Sword

The sword was the primary close-combat weapon of the ancient world and so the natural symbol of war, judgment, and lethal power. To “fall by the sword” was to die in battle or under judgment, and a flaming sword guarded the way back into Eden.

Scripture turns the image inward and upward. The word of God is “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit” — it cuts to the truth of the heart. In the believer’s armour, the only offensive weapon is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

In the visions of Revelation a sharp twoedged sword proceeds out of the mouth of the risen Christ — he conquers not by physical violence but by his authoritative word. The sword thus holds together judgment and revelation: God’s word both wounds and heals, exposing sin and cutting it away.