TITLES OF CHRIST
THE AMEN
DR. JIM DIXON
REVELATION 3:14-22
JANUARY 8, 1989
Amen. Amen. Amen. Those were the final words spoken by Daniel Webster when he died on October 24th, 1852. The great orator, the lawyer, the statesman, was a committed Christian. In that final moment, as his doctor was at his side and he knew the end was near, the doctor said a prayer and when the prayer was done, with Daniel Webster’s last breath, he said the word amen three times.
Now, most of you will say the word amen many times in the course of your lifetime. In fact, it is said that the average Christian in the course of his or her life will say the word amen more than 30,000 times; at the end of prayers, at the end of doxology, at the end of hymns, and for some Christians in times of joy. Yet, incredibly, surveys show that most Christians do not really know what this word amen even means.
The word is used 24 times in the Old Testament and 126 times in the New Testament. It’s the final word in the Bible. Revelation 21:22: “Amen.” And yet, most Christians do not really know what the word means. What does it mean to say that Jesus Christ is the Amen? What does it mean when we say amen? Well, this morning we’re going to explore the meaning of this word, and I have two teachings. And the first teaching is this: the word amen means “true.” It comes from an old Hebrew word, an adjective, meaning faithful, reliable, and true. To say that Jesus Christ is the Amen is to say that He is faithful, He is reliable, and He is true. That is why in our passage of Scripture for today, Jesus Christ introduces himself as the Amen, the faithful and true witness. You see, His testimony is true. You can count on it.
We live in a world where there’s a lot of false testimony. In 1968, I was driving my 1955 Ford in Glendale, California and I had a little accident. I smashed into five cars. Now, that wasn’t easy to do and it wasn’t my fault. It was raining and a car in the lane just to the left of me swerved into my lane and hit my car. Then that pushed my car into the lane to the right of me, and I hit a car there. Then I just began to bounce off cars on the left and on the right. We all pulled over to the side of the road and we exchanged mean looks and various information, and, of course, everybody was innocent including the person who ran into my car, the person on the left of me who caused the whole deal. And we all submitted our testimonies to our various insurance companies. The amazing thing was that the man who ran into me, he and I had the same insurance company and we had exactly the same insurance agent. So they looked at our contrary testimonies and they sat down with us and he panicked. He admitted that yes, he did run into me, but he said “I didn’t have a choice because you see there was a car in the lane to the left of me and it turned into me and forced me to run into him.” And the insurance agent smiled and he said “No, I really don’t think that’s the case because you see, you were in the far left lane and the only thing to the left of you was grass and trees.” So, then the man finally admitted that he had borne false witness. You see, that’s how it is in this world. A lot of people bear false witness.
Just this past week, two American F-14’s shot down two Libyan Mig 23’s. The United States government has borne testimony that it was self-defense, that the Libyan jets had made acts of aggression. The Libyan government and Muammar Gaddafi have given an opposite testimony. They have said that they were merely on routine reconnaissance and the planes weren’t even armed. Obviously, somebody is bearing false witness and I’m sure that most of you rather suspect that it’s the Libyans.
Well TIME Magazine recently declared Mikhail Gorbachev “Man of the Year.” TIME Magazine is obviously very impressed with Mikhail Gorbachev, impressed with his efforts for peace and his gestures of reconciliation to the West, impressed with his willingness to reduce the massive Soviet nuclear arsenal, impressed with the economic changes he has brought to the Soviet Union with capitalistic incentives now being used in the midst of a socialistic economy, impressed with the greater freedoms that he has brought to socially, racially, and religious groups that have been previously oppressed. TIME Magazine seems to view Mikhail Gorbachev as a kind of light, no matter how dim in the midst of a greater communist darkness.
Well, you see, just recently Ollie North came here to Denver and he gave an opposite testimony. He doesn’t view Gorbachev as light at all. He believes he is one of the most deceptive men in the world, and that he has used his charisma and his charm to woo the western world because he knows that the Soviet economy is declining and he wants to use Western dollars to rebuild the Soviet economy. Ollie North claims that Gorbachev, the decreases that have been made in the Soviet nuclear arsenal are merely token, that Gorbachev is just as committed to Soviet global dominance as any Soviet leader has ever been. Two contrary testimonies. Obviously somebody, no matter how well intended, is bearing false witness.
We live in a world like that and we’ve got to make choices. Sometimes we can listen to opposite testimonies, and we can kind of stand back and say “Well, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s true.” But other times we face situations in life when we have to make a choice. And certainly that’s true in the spiritual realm where again, there are many testimonies. There is a testimony of Buddhism, there is a testimony of Hinduism, the testimony of Islam, Muhammadism, and the testimony of Christianity. Called the four great religions of the world, their testimonies are different and you have to make a choice. You can’t make the mistake of the New Agers who say that really all of these testimonies are the same and they’re all testifying to the same God and they’re all giving different truths of a greater truth. You can’t make that mistake because these four religions are not synergistic. They are not similar. They are not congruent. They are incongruent. They are contradictory. They say opposite things and you have to make a choice.
But you should remember that only Jesus cries died on the cross for sin. Only Jesus Christ is called Savior. You see, Buddha didn’t die on a cross. He didn’t die for sin. Muhammad didn’t die for sin. He didn’t die on a cross. Krishna, the Hindu deity in the Bhagavad Gita, he didn’t die for sin. He didn’t die on a cross. None of these are called saviors. Only Jesus Christ is called Savior and only he died for sin and if you think you have a sin problem and you need a savior, you better look to Christ. You should remember that only Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Buddha didn’t rise from the dead. Muhammad didn’t rise from the dead. Krishna didn’t rise from the dead. None of them claimed to rise from the dead. Only Jesus Christ, He rose from the dead. We have the testimony of eyewitnesses. He says “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live and he who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” You’ve got to make a choice.
You see, Islam, Muhammadism teaches salvation by works: alms, giving, and fasting in the month of Ramadan, the pilgrimage to Mecca, seven times around the Kaaba, kiss the black stone from heaven, ritualistic prayer five times a day towards Mecca…salvation by works. Muhammad taught that every single person in this world can live a sinless life. You can earn your way to heaven. Sin is not a problem.
Buddha, Buddhism, Hinduism, polytheistic religions; they all teach salvation by works through good karma and a process of reincarnation or transmigration of souls. Buddhism and Hinduism both teach that if you really want to be happy, you need to discover bliss consciousness through introspection and through detachment from all emotions and feelings.
You see, Jesus Christ has a contrary testimony. He says you cannot be saved by works, not through good karma. You cannot be saved by works. He says you cannot live a sinless life. We all need someone to pay that penalty for sin for us, and He has done that. And we can only find salvation when we receive Him and accept Him as Savior. We cannot earn our salvation. We can only be saved, He says, by grace through faith. We need mercy. Jesus says true happiness doesn’t come from detachment. True happiness comes from an incredible attachment to the people of the world and to the Lord. It comes not by retreating into an introspective inner world, but it comes by giving your life away to others as He has given His life for us. Contrary testimonies. You’ve got to decide. Make a choice. But Jesus says “I am the Amen. I am the faithful and true witness.” Jesus Christ says “I am the truth.” Pilate said “What is truth?” Jesus said “for this I was born and for this I have come into the world that I might bear witness to the truth.” He is the Amen. And He is true.
When He says that “a man’s life does not consist in the sum of his possessions,” He has spoken truly. When He says “what does it profit if a man gained the whole world and forfeit his soul,” He has spoken truly. When He says “you must be born again.” He’s spoken the truth. When He says “God loved the world so much, he gave his only begotten son that whose whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life,” He speaks truly. When He says “in my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you,” He speaks the truth. When He says “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me though he die, yet shall he live,” He speaks the truth. He is the Amen. He is faithful. His testimony is true.
Well, secondly, and finally, this word amen has a different meaning. A second meaning the word amen not only means true, but this word amen also means “yes.” It means yes. You see, in saying that Jesus Christ is the Amen, the Bible is saying that He is the great Yes.
In the Old Testament and in Jewish worship, sometimes the worship leader would say “Praise the Lord forever.” And the people would respond by saying “Amen. Yes, indeed.” The worship leader would list all the promises of God and the people would respond by saying “Amen. Yes. Let it be so.” Jesus Christ is the Amen. He is the great Yes and we can understand what this means when we take a look at the book of 2 Corinthians in the first chapter where the apostle Paul says “The Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preach is not yes and no, but in Him it is always yes, for all the promises of God find there yes in Him.” That is why we utter the amen through Him to the glory of God the Father. You see, Paul is saying the word amen means yes. He’s saying Jesus Christ is the great Yes, because all the promises of God find their yes in Him. All the promises of God find their fulfillment in Him.
You see, in our passage of scripture for today, Jesus Christ introduces Himself to the church at Laodicea and through them to us as the Amen, the Yes, and he tells the people at Laodicea that they have a problem. They think that they are rich and they have prospered and they need nothing when really they are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. So Jesus Christ, the great Yes, makes them an offer, makes them a promise. He invites them to come to Him that they might receive gold refined by fire, white garments to clothe them and salve to anoint their eyes. He offers them spiritual wealth, spiritual cleanliness and forgiveness and spiritual sight if they would come to him. He offers them His internal indwelling presence if they would open the door. If they would open the door, He says, “I will come in and supp with you and live with you” and he offers to let them sit on His throne forever and reign and rule with Him for eternity if they would come to him. Because, you see, all the promises of God are yes in Him. All the promises of God are fulfilled in Him. But you see, if you want all the promises of God fulfilled in you, you must say amen to Him. You must say yes to Him. You must say amen to the Amen and this amen is not a yes of intellectual ascent. It’s a deeper yes. It’s a yes of total commitment when you come to Christ and you invite Him to come and be your Lord and be your Savior. When you say amen to Him, when you say yes to Him, that’s not a mere yes of intellectual ascent, but it is total commitment and all the promises of God become yes for you when you say amen to the Amen. You see, it’s a covenant yes.
Have you ever wondered where the word amen comes from etymologically? Probably not, but we’re told that the word amen comes from the Hebrew. It’s merely been transliterated into the Greek and the English and even the Latin. But have you ever wondered, “Well, where’d the Hebrews get it? Where’d they get the word: Amen?” Well, philologists and linguists tell us, some of them say, that the Hebrews borrowed the word amen from the Egyptians because the Egyptians, during the period of the New Kingdom from 1570 to 1090 B.C., their chief deity was called Amun, Amun-Ra. That was the name of their chief deity. And whenever an Egyptian entered into an agreement with another person, they would say yes to that agreement. Whenever they entered into a covenant, they would say yes to that covenant by saying the words “by Amun” and sometimes they would simply say “Amun.”
Now, a lot of Bible scholars doubt that the Hebrews really borrowed the word amen from the Egyptians but all Bible scholars agree with this: the Hebrews use the word amen in exactly the way the Egyptians used the word Amun. The Hebrews used the word amen to say yes to an agreement, to say yes to a covenant. When two Hebrews would enter into an agreement with each other, when two Hebrews would enter into a covenant with each other, they would seal that covenant by saying amen. Yes, but it was a covenant yes.
In Jeremiah, Chapter 11, verse 5, when God says to Jeremiah “I shall be your God and you shall be my people, he says “Amen.” Yes. But it’s not the mere yes of intellectual ascent. It’s a yes of total commitment. It’s a covenant. Yes, he binds himself, he bonds himself with God. He says yes to God. “You will be my God, I will be your people.”
Well, in that moment that we embrace Christ and we say amen to Him, and we say yes to Him, in that moment we acknowledge that He is faithful and true. In that moment, we acknowledge that all the promises of God are yes in Him, fulfilled through Him. And in that moment, we bind ourselves to Him. We enter into covenant with Him when we say amen.
You see, even for us as Christians, we need to use this word “amen” every day. We need to say amen to Christ. Every day we need to say amen to the Amen. Every day we need to acknowledge that He is faithful and He is true. Every day we need to remind ourselves that all the promises of God are fulfilled through Him. And every day when we pray and we conclude that prayer and we say Amen, that’s really what we’re saying. When we conclude that prayer and we say amen, we’re saying yes, You are faithful, You are true. Yes, all the promises of God are fulfilled through You. And yes, I bind myself with You in covenant. I trust myself to You.
You see, if every time you pray, every time you say the word amen, whether it’s 30,000 times in your life or how many times, if every time you say it you have that understanding, you’re going to be focused on Jesus Christ. When you say amen, you acknowledge He is faithful and true, and that all the promises of God are yes through Him. You bind yourself with Him and to Him in covenant.
There was a little story, kind of a joke…some of you may have heard of it. It’s a story about a man who wanted a new horse. So he went to his neighbor’s ranch and he found a horse there that he wanted. So he offered his neighbor a trade. He said “I’ll give you my horse if I can have your horse.” And the neighbor agreed. So this man got on his new horse and the neighbor said “Before you take that horse away, there’s something you ought to know. This is kind of a special horse. I’m a Baptist, you know, and a real committed Christian and this horse has been trained in a special kind of way. When you want the horse to go, you don’t just nudge the horse with your heels and you don’t say ‘giddy up.’ When you want this horse to go, you say ‘Praise the Lord.’ When you want the horse to stop, you don’t pull back on the reins and you don’t say ‘whoa,’ when you want the horse to stop, you say ‘amen.’ ‘Praise the Lord’ to go, ‘amen’ to stop. The man understood and so he said ‘Praise the Lord’ and he was on his way. He is riding down the path and suddenly a snake came out onto the trail and the horse startled and began to just dash off into the woods and it was out of control and racing. The man was trying to stop the horse and he couldn’t think of the word. And as the horse raced through the woods, he saw a great precipice up in front, a large, massive cliff. He had to stop the horse. So he was trying to think of the word, and he pulled back on the reigns and he said, ‘whoa.’ And he said, ‘halt.’ He said, ‘freeze.’ He said, ‘stop.’ And finally at the last moment, he remembered the word and he shouted, ‘amen.’ And the horse came to a stop right at the edge of the cliff. The man took a deep sigh of relief, and he wiped his forehead and he said, ‘Praise the Lord.’
Now that joke is kind of crazy. It’s kind of crazy, first of all, because it’s dumb, but it’s also kind of crazy because it seems to portray the words “amen” and “Praise the Lord” as though they were opposites. Yes and no, stop and go. But you see in the Bible, these two words are not opposite at all. In fact, the word “amen” is very much like the word “Praise the Lord.” They’re both words of celebration. And when you say amen, whether it’s at the end of a prayer or whether it’s at the end of a doxology or the end of a song, or in a moment of joy, you are celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ is faithful and true. You are celebrating the fact that all the promises of God are yes in Him. You are saying yes to Him, binding yourself in covenant.
You know, in the early days of America, in churches, in the sanctuaries, there would be a section of the sanctuary called Amen Corner. This was a special place in church sanctuaries in those early days of America. Special people sat in the Amen Corner. They were people who shouted “amen” and “Hallelujah.” They didn’t do this in an impromptu sort of way. They were trained. They were recruited just like choir members. They practiced during the weeks and they would on Sunday sit in Amen Corner and in unison, at designated and predetermined times, they would say, “Amen” and “Hallelujah.” As time went by in America, in church congregations, sometimes churches would describe any part of any sanctuary as Amen Corner, wherever enthusiastic worshipers sat, people who liked to say amen and hallelujah in an impromptu sort of way.
I remember over at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora…we had a man over there who we used to call “Amen George.” He liked to say “Amen” during the worship service. We used to rate our sermons by the number of amens. We got a 10-Amen message or whatever. I think that’s fine, but you see, it’s far more important that you say amen with your heart than amen with your voice. The most important thing is that in your heart, amen is your attitude. That in your heart, every minute of every day, there is celebration, that Jesus Christ is faithful and Jesus Christ is true. That all the promises of God are fulfilled in Him, and that in your heart, every minute of every day, there is a bonding in covenant to the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s close with the word of prayer.