For my post this week, I thought it would be interesting to tell the story of a single image as it recurs throughout the Bible.
In the first chapter of the book of Revelation, the Apostle John, imprisoned on Patmos, has a vision of the resurrected and exalted Jesus Christ. The imagery in his vision is rich and multi-layered, but for our purposes, a single detail stands out. In verse 16, John says that “from [Jesus’] mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.” This same detail recurs near the end of the book when John again sees a vision of Jesus: “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations” (Revelation 19:15).
The image is obviously highly symbolic and, like much of the imagery in Revelation, is difficult to fully picture. What does it look like to see a figure with a sharp sword coming from his mouth? This is a common issue in the prophetic imagery of the Bible, which makes it difficult to visualize. What does a wheel covered with eyes look like? What does Isaiah mean when he says in Isaiah 6 that “the train of his robe filled the temple”? The imagery goes beyond the dimensions of our experience, existing on a plane above our own.
However, the connection between the sword and the mouth of the Messiah is not an innovation of John’s vision. The New Testament connects words or speech to a sword in several places. Hebrews 4:12, for example, says, “The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit.” Ephesians 6:17 instructs believers to “take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” And although Jesus does not directly make the connection between his words and a sword, he does declare, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).
There is one other place in Scripture where a connection is drawn between the mouth of the Messiah and a sword. In the text we looked at this past Sunday, Isaiah 49:1-2, the figure of the “Servant of the Lord” describes his calling:
“The Lord called me from the womb,
From the body of my mother he named my name.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of his hand he hid me.”
Thus, the image of the word of the Lord as a sword is not something the New Testament authors invented but rather an interpretation of Jesus and his mission in light of what was spoken about the Messiah in the past. Isaiah prophesies about the Messiah—the Messiah appears in the person of Jesus—then the Messiah’s actions are interpreted in light of those prophecies.
The Messiah figure in the Old Testament prophets had always appeared as a warlike figure who would bring the vengeance of God, vindicating and defending his people from their enemies. In this light, his possession of a sword is assumed and natural. It would be a mighty sword wielded in the hand of a mighty warrior. And when the Messiah comes, as mentioned above, he does claim to have a sword. Yet when Peter takes up the sword to defend Jesus on the night of his arrest, Jesus refuses his help and even heals the man injured by the sword. How does this align with the prophecies of the Messiah?
The New Testament authors turn here to the prophecy of Isaiah 49. The sword is not wielded by the hand of the Messiah but comes from his mouth. The words of the Messiah, therefore, possess warlike power. It is not his physical actions that carry the power of the sword but his words, which can cut through to the heart. His church, wielding his word, “does not fight with the weapons of this world,” as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10. Instead, “we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.”
And then, in the fullness of time, the imagery of the Messiah comes full circle. In the prophetic medium of Revelation, John draws upon all the prophetic imagery of the Old Testament, and so his Messiah appears with a mouth like a sharp sword. This power is wielded on behalf of his people throughout Revelation—to protect them amidst the tumult of the end of days. And then, at the end, the word of judgment destroys and overcomes all the nations.
Beneath all this is our understanding of the power of the Messiah as he appears in the person of Jesus. He comes as the fulfillment of all promises and is himself the enactment of God’s promise. He is the Word of the Lord, proven and demonstrated, and thus he comes as the testimony of the power of that word. Just as the word of God summoned all things into existence, so the word of the Lord, through Jesus, proclaims and enacts the salvation and judgment that had been promised since the beginning.