What the scripture says about amen

Hymn number one. Yes. All people that on earth do dwell. Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Serve with fear His grace foretell. Come ye before Him and rejoice. God indeed without our aid He did us make.

He doth us feed. He doth us take His gates with joy His courts unto God and bless His name. For it is seemly so true God's mercy is forever sure. Firm shall from age to age Amen. Dear Holy Father Thank you for this time we get to spend looking at your word.

I pray that you would guide us and you would assist us in our worship of you. That it would be a holy and blameless and acceptable before you in Jesus name. All right today we are going to be looking at the topic of the amen in worship.

So you see in the Bible the word amen is used several times and it's even spoken of as a As a thing that you would do in worship not just demonstrated but even spoken of. That way in 1 Corinthians 14 it says.

It speaks about saying the amen. It says otherwise if you give thanks with your spirit how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen. To your Thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying.

And then 2 Corinthians 1 it also talks about the amen. So what is the amen and what role should it have in worship. It's obviously a part of our culture say it at the end of prayers. What does it mean it isn't important.

I would say it is important you have these two passages that speak of it as an aspect of worship. As an important aspect of worship so it's not just something culturally that they did. But something that we are supposed to be doing in worship is saying amen.

And this is something that's so important that it was actually the subject of several heresies. There were a number of groups that were Focused on very mystical things that spoke of the amen. As having special power like for example.

Are you familiar with the Gnostics having their various aeons. Right there like the 30 aeons and so If you take the Greek letters from alpha to eta. Which are the vowels that compose the amen. And you count them up because each one corresponds to a numeric value.

And the number 6 is skipped it adds up to the number 30 Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta. That adds up to 30 and so going from alpha to eta. You have the vowels of the amen and so if you say that You're invoking like the power of the aeons basically.

So this is something that was so significant in worship. That it became something that even cults used In significant aspects of their doctrine. That's what I'm getting at this is not a minor feature of Christianity.

It's actually a fairly significant feature just like Jesus Christ himself Is the subject of many erroneous teachings. And cults form around denying his deity etc. Cults have formed around the amen. So let's talk about the amen.

What is it? The definition I wrote down that I think works well. Because I didn't quite like some of the other definitions I saw. An utterance of religious approbation and affirmation. So an utterance of religious approbation and affirmation.

Approbation meaning approval and affirmation meaning agreement. So it's not just so first of all it's not just agreement. It's also approval of this thing an acknowledgement that this thing is good. And it's not just a casual Approval and acknowledgement it is a religious one.

It is a serious one perhaps not the same. Quite the same as an oath but very similar and the way you see this used in scripture. It's very similar to how an oath would be invoked. You know Jesus when he says verily verily or more literally amen.

What is he saying. He's saying this is true this is true. And a very religious and I swear to you kind of sense these things are true. So as we go through what scripture Says about the amen there's a couple of things to consider.

The first is that one thing that makes this a difficult Doctrine is that the amen is subject to a lot of text critical issues. If you're familiar with textual criticism what that's referring to is the fact that we don't have Any of the original manuscripts the apostles wrote.

Or the old testament for that matter any of the prophets. What we have are copies of those things and small details like spelling. Or articles sometimes change in between these various manuscripts. Because they were writing them by hand and a small word like amen Is fairly subject to this.

Some well known ones are at the ending of the lord's prayer. The amen doesn't appear in a lot of the older manuscripts. And the ending of mark the amen Doesn't appear. And then there's a lot of other ones where some manuscripts have amen.

And some don't so that makes it a little bit difficult just a heads up if you Try to go study this some of the things you might encounter. However there are enough amens that are very clear and certain.

That let us know what's going on here. So what categories of amens are there. Or what kind of events prompt an amen. So the first category is blessing god as the source of blessing. Now I've been trying to figure out how I want to do this.

If we want to go through each one and have people read them I think we'll do that at least for a few. If someone wants to look up nehemiah 8 .6 and then somebody else First chronicles 16 .36 and then we'll also do.

Let's do psalm 41 .13 when anybody has one of those. Just go ahead and raise your hand and I'll call on you. Yeah go for it. Francisco. Yeah first chronicles 16 .36. So when they describe god as blessed.

What does it mean that someone is blessed. Someone is blessed either if they are receiving blessing or if they are distributing it. To be blessed is to be contented is to have everything that you need.

And god has everything that he needs in a special category. Where he is not just receiving things. When someone calls you blessed hashtag blessed. That means you've gotten a lot of things. When we describe god as blessed typically we are talking about him being the source of blessings.

He has so much he is overflowing with it not that he's received it. So that's what this is getting at. He is blessed be Jehovah the god of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. All the people said amen and praised him.

Who wants to take one of those other either Nehemiah 8 .6 or psalm 41 .13. Here you have him blessing god which is acknowledging that he is the source of blessing. And the people answered with a double amen.

And in a worshipful way this is prompted by these worshipful hearts. Psalm 41 .13 Very similar to the others and I'll go ahead and read one. And there are a few of these in the new testament. Romans 1 .25 where a statement of truth is ended with a statement about god.

And then an accolade about god and then an amen. So Romans 1 .25 where they exchanged the truth of god for a lie. And worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever amen.

And so there might be the question of what is he amending. Is he amending the whole sentence or is he amending the fact that god is blessed forever. And it seems to me. Now I wouldn't have a problem with him amending the whole sentence.

But the pattern that you see when you see these amens at the end of sentences like this. There's always some kind of statement about god being blessed forever. So it's I'm inclined to think that the amen is in response to the statement that god is blessed forever.

Not to the whole statement. All right. Yeah. And then 1 corinthians 14 .16 which we just read otherwise if you bless with the spirit. How will he in the position of being unlearned say the amen. You're giving of thanks seeing that he does not know what you say.

So if you give thanks to god you're acknowledging him as a source of blessing. And then the response is supposed to be amen and this is what we desire the unbeliever to do. When he comes into the assembly is to acknowledge that god truly is.

In a worshipful way to acknowledge that god truly is the source of blessing. Okay so that's one category I've got about. I don't know 3 or 4 other examples written down and I did catalog every single example.

So that's where this is coming from. We're just going to go through a few I suppose but I do have a sense of how many there are in each category. All right. So then there is blessing god as the tell us of blessing.

So like the target of blessing. Right the focus of our blessing. So not him being the source of good things but him being the one To whom good things are. Okay so let's have one person do romans 11 .36.

Another ephesians 3 .20. Another 1st timothy 1 .17. Ephesians 3 .20. Yeah maybe next time I'll like point to regions. So that there's vague senses of assignment here. So to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen. Okay. Yes Josh. Okay. I think the other one was romans 11 .36.

To him be glory forever.

All right so you've seen a pattern here. To him be glory forever amen. Let me throw out a few more here that I find significant romans 16 .25. So this is the ending of the book of romans. Now to him that is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ According to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept in silence through times eternal But now is revealed and by the scriptures of the prophets According to the commandment of the eternal god is made known to all the nations To obedience of faith to the only wise god through Jesus Christ.

To whom be the glory forever. Amen. All right. And then revelation Has a couple of these. Or has three of these that are worth looking at. Revelation 5 .13. Okay we'll do revelation 5 .13 over here. And then revelation 7 .11 through 12 From someone over here oh yeah 13 through 14 over here.

And then sorry 5 .13 through 14. Revelation 7 .11 through 12. Somebody have it over here uh revelation 7 .11 through 12 Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving And honor and power and might be to our god forever and ever.

Okay good so you see this is part of this is part of the worship in heaven. This amen right uh so this is not just like an You know once again it's not just a cultural thing it's not just an earthly Form of worship that we might have in our own cultures.

It's it's something that you even See in heaven uh revelation 19 .1 through 3 I'll just read that one for us after these things i heard as it were a great voice Of a great multitude in heaven saying hallelujah salvation and glory and power belong To our god.

Uh you know more giving things to god. Right these things go to god. For true righteous true and righteous are his judgments. For he has Judged the great prostitute her that corrupted the earth with her fornication and it Has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

And the second time They say hallelujah and her smoke goes up forever and ever and The 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worship god who sits on the throne Saying amen hallelujah. So this is in response To all the things that were said before including that statement about uh god Uh being the being the end of all glory.

All right. So we've got uh let's see Got five more in this category. We'll just go ahead and uh we'll go ahead and skip those so Let's not get a little too tedious all right. Now there are a few Examples where there is a mix of blessing people.

And blessing god now these are ones where i believe the amen Is about the blessing of god. It's not about the the blessing of people but uh the way We think about it because culturally we think about okay we receive a blessing we say amen To that blessing we receive.

Right. Uh it's not i don't believe that's Exactly what's happening here. So galatians 1 3 through 4 through 5 Uh 1 sorry 1 3 through 5. Uh and let me let me Point out what i'm trying to get at uh i think saying amen At the end of prayer is right.

I think saying amen to blessings is right but Um biblically you will see an entirely different Emphasis on where the amens are going and You actually i don't believe other than these potential examples.

I don't believe you see It at the end of uh as a as an end to um As a response to blessing. I don't think you see it as a response to Prayer even unless you count the lord's prayer as as one example. But there he's he's Simply blessing god and and saying the amen right.

And we're Gonna we're gonna get to why. That is in a minute. Uh grace to you In peace from god the father and our lord jesus christ who gave himself for our sins that he Might deliver us out of this present evil age according to the will of god the father to whom be the glory Forever and ever.

Um actually this might not have been one of the examples I meant to grab here but uh hebrews 13 20. Now the god of peace who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep With the blood of an eternal covenant our lord jesus make you perfect In every good thing to do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his Sight through jesus christ to whom be the glory forever and Ever.

So you know this is a statement of blessing. Now the god of peace may he do all These things to you. But then uh through jesus christ To him be the glory forever and ever amen. I believe the amen once again is for That statement of blessing to jesus not the statement of blessing to the to the people.

Now there are also amens at the End of letters that come with blessings right. And so the the question is is the amen. Uh is it in a response to the blessing or Is it a statement that everything in this letter is true.

Uh i will Just read these and we'll we'll talk about this in a minute but here. Here are more examples where it may actually be a response to blessing the people or not. A response to receiving blessing but rather a response to giving blessing that the one giving The blessing is saying indeed this is true.

Uh now the god of peace be with You all amen. As romans 15 33 comes at the end of vermin 15 which kind of forms one end of the Of romans and then romans 16 24 which is like A roman 16 being a new section says the grace of our lord jesus christ.

Be with you all amen at the end. First corinthians 16 24 my love be with you all in christ jesus amen. Revelation 22 21 the grace of the lord jesus be with the saints Amen. Galatians philemon hebrews.

All these books end with an amen. And so they end with a blessing on the people and then an amen. And uh blessings often happen without Amens. I believe i believe the primary thing being amended. Here is the actual close and a statement that everything you've Everything and not just this last statement but everything you've received here is true.

All right now uh now i think We're gonna see some things that clue us in a little more of Why you see the amen in the certain places you do and maybe not others where You would as a modern-day evangelical expect it you know just at the end of prayers.

Or things like that. Right. Okay. So there are contentious blessings uh first current Excuse me first kings uh 136. Somebody on the side look that up first kings 136. And then i'll go ahead and read jeremiah 28.

Yeah let me go ahead and read jeremiah 28 and it came To pass the same year in the beginning of the reign of zedekiah king of judah. In the fourth year in the fifth month that hanani the son of azur the prophet Who was of gibeon spoke to me in the house of jehovah in the presence of the priest.

And all the people saying thus speaks jehovah of hosts the god Of israel saying i have broken the yoke of the king of babylon. Within two full years i will bring again this place all the vessels of jehovah's house.

That nebuchadnezzar king of babylon took away from the place and carried to babylon. And i will bring again to this place jack and i the son of jehoiachin King of judah with all the captives of judah that went to babylon declares jehovah.

For i will break the yoke of the king of babylon. All right. So hanani breaking jeremiah's yoke. Anybody familiar with that period of history knows that this is not what came to pass. Nebuchadnezzar did not bring everything back.

And the prophet jeremiah said to the prophet hanani in the presence of the priest And in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of jehovah. Even the prophet jeremiah said amen jehovah do so jehovah perform your words.

Which you have prophesied bring in the vessels of jehovah's house. And all of them of the captivity from babylon to this place. So jeremiah is in a way Conceding that that would be desirable. But and i did not write down more of this quote which would have been helpful.

So i'm gonna have to find that that's jeremiah 28. Right then the prophet jeremiah spoke to hanani etc. Yet hear now this word that i speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophet who preceded you from me from ancient times prophesied war famine and pestilence Against many countries and great kingdoms.

As for the prophet who prophesies peace when the word of that prophet comes to pass. Then it will be known that the lord has truly sent the prophet. And then yeah and then hananiah breaks the yoke bars from the neck of jeremiah to signify his His prophecy and.

And uh yeah. And then later at the end of the chapter hananiah dies. So here you have uh jeremiah responding Almost sarcastically right. Or. As a as a statement that yes that would be desirable. You know may that Happen.

However uh what has been prophesied is this Okay all right first kings. 136.

Who wants to read that. Thanks. Right and.

What's happening in that context is anyone know so here solomon's being Declared king and uh in a contentious situation. Right uh there's split loyalties there's different priests different. Uh you know uh there's yeah there's different People um taking sides right now Between uh these different kings that could be.

Now adonijah the son of hageth exalted himself saying i will be king. Right and uh these people Uh that are mentioned here. Benaiah uh Yeah benaiah was not um invited to the To the coronation and then uh yeah.

And so he takes sides and so this is this is like a It's like a swearing of allegiance almost like amen this is god's chosen King right. So it's this contentious matter. Now where you see uh a lot of Amens is around curses.

Numbers 522 says. And this water that causes the curse will go Into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away. This is to a woman who's Suspected of adultery uh she uh drinks muddy water.

And then uh if she has sinned this curse will come upon Her and the woman will say amen amen. So she's acknowledging The goodness the rightness of her being cursed in the event That she was an adulteress uh deuteronomy 27.

Full of these all in a row. I'll only read a few but uh cursed. Be the man who makes a carved image or molten image an abomination to jehovah. Uh the work of the hands of the craftsman and sets it up in secret and all The people will answer and say amen.

Uh curse be he who sits Sets light by his father or his mother and all the people say amen curse. Be he who removes his neighbor's landmark and all the people say amen and just Goes on through tons and tons of curses all the people responding with amen.

Uh nehemiah 513 and i also and i shook Out my lap and said god shake out every man from his house. And from his labor that performs not this promise even thus be he shaken Out and emptied. And all the assembly said amen and praise jehovah.

And the people did according to this promise. So lots of amens and Reception of conditional curses. Uh jeremiah 11 1 uh the word that came To jeremiah from jehovah saying hear the words of the covenant and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of jerusalem and say to them thus says jehovah The god of israel curse be the man who hears not the word of this covenant Which i commanded your fathers in the day that i brought them forth out of The land of egypt out of the iron furnace saying obey my Voice and do them according to all which i command you.

So you will be my people. And i will be your god that i may establish the oath which i swore to your Fathers to give them a land flowing with milking and honey as to this day. Then i answered and said amen oh jehovah so Once again you know responds with an amen to the curse.

Uh isaiah 65 16. So he that blesses himself in the earth Will bless himself in the god of truth. And he who swears in the earth Will swear by the god of truth. Now uh that is how that Appears in most english versions.

But that word truth there Is the word amen and so it's basically saying the god of the amen. Uh so the one who swears you know the one who Invokes some kind of you know if i don't do this then etc. Uh he will do this by the god of the amen.

Isaiah 65 16. Yeah so let's i've got more More categories. But let's stop there. Why is it so common with um When people are receiving curses but Not when they are receiving blessings right it. Now there's arguably A lot of times when someone's giving a blessing and they'll say amen with it but not with The not so much with the receiving of it.

So why is it. Why is that the case. Why do you Think because they deserve the cursing and don't deserve the blessing. Okay. So if an amen is a approval and it's Affirmation you know that that would make sense to approve And affirm you know a blessing oh amen that's a great blessing.

Why. Why do you think you don't see that as much. Yeah. Right. Yeah yeah exactly i think i think you hit the nail on the head. These are situations where of course you're going to agree Doesn't require demonstration that you agree.

Of course you agree right. But it's these things where do you agree with this. This is a hard truth you know. Do you agree with this these statements about god being blessed forever. We live in a world that Does not acknowledge god is blessed.

It's important that we be saying they meant to that. Right there's a it's uh can you receive the fact that. You know that this curse would be right if you don't uphold your end of the bargain. For you to say amen to that you know a solemn Approval and affirmation is is really saying something.

And so all these conditions where amen is given Are are there is a contentious truth At hand right amen you are the king even though Others have rejected you as king uh jeremiah with a false prophet you know Almost sarcastically saying amen to his false prophecy.

Um the idea being that well we're at odds we're in contention. You know do i agree with you. Well i agree that that would be great you know. Uh but let me tell you this. You know the other prophets have said otherwise from for a long time and i'm Saying the same thing all right.

So as we continue On let's look at a few more of these that um that Show uh similar things you know similar contentious Truths at hand so contentious narratives at hand uh revelation One seven or or contentious promises behold He comes with the clouds and every eye will see him and they that pierced him and All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him even so amen and to the angel Of the church in laodicea right these things say Says the amen uh this is another time where you see god called the god of the amen.

Right uh these things says the amen The faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of god he who Testifies these things says yes i come quickly amen come lord jesus. You know is jesus coming back.

Is this true amen. You know that's something that's hard To one of the christian truths that's hard to embrace so he hasn't Come back yet. Is he coming. Yes amen he is and uh second Corinthians 120. For however many be the promises of god and him Is the yes.

Therefore also through him is the amen To the glory of god through us. This is a passage in second Corinthians it speaks of of that the promises of god are yes. But through him is the amen because he is so certain we can Respond with a religious affirmation of it Amen because it is so certain all his all his promises.

And then uh now if you look at The number of amens in the bible over half of them are coming out of Jesus's mouth uh when he prefaces his statements with amen. Amen i say to you uh right yeah the actual greek Word that's being used there is on main yeah.

Right so he's saying every time he's saying amen amen i say to you and so this is the same Kind of here's a truth that you might find hard to believe but i'm telling you with religious Sincerity that this is true and ton of these.

But they're 99 actually uh and most Like i said you know the number of amens may differ across bible versions but um. Yeah they're 99 in the particular one i was using All right. Yeah and then you have uh then you have Occasionally the double amens.

We've looked at a few of those you know simply An extra statement of you know of more serious amen. Amen. Let me go ahead and read a couple of uh Historical quotes well just uh a couple from One guy justin martyr.

So if you're not familiar with justin martyr he's uh second Century um apologist who uh is. Yeah he's doing a lot of explaining the christian faith to those who have never Encountered it before uh and when he He has concluded the prayer so he's talking about what a worship service looks like in a christian church.

And he said he's describing pretty much the conclusion Of everything when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgiving all the people Present present express their assent by saying amen. This word amen answers in the hebrew language uh to ginnett Genoito excuse me genoito i haven't written in uh english so i'm Trying to imagine what it would be written in greek but uh.

Yeah so be it. So it's interesting that uh we see this Word frequently in the new testament but it's just a hebrew Word that were you that they were using that's being transliterated to greek. Justin has to explain to his audience what amen means because they've never His greek audience has not heard this word before they don't know what it is.

Uh then We all rise together and pray as we before said when our prayer is ended Bread and this is a later section of the same book when our prayers Ended bread and wine water brought in the president meaning the one presiding over the Ceremony and like manner offers prayers and thanksgiving according to his ability.

And the people assent saying amen and there's distribution To each and participation of that over which thanks has been Given and to those who are absent a portion is sent By deacons. So uh they were uh They were distributing community at that time which uh i wouldn't Say is a good practice but you can see how early some of these some of these practices Stepped in.

Maybe it'd be good if we shared this with people who weren't able to come All right. So this is something that existed fairly early on and exists in response To uh at the end of that prayer all the people saying amen Agreeing with their thanksgiving to god.

Okay and then Uh another thing that i've already mentioned here is that it's It is what the worship looks like in heaven now. Before i before i move on to any any questions at this point. Yes Bianca other than potentially jesus's prayer right the lord's Prayer but there um is he just amending the Blessing of god right.

Or is he amending the whole prayer the way we might. Right. Um yeah i don't have any examples that are Clear-cut examples of amending prayer the way we would right. Right. Right. Well i think i think you have examples like this where Uh he says when he concluded the prayers and thanksgiving all the people express Their sent by saying amen.

So if you're in a worship service and you are You're conducting it and at the end of a significant portion you pray. All the people are amending everything that has been all the thanksgiving that's Been given to god the blessing of god everything that's come before all that's all that's given.

And amen. Right and so so it is right to Amen prayers but just know what you're doing when you're when you're amending prayers is You are it's not some magic word that makes your prayer get Answered right it's a it's a the any contentious Truth in here right i'm saying i'm religiously affirming Which if you're if you're just praying please give me this.

And then you say amen that's not really the way the word amen is meant to be Used it's actually you know you are a wonderful god and if you include Petitions in that that's great but you know but it's the It's the contentious truth that needs to be amen.

Not the not the request for something that needs to be a meant maybe the assurance you know. And i am assured that you have the capacity to do these things amen. Right so yeah parts of worship which parts of worship should be amen.

And know that when i uh this is something that i've been Working with we as pastors went through a book on worship and we Studied the amen a little uh maybe not with all the examples that i'm giving Here but uh it's been something that i've been working through and i know In myself requires a lot of reformation.

That i want to be one who is amending all the parts that i should be amending. So when you when you hear any of this i describe uh How the amen should be given don't don't judge us based on how you've Seen me respond and in worship rather uh know that this is Something that i myself am trying to improve.

Yes yeah i believe He's affirming the truth of the whole letter yes. What is what does paul mean when he says amen at the end of his epistles. Yeah and right and i'm saying that i think there's A good chance he is affirming the entirety of what he has said All right.

So uh yeah in response to the word of God being declared the word of god is a contentious truth we should respond With an amen to the to the reading of scripture that includes the call to Worship it includes the benediction.

You know the statement that That god's peace is accessible you know we are Amening it saying that not just that well i like that truth which is Part of which is half of it the other half of is this is a contested Truth that this promise is real and i am i'm affirming that that Contested truth is true.

I'm willing to to back it with My amen uh and then in prayer uh Like i said not not as some kind of word that would Make a request get answered but rather in as much as we are Stating religious truths in our prayer.

You know calling on the promises of god's giving thanks to him Acknowledging goodness things that other people would not agree with right. We should be amening prayer and then when we Sing these are contested truths that we sing uh it's right to say amen At the end of song and uh i really like that we're at a church Where we sing the amen at the end of the song um you can still say it Afterward if you like to but but you can even sing the amen in Fact uh something i've always Thought would be neat and i don't know what this looks like in churches that do it i don't even know If there are or you know how many churches do it or i've never heard of a church that does it.

But on page uh roman numeral uh 17. Here right after the doxology and the hymnal There's a set of amens that you can learn to respond to worship so that you can Sing the amen to anything not just not just the songs.

But there's a two-fold amen you can learn to sing a three-fold amen and a seven-fold Amen and you know it's got four parts so you can imagine If we as a congregation learned uh you know each part we could Sing as a response to aspects of worship.

You know a Seven-fold amen i think that'd be really cool. I don't know i don't know what that would Look like to do it but um yeah anyway that This is a this is something that is in our hymnal. And is in other hymnals and people do is is they sing amens in response To worship not just saying it too yeah and so this would include a response To the lord's supper the statements about the lord's supper.

Um so consider uh consider some of the implications of this. You know when we worship we are not worshiping as Spectators right. It's not a it's not a consumer thing where we're just Receiving to worship to offer god worship is to really be Giving.