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). 

I have the privilege of talking to many people about spiritual matters. It is amazing to me, with Bibles in most homes, how few people there are who have actually read it through.

God has given to man a supernatural Book, one that reveals the truth about our existence, God, our future, and most important, how we can have eternal life and live with God forever. Many churches proclaim the passages every week to help people understand it. Also, many churches even encourage their people to bring their Bibles with them because they want the people to see that what they are teaching is really in God’s Book.

In the above verses, Jesus was talking to people who had the Scriptures and had memorized much of it. Yet, they were unwilling to believe what the Book plainly told them.

Many people are like that still today. Some even read the Bible but fail to accept its simple truth about salvation.

The great truth is that salvation cannot be earned. This is plainly stated in Ephesians 2:8,9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Note that salvation is the gift of God. Gifts are free.

The gift that God gave to give us salvation is the gift of His Son. John 3:16 says it very well: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Thank God, His Son Jesus, paid the full price for what we owe.

If you are not yet a believer, call on God in prayer now, asking Him to forgive you and save you – because Jesus paid your full price. Read the verse again in the paragraph right above this one.