36. Christ as a
Sword.
The texts of the New Testament, which we have discussed,
are things said by Himself about Himself. Isaiah, however, He
said
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that His mouth had been set by His Father as
a sharp sword, and that He was hidden under the shadow of His hand,
made like to a chosen shaft and kept close in the Father’s
quiver, called His servant by the God of all things, and Israel, and
Light of the Gentiles. The mouth of the Son of God is a sharp
sword, for
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“The word of
God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and
piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,
and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the
heart.” And indeed He came not to bring peace on the earth,
that is, to corporeal and sensible things, but a sword, and to cut
through, if I may say so, the disastrous friendship of soul and body,
so that the soul, committing herself to the spirit which was against
the flesh, may enter into friendship with God. Hence, according
to the prophetic word, He made His mouth as a sword, as a sharp
sword. Can any one behold so many wounded by the divine love,
like her in the Song of Songs, who complained that she was
wounded:
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“I am
wounded with love,” and find the dart that wounded so many souls
for the love of God, in any but Him who said, “He hath made Me as
a chosen shaft.”
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Isa. xlix. 2, 3
.
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Heb. iv. 12
.
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Song ii. 5
.