JESUS CHRIST >> SECOND ADVENT
SDAH 207
It may be at morn, when the day is awaking,
When sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking,
That Jesus will come in the fullness of glory
To receive from the world His own.
Text
1
It may be at morn, when the day is awaking,
When sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking,
That Jesus will come in the fullness of glory
To receive from the world His own.
Refrain
O Lord Jesus, how long, how long
Ere we shout the glad song?
Christ returneth, Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Amen, Hallelujah! Amen.
2
It may be at midday, it may be at twilight,
It may be, perchance, that the blackness of midnight
Will burst into light in the blaze of His glory,
When Jesus receives His own.
3
O joy! O delight! should we go without dying,
No sickness, no sadness, no dread, and no crying,
Caught up through the clouds with our Lord into glory,
When Jesus receives His own.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Mark 13:35; Matt 13:26 (b) Matt 24:27 (c) 1 Thess 4:17 (r) Rev 6:10
Author
H.L. Turner, 19th century
Metrical Number
12.12.12.7.Ref.
Composer
James McGranaham (1840-1907)
Get the hymn sheet in other keys here
Recommended Reading
This is the premise on which H.L. Turner wrote his hymn. Not knowing how much longer will it take for Christ to return, he ruminates on the idea that maybe, He will come in the morning, at midday, at twilight, or at midnight.
With vividness in his writing, Turner describes that moment when Christ returns. Phrases like “sunlight through darkness,” “blaze of His glory,” and “blackness of midnight will burst into light” will make any reader imagine the grandeur of the scene. Continue reading.
Notes
Get to know the hymns a little deeper with the SDA Hymnal Companion. Use our song leader’s notes to engage your congregation in singing with understanding. Even better, involve kids in learning this hymn with our homeschooling materials.
This hymn first appeared in Gospel hymns, No. 3 in 1878 under the heading “John 14:3, ‘I will come again, and receive you unto myself.’” The text was written by H. L. Turner, who evidently had a lively anticipation of the second advent of the Lord, but we have no information about his life.
The tune, named CHRIST RETURNETH in Church Hymnal, was specially composed for these words by James McGranahan (1840-1907; see SDAH 195). He also composed the tunes, all unnamed, for SDAH195, “Showers of Blessing”; SDAH 343, “ I Will Sing of My Redeemer”; and SDAH 511, “I Know Whom I Have Believed.”
According to the Dictionary of American Hymnology, First Line Index, the first time this song was used was in F.E. Belden’s Christ in Song, 1900. On the card in this listing is the note “Refrain by F.E. Belden,” but he is not given this credit in later books.
-from Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White
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