Translation
Therefore, repent! But if you do not, I will come to you quickly and wage war against them
Go to footnote numberwith the sword of my mouth.
Paraphrase
Therefore, repent! But if you do not repent, I will come to you quickly and attack them with cutting words from my mouth.
Footnotes
1
“I will come to you” and “and wage war against them:” Jesus will come to all who appear to be a part of His church and will judge all of them with truth; then He will punish those individuals who have accepted the teachings of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans. He will only attack those who are guilty. Thus he is saying, “I will come to you, (all of you) and I will judge them, (those that are guilty).”
“Words from My Mouth”
Jesus’ weapon (His sword) is His words. In ancient times, one’s words were a manifestation of who he was and what he desired. The character and intent of a person is revealed by his words. God created the universe simply by speaking words. So we could say that God created the universe by projecting an extension of Himself. He projected what He is and expressed it as words that became a physical manifestation of His character, His power, and His purpose.
Jesus is called the Word of God because He is the revelation of God to us in physical form. We read things that point to Jesus being very involved in the creation event (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all played a role in creation). Just as Jesus was involved in creation, He is, and will be involved in judgment and punishment, for they too are extensions of who God is. This punishment will be expressed first as words, then as a physical reality.
Here the words from the mouth of Jesus are used to judge people who think they are believers but who refuse to repent of their sins. In this case His cutting words will not be directed at those who are obviously evil, but at the self-righteous, outwardly pious who are inwardly rebellious.
You will notice in Revelation that Jesus does not fight His enemies with traditional weapons of warfare. All He uses, all He needs to use, are words. The very expression of the truth about who He is, and the outward expression of God’s inner qualities, suffice to destroy His enemies. Judgment is God expressing who He is by showing clearly what He will not accept. It is God’s nature to reveal who He is and what He is like, through creation, through Jesus, through His written word, and through the Holy Spirit; it is also His nature to punish wickedness when people have not responded to His overtures of mercy and grace. God would be acting contrary to His nature if He did not punish such sinfulness. And His punishment will come in the form of an expression of His holiness, which will demonstrate the sinner’s lack of holiness. When such a revelation is allowed to have its full effect, it takes on a physical reality that brings ruin and destruction.