In the above verses, there are several things that can be seen that must be considered to answer the above question. They are:

1. Jesus had earlier asked the disciples if they had swords. They declared that they had two.

Here, after Peter cut off a servant’s ear, Jesus tells him to put the sword away. This indicates that they could have fought, and with miraculous power – could have resisted this mob. But Jesus was not interested in their resistance for His sake – or anyone else’s.

Jesus did not say this because He was a pacifist. No, later He will come and take vengeance on those gathered against Him at Armageddon and then remove all unbelievers!

2. Jesus challenges them with a thought: “Don’t you know that I could even now call 12 legions of angels to protect Me and destroy My enemies?”

This was more than wishful thinking. The wording makes it clear that even at this moment He could have called them – and they would have come. It must be remembered that in Hezekiah’s day, one angel killed 185,000 soldiers in a single night! He refused to call them that He might go to the Cross as planned!

3. Jesus neither encouraged a riot against those arresting Him, nor did He call any angels. Why? Because He came to die for the sins of the world. He came to save men, not to destroy them.

Because He loved the world and was not willing that any should go to Hell (John 3:16), He made salvation easy. He simply wants people to turn from their sins (disobedience to God as given in the Bible), and trust on Christ to save them when they ask Him to: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).