KJV Matthew 26:53: “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?”
NASB Matthew 26:53: “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
As we move in the atmosphere of Gethsemane, we bow in worship as we hear those sacred words, “Not My will but thine be done.” Who can place a value on what they meant to the Father? While in a Garden of delights, the first Adam expressed his will in opposition to God; this last Adam, this Second Man, had no will but that of His Father’s — whatever the cost. We delight in lingering over His breathings in the Garden and pondering the beauty of His moral character as He measures “the dark tomorrow” He is about to face.
But Matthew tells us of a prayer that was never made, a prayer for a legion of angels. One of the disciples, Peter, we are later told, drew a sword as though to defend the Lord. At the Lord’s command, the sword is sheathed. Twelve disciples fighting the Temple guard and the crowd would have been of little avail. And they were not necessary. For the Lord could have asked His Father to send not twelve disciples to fight for Him, but twelve legions of angels. But He did not pray or make such a request. He went alone to Calvary.
In His three-fold prayer to His Father earlier in the Garden, we see His desire to do His Father’s will; in the prayer that was not uttered, we again see His total surrender to the will of His Father. Prayers offered and prayer not offered all bespeak the perfect submission of the perfect Son. In His words to the disciples, we learn not only His desire to fulfill His Father’s will but also the words of the prophets. “That the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled” (v 56).
A third strand of truth is interwoven as well. His concern was not only for the will of His Father and the Words of the prophets but for the welfare of His own. “Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” Had He allowed them to fight, they would have been killed or, at the least, captured. By presenting Himself, He gave them an opportunity to escape to safety. This care for His own is made all the more remarkable by the fact that He is facing sorrow immeasurable. Yet He is thinking of others.
Consider
Can you think of a reason why Matthew alone tells us of this request for angels that was never made?