You can read in the Bible of the sword which goes out from the mouth of God. This is not a sword made of steel — it is far more powerful than even steel. And God who uses it speaks with power, and when He uses that sword, no one can answer back or fight with Him. Here is another story about that wonderful sword.
You remember that the great God who created all things by the word of His power became a baby and grew up to be a man in the same world where you and I live. His name was Jesus. All He needed to heal sick people was to speak a word. He didn’t need medicine or doctors or operations. All He needed to feed thousands of hungry people was just a command. He used a small amount of food, and His power made it enough to feed five thousand people, with leftovers.
Why then was Jesus hated? Why did they search the garden of Gethsemane in the darkness until they found Him and then tied Him up with ropes? Because He told them the same thing that He is telling you — that you are a sinner — you have sinned against God, and you need His salvation or you will be lost forever. This was and still is the message no one wants to hear.
Peter was with Jesus in the garden that night and Peter loved Him, but Peter made a mistake. He drew his metal sword to defend his Master. He may have been aiming for the servant’s head, but all he did was cut off the man’s ear. This mistake was corrected in a way that only our Jesus could have done. He touched the servant’s ear and healed him.
Jesus knew that Peter was trying to protect Him. And this is the wonderful answer of the Lord Jesus to Peter in the garden that night. “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matthew 26:53-54).
Those thousands of angels at His command could have instantly wiped out every person in the world. The sword of the Lord has power beyond our wildest imagination. But God’s sword was NOT used against those wicked men, because Jesus was ready to go to the cross and meet that sword Himself so you and I could go free!
God had already called, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd [Jesus], and against the Man that is My Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd [Jesus]” (Zechariah 13:7).
The sword of God was used in full strength against our blessed Lord Jesus when He was on the cross. No one was allowed to see that awful smiting that Jesus endured while He suffered for sin. God made darkness come over all the land. Total darkness. It was as if God were telling us that this was too deep and serious for any of us to understand. Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” You and I do not understand this, but we know it is true, because the Bible is true — it is God’s Word.
At the end of three hours of bearing God’s punishment for sin, Jesus was still alive and able to pronounce that His own work was finished. No one but God Himself could say, “It is finished,” as Jesus did. And after that, He gave up His life. Who but God could do that?
If then the sword of God’s judgment against sin has finished its work, is there any punishment left for you and me? If we are protected in the loving arms of Jesus our Saviour who died for us and rose again, there is no need to fear — we are set free. However, the sword of the Lord will still fall on those who are not protected in the strong, loving arms of Jesus.
If you will come to Him now, you can be set free from all punishment for your sins. If you refuse to come to Him, you will bear the punishment from God’s sword for your sins.
Have you been set free from God’s sword of punishment?
“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). “If the Son [Jesus] therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
ML-10/12/2003