Nor Doth He Sleep

This is Part Three of our 2025 Advent series. (You can find the other parts here: One. Two. Four.)

This week’s carol is “Christmas Bells,” more commonly known as its first line, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” My favorite version of this carol is the one recorded by Johnny Cash in 1963.

The words were penned by one of America’s foremost poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, on Christmas Day, 1863. It was the middle of the Civil War. Longfellow had endured multiple personal tragedies in the years prior to its composition. In 1861, his wife of eighteen years, Fanny, died after sustaining severe burns when her dress caught fire. Their oldest son, Charles, joined the Union army without his father’s consent and was severely injured in battle. The deep grief Longfellow felt, coupled with the corporate misery of a nation torn by war, resulted in the sadness expressed in the poem.

We see a progression in the five stanzas usually set to music (the full words, in eight stanzas, can be read here).

First, the poet remembers what could be—what ought to be. He knows that Christ’s birth meant peace on earth, goodwill towards mankind since the angels first announced it to the shepherds. And, he says, churches and bells have always carried out this message, ever since that day.

But then he realizes: the circumstances around him do not seem to fulfill this promise. When he looks around him, he sees the evidence. The country is torn apart by a civil war; death is close by; hate seems to lurk at every turn. Where is the promised goodwill and peace? It seems to have disappeared.

In response comes a reminder: the bells peal out the truth that eventually God’s justice will prevail. The grief and despair that surround Longfellow at this moment will eventually be replaced by God’s perfect will.

We can see this truth in many Old Testament passages about the coming Messiah. For example, in Zechariah 9:9-10, we see a prophecy that reminds us of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday:

Certainly, these verses were not fulfilled in the way that the nation of Israel imagined that they would be. They saw a humble king, yes, but his rule and reign was not a political one. Instead, he came for the hearts of his people.

So now, perhaps in the year 2025, we find ourselves in a grieving season, like Longfellow. Perhaps we find ourselves confused and looking for a different solution, like those who watched Jesus enter Jerusalem that day. But the Lord has ordained that our circumstances are different—perhaps the earthly injustice will prevail a bit longer. Why? There is no telling.

What then? We can, again, listen to the promises of Scripture, as Longfellow did. The existence of temporal suffering is no indication of unending grief. The time will come when God’s will is fulfilled, and “he shall speak peace to the nations.”

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Kelly Keller

Kelly Keller is the managing editor of Story Warren. She has her BS in Elementary Education from Messiah University and has taught various ages, but her favorite was worldview and literature with high school students. The “gap” in her resume is actually a window of eighteen years of homeschooling, which she recommends as an effective, though demanding, way of expanding one’s home library.

When she’s not behind her laptop, Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. Kelly hails from beautiful snowy New England, but after nearly two decades in North Carolina, she feels right at home.

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