JESUS CHRIST >> SECOND ADVENT
SDAH 203
This is the threefold truth
On which our faith depends;
And with this joyful cry
Worship begins and ends;
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For Worship Leaders
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Hymn Spotlight: This Is the Threefold Truth
Fred Pratt Green’s hymn centers on three pillars of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Written in the late 20th century, it was later set to the original tune CHALLENGE by Adventist composer Allen Foster. With its upward-moving refrain, the music lifts our hearts toward the promise of Christ’s return. This hymn calls us to hold fast to the gospel story that shapes our past, present, and future.
📖 Reference: Feel free to share but please cite hymnsforworship.org when reproducing.
Introductions for Sabbath School Song Service (based on specific lesson quarterlies):
The triple exclamation that concludes each stanza of this hymn comes from ancient sources, and has appeared in some recent works also. Fred Pratt Green (1903- ; see Biographies), Methodist minister of England who is considered in the forefront of contemporary hymn writers, used these three major events in the life of our Lord to make a stirring hymn.
An anthem had been composed using this text, which was printed in The Hymns and Ballads of Fred Pratt Green, published in 1982 by Hope Publishing Company. The commentary in that book said, “Fred hopes someone will write a tune for it in the form of a hymn.” The committee decided to fulfill this hope, and sent the poem to some 30 SDA composers, asking for an original tune. Out of all those submitted, CHALLENGE, by Allen W. Foster (1940- ; see SDAH 151), was chosen as the one that best gave wings to this text. The SDA Committee especially liked the upward movement of the refrain, building naturally to the “Christ will come again!” climax.
Concerning this music, foster wrote: “The hymn tune name I chose CHALLENGE, seemed appropriate to the pleasant task of fitting a tune to these challenging and inspirational words. My method of writing tunes for existing texts has always been meter-based—how the words flow from my personal reading of them. Often, from the meter, a tune will literally jump out! This is how the tune CHALLENGE managed to create a bond with the great Fred Pratt Green hymn text.”
📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.
Stanza:
1 – 1 Thessalonians 4:14
Text
1
This is the threefold truth
On which our faith depends;
And with this joyful cry
Worship begins and ends;
Refrain:
Christ has died!
Christ is risen!
Christ will come again!
2
By this we are upheld
When doubt and grief assails
Our Christian fortitude,
And only grace avails.
3
This is the threefold truth
Which, if we hold it fast,
Changes the world and us
And brings us home at last.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) 1 Thess 4:14
Author
Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000)
Copyright
Words copyright 1980 by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Music copyright 1984 by Allen W. Foster.
Hymn Tune
CHALLENGE
Metrical Number
6.6.6.6.3.4.5.Ref.
Composer
Allen W. Foster (1940-)
Year Composed
1984
Recommended Reading
This hymn outlines three fundamental truths that hold the gist of Christian faith in general. Christ died for us. Christ defied death and was risen. And Christ would come again. Pretty much standard theology.
However, in the description written in the Companion to SDA Hymnal, it was worded like this, “The triple exclamation that concludes each stanza of this hymn comes from ancient sources and has appeared in some recent works also.”
