53Or 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? 54How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”
The angels of God were inactive at our Lord’s crucifixion; at least, nothing more has been recorded of them since this time until His resurrection. That seems odd at first glance. While He was on earth, the angels were charged with being His aides-de-camp, that is, His personal assistants. In military terms, they had his “six,” or in more popular terminology, they had His back. We touch on a mystery here: how do we understand that the incarnate God in the flesh would ever need help. Yet Scripture records, in reference to the Messiah, that, “[God] will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways” (Ps. 91:11).
In His incarnation, Jesus took on the form of humanity, and as all humans must do, He entrusted Himself to His heavenly Father. In turn, the Father dispatched a contingent of angels to watch over Him during His time on earth. Thus, His life modeled the truth of Psalm 34:8, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.”
Satan used Ps. 91:11 when challenging Jesus to throw Himself off the temple roof. After all, the angels would keep Him from harm (Matt. 4:5-7). Our Lord, of course, refused that distorted application of Scripture. The last we read of angelic help before the crucifixion is found in Luke’s account of Jesus’ temptation in the garden, when “an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him” (Luke 22:43).
But now, when He was accosted in the Garden, He took control of the narrative of what was happening. An army of divine beings was at His disposal; all He had to do was ask God, and they would be dispatched into action. But angels were inactive until after the crucifixion when Jesus rose from the dead (John 20:12, Luke 24:4).
In military action, patience is essential for completing the task of victory. It often means passing up an opportunity that seems beneficial in the moment but detracts from the larger plan. Scripture laid out that Jesus must suffer and die. Nothing could stop Him from fulfilling the prophecy that He needed to suffer these things (see Luke 24:25-26). So the angels were held at bay, and they watched (1 Tim. 3:16) in silence as our Lord was carted off to His execution.
Oh, how You love me, Lord, that You would hold off twelve legions of angels and enter the battle alone to pay for my sins on the cross.
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