Sermon, Sunday 11 December 2016:
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence – Part 2
Readings: 	Hymn – Let all mortal flesh keep silence, 295 in hymn book; 
Isaiah 35.1-10, p 719; Matthew 11.2-11, p 976.

Dear Lord
As we sit in silence before you, may we come to appreciate something of the magnificence that will appear when you come back to earth.  Amen.

During our two communion services in Advent we are considering the hymn ‘Let all mortal flesh keep silence’, number 295 in the hymnbook if you would like it open in front of you.  

Last time Cassa concentrated on verse 1, particularly the need to keep times of silence, so today I have the other 3 verses to consider, but you will be glad to know that I’m not going to preach a triple length sermon!

Most of you know that one of the pastimes I enjoy most is singing in choirs, particularly if it involves singing the Lord’s praises.  Last month I had the privilege of singing – along with 190 others in the choir – in front of Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip, in the Royal Albert Hall, at the annual festival of remembrance.  In the now over-used parlance of today it was an awesome experience!  It was exciting, a great honour, very enjoyable but at the same time just a little bit scary.

But how will that compare with the great day when I come to meet the King of Kings himself, our Lord Jesus Christ?  In our modern styles of worship, we have perhaps lost a lot of what real awe means.  The dictionary describes awe as ‘reverential fear or wonder’ but even that is really inadequate.  Going back to verse 1 of our hymn it talks about standing with fear and trembling and perhaps that is why our reading from Isaiah tells us to ‘Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way, and say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come.”

But carrying on that verse is in itself designed to fill us with fear: ‘your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution’.  Yes, there are many references elsewhere in the Bible to the fact that Jesus will come back as our judge.  And perhaps even more scary in Matthew 16.27 Jesus tells us ‘For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.’ and in Luke 12.48 he says ‘From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.’

What scary thoughts.  Our Christmas card list runs to about 200 people.  We have been privileged to be given that group of relatives, friends, ex-colleagues, neighbours, people we know and love in the village. That’s 200 people to keep in touch with, to care for and to pray for.  How often have we failed to do that this year?  And that’s just one example of the much that we have been entrusted with and the much that Jesus expects of us.  What blundering excuse will I give him for failure when I meet him?

But before we all hang our heads in despair because we know that we have failed to live up to what Jesus expects again and again, we need to read the rest of verse 4 of Isaiah 35 ‘he will come to save you’.  Yes, that is why verse 2 of our hymn says: ‘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.’  Jesus came to earth to be our redeemer.  He has prepared the way for us to meet him.

Verse 8 of Isaiah 35 tells us ‘And a highway will be here; it will be called the Way of Holiness.  The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.’  Here again that hint of judgement.  But the way has been prepared.  

In ancient times it was Near Eastern practice for a messenger to go ahead to prepare the way for the monarch when he was coming.  In the same way in November the way to the Albert Hall was barricaded off for the Queen to have easy access.  And we read in our New Testament reading of John the Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus’ coming.  He had called people to repentance and baptised them ready for them to be redeemed by Jesus.  

John was now in prison and sent word to Jesus to make sure that he was the one that John had foretold.  Jesus did not give lots of promises in reply, but merely sent John the evidence.   ‘The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.’  Some suggest that Jesus listed it in reverse order with the most important – the good news being preached to the poor last.  Many believed that physical and spiritual healing went hand in hand.  John would know that these signs were those predicted of the Messiah in Isaiah reflected in our reading from chapter 35 today and they would re-assure him, as he lay wondering why he was in prison, that it had all been worthwhile; he had done God’s job and acted as the true prophet for the coming Messiah.  

And these signs can re-assure us as well, because the prophecies did not just apply to Jesus’ first coming but will also apply to his coming again.  Jesus also gives us a less cheerful list of signs of his coming in Matthew 24 – wars and rumours of wars, famines, earthquakes, false prophets to name a few.  We see many of these things around us today, but the truth is that we just don’t know when He is coming so we must be ready – it might be another 2000 years but he might come before we’ve even left church this morning!

John ensured that the way was ready for Jesus by preaching repentance and baptising people.  We can be sure we are ready if we are sure that we have been redeemed in the ‘body and the blood’ as verse 2 of our hymn puts it.  Simply, Jesus died for us a cruel death, taking our sins upon him and wiping the slate clean, and rising again to prove he was our saviour and redeemer.  And that is what we will celebrate shortly as we come to the table for communion obeying his command to do this in his memory.

If anyone here this morning has any doubts as to whether they are ‘redeemed’ by Jesus, then Cassa, Jenny or I would be only too happy to have a chat with you.

As we celebrate this morning that Christ has given’ to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food’ we can celebrate and look forward to that day when he returns to take us back with him to heaven.

It is difficult to imagine what that day will be like, but the combination of Gerald Moultrie’s poem, based on the Byzantine Divine liturgy, combined with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ majestic arrangement of a French medieval folk melody in the tune ‘Picardy’ give us just a hint of the feel of what that day will be like.  

Some suggest that Jesus will return to Jerusalem, but it is difficult to imagine, even in these days of world-wide media, how Jesus will show himself to everybody at the same time as he descends from heaven with all the angels and the heavenly host.  I think the picture given by verse 3 is better than one I could give:
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.

The Bible gives us many hints as to what that day will be like.  Some give us solemn reminders, such as Matthew 24.40 – Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left’, whilst others give us much more uplifting pictures such as ‘in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.’ (1 Cor 15.52) words we all know so well from that lovely air in Handel’s Messiah.  

The hymn then goes on ‘that the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away’.  Does this just mean physical darkness, or is there a deeper meaning?  I think it probably means both.  There is no doubt that heaven will be a very bright place lacking in darkness.  Revelation 21 describes the new Jerusalem coming out of heaven from God.  In verse 11 ‘It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.’  It’s difficult to imagine what it will really be like, as so much of what we are given is in picture language.  

But as to the banishing of darkness.  I think this is also allegorical.  Earlier in Revelation 21 we read ‘And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every ear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’.  

Yes, everything will be new.  And we read in Revelation 20.2 that Satan will be chained up and in verse 10 that he will be tormented in a lake of burning sulphur forever, so there will be no more temptation to sin because Satan will have lost his power.  Therefore, we will all live worshipping the Glory of God, we will no longer be able do anything wrong or sin; there will be true peace, no more hunger or famine, no more inequities just a loving community worshipping its maker.

And what about verse 4.  The picture of the six winged seraph comes from Isaiah’s vision during his commission following King Uzziah’s death in chapter 6, verse 2.  We first read of cherubim at the end of chapter 3 of Genesis, where they were given the job of guarding the tree of life after Adam and Eve were banished from the garden of Eden – no doubt they had to have sleepless eyes to ensure no one got near it.  There are many mentions of cherubim around the mercy seat in the temple in the Old Testament, and finally we find them featuring in Ezekial’s visions.  These heavenly creatures have a God-given role but even they need to veil their faces to his presence, much as the people of Israel did when Moses went to meet God in the desert to receive his commandments.

All these heavenly creatures ceaselessly cry: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord Most High!  Advent may be a penitential season – something we tend to forget with all the rush towards Christmas, though I can recommend Cassa’s children’s advent calendar as suitable for all ages if you are looking for one penitential thing to do each day this season – but surely the most positive thing we can do this season is to sing Alleluia loud and clear so that others know that this is what Advent is all about.

(13 mins)

Instead of a closing prayer, I think we should stand and sing this hymn together (no 295 or 424 for the choir):
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth
our full homage to demand.

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.

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.

At His feet the six winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

Bibliography

BIBLE: Barker, K L, Stek, J H, Strauss M L and Youngblood R E, eds (2008), Zondervan NIV study Bible.     
DICTIONARY: Fowler, H W and Fowler, F G (eds) (1911, 5th ed, 1964), The concise Oxford dictionary of current English, Oxford: University Press
Clow, Rev W M (1962), The Bible Reader’s encyclopaedia and concordance, rev ed, London: Collins.
Wikipedia, Let all mortal flesh keep silence – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_all_mortal_flesh_keep_silence, downloaded 7 December 2016.