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SUBJECT: Angels
QUESTION: How many angels in a legion?
ANSWER:
First the verses:
Matthew 26:48-54
48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying,
Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master;
and kissed him.
50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come?
Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched
out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of
the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his
place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with
the sword.
53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he
shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus
it must be?
The first web site I found (and
I must state that I cannot vouch for any of these web sites
Biblical accuracy) is no longer around but in
part stated:
The Spirit brought to my attention, the scene in the Garden
of Gethsemane on that horrendous night when the mob stormed
into the solitude to arrest our Lord, and Jesus declared
that He could call for TWELVE LEGIONS OF ANGELS to come to
His rescue. But He refused to summon them because He was
born to die for the sins of the world and the scriptures
must be fulfilled.
I wondered why "twelve legions" when there were INNUMERABLE
COMPANIES of messengers comprising the heavenly hosts (Heb.
12:22). If in the Spirit of God we can sound the fathomless
depths of wisdom and knowledge that inspired our blessed
Lord when He spoke of the "twelve legions" of messengers, I
believe we shall have in our possession the explanation of
things that have remained secret and have been hidden from
our understanding for centuries. It is significant to note
that "legion" is a MILITARY TERM, for in ancient Rome a
legion was the largest single military division composed of
several thousands of foot soldiers, with additional cavalry,
under the command of a general. It should be clear, first of
all, that when Jesus referred to twelve legions of angels
that could be summoned to His defense; He was identifying
THE ARMY OF GOD! These were messengers, mighty in power and
glory, trained, disciplined, prepared, and equipped for the
specific purpose of warfare - to bring deliverance! Then,
too, it should be plain that since Jesus had the authority
to command these "twelve legions," He Himself was THEIR
GENERAL! Can we not see by this that Christ is revealing to
us in simple terms that He Himself is "the angel of the
Lord," the" Captain of the Lord's host," the COMMANDING
GENERAL OF THE ARMY OF GOD! John the Revelator beheld with
wonder the same truth when in spirit He saw the Christ
riding on His white horse of conquest, as King of kings, and
Lord of lords, followed by the royal armies of heaven.
Then I was made to know that the "twelve legions of angels"
of which Jesus spoke are a symbol for the army of God. This
knowledge stirred me tremendously. Think not, dear friend,
that Jesus meant that He could call an exact number of
angels, for the number of soldiers in a legion was not fixed
– it could run anywhere from about 3,000 to more than 6,000
men. Twelve is a symbolical number, a perfect number,
signifying PERFECTION OF GOVERNMENT, or GOVERNMENTAL
PERFECTION. It is found as a multiple in all that has to do
with RULE. Ed Vallowe, in his splendid book KEYS TO
SCRIPTURE NUMERICS, has written: "This number, twelve,
symbolizes God's perfect, divine accomplishment actively
manifested. It shows a COMPLETENESS of a GROWTH or
ADMINISTRATION. TWELVE marks GOVERNMENTAL PERFECTION and is
used as the SIGNITURE of Israel. The number is used 187
times in the Bible. It is used 22 times in the book of
Revelation. TWELVE is the number for GOVERNMENT BY DIVINE
APPOINTMENT. Jesus said to His disciples, 'Verily, I say
unto you, that ye which have followed Me, in the
regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of
His glory, ye also shall sit upon TWELVE thrones, judging
the TWELVE tribes of Israel' (Mat. 19:28). The TWELVE
apostles shall sit upon their TWELVE thrones and judge and
rule in connection with our Lord's rule upon His throne.
They will occupy those TWELVE thrones by DIVINE APPOINTMENT.
The second site I found said in part:
In Matthew 26:53 Jesus said, "Thinkest thou that I cannot
now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more
than 12 legions of angels?" (a
legion is between 4000 and 6000, which means at least 72,000
angels)
The third site I found which is also no longer around said
in part:
When the chief priests and elders of Jerusalem came to
arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, his disciples were
ready to attack. One even drew his sword and the cut off the
ear of the high priest's slave. Jesus admonished him, saying
that He could pray to God to send 12 legions (72,000) of
angels to rescue Him Matthew 26:47-54. But doing so would
prevent the scriptures from being fulfilled. His destiny was
to be the sacrificial Lamb for our sins, and it was
therefore necessary for Jesus to die on the cross for our
souls' salvation; redemption from the curse of sin.
Redemption from sin is possible solely through the shedding
of sinless blood, which only Jesus has ever possessed.
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This from the Ungers Bible Dictionary:
LEGION
LEGION. A main division of the Roman army, nearly equivalent
to our regiment. It comprised a much larger number of
men, running from 3,000 men to about 6,000 at the time of
Christ. See Army.
Figurative. The word legion came to mean a great number or
multitude, for example, of angels <Matthew 26:53> and of
evil
spirits <Mark 5:9, 15>. bibliography: H. M. D. Parker, The
Roman Legions (1928). ~from
New Unger's Bible Dictionary
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From Nelson's Bible Dictionary
LEGION
The principal unit of the Roman army, consisting of 3,000 to
6,000 infantry troops and 100 to 200 cavalrymen. The New
Testament does not use the word legion in its strict
military sense, but in a general sense to express a large
number. When
Jesus healed a man possessed by unclean spirits or demons,
He asked the man his name. He replied, "My name is
Legion; for we are many" <Mark 5:9>. The man was inhabited
by many demons. ~from
Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary
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From Strong's Exhaustive Concordance on word "legion" in
Matthew 26:53
3003 legion (leg-ee-ohn')
or legeon (leg-eh-ohn');
of Latin origin; a "legion", i.e. Roman regiment (figuratively):
KJV-- legion.
Conclusion: Jesus must have meant 72,000 angels total as
the other sources I have given you cross-reference this to
the Roman legions and their numbers. The total here is
merely a large number.
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To conclude I want to give you some additional scriptures
that refer to numbers of angels
2 Kings 6:16-17
16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are
more than they that be with them.
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his
eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of
the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
Job 25:3
Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not
his light arise?
Psalm 55:18
He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was
against me: for there were many with me.
Psalm 68:17
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of
angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy
place.
Psalm 103:20
Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that
do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his
word.
Mark 1:13
And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of
Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels
ministered unto him.
Mark 5:9
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying,
My name is Legion: for we are many.
Luke 22:43
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven,
strengthening him.
Revelation 12:7
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Revelation 19:14
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. |