The longsword is a deadly instrument of warfare. It is wielded with two hands, it can slice through to the bone, and once unsheathed, it demands justice from all who come within its reach.
Yet, to carry a longsword is to be an envoy of love.
We need to first understand how a longsword is built. It is a cruciform shape (like a cross) and can be over 4 feet long. It has a pommel, a grip, a cross guard, double edges along the blade, and a central ridge leading to a point.
Each section has a different purpose, but the intent of the longsword is to perform a deadly service.
It’s a service we as Christians can well put to use.
Take Romans 12:21 for example. This verse says: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
That leads us to the pommel, the rounded knob on the “safe” end of the sword. It allows the soldier to grip, thrust, and maintain control of his sword. If the sword is lost, the fight is lost, also. We are told to fight against that which is evil, and it is by use of the pommel that opponents are cast down, and good wins over bad.
Move on to the grip. To understand its service to us, we must go to 1 John 4:10: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Remember, our longsword is a two-hander. We must grip it tightly, and if we release one hand and try to hold our sword with the other, we may survive in the heat of battle for a short time, but we will fall. Christ is our grip. We must hold to his love and to the Son with both hands, for if we hold to our salvation with one fist and the world with the other, our strength is compromised, and we have lost the battle even before it’s begun.
We see the cross guard in 1 John 2:2: “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
The cross guard is vital to the longsword. When we clash in combat and lock swords with our enemy, the cross guard stops the enemy’s sword from slicing our hands. Then we can shake off the attack to engage the fight once again.
What deflects the attack of our spiritual enemy? Not our strong arms and quick hands. If left to our strength, the enemy’s thrusts will slice us to the bone, and we will go down. However, Jesus’ death on the cross deflects the enemy’s sword, for he came to conquer all sin. In him, we can rise to fight once again. He is our cross guard.
Now to our double-edged blade. James 1:20 illustrates our gleaming and honed metal shaft perfectly: “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
It takes a master swordsmith to create a master blade. If formed incorrectly, it will be too heavy or brittle, and it will be useless in battle. In our anger, we can war against evil, but we are amateurs. God in his righteousness is the master swordsmith, and under his hammer, we become honed to battle-ready perfection. As he shapes us, he slices away worldly encumbrances, lightening our load and giving us an edge that cuts at the slightest touch.
The business end of the sword is found in Hebrews 9:27: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
The tip of our longsword brings judgment to humanity, both for those who are good, and those who are evil. If we look back a few chapters to Hebrews 4:12, we find that the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, dividing our soul and spirit; and our joints and marrow.
When we swing our longsword in love, good will triumph, and evil will be vanquished. The whole of history is about Jesus, no matter how many engagements require us to lift our swords in battle. The good thing is we know the outcome. We can read about it in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
That verse takes us back to the pommel. It is by the knob that’s closest to us that we grip, thrust, and maintain control. That knob is our relationship with Jesus. Without that, all is lost anyway.
When we hold onto Jesus, the battle is already won.
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