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WORDS WORD by Charles L. Feinberg, Th.D., Ph.D., Director, Talbot Theological Seminary from the
Amen
T his word, so common in the lan guage of the believer, is derived from a Hebrew verb meaning “ to be firm.” Its sense is brought out in Isaiah 7:9 where the prophet warns Israel that if they will not believe God (credit Him and His words as true), they will not be established (He will not make them firm). The term is generally employed as an adverb of assent, “ so let it be.” Such is its use in Jeremiah 28:6. It is em ployed when an individual or the whole nation confirms an oath or the covenant promulgated in their pres ence (see Num. 5:22; Deut. 27:15 ff. —a dozen times in all; Neh. 5:13 ff.). It is found at the end of a psalm or book of psalms (see Ps. 41, 72, 89, 106) or a prayer. In the early church amen was added to the doxology as can be seen from the epistles of Paul, as well as Revelation (cf. Rev. 5:6- 14; 22:20; 1 Cor. 14:16). The term has a religious frame of reference because it affirms that God declares the thing true or can make it true. It is translated by the Greek on occasion as genoito (so be it), or amen o r alethos (truly). The word is exactly transliterated into English from the Hebrew. Besides the many occurrences in the Old Testament, we find it in the New Testament as a close to a doxology or benediction some 50 times; as verily it is found in the same testament some 100 times. For emphasis it is doubled (as in Num. 5:22). Our Lord began many of His important sayings with this word in reduplicated form; it is ren dered “ verily, verily.” This idiom oc curs in the New Testament only with the sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and only in the Gospel of John. Christ never used the term to express His own faith but rather to evoke the faith of others in His words. There are three uses of this word (if we exclude the occurrence in 2 Cor. 1:20) which are of special inter est to the student of the Word of God.
There are two in Isaiah 65:16 and Re velation 3:14. In the first context the word occurs twice as a noun, and God is spoken of. Some adopt in this verse the reading omen or emun, that is, “truth,” or “faithfulness,” but it is scarcely necessary. In a context which speaks of the consummation for Is rael in the new heavens and new earth, the covenant-keeping God is spoken of as bringing all troubles to an end by His own faithfulness. He is the God of Amen, the very God, who is real, eternal and spiritual, as distinguished from all false gods or the shadowy types of the law. God can translate what He promises or affirms into yea and amen. The in habitants of the land are brought into intimate and uninterrupted relation ship with God who is ever faithful to His promises. Our God is ever a wit ness to the truth, the substance of all legal shadows and the grand fulfiller of every divine promise. He is truly divine and abundantly faithful. Whereas Isaiah 65:16 refers the noun form Amen to God, Revelation 3:14 just as distinctly uses it of the Lord Jesus Christ, an incidental proof of His deity. The context is the letter of the Apostle John to the Church of Laodicea. This is the insipidly luke warm church of the latter days of this age. There was a need for Christ so to reveal Himself to the Laodiceans who were insensible to their true con dition and needed to be brought to a true estimate of their own hearts. This title of Christ shows Him to be the source of all certainty, assurance and truth (see John 14:6). The truth of divine certainty is affirmed. To the church that is failing, Christ is re vealed as the one who abides faithful. Too, He is the Amen because He is the final and perfect conclusion to all God’s revelation beside whom there can be no human, angelic or philo sophic revelations. Let us rejoice and rest in the God of Amen, the faithful and faith-keeping God and Saviour
CHRIST SMILES THRU THEM
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The ardent affection of the soul crieth aloud in the ears of God, when it saith, "My God, my love, thou art wholly mine, and I am wholly thine.” — Thomas a Kempis. THE KING'S BUSINESS
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