Dear Precious Friends,
On this beautiful new day, this gift from God, this Tuesday of Holy Week, we are reminded of the great love Jesus has for us to lay down His life, taking on every single one of our sins to pay the price for us to be forgiven and bought our freedom and redemption. It is a love so great we cannot fathom the price He paid and what that love means to us.
I was thinking about the scripture from Matthew 26:53 "Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"
I really wanted to know what a legion is and how much power was at Jesus' disposal.
On the night when Jesus was unjustly betrayed and arrested, Peter took out a sword and cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. Jesus quickly reprimands Peter and tells Him to put away his sword. Jesus then shows His commitment to carry out the will of God the Father to pay the price for sin on our behalf.. He proclaimed that He could call on the Father and the Father would send seventy-two thousand angels to come to His rescue. But His mission was to suffer the wrath of God on the cross for the redemption of mankind.
No greater act of love and kindness has ever been done by anyone for those so unworthy. Just to think that He was willing to suffer the fury and wrath of God the Father for something He did not do is beyond our ability to fathom. It shows Christ loved us so much that He would not let anything stop Him from going to the cross. That’s love!
begin with our first question: What is a “legion”? The word “legion” is a military term that was taken from the Roman army. A legion denoted a group of at least 6,000 Roman soldiers, although the total number could be higher.
If you simply multiply that number by twelve, you’ll discover that twelve legions of angels would include a minimum of 72,000 angels. But Jesus said the Father would give Him more than twelve legions of angels; therefore, you can conclude that there were potentially many additional thousands of angels available to Jesus the night He was arrested!
What would be the combined strength in this number of angels? Angels are powerful! In fact, Isaiah 37:36 records that a single angel obliterated 185,000 men in one night. So if a single angel had that kind of power, how much combined strength would there be in twelve legions of angels?
It would mean the combined strength in a legion of 6,000 angels would be enough to destroy 1,110,000,000 men (that is, one billion, one hundred ten million men) — and that’s just the combined power in one legion of angels!
Now let’s multiply this same number 185,000 by twelve legions, or at least 72,000 angels, which was the number of angels Jesus said was available to Him on the night of His arrest. When we do, we find that there was enough combined strength at Jesus’ disposal to have annihilated at least 13,320,000,000 men (that is, thirteen billion, three hundred twenty million men) — which is more than twice the number of people living on the earth right now!
Jesus didn’t need Peter’s little sword that night. Had He chosen to do so, Jesus could have summoned 72,000 magnificent, mighty, dazzling, glorious, overwhelmingly powerful angels to the Garden to obliterate the Roman soldiers and the temple police who had come to arrest Him. In fact, the combined strength in twelve legions of angels could have wiped out the entire human race! But Jesus didn’t call on the supernatural help that was available to Him. Why? Because He knew it was time for Him to voluntarily lay down His life for the sin of the human race.
We learn a lesson from Jesus and from the apostle Peter. Jesus didn’t need Peter’s undersized, insignificant sword to deal with His situation. What good would a single sword have been against all the troops assembled in the Garden that night anyway? Peter’s actions were a perfect example of how the flesh tries in vain to solve its own problems but cannot. Jesus had all the power that was required to conquer those troops.
As we face our own challenges in life, we must always keep in mind that Jesus has the power to fix any problem we will ever come across. Before we jump in and make things worse by taking matters into our own hands, remember the story of Peter! The next time we’re tempted to “grab a sword and start swinging,” take a few minutes to remind ourselves that Jesus can handle the problem without our intervention. Before we do anything else, pray and ask the Lord what we are supposed to do. Then after we receive our answer and follow His instructions, may we watch His supernatural power swing into action to solve whatever are facing!
My Prayer for Today
Lord, I am so glad You have the power to put an end to my problems! So many times I’ve acted just like Peter, swinging furiously in the strength of my own flesh as I’ve tried to solve my problems without Your help. Forgive me for wasting so much time and energy! Today I ask You to speak to my heart and tell me what I am supposed to do; then help me follow Your instructions to the letter. Give me the patience to wait while You supernaturally work behind the scenes to resolve my questions.
