26:53 {15} Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
(15) Christ was taken because he was willing to be taken.
26:53,54 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father? The Lord needed no human defenders, had it been the Divine purpose that he should not die.
More than twelve legions of angels? A Roman legion contained from 6,000 men upwards. The idea here is a mighty host. He and his eleven disciples are twelve. There is more than a legion for each one of them. He could have evaded the enemies had he chosen; the angels would have come to his rescue, if he had willed it, but he gave himself unto death.
26:53 He will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels - The least of whom, it is probable, could overturn the earth and destroy all the inhabitants of it.
26:47-56 No enemies are so much to be abhorred as those professed disciples that betray Christ with a kiss. God has no need of our services, much less of our sins, to bring about his purposes. Though Christ was crucified through weakness, it was voluntary weakness; he submitted to death. If he had not been willing to suffer, they could not conquer him. It was a great sin for those who had left all to follow Jesus; now to leave him for they knew not what. What folly, for fear of death to flee from Him, whom they knew and acknowledged to be the Fountain of life!
