This year our special focus was on the Christmas carol Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, in some ways one of the oldest carols of all. Here you can read all the posts in order, and check out a few other related resources.
100 year old arrangement of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (1921)
Have you ever been in a situation that was so different from past experience, that at first you weren’t even sure what you were seeing?
The first thing I think of is a change of cultures. You fly to another country, and everything is different – overwhelming – you don’t know what to focus on and often don’t understand what you’re seeing.
That must be the way it is when a human sees heavenly things. Imagine Isaiah, looking into God’s throne room, apparently in the temple, and yet unlike anything he had ever seen:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
Isaiah 6:1-3
There’s no doubt what the focus of this scene is – it’s the Lord of hosts. But what are these strange beings? Seraph – plural, seraphim, some kind of angel with six wings, worshipping God in His presence.
Responding to Isaiah’s confession of sin, a seraph flies over with a burning coal from the altar. “And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'” (Isaiah 6:7)
Another type of heavenly being that we hear about are the cherubim (you guessed it – singular, cherub). The first one we see is a guard – guarding the tree of life, blocking the path to the tree in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24). Ornaments designed to look like cherubim guarded the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 37:9) – you could say that they guarded the presence of God. Or that they actually formed the throne of God (2 Samuel 6:2). The throne moves – God rides on the cherubim (Psalm 18:10).
The last verse of Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence comes directly out of the Cherubic Hymn in the Liturgy of St. James. It tries in a short verse to capture a heavenly scene, taken from the many passages of Scripture describing cherubim (seraphim are only mentioned in Isaiah 6).
At His feet the six wingèd seraph, Cherubim with sleepless eye, Veil their faces to the presence, As with ceaseless voice they cry: Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia, Lord Most High!
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Throughout this Christmas carol, we’ve seen the heavenly army, we’ve seen heavenly creatures, we’ve seen the Lord of Lords. And here are the angels worshipping the King of Heaven, the King of all, the Most High.
As we read all the verses together, we see this is only part of the scene. It is as if the angels are descending to earth with Him – not to become human themselves, but to continue their worship and praise. This is still apparently intended to be a Christmas scene. Although, as we have noted, we know very little of what really happened “behind the scenes”.
This is one Christmas carol that truly gets to the heart of what Christmas is all about. The Great King of Creation, becoming a man, to vanquish the darkness that was introduced into the Garden of Eden in the first place. Although He becomes human, he never ceases to be God, worthy of the worship of every being.
This is why all mortal flesh ought to be silent.
But who is taking time to be silent? A brief trip through the Psalms gives us a picture of the speech that we hear so often today – in speeches, on social media, on news sites – sadly, even in “Christmas songs” – does any of this kind of speech sound familiar?
Unclean (Psalm 5:9)
Cursing (Psalm 10:7)
Lying (Psalm 12:2)
Boastful (Psalm 12:3)
Rebellious (Psalm 12:4)
Slanderous (Psalm 15:3)
Arrogant (Psalm 17:10)
Roaring (Psalm 22:13)
Violent (Psalm 27:12)
Evil (Psalm 50:19)
Plotting (Psalm 52:2)
Deceitful (Psalm 52:4)
Sharp (Psalm 57:4)
Howling (Psalm 59:6)
Bellowing (Psalm 59:7)
Hypocritical (Psalm 62:4)
Flattering (Psalm 78:36)
Rash (Psalm 106:33)
Malicious (Psalm 139:20)
Poisonous (Psalm 140:3)
Mischeivous (Psalm 140:9)
And how about this marvellous description from Psalm 73:9 – “They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth”!
No wonder God commands all peoples to be silent.
For the believer, we are silent also – in hope.
In Psalm 62, David laments the noisy evil speech all around him.
How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse.
Psalm 62:3-4
Oh, how familiar that sounds. But what is David’s response to the hypocritical lies all around, that threaten to destroy him? Silence.
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Psalm 62:5-7
And so, we call on all on the earth to be silent. And we too are silent.
I hope you can be silent, just for a little while, this season. In hope. Because Salvation descended from Heaven. And He is Lord of all.
10 years ago today, the wedding photographer was working her magic at the wedding of Daryl and Iwona in Caronport, Saskatchewan.
It was a privilege to travel up to Canada for the big occasion. I had lots of time to play with pictures and video, so I took this odd little video of the photographer arranging Daryl and Iwona on a couch for a picture. Yes, it was only 10 years ago, not 50 as it may appear!
It’s probably happened to you at some point. You see a big crowd gathered around something, and you got over to see what it is. It’s probably something much smaller than the crowd that it has attracted!
The third verse in this magnificent Christmas carol begins with a crowd – a crowd of angels. What’s going on?
Rank on rank the host of Heaven Spreads its vanguard on the way
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
We don’t know everything that was going on “behind the scenes” before or during the birth of Christ. We do know that the angels were very interested. Peter himself tells us, “angels long to look” into God’s wonderful gospel work (1 Peter 1:12).
But of course we do know that a heavenly army appeared to the shepherds, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14) Maybe it was only a small portion of God’s angelic hosts. A song from the 1970s by John W. Thompson suggests that “the angels spilled over heaven’s edge and filled the air”! The song (“That Night”) captures the joy and excitement that the angels must have felt.
But this carol, and probably Luke 2 as well, suggest something less chaotic and more organized and awesome – rank on rank – the angel army – and why are they there?
Rank on rank the host of Heaven Spreads its vanguard on the way, As the Light of light descendeth From the realms of endless day
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
The Light of Light descends – Christ Himself. You’ll remember that term – Light of Light – from one of my two votes for the greatest Christmas carol of all time. God of God, Light of light. The term is from the Nicene Creed, and you can click the link the learn more about that.
There is endless day in heaven because God Himself gives it light:
The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
Isaiah 60:19-20
And we learn this in Revelation:
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Revelation 21:23
Jesus is light and life. John describes the light that was “coming into the world”:
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:4-5
This little Baby was truly the everlasting light, and now the light of the world (John 8:12, John 9:5). Why had He come? Let’s read the whole stanza…
Rank on rank the host of Heaven Spreads its vanguard on the way, As the Light of light descendeth From the realms of endless day, That the powers of hell may vanish As the darkness clears away.
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
The writer imagines Christ as a light plummeting out of the heavens, led by His army of angels. As the Apostle John wrote, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The Light chases away all the darkness of hell.
Because, after all, all of creation was under a curse (Romans 8:20-22). All humanity was dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1), lost forever (Romans 3:9-20), simply inventing new ways to do evil (Romans 1:30). There was no light. Something had to come to us from outside of the creation. Something – or Someone – not dependant on the creation itself. And that Someone did come. The only One who could banish the darkness, because He is the only Light.
And the final stanza of this carol, which we’ll get to next week, will suggest that He was indeed successful in His mission. The end of the story is a sharp contrast, for us, to the image of a Baby in a manger.
Tomorrow we were supposed to be expecting the arrival of a short term team to help with the ministry here. But – no team.
We’re not exactly sure of all the reasons why the team cancelled, but as you might imagine we’re pretty disappointed. But, God has His own good plan for us.
So, we’re moving ahead with other things. This Sunday we’re starting a four week Christmas series at church, and I’m preparing my part – a message on the Prologue of the Gospel of John. Where to begin? This is such an important passage regarding the nature of Christ and the incarnation. And there is so much confusion on that topic.
We’re also getting ready for next year’s ministry. And tonight I’ll be in our regular leadership Bible study.
And we’re hoping that we’ll be able to get a bit of a break for some family time over Christmas! It’s coming, you know.
We did have an unexpected surprise this week – a visit from our friend and fellow missionary Guillermo Reddekopp. It was unexpected for him too – after complications with a stop-over in Mexico City, he ended up having to spend the night. And thankfully, he chose Hotel Cottrill.
So his loss was our gain, and we enjoyed a time of fellowship. The Reddekops are serving here in Mexico, and are preparing for some exciting changes in ministry. But they live very far from us, so we’ve never seen them on Mexican soil.
Who doesn’t love a good picnic? All the better if someone else brings the food!
What a picnic it must have been, listening to the Messiah teach – a Messiah who miraculously prepared food for thousands of people who had come to listen!
Let’s admit it – people were getting concerned. They had been so carried away with the words – and the miracles! – of the Teacher, that they had not planned ahead. Jesus was the one who pointed out the problem – “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He asked one of the local boys, Philip. But He already knew what He would do.
With five barley loaves and two fish He fed them all – that is to say, He created food for them to eat. What a king this Teacher would make! While the Roman army worried about its supply chains and mobile kitchens, the followers of Jesus would be well fed and healthy. But – where had Jesus gone?
His disciples had left in boats – Jesus wasn’t with them. The search began. No sign of Jesus. But the disciples would know where He was. So, many in the crowd found boats and headed toward Capernaum. And – surprise! – Jesus was there – who knows how he got there.
Jesus knew why they were looking for Him. They were all talking about barley loaves and fish. It was the next day, and they were hungry again.
“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life . . .” Jesus told them.
Sounds delicious! What’s this “work” we’re supposed to do? Sign me up. I’m sure it’s better than spreading manure on my field.
“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Believe? Fine, we believe. Are you going to show us another miracle? Something really really big this time. After all, Jesus was the Prophet, right? The One like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15)!
But the crowd had their focus all wrong. “. . . it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”
Fine – details, details. Pass the food baskets!
No, they still didn’t understand. “. . . the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Wait – what? – Jesus is the bread? We must be misunderstanding. He means he’s the source of the bread, right? Well, here we are! “Sir, give us this bread always!”
The crowd saw the analogy, but they weren’t getting the reality. Yes, Jesus Himself is the bread. In fact, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” But if you eat the Bread from Heaven – Jesus Himself – you will be completely and eternally satisfied.
What – like, cannibalism?
No, of course not. What did Jesus mean when He said He was the food, the bread? “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” To eat and drink was the analogy. To come to Him, believe in Him, was the reality.
The crowd had “come” to Him, of course. They had been searching for Him! They believed He could feed them physical food. Jesus could satisfy their hunger. Just as God sent manna in the days of Moses. But Someone greater than Moses was here. The Prophet, the Messiah, the Giver of Life. The crowd believed they had seen miracles, they believed that they had been fed, but they did not truly have their trust in the Christ.
He was the only Saviour, God in the flesh, Lord of Lords, the true Bread from Heaven. And although they had seen, they did not believe.
“And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The flesh that was torn on the cross. The blood that was shed. Those who believed would forever be a part of Christ – and have eternal life in Him (John 6:40).
Liturgical Quotations compiled by the author of the English version of “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”, Gerard Moultrie.
That is the spiritual truth of Christmas. A physical death, a physical resurrection, that we, through faith, may have life forever. All those who have been drawn by the Father (John 6:44).
“Ponder nothing earthy minded” said our Christmas carol in the first verse. Physical food is a great blessing to enjoy during the Christmas holidays – but all food points to something greater – the Bread from Heaven, who sustains believers for all eternity, through His incarnation and victory on the cross, His victory over death.
And so the carol continues:
King of kings, yet born of Mary, As of old on earth He stood, Lord of lords, in human vesture, In the body and the blood; He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food.
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
If you’re ready to eat it – ready to do the “work of God” – listen again to the words of the Messiah. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Do you believe that He is truly the way to God, the only truth? The life-giver? Find life in Him today – and this will be the most beautiful Christmas ever!
(Read the full story of Jesus and the hungry crowd here – John 6.)
