Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

This is a guest post from my husband, Brian. Brian works casual call as a nurse and does the majority of the work involved in taking care of our land and animals. In his free time, Brian enjoys planting trees, building things (like this incredible chicken coop), and singing hymns. We’ve been married for 14 years, and I’m happy to call him my husband.

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Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

A few years ago we did a short family presentation in which we each brought our favorite book. I brought a hymnal. The fact that 1,700 years worth of songs are filtered down to the best 700 or so and contained in one book is amazing. As I’m singing or reading through these words, sometimes I’m struck by one phrase or line or verse. Over the next few months, I’d like to add a few guest posts with some reflections on these especially poignant and meaningful passages.

Since we’re still close to Christmas and I don’t want to wait 11 months to mention this one, I’ll start with one of the oldest (about 1,600 years old) songs in my hymnal. Sing it at Christmas. Sing it when you celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Sing it on a Tuesday. Really, just sing it sometime. Alleluia, Lord Most High!

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

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.

I’ve tried to determine what my favorite hymn is. I couldn’t decide. I’ve tried to make a top ten list. There are about 18 hymns on it. But this hymn is one of my favorites. If I ever got a top ten actually whittled down to ten hymns, this would be on it. The depth and the breadth of the subject matter, the richness of the metaphors, and the striking picture of Jesus catapult it right towards the top. And something about singing in a minor key always adds a few bonus points.

If you know me, maybe you know that I don’t have much of a visual memory or a visual imagination. Describe a wonderful scene with all the sights, sounds, and smells of a panoramic mountain vista, and I won’t see any of it. I’ll mostly just see the words on the paper. Ask me what color my wife’s eyes are, and I can’t really picture her face, I just recall the facts; her eyes are “hazel” (so she says, one could make the argument that they’re blue). So when I say the imagery in the third verse of this hymn is striking, that the weight of that picture is such that you can feel it, it’s saying something.

I can see the angel army, rank upon rank, maybe stretching from the moon all the way back to the sun, ten thousand times ten thousand, and all advancing towards earth to wage war against the powers of darkness. And at the head of that army is Jesus, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God. He left the endless glory, radiance, and brightness of heaven, to illuminate this dark world. Can the darkness fight back? Can it retake any ground? When you turn on a light, does the darkness claw its way back into the room? The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light came into the world, the powers of hell vanished, and the darkness cleared away. He didn’t even need that whole angel army.

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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 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… The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:1-5, 9, 14

Photo: Our hymnals