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Rick Renner
“Thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me
more than twelve legions of angels?” — Matthew 26:53
How much strength do
you think one angel possesses?
Today I’d like for us to consider the full impact of Jesus’ words
in Matthew 26:53, where He said, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my
Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?”
Let’s look at three
questions:
· What is a “legion”?
· How many angels would there be in twelve legions?
· What would be the combined strength of this number of angels?
It is important to
know the answers to 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 twelve 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 He 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 twelve 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” twelve legions of angels if He
requested it.
Because it would be
pure speculation to try to figure out how many “more than” twelve
legions would be, let’s just stick with the figure of twelve legions to see how
many angels that entails.
One legion is 6,000
angels, so 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!
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 twelve
legions of angels?
Since a single angel
was able to obliterate 185,000 men in one night, 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.
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 you face your own
challenges in life, always keep in mind that Jesus has the power to fix any
problem you’ll ever come across.
Before you jump in
and make things worse by taking matters into your own hands, remember the story
of Peter!
The next time you’re
tempted to “grab a sword and start swinging,” take a few minutes to
remind yourself that Jesus can handle the problem without your intervention.
Before you do
anything else, pray and ask the Lord what you
are supposed to do.
Then after you
receive your answer and follow His instructions, just watch His supernatural
power swing into action to solve the dilemma you 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.
I pray this in Jesus’ name!
My Confession for Today
I boldly and joyfully affirm that Jesus Christ has all the power
needed to fix my problems!
I am not smart enough by myself to figure out how to get out of my
messes, so I turn to Him to give me wisdom, insight, power, and the answers I
need to get from where I am to where I need to be.
His power works mightily through me, and that divine power is
being released right now to tackle the challenges I face in life and bring me
to a peaceful place of resolution in every situation.
I declare this by faith in
Jesus’ name!
Questions to Answer
1. Has there ever been a moment in your life when you got in a
hurry and acted too fast — and then later regretted your actions?
2. When you candidly examine your life, do you find that the same
problems keep resurfacing again and again? Does this indicate that you are
trying to solve those problems in the strength of your flesh instead of relying
on the power of Jesus to help you?
3. How does today’s Sparkling Gem cause
you to look differently at your challenges? What are you going to do
differently as a result of what you have read and learned today?
OUR
VISION is to take the Gospel both to our nearby world and to the ends of
the earth, proclaiming Christ, and warning and teaching every man with all
wisdom, in order that we may present every person fully mature in Christ
Jesus. – Colossians 1:28
Rick
and Denise met while they were each on an individual quest to wholeheartedly
follow God’s plan for their lives. Rick was a college student, growing in his
teaching ministry. Denise was a talented vocalist. She chose not to pursue a
course that held the prospect of performing with the Metropolitan Opera so that
she could instead pursue a relationship with Rick and fulfill her heart’s
desire to enter full-time ministry.
Rick
and Denise’s friendship has led to a lifelong love and a powerful partnership
in building the Kingdom of God. After a decade of ministry, first as pastors
and then as itinerant ministers, Rick and Denise Renner embarked on an
adventure of a lifetime. In January 1991, the Renners and their sons — Paul
(then 8), Philip (then 6), and Joel (then 2) — left behind all they knew to
relocate their family to serve the region that only weeks earlier had become
the former Soviet Union.
Rick
and Denise remember kneeling together as a family and kissing the ground when
they arrived at the airport in Latvia on that cold January day. In that moment,
they all committed their lives to the will of God and to the people of their
new homeland. The following year, Rick moved forward to launch and establish
the first of its kind — and eventually the largest — Christian television
network in that region of the world.
Over
the years, Rick and Denise pioneered three churches, a Bible school, and a
ministerial association that serves thousands of Russian-speaking pastors
throughout the former USSR as well as parts of the Middle East. As Rick began
training and mentoring leaders in the early days, Denise also developed a
women’s ministry that is actively involved in changing the lives of women and
their families today. Specifically, they minister to the needs of orphans,
women prisoners, the homeless, and drug-and-alcohol addicts.
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