Undoubtedly you have sung this song as you prepared your mind for communion. The song that begins… “They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where He prayed. They lead Him through the streets in shame. They spat upon the Savior, so pure and free from sin; they said, ‘Crucify Him,’ He’s to blame.”
The author, Ray Overholt, wrote this song in 1959, and he found his inspiration in the scriptures, Matthew 26:52, 53. As the soldier’s came in to arrest Christ in the garden He spoke to His disciples and said, ‘Put your sword back into its place…’. As you read the text you will see that one of the disciples was willing to stand up and fight for the Master. Peter wasn’t going down without fighting, and in his resolve, he attempted to take off the head of the slave of the high priest. But the life of the slave, Malchus, was spared (and perhaps changed) as Peter was only able to cut off his ear. But 
Jesus is true to form and after telling Peter to put away his sword gives this admonition; “Or 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?”
For just a minute think about what Jesus said, “…He (God) will at once put at My (Jesus) disposal more than twelve legions of angels…”. Did you pick up on that number; twelve legions of angels! How many angels are we actually talking about? By definition, a Roman legion would total 6,000 troops. So consider the math within Christ’s statement; twelve legions is 12 x 6,000. It doesn’t take much to realize Christ was saying to His disciples (you have to know the Roman soldiers were listening too) that He had an army that totaled MORE than 72,000 troops. Perhaps a more fitting title for this song (instead of Ten Thousand Angels) would have been, Seventy-two Thousand Angels. Christ had at His command a Holy army that could have obliterated mankind. It’s clear to me that the chorus of this song rings true; “…to destroy the world and set Him free.”
But as we consider the vastness of this angelic army, let’s look at an Old Testament account concerning God’s ‘angels in battle.’ In II Samuel chapter 24:1-17, David calls for a census of God’s people. After the ‘count is taken’, which doesn’t please God, David feels remorse and repents saying; “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” God gives David a choice in his punishment (an interesting study in and of itself) and David chooses three days of pestilence. The anger of the Lord was demonstrated when He sent a pestilence (an angel) to destroy 70,000 men from among the people; ‘from Dan to Beersheba’. Did you follow that account? If ONE angel could destroy 70,000 men; how many men would have fallen if Christ had called “12 legions” of angels? Some historians estimated that the combined eastern and western Roman Empire during AD 300-400 include no more than 50–60 million people. (In case you didn’t receive your degree in Mathematics…the fatality number, had Christ called 12 legions of angels, would have been over 5 Billion!)
We must never forget the basis behind this historical account in Matthew 26. Christ could have walked away from Golgotha’s hill. He didn’t need a man wielding a sword cutting slaves up one ear at a time. Christ, the King of Kings, could have saved Himself the insult of soldier’s slapping Him and spitting in His face. He could have called in the reserves and laid waste to millions, even billions, of human life with His mighty, angelic army. Why didn’t He? What kept Him from taking mankind out? To me, the answer is found in the chorus of the song Ten Thousand Angels. Sing it again and remember why; “…but He died alone, for you and me.”
He Could Have Called THOUSANDS of angels…He could have, but He didn’t.