then? This major event of all the ages could not go unheralded! God would once more use a prophet to call the attention of the people to the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” God enabled John to recognize who Jesus really was and to announce what God was doing to fulfill all the earlier prophecies.

So by His prophets, God warned ancient Israel and other nations of their danger and tried to draw them to Himself. By His prophets, God also told us in advance of His central act in redeeming us, in bringing us to Himself—that He would send a Savior to live and die for us.

Now we are nearing the time when Jesus will return, when God will bring the sin problem on this earth to a close. How does Amos’s statement apply to this age?

III. By His prophets, God has told us of His plan to bring sin to an end and to rescue His people.

The Bible gives us wonderful prophecies of Jesus’ return. Daniel interpreted the last part of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, where the stone struck the image of the nations and replaced them: “In the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which . . . shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Dan. 2:44). In chapter 7, Daniel tells us that “One like the Son of Man” receives this kingdom and rules it (vv. 13, 14). Malachi 4 points to the day when the evildoers will be destroyed, but the “Sun of Righteousness shall arise, with healing in His wings,” to deliver His people (vv. 1-3).

As Jesus ascended back to heaven, angels gave His disciples the wonderful assurance, “This same Jesus . . . will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Peter wrote of the “coming of the day of God,” and that we should “be diligent to be found by Him in peace” (2 Pet. 3:12, 14). Paul wrote that “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,” will raise the dead in Christ, and catch up into the clouds His followers who are alive when He comes.

Of course, Jesus Himself, the greatest Prophet of all, told us, “I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). He gave signs of His coming, found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. These included signs in the sun, moon, and stars, “and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity” (Luke 21:25).

Jesus warned about the appearance of false christs and false prophets who would deceive many (Matt. 24:24). He did not warn His followers against receiving any christ, for He, the true Christ, would come. So He warned against receiving false christs. Similarly, He did not warn against receiving any prophet, but against receiving false ones, whom we would know by their fruits (Matt. 7:15, 16). The prophet Joel had predicted that in the time just before “the great and awesome day of the Lord,” when certain signs would take place in the heavens (darkened sun, and the moon becoming like blood), one should also expect the prophetic gift to be seen. And in Revelation 12:17 and 19:10, John would later foretell that the remnant of God’s true people, down at the end, would “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” which is “the spirit of prophecy,” the Holy Spirit bringing the prophetic gift again to God’s people.

“Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” God would have a prophetic voice again, in preparation for the greatest event of the ages—the return of Jesus. That voice would help guide the people of God through the treacherous days at the end for their own salvation, and it would help them see how God wants them to tell others and bring them to Him as well. As John the Baptist helped prepare people for the first coming of Jesus, so God would use the gift of prophecy to help prepare people for Jesus’ second coming.

Seventh-day Adventists believe that Ellen G. White manifested that gift of prophecy. Her prophetic ministry came at the right time in the progression of events, according to the Scriptures. Her messages helped us to unify on correct Bible doctrines. She pointed out evils that needed to be corrected. God gave her instruction for the church about organization, about health, about publishing, about education, and many other topics that have helped to make our Christian living vibrant, our church strong, and our outreach effective. Most of all, she points us to our soon-coming Savior and Redeemer, urging us not only to “be diligent to be found by Him in peace” (2 Pet. 3:14) ourselves, but to use the time we have remaining to bring as many people as we can to know Jesus and honor Him in their obedient worship and daily living. God has used her to help prepare us for what will come. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.”

The coming of Jesus in glory will be the great crisis time for the whole earth. Those who have not made Him their Savior will be destroyed. There was one other time when our whole world faced such a crisis. The biblical record in Genesis 6 says sin had reached a level that caused God to determine to destroy the entire earth. Nevertheless verse eight reads, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” God called Noah to be His witness, and to build an ark. For 120 years, God, through His representative Noah, revealed what was going to happen.

Ellen G. White gave us insights such as these about those days:

1. “The sin of the antediluvians was in perverting that which in itself was lawful. They corrupted God's gifts by using them to minister to their selfish desires. The indulgence of appetite and base passion made their imaginations altogether corrupt. The antediluvians were slaves of Satan, led and controlled by him” (Ellen G. White comments, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1090).
2. “The inhabitants of the Noachian world were destroyed because they were corrupted through the indulgence of perverted appetite” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 162).
3. 3. “They worshipped selfish indulgence—eating, drinking, and merry-making—and resorted to acts of violence and crime if their desires and passions were interfered with. In the days of Noah the overwhelming majority was opposed to the truth, and enamored with a tissue of falsehoods. The land was filled with violence. War, crime, and murder was the order of the day” (Ellen G. White comments, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1090).
4. “Just so will it be before Christ’s second coming” (Ibid.).
5. “Those who believed when Noah began to build the ark lost their faith through association with unbelievers who aroused all the old passion for amusement and display” (Review and Herald, September 15, 1904).
6. “For one hundred and twenty years Noah proclaimed the message of warning to the antediluvian world; but only a few repented. Some of the carpenters he employed in building the ark believed the message, but died before the Flood; others of Noah’s converts backslid” (Ellen G. White comments, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1088).
7. “God granted them one hundred and twenty years of probation, and during that time preached to them through Methuselah, Noah, and many others of His servants. Had they listened to the testimony of these faithful witnesses, had they repented and returned to their loyalty, God would not have destroyed them” (Review and Herald, April 23, 1901).

The characteristics of Noah’s day are very much with us today. “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37-39).

Through the Bible and the gift of prophecy God will continue to reveal His secrets about all things that will keep us from repentance and from doing His will. As we go to tell the world that Jesus is coming again, we do so knowing that God is with us.

God is eternal, this is to say, He always was and always will be. There was never a time when He did not exist, and there will never be a time when He ceases to exist. David reminds us, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 90:2).

God is holy. Isaiah 6:3 informs us, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Think with me. God who does not change, who is dependable, God who is infinite, God who is just, God who is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, surely “does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

Summary and Appeal

Surely: The state of being sure; a) sure knowledge; certainty; b) confidence in a manner or behavior, fulfillment of an undertaking: guarantee; ground of confidence or security.

From Genesis to Revelation we find that God has warned people and the nation. But before destruction, He gives an opportunity to repent. Today in our contemporary setting He still speaks to us through the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. We who have responded to His invitation, to teach and preach and to tell our communities about His second coming, can proclaim with passion and hope the certainty of His return.

People need to know. It is their right to know. People are all around us who do not understand clearly the times in which they are living. They need to have a sure word from the Lord. They need “surely.” They need to know about a loving and caring God who wants them to be ready for the final exam. Will you go and tell the world? Will you recommit your life to Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to direct your life in witnessing?

Go and tell family, neighbors, and everyone everywhere. Tell them not to give up, not to despair; tell them that God is able to save them from doubt, from fear, from eternal separation from Him. Tell them to reach out to God, because He is reaching out to them. Tell them that they can receive help on their journey because God will not forsake them. Tell them, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

[Note: Bible texts are quoted from the New King James Version.

Adventist composer Henry de Fluiter (1872-1970) wrote both the words and music to this stirring hymn. As a young man, de Fluiter attended meetings of Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey in Cleveland, Ohio, and when he heard the crowds sing at those meetings, he knew what his lifework was to be: “I will draw beautiful music from people just as Mr. Sankey is doing here.”

Henry de Fluiter was not born into the Adventist faith, but became a Seventh-day Adventist as a result of reading books sold by a colporteur. With music his goal, he enrolled in the music/Bible course at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. After one year he began assisting Adventist evangelists, including spending two years in New York City working with Charles T. Everson. Later he would work with H. M. S. Richards, Sr., in California for 12 years. After their last campaign together, de Fluiter pastored the church in North Hollywood that was organized from the newly-baptized members.

de Fluiter wrote the words and music to some 200 gospel songs, most of them on the subject of heaven and the Second Coming. He was still writing songs just a few months before his death at age 98. Among his best-known songs are “Ride On, King Jesus,” “Longing,” “Homesick for Heaven,” and “Over Yonder.”

Adapted from Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White, Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988).

Wayne Hooper (1920- ) wrote both the words and music to this song. At the time, he was the baritone and arranger for the King’s Heralds Quartet of the Voice of Prophecy radio broadcast. He had been asked to serve on the committee that was preparing music for the General Conference session of 1962. The committee’s chairman, Charles Keymer, encouraged him to try writing a theme song based on the session’s motto, “We Have This Hope.” Hooper made it a matter prayer that the Holy Spirit would impress him with the right combination of words and music that would bless the people at the session. For several years he had been studying the Brahms symphonies. Now, four prominent notes of a portion of one of those symphonies came to him suddenly as fitting the session’s theme exactly. All of the words and most of the music followed in about a half hour’s time. Hooper would later write of the experience, “This is the one time in my life that I feel very certain that I was ‘given’ the musical ideas from the Lord.”

“We Have This Hope” was used again as the theme song for the General Conference sessions of 1966, 1975, 1995, and 2000. It has been translated into many languages and is heard in many parts of the Adventist world.

Adapted from Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White, Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988).