The Worthless Sword

See Peter as he is surrounded by Roman soldiers drawing his sword to cut off the high priest servant’s right ear as he hears Jesus saying, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”

I am told that the word “legion” is a military term that denoted a group of at least 6,000 Roman soldiers, although the total number could vary.

This means that the demon possessed man of Mark 5:9 had a demonic legion of at least 6,000 demons inside him.

Now, I want you to use your sanctified imaginations here, in that one “legion” of angels refers to at least 6,000 angels so that twelve legions of angels would come to at least 72,000 angels.

Isaiah 37:36 records that one single angel killed 185,000 men in one night, so if a one angel had this kind of power then 72,000 angels would have the combined strength at Jesus’ disposal to have killed thirteen billion, three hundred twenty million men, which is almost twice the number of people presently living on the earth.

Listen, please don’t miss this: Jesus did not need Peter’s worthless sword the night of His arrest.

At the snap of His fingers, Jesus could have summoned 72,000 powerful angels and in the blink of an eye they could have killed the Roman soldiers and the temple guards who had come to arrest Him.

In fact, the combined strength of twelve legions of angels could have wiped out the entire human race.

I submit to you that there was no human force on earth strong enough to take Jesus against His Will and the only way Jesus 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).

I tell you it was not the LORD who needed Peter’s worthless sword, but it was Peter who so needed the LORD and friend, I tell you it is not the LORD who so needs you nor me, but it is us – who so need the LORD!