If He'd called...

Friday April 2, 2021

If He'd called...

“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, who would give me more than twelve legions of angels right now ?” Matthew 26. 53

Imagine the scene : Jesus has just been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. His followers first tried to intervene. One of them draws his sword and cuts off the ear of one of the High Priest's servants. Jesus orders him to put his weapon back in the scabbard. Before declaring : “Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, who will give me at this moment more than twelve legions of angels ? How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, according to which it is to be so ? ” (Matthew 26. 52-54). A Roman legion consisted of between 5,000 and 6,000 soldiers. Jesus therefore asserts that, at a simple request from Him, His father would instantly place more than 70,000 angels at His disposal. Knowing that a single angel, in one night, without firing a shot at 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (2 Kings 19. 35), calculate the potential destruction of 12 legions of angels. The total exceeds the current population of our planet ! Jesus could have annihilated the human population, but out of love for men, He instead chose to suffer a horrible death on a cross. He could have called His Father, but He preferred to be silent, to fulfill the Scriptures : “He was mistreated, he humbled himself and did not open his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughterhouse, like a sheep silent before those who shear it, he has not opened his mouth” (Isaiah 53. 7). He was humiliated, whipped, beaten by Roman soldiers in their barracks ; He could have called His Father for help. He did not do it. He could have called Him as He went up to Golgotha. He did not do it. He could have cried out to His Father from the height of the Cross, and implored the intervention of the angels. He did not do it. He only cried out with an “It is finished”, which sealed His sacrifice. If He'd called... we wouldn't be here today !

Source (His Word for Today)