View source for The Last Amen

<p>&quot;Amen!&quot;—Revelation  22:21.<br><br>
  Amen is a Hebrew word, signifying truth and  certainty in the first place; and then our affirmation of something as a  certainty, or our desire that it should be so.<br><br>
  It comes also to signify  faithfulness and steadfastness in a person, so that that person is himself  regarded as truth personified—the truth, the Amen. Hence it is that Christ takes to Himself the designation of the Truth, and  the Amen—the faithful and true Witness. Hence it is that He so often (eighty  times at least) uses the word 'amen' or 'truly' in His discourses. As the True  One and the Truth, He is the Amen. As the confirmer and fulfiller of all the  promises of God; as the channel through which they flow down to us—He is the  Amen—the truth.<br><br>
  Further, it has come to signify  faith and confidence—specially faith and confidence in God. It is the word used  in reference to Abraham, 'He believed  God,' and to Israel,  'They believed the Lord.'<br><br>
  But it is with the common use of  it that we have now to do—that use of it which we make daily when we conclude  even our shortest prayer. Amen; that is,&nbsp;<strong>so  let it be</strong>; let it be according to our request, and according to Your  promise. Used in this way, it means much. It is the summary or recapitulation  of the whole previous prayer; and therefore it should be uttered in no light or  heedless spirit, but with profound reverence and fervour; for it is 'in  testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard that we say Amen.'<br><br>
  There are, however, different  ways of using it; different feelings with which it is uttered—and it is to  these that we would now attend.<br><br>
  <strong>I. There is the Amen of  IGNORANCE.&nbsp;</strong>Simple and common as the word is,  thousands use it without knowing what it means, or what they themselves intend.  We might say that not one out of a hundred uses it intelligently. It is the  approved way of finishing off a prayer; it is the word which intimates that the  prayer is concluded—that is all; and were it to be introduced at the beginning or  middle, as well it might be, men would wonder. It is to them a word, no more; a  concluding word or sound, where the voice ceases, and after which the eyes are  opened, and the hands unclasped! This is the Amen of ignorance. Are your Amen's  of this kind? or are they uttered with the understanding—the full realization  of the large and solemn meaning which they contain?<br><br>
  <strong>II. The Amen of HABIT.&nbsp;</strong>All are not ignorant of its significance. Ask many what  they intend by affixing it to their prayers, and at once they will tell you.  Yet mark them, and you will find the word slipping from their tongue without  any corresponding thought as to its sense. They have uttered it quite  unconsciously thousands of times. They would not terminate a prayer without it;  yet it has become a mere word of habit, into which, when used, no feeling, no  earnestness is thrown; a commonplace, random expression, with nothing of soul  attached to it, like a well without water; a mechanical utterance, into which  they have been educated, and without which they would think the prayer  incomplete, but which means no more to them than the oscillations of a  pendulum, and which has no more connection with genuine prayer than have the  garments in which they are dressed, or the floor on which they kneel.<br><br>
  Are your Amen's those of  habit—pieces of ornament—the useless appendages of useless devotion—or is your  soul thrown into them? Are they the essence of your previous petitions—the  concentration and summing up of all your desires? Do you say Amen  simply because you are done? or, like David,  do you say 'Amen and Amen; the prayers of David  the son of Jesse are ended;' that is,  summed up in this? How many Amen's of habit have you uttered? Amen's  of indifference, that are not better than mockeries? No, and do not some of us,  whose petitions are fervent throughout, make void all their earnestness by the  lifeless, mechanical, heartless Amen with which we sum them up? Is not our Amen  sometimes the dead fly that spoils the precious spikenard of the apothecary?<br><br>
  <strong>III. The Amen of UNBELIEF.&nbsp;</strong>It seems strange that a word like this should ever be  uttered in unbelief; yet such is the case. No, sometimes it would seem as if  the most unbelieving part of our prayer part of our prayer is that which should  be the most believing—the Amen. We may well wonder how it should be so. It  seems almost incredible that a word like this, meant to be associated with  faithfulness, and truth, and certainty, should be connected with unbelief,  more—should be the utterance of unbelief—the frequent, the daily utterance of  unbelief; yet so it is. Our unbelieving Amen's are about the most melancholy  parts of our prayers—the worst indications of distrust in God. It is vain to  speak of wandering thoughts, or to excuse ourselves for such thoughts, by the  number of the petitions. For here we have but one word, and in that one word  our whole prayer is recapitulated and summed up; so that, if unbelief or vain  thoughts had pervaded the previous parts, they might have been made up for, as  one may say.<br><br>
  Yet that single word is the  vainest of the vain words spoken; that word, in which faith seeks to infuse  itself twice over into our prayer, is the word from which it is specially  excluded. Oh what a reproach to us are our unbelieving Amen's! What a mockery  of God, and of His promises! The sin of these would be of itself sufficient to  shut out our supplications. Yet how little we think of this! With what ease and  carelessness do we pronounce that word of unbelief, which should have been the  great and special word of faith!<br><br>
  <strong>IV. The Amen of FAITH.&nbsp;</strong>This is the true Amen; the Amen of souls who have heard the  gracious words of Him who cannot lie, and who act upon these.&nbsp;<strong>Amen</strong><strong> is the proper and natural voice of faith.</strong>&nbsp;Whether  it is we who are speaking to God, or God who is speaking to us, we say Amen. In the one case it is the expression of faith, in the  other the response of faith.<br><br>
  But why should Amen  be thus linked with faith? Because that which calls it forth is not simply a  desirable thing, but a truth and a certainty. Amen  is not the mere utterance of desire—earnest desire—but of believing desire. Let  us see how this is. It has to do with such things as the following—<br><br>
  <strong>(1.) The free LOVE of God.&nbsp;</strong>It is God's testimony regarding His own free love that we  listen to in the gospel; and our first belief of that gospel is our saying Amen  to His declarations regarding that free love. And as we begin, so are we to go  on. Each Amen goes back to this free love, to the beginning of our confidence,  and is a renewal of that confidence. In every prayer we keep our eye on this;  for without the recognition of this grace, this abundant grace, what would  prayer be? Let all our Amen's then do justice to the free love of God.<br><br>
  <strong>(2.) The TRUTHFULNESS of God.&nbsp;</strong>The faithful saying was that to which we first said Amen; for we had made the discovery that it was the true  utterance of Him who cannot lie. We were satisfied that He could not speak an  untrue word, nor promulgate a statement of fitted to mislead, nor hold out to  us a promise which He did not mean to fulfil. Being thus persuaded of the  divine truthfulness, we 'believed the report;' we said Amen  to each gracious declaration, satisfied of its absolute truth and certainty. So  did we at the first; so do we to the last. God is true—truthful, faithful; we  will not make Him a liar in any one thing, in any of our communications with  Him—least of all in our prayers. Let all our Amens do justice to the  truthfulness of God.<br><br>
  <strong>(3.) The POWER of God.&nbsp;</strong>What He has promised He is able also to perform. He is able  to do for us exceeding abundantly, above all we ask. Our prayers rest  themselves as much upon His power as His grace and truth. On this we rested  when we first came to Him as 'able to save unto the uttermost;' on this we rest  still. Every prayer is a recognition of power, and of divine willingness to put  forth that power in the behalf of all who will apply for it. It is infinite  power—omnipotence. Let each Amen of ours do justice to the power of God.<br><br>
  In addition to these things, to  which the faith of our Amen's attaches itself, we would only further say that  it specially leans upon the cross of Christ in  connection with these three. It is round that cross that this faith flings its  arms; it is here that it sits down in quiet satisfaction. It sees the grace,  the truth, the power of God flowing to us through the blood of Golgotha; and it  says Amen to all that God has testified concerning that blood; to the 'it is  finished' of the Son of God upon the tree.<br><br>
  It is thus that the believing  Amen of our prayers springs out of that which we know of God and His crucified  Son. Knowing all this, shall our Amen's be those of uncertainty or doubt? Shall  they not be the Amen's of faith? Shall we ever go to God mocking Him with  distrustful Amen? Rather let each Amen be the utterance of triumphant faith; so  that even though unbelief may have mingled with our previous petitions, we at  the close dismiss all that unbelief, and, looking back upon each petition,  quicken them into happy life by the believing Amen with which we conclude the  whole.<br><br>
  <strong>V. The Amen of HOPE.&nbsp;</strong>God has written much to us concerning our  hopes. He has filled our future with 'things hoped for;' and He has bidden us  desire them, wait for them, pray for them. There is the hope of the kingdom, of  the inheritance, of the glory; above all, there is 'the blessed hope' of the  Lord's appearing. These hopes occupy large space in our expectations and  prayers. They are still futurities; but they are certainties—bright and blessed  beyond what eye has seen or ear heard. In our pleadings regarding these, we use  the Amen of hope; realizing it as a hope that makes not ashamed. We say,  'Hallowed by Your name,' and we add the Amen of hope; 'Your kingdom come,' and  we add the Amen of hope; 'Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,' and  we add the Amen of hope. We hear the Lord's own voice from heaven saying,  'Surely I come quickly,' and we add with the apostle—Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen!<br><br>
  Are our Amen's bright and big  with hope? As we utter them on our knees before God, do thoughts of the glory  fill us? Does that glory stand out before our eye as a certainty—a divinely  revealed and divinely promised certainty—a certainty quite as great as that  which rests over the past? Each time we utter the Amen in connection with these  blessed futurities, does our hope kindle up anew—the hope calling up the Amen,  and the Amen making the hope to shine out with fresh brightness? In  anticipating such a future, how can we utter a cold, heartless, passive or  despairing Amen? Let all our Amen's be those of exulting hope!<br><br>
  <strong>VI. The Amen of JOY.&nbsp;</strong>There is joy set before us, even as before  our Master; it is joy unspeakable and full of glory. It is joy springing both  from the past and the future. It is the joy of conscious pardon; the joy of  friendship with God; the joy of adoption and heir ship; the joy of our whole  new created being; the joy because of the blessedness in prospect. Past,  present, and future—all furnish us with materials for joy. And in our  thanksgivings for the past, we breathe out an Amen of joy; in our consciousness  of present peace and heavenly favour, we repeat our Amen of joy; in our  pleadings for larger blessing to ourselves and to our world, we say Amen with  gladness; and in our pressing forward to the mark for the prize of our high  calling, looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God, we say Amen  and Amen with ever-deepening joy of heart.<br><br>
  How gladly should that word 'Amen!  'come forth from our lips! Should it ever have a sorrowful sound? It seems so  full of comfort and exultation, that one wonders how we can ever utter it with  a sorrowful heart. There is no shade upon the objects in regard to which we  utter the Amen; should it not then be a word of joy at all times? Are our Amen's  such? Do they speak of joy? Do they arise out of joy? Do they cherish and  augment the joy? Is the word sweet to us because of the joy which it contains  and utters? Many a poor, gloomy Amen have we spoken, belying our profession,  and misusing the word. Let us be done with these.&nbsp;<strong>Let our Amen's be songs—songs  gushing up from the fullness of happy souls!</strong></p>
[[Category:Revelation]]