Free Paid In Full: An In-depth Look at the Defining Moments of Christ's Passion by Rick Renner Page A

angels?
    It is important to answer these questions, because the answers reveal the full might that was available to Jesus had He requested supernatural help in the Garden of Gethsemane. Actually, when we take into account the power that was already demonstrated in the Garden and then add the potential assistance and impact of 12 legions of angels, it becomes obvious that there was no human force on earth strong enough to take Jesus against His will. The only way He was going to be taken was if He allowed Himself to be taken! This is why Jesus later told Pilate, “…Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above...” (John 19:11).
    Let’s 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. This means that anytime we read about a legion of anything, we can know it always refers to at least 6,000 of something.
    An amazing example of this is found in Mark 5:9, where the Bible tells us that the demon-possessed man of the Gadarenes had a legion of demons. That means this man had an infestation of at least 6,000 demons residing inside him!
    Let’s now contemplate the second question: How many angels would there be in 12 legions? Since the word “legion” refers to at least 6,000, it means a legion of angels would be at least 6,000 angels. However, Jesus said the Father would give Him “more than” 12 legions of angels if He requested it. Because it would be pure speculation to try to figure out how many “more than” 12 legions would be, let’s just stick with the figure of 12 legions to see how many angels that entails.
    One legion is 6,000 angels, so if you simply multiply that number by 12, you’ll discover that 12 legions of angels would include a minimum of 72,000 angels . But Jesus said the Father would give Him more than 12 legions of angels. Therefore, you can conclude that there were potentially many additional thousands of angels available to Jesus the night He was arrested!
    Finally, let’s look at our third question: 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 12 legions of angels?
    Since a single angel was able to obliterate 185,000 men in one night, that means the combined strength in a legion of 6,000 angels would be enough to destroy 1,110,000,000 men (that is, 1 billion, 110 million men) — and that’s just the combined power in one legion of angels!
    Now let’s multiply this same number 185,000 by 12 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, 13 billion, 320 million men) — which is more than twice the number of people living on the earth right now!
    Of course, this is assuming that the angel spoken of in Isaiah 37:36 had maxed out his power at 185,000 men (which is unlikely). Simply put, angels are powerful , and Jesus had a huge number of angels at His disposal!
    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 12 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.
    Jesus didn’t call on the