Amen

Thank you, Carolyn. Sure appreciate that. It's nice to hear a full alto voice. Nice, low ladies' voices. Just beautiful, so we really appreciate that. And certainly, it is nice when people are praying for us. We certainly need that. You hear this word at every church service. It's found in the Bible over 150 times. In fact, it's a word that you should be using many times a day. But to many people, it's just become a ritual, something common, taken for granted. But on the other hand, this particular word has been called the best-known word in human speech.

Do you know what word that is? Amen. The word amen. It is a most remarkable word. Are you familiar with it? Do you know what amen is all about? Why do we say amen when a prayer ends? What does it mean? Why is it significant? Well, we probably know it's a Hebrew word in its origin. And oftentimes throughout the Bible, it's a word that isn't even translated. It just appears in its original form. In fact, if you look in the Greek, it's translated directly.

Amen. Latin. In English, same thing. Spanish. Many languages. It's probably a universal word, just translated directly into those languages. Now, it's also interesting that in the Bible, there are times that it is translated. Translated into a different word, depending on the context of the way that the word is used. Now, of course, this tradition that we have of ending a prayer with the word amen, sometimes people think, historians think, well, it must have something to do with Jewish synagogues, because in the synagogues, when a prayer would conclude, the congregation would respond with an amen.

Well, is there more to it than that? Well, let's think about this word amen and how it is significant to us and why we shouldn't take that word for granted. How much more there is to the word amen. Now, if you turn with me over to Isaiah 65, verse 16, we'll see something significant about this particular word. We'll begin here because Isaiah records for us something, I think, of utmost importance when it comes to this word.

And that is the fact that amen is one of God's names. Did you know that? Isaiah uses it here in chapter 65, verse 16. Let's notice it. It says, "...so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. He who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes." This word truth is actually the Hebrew word amen. Now, if you were to read this in other translations, for example, the common English Bible translates this passage here. Look at verse 16 again. It says, "...those who pronounce a blessing in the land will do so by the God called amen." Those who make a solemn pledge in the land will do so by the God called amen.

And so you see, by declaring by the God of amen, this is the God who cannot lie. This is the God of truth. And so this word, this name for God, is expressing the reality that God is faithful. God is truth. He alone is amen. He is the God of truth. He is the very essence of what truth is all about. Now, this is probably nothing new to you because I think you know this. We know that God is truth. That is His name.

Maybe one we're more familiar with is over in the book of Revelation. Go to Revelation 3, verse 14. Here all the way, the last book of the Bible, we find Jesus Christ's name, amen. Let's notice it. Revelation 3, verse 14. Here in the letters to the churches, we find the letter to the Laodiceans. We find Christ's name. It says, "...and to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans," right.

These things says, the amen, the faithful, and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. And so here we have one of the titles of Jesus Christ. One of His names is truth. It is amen. It is faithful. He is the true witness because it gives us insight into His character.

Can Jesus Christ be trusted? Absolutely. Can we have faith in the true witness? No doubt. Didn't He tell us that He is the way? He is the truth. He is the life. You see, that's who Christ is. John 14, 16 reminds us of that. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He said, no one comes to the Father but by Me. So Jesus Christ is truth. He is faithful. He gave Himself for us. And now He is our merciful, loving, high priest.

And so it's interesting that as we begin this journey of discovering more about who God is, we find He is amen. He is truth. That is who God is. And so we have deeper understanding of what God is all about by His name, amen. Now how did God use that name?

How did God use that word? It's an interesting study when you begin to see how Jesus Christ Himself used this word. And sometimes we overlook it. Sometimes we miss it. Look at John 5, verse 25. John 5, verse 25.

We find Jesus Christ speaking to the people. And He says something interesting here. John 5, verse 25. And in verse 25, here the Jews were seeking to kill Him. And it's interesting what He says to the Jews here. These are Christ's own words. Down in verse 25, He says, in the King James, He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you. In the new King James, He says, Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. You know what the word for most assuredly is? Or verily, verily? It's the word, amen. Christ says, amen, amen, I say unto you.

Because this is truth. Christ is saying, there is no doubt about what follows amen. You can absolutely, most assuredly believe what I am saying. So in a way, it's absolutely amen. Not only is amen a name of God, but when Christ used that word, we can be absolutely assured that what follows that is truth. There's no doubt about it. So truly, truly, it's sometimes translated. NIV says, I tell you the truth. The CEV says, I tell you for certain. So Christ is making an absolutely factual statement that this is truth. So when Christ uses amen, He teaches. Sometimes He uses it when He's correcting people. When He's challenged, He points to the absolute fact of something. When He's in a dispute, He'll use this word. Notice it when you read your Bible through the Gospels next time. When He says, truly, truly. Recognize that's the word, amen, most assuredly. In fact, Christ used it if you want to flip over to John chapter 3. Go over just a couple chapters to chapter 3, verse 3. This is where Nicodemus came to Jesus Christ.

Nicodemus asked Him about how God's plan could be true. How could this work? How can someone be born from above? How is that possible? And what does Christ say in verse 3? He says, Most assuredly I say, this is absolute fact that unless one is born again, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Ultimately, unless we are converted to spirit, we're not going to be in the kingdom of God. He said, this is absolute fact. What is Christ appealing to? Do you notice what He says here? He says, Most assuredly the Scriptures say, oh no, it doesn't say that, does it? In fact, just a couple of other verses down, verse 5, He says, Most assuredly I say to you. He doesn't point to the Scriptures. He doesn't point to the Old Testament. What does Christ point to here? He points to Himself, to His own authority. Christ's authority triumphs the authority of the Jewish leadership of the day. It triumphs the Pharisees. It triumphs the Sadducees. It triumphs any Jewish teaching. So He appeals not to Scripture, but to Himself. And He teaches Nicodemus. You have heard, it said, but I tell you, I'm telling you, I say to you, I'm telling you most assuredly, by the God of Amen, by the God of truth, I say to you. And in fact, if you go back to chapter 5 again, go back to chapter 5, verse 21.

Chapter 5, verse 21, verse 22, we see some interesting connections here that, as you notice here, he says, verse 24, let's look at chapter 5, verse 24, he says, Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life. They have everlasting life. Why? Verse 22 says, the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. And so, Amen, in the way that Christ is using it here, emphasizes truth that wouldn't be known, unless Christ had said it. These are things that aren't in the Old Testament. Christ expounds upon this. He's showing that His authority triumphs any authority of the day. And so, we begin to see that Christ is supreme. He doesn't point to other proofs. He points to His own authority. So, Jesus' words, just like the Father's, are true. Why are they true? Because He said them. Because He is truth. How would we know this generation will by no means pass until these things take place? That's not in the Old Testament. That's a New Testament thing. That's the words of Jesus Christ. We wouldn't know that unless Christ had spoken it in Matthew 24. And so, Christ is truth. And so, Christ said this over and over and over again. So, when we put these things together, what can we conclude? What are some of the things that we can conclude by this word, amen?

I hope we begin to see it so much more than just saying, well, so be it, or giving our affirmation, or yes, it's true, because it can be translated and used in so many different ways. Amen, used as a verb, means to believe, or to trust, or to support, or to make it absolute.

If it's used as an adjective, we can have faith. It's something trustworthy. It's something that's sure. And as an adverb, it's truly, truly faithfully. And as a noun, it's absolutely something we can have confidence in. It is reliable. It is trustworthy. So when we use the word, amen, hopefully it's not just an aside. Hopefully it's not just something that we say, well, yeah, I guess so. Hopefully it's something that we're declaring our faith, our trust, our confidence in what's being said. Ultimately, we're declaring our trust and our faith in God. In fact, there's an interesting lesson about the word amen. It's found in the life of Jacob. If you want to turn to the life of Jacob, it's an interesting story. Go back to Genesis. Genesis chapter 25. And we can look at the life of Jacob, and I've called this an amen lesson. Now why would I say that? Well, because Jacob's life was a difficult one. If you had to summarize most of Jacob's life, what word might be one that would come to mind? Well, maybe his name.

His name means to struggle or to be a supplanter, or we think of it as a heel catcher. Genesis chapter 25 kind of tells that story of Jacob's life, even as he's being born. Even as he's being born here, look at verse 22 in Genesis chapter 25. It says, the children struggled together within her. Within Rebekah, these twins were struggling. And that struggling was pretty much a summary of what Jacob's life, especially his early life, was all about. He struggled. He wanted to be the firstborn. So he grabs his brother on the way out and didn't want to let him go, because he wanted to be the firstborn. He wanted to unseat his brother, even from the womb, we're told. And so what happened? Well, despite the fact of verse 23, Jacob struggled his whole life. Look at verse 23 for a moment. Here God is describing the struggle that's going on in the womb. And he says to Rebekah, two nations are in your womb, two people are there. And then he says, one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. In a way, God's saying, you know, there shouldn't be a struggle, because I'm prophesying, I'm telling you that the older one is actually going to come second. The younger one will rule over the older one. Now that's probably something Jacob heard throughout his whole life. That God prophesied that he would be the one that the older would serve. Can you imagine hearing that as a younger twin, a younger brother? That, you know, God's prophesied that you're going to be above him. That you're going to be the one the older will serve. Now that goes against the culture entirely. And yet he probably heard those things all along, especially since his mother loved him so much and cared for him. So what did Jacob do? Did he just take that to heart and understand that somehow God would work that out in a right way, in a godly way? Nope. He didn't. Jacob took it in his own hands. So what happened? Well, if we look down, verse 27, Jacob took it into his own hands. Remember, maybe he was living up to his name as the supplanter, the unceder, the one who wanted the first. So he buys the birthright from his birthright. He tricks him out of it, doesn't he? He cooks this too, verse 29. And Esau is so hungry. And he says in verse 31, sell me your birthright. Instead of letting God work it out, Jacob took it for himself and tricks his brother and buys the birthright from him. And of course, that was the end of it, right?

No. No, it wasn't because that wasn't enough. Not only did he want the birthright, you flip a couple of pages to chapter 27. Look down to verse 35. It wasn't just the birthright. Jacob wanted the blessing as well. So he tricks his father with his mother's help to get the blessing of the firstborn for himself. Instead of letting God work it out, instead of trusting God and looking to him to fulfill his own prophecy, Jacob supplants his brother, supplants his father, takes it in his own hands. And so when Esau hears about it, down in verse 35, he describes it, he says, Isaac says, your brother came with deceit in verse 35 and has taken away your blessing. And Esau says in verse 36, isn't he rightly named Jacob? For he has ripped me off. He supplanted me. He's stolen my birthright these two times, my birthright, and now the blessing as well. So Jacob could not find the means to look to God to fulfill his promise. He had to take it into his own hands. And now his life will be a life of running away from that. So he runs away. He runs away and he has this dream. Chapter later in verse 13 of chapter 28.

Chapter 28 verse 13, Jacob is on the run. He has this dream. And in that dream God says, I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, the God of Isaac, the land on which you lie. I will give to you and to your descendants, and your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. So here God, once again, is in a way restating the prophetic things that were promised even before he was born. God promises these things. God confirms that this will be true. He didn't have to do this. He already told him in a prophecy these things would be true. But now in a dream, God tells him, yes, these things are fact. This will happen. So what's Jacob's response? Does he believe it? Well, when we look down to verse 20 in chapter 28, Jacob made a vow saying, I believe God. Certainly these things will... No, he doesn't say that. He says, if God will be with me and keep me in this way I'm going and give me bread, so that I come back, verse 21, then the Lord shall be my God. What?

You see that disconnect to the things that God said? This is true. This is fact. These are my promises. These things will come about. The heel catcher's response? The supplanter's responses? Well, if he'll do that, then I guess I'll have him be my God.

You see where Jacob's frame of mind was? Did he really trust God? Did he honor God? Did he believe God? You see, over and over and over again, we see him struggling against God, not quite fully believing the things that God has promised him. And so, guess what? His life goes on, and he still lives up to his name. He still continues to struggle. So he goes over to good old Laban, and he wants to marry his beautiful daughter. Well, then he gets some of his own medicine back, doesn't he? He ends up marrying the other daughter, and then he has to work more to get the one that he wants. And so he struggles with that, and he struggles with the sheep, and he struggles with the breeding and all these difficulties.

So, as he struggles then with an inheritance he hopes to get from Laban, he manipulates and works out his own inheritance with the sheep. We won't go into all the details. But, ultimately, he runs away from his father-in-law. It looks like he's trying to take advantage of him, running away with the family, running away with the sheep and the whole works. And so he has problems with that. And then a couple chapters later, chapter 32, guess who shows up on the scene again as he's running away from Laban? Uh-oh, here comes his brother again. Here comes his brother again, who he's stolen his birthright, he's stolen the blessing, and here comes Esau on the scene again. Now what's going to happen? Now Esau's going to kill him. That's what Jacob's fearful of, that somehow Esau will kill him and that'll be that. Then something interesting happens. In chapter 32, the life of Jacob and all his struggles and all the challenges come to a head. Because when you think about the life of Jacob, you think about all the difficulties he went through. Who started it? You know, when I was a kid growing up, I had brothers, and when my mother would come and we're arguing and fighting about something, or we're wrestling on the ground, she'd separate us and say, all right, who started it?

Well, who started this whole mess? It was Jacob, wasn't it? Jacob started it himself. He was the one. He was the cause of all. He was the one that initiated all these things. He tried to buy the birthright. He tricked his father into the blessing. He was the one that manipulated the herds. He was the one that tried to trick his father-in-law. He was the one that caused all of these different things. Now we get to chapter 32 in Genesis, and the story's different. The story's different. Let's notice this. Chapter 32. Look down to verse 22. Here they come to Jabbok. It says, Jacob arose that night, took his two wives, his servants, his eleven sons, crossed over the ford. He took them, sent them over, and then Jacob was left alone. In verse 24, he was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.

Who started it?

Not Jacob this time. This man appears and starts wrestling with Jacob. Now the story's changed. It's not Jacob starting it. Here we have the one who would become Jesus Christ. God initiates this struggle. Have you ever wondered why? Why would God initiate this wrestling match? Well, had Jacob taken God's promises seriously? Had he believed God? God had promised him before his birth what would come about. He promised him again in the dream what would happen. And yet, Jacob lied, and he cheated, and he manipulated to get the things that God promised to give him. And so this isn't Jacob wrestling with God to get something. Sometimes we think that that's the case. Is Jacob getting something by wrestling with God here?

Yeah, well, doesn't it say that he prevailed with God? Well, he must have won the match. Uh-uh. Not at all. Not at all. This is not Jacob wrestling to get something from God. It is God wrestling with Jacob to teach him something. He is teaching Jacob a lesson. What is he trying to get Jacob to understand here? What's going on in Jacob's life? What is he trying to get Jacob to understand? Amen. That he can trust God. He can have faith in God. God is the God of Amen. And so here's Jacob, like a drowning person. You know, we've all heard the stories about someone that's drowning. How do you save a drowning person? Because they're trying to kick and struggle and fight and they yank you down with them. So what's the key? They've just got to hang on. They've just got to hang on while you grab them and you drag them to safety. So the best thing to do when you're drowning is to hold on. So here is Jacob in his life drowning. He has tried every way of his own volition, his own thinking, his own ways, and his life is an utter failure. It is a disaster. Now, God shows up, initiates a wrestling match, and Jacob has to hang on while God saves him. And so in the end, we see it's interesting. God demonstrates it. Finally, instead of Jacob counting on his self, counting on his own means to succeed in life, he's finally holding on to God. Finally, he asks God to bless him, to bless him. And so then down in verse 28, the one he has wrestled with says, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. That doesn't mean he won the match. That means God finally got through to him. He prevailed with men. It means suddenly I can trust God. You've wrestled with God and you've come through it. You've finally opened your mind to the truth. And so here is God demonstrating his faithfulness, that we can trust him. Jacob can believe him. Jacob can have confidence in him. And it's the same with us. That we can trust him. We can have hope in him. We can have confidence in the things that he's told us. And he doesn't want to throw our hip out of joint in order to prove it. He doesn't want us to limp the rest of our life. Well, if he has to, I guess he will. That was part of the lesson with Jacob, was to hang on. Hang on. So what is our response to God's Amen? What is our response? You know, we would read through this story and we'd say, well, if it were me, I would never be so untrusting. But do we act like Jacob more than we realize? I think maybe at times we do.

2 Corinthians 1, verse 18, gives us a perspective that we should have when it comes to God, when it comes to His promises, when it comes to His plan, when it comes to His work in our life, when it comes to our character, when it comes to our growth, when it comes to our spiritual perspective. Notice 2 Corinthians 1, verse 18. It says, But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes and no. So here's the apostle Paul writing to God's church in Corinth, writing to us as well, pointing out the fact that God is faithful. God is trustworthy. You can believe God. And in fact, the message is not maybe sort of, well, hopefully God will be with us. Well, hopefully we can believe what he says. You see, Paul says, no, that's not it at all. He says, verse 19, For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no. But he says, In him was yes. In other words, when God says it, there's no doubt. There is no doubt. We can take it for absolute fact. Verse 20, For all the promises of God in him are yes.

There's no doubt. And how does he verify that? How does he say that we can have absolute confidence in that? Verse 20, All the promises of God in him are yes. And in him, Amen. To the glory of God through us. Now he who establishes us with you in Christ has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. So when we are promised by God, God, that's a yes. That's not a maybe, a might be, a sort of kind of hope it happens kind of thing. You see, when God tells us something in his word, God commits himself by making a promise that we can trust him. We can take it to heart and we know it to be true. So yes and Amen go hand in hand.

So when God tells us he's not going to try us more than we're able, do we believe that? Do we say, oh boy, I'm worried about that. I'm not sure that that's true. Can I really trust that? Can I really have confidence in that? When God says he'll never leave us or forsake us, is that a yes or a maybe? When God says he forgives us of our sin and he removes them as far as east as from west. Is that an absolute fact? Or we just hope that that'll be the case. When he says he will provide us our needs. Is that going to happen? Can we count on it? He who started a good work in you will see it to completion. I hope I'll be in the kingdom. I hope that that's true. I wish it's... No! He says Amen. When he has promised us eternal life and we strive after him and we follow him and we live a repentant life, can we absolutely believe it to be true and know it will happen? God says Amen. He says, yes, absolutely, there is no doubt. When we choose to follow him and live his way, he says Amen. That's how he looks at our life. That's how he looks at us. Because it's so much more than just a little word. It's a powerful word that backs up the promises of God. No wonder God describes himself as Amen. Now maybe to think about this a little bit further, go over to Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8 is an interesting section of Scripture. Because in it, we find God's people beginning to celebrate the holy days once again. Here they haven't done it for years and years and years. And the book of the law is read and they begin to keep the feasts. They begin to keep the Feast of Trumpets and they keep tabernacles. We find that in the book of Nehemiah. In chapter 8, they're reading the book of the law. It's an amazing section of Scripture. Notice how Amen comes to play here. Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 5, it says, Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up because they reverent and honored the word of God. Verse 6, Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. Then all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. You see, after hearing the word of God, the people responded to that word, that it is absolutely true. So at the end of this blessing, at the end of this prayer, at the end of the reading, the people with their whole hearts said, absolutely, we wholeheartedly agree with what Ezra is doing. And so, maybe it's here where the word Amen became part of the answer that the congregation would say after something that was absolute fact, after a prayer to God.

And so, it came to be used as that. Some important truth was spoken. Amen would follow. An absolute fact, a promise of God, maybe even a hymn. This word would take the place of a long sentence and summarize things in just one little word. Because when we say Amen, we're absolutely agreeing with what's been spoken, with what's been read, with what's been preached. We're saying, I wholeheartedly agree with this, that this is truth. And I agree with all that has been said. We're verifying the fact that I believe what God says. I believe that God is perfect. I believe that God is truth. I believe that God is faithful. And so, whenever we pronounce an Amen to the laws and the commandments of God, we're doing more than just agreeing with it as well.

Because we're taking to heart the fact that we're witnessing this to be true. And if we're witnessing something to be true, what does that say about us? You see, hopefully we're living by that testimony. We're living by that witness. If we're a witness to the testimony of Jesus Christ, that means we're living by the testimony of Jesus Christ. When we say Amen at the end of a prayer, we're petitioning that the will of God be done, and that it is well pleasing to Him, and that it is heard by Him. And in a sense, we're making an oath to God.

We're making an oath to God. If we notice this a little bit farther down in Nehemiah chapter 9. In Nehemiah chapter 9, we have an interesting section of Scripture, because as the people come to honor and worship the true God in the right way, keeping God's commandments, we find in Nehemiah 9, it discusses all of these things. Because of these things, it needs to have an impact on our lives. So all the way at the very end of Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 38, we read a summary statement. It says, and because of all this, it says, we make a sure covenant, and we write it. Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it.

A sure covenant, because of these things, because of God's promises, because of His commandments, because of His will and His way, it says, we make a sure covenant. Some translations say, a binding agreement, a solemn promise. That's interesting that the word covenant is not in the original Hebrew there. We make a surety.

You know what word this surety is? The word that this comes from? It comes from the same base word as amen, because the word amen was often used as a confirmation of an oath. When you made a vow, you would seal it. Amen is a commitment. It is a statement of commitment, a surety.

And so when we say that, our amen becomes a commitment to God. It becomes a dedication of our lives to living God's way. That's what these people were doing in Nehemiah. When Nehemiah prayed and he read the words of the book, they said amen, not just because they agreed with it, but because they were committing themselves to live by the word of God. And so that's what we do. We commit ourselves. When Christ said, verily, verily, truly, truly, these things are true. We are going to live by His way. In fact, there's evidence of this. You might just write down Genesis 15.6. Genesis 15.6 bears this out because it's the same word when it describes Abraham. When Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Guess what that base word for believed is? That's amen. Amen. Abraham, amen, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. You see, he was fully committed. He was promised to God. He was dedicated to God, and it impacted who he was, what he believed, and what he did. How he lived his life. And so when we consider the word amen, that should be a motivating word for us. It just shouldn't be a casual thing that we utter to get things over with. It should motivate us to action. That's what it did with Abraham. That's ultimately what it did in the life of Jacob, Israel. And that's what it should do for us because it should remind us of our awesome God, the God that we can believe, the God that we can trust, the God that we can support, the God that we can have faith in, that we can have hope in, because we have a God that we can absolutely trust. And we proclaim that trust. We proclaim that commitment to Him because He's demonstrated His faithfulness to us. So are we doing that in our life? Let's make our life a commitment to Him. Let's be motivated. Let's be inspired. Let's be encouraged. Let's be faithful. We can be established in Him. That means making our priorities His priorities. That's what's most important in our life. Making that yes to living God's way of life, our way of life. That is who we are. So let's be motivated and inspired and encouraged because we have a God that is sure. We have a God that is faithful. God has promised us. So day in and day out, let's be sure to give God our trust because we can absolutely have faith in Him, the God of Amen.