the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Amen
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or One of the distinguishing names of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Christ God-man Mediator. For so Jesus condescended to make use of it. (Revelation 3:14) And the meaning of it, in the original language, shews the great blessedness of it, as it concerns his people, in the Lord Jesus condescending to do so. For the word, in the original Greek, from whence it is taken, means verily, certain, sure, true, faithful. And surely, the Lord Jesus Christ is all these, and infinitely more, JEHOVAH'S Yea and Amen, as he saith himself; the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; that is in his mediatorial character.
And it is worthy our closest remark, that our Lord very frequently began his discourses with this word, and repeated it-"Verily, verily, I say unto you;" that is, in plain terms, (and indeed, it is the very word in the original) Amen, Amen. And it is yet worthy of farther remark, that none but the Lord Jesus ever did use such words, at the opening of the discourse, by way of confirmation. As if the use of it was particularly his, and belonged to him only, as his name. All the gospels, indeed, end with Amen. But then, this seems to be but as a farther proof that they are his, and he puts, therefore, his name as a seal at the end of them, by way of establishing their truth.
And I beg to remark yet farther, by way of shewing the sweetness and peculiar claim that the Lord Jesus hath to this name, that all the promises are said to be, Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, (2 Corinthians 1:20) that is, strictly and properly speaking, they are His; for He himself is the One great promise of the Bible, and all are therefore, promises in and by Him. And the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 65:16) describes the believer in the gospel church, as saying, That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; that is, the God Amen. It were devoutly to be wished, that whenever this sacred name is used, in our public worship, or private devotion, our minds were to recollect the person of the Lord Jesus. For certain it is, when we say Amen to the giving of thanks, (see 1 Corinthians 14:16) we do, to all intents and purposes, use the name of Christ, however inattentively it be said. And, therefore, if this were rightly considered, we should use it with an eye of love, and faith, and thankfulness to him.
I shall only beg to add, to what hath been offered on this precious name of our Lord Jesus, that as John is the only one of the Evangelists who hath recorded, so very particularly, our Lord's discourses with those double Amens, or Verilys, it is plain, that he considered them very highly important. And the apostle Paul, in desiring that no one should ignorantly say Amen in the church, at the assemblies of the faithful, seems to have same sentiment with John, that every one naming Christ should know Christ.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Amen'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/a/amen.html. London. 1828.
