AMEN by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 12, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 31.

AMEN

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

There is probably no other word of importance in the language that is used with less thought as to its meaning than the word “Amen.” It is used in prayer by all Christian people, no matter what their nation or language, and it is worthy of note that it is used only in Christian worship; yet to most it probably means little if anything more than a sign to indicate that prayer is ended. True, there is so much knowledge of its meaning that it is often used as an expression of assent to what is prayed or spoken by others, yet in the main people use it at the close of a prayer much as tho they would say, “Now I have finished.”

The word itself is simply the Hebrew root signifying “to be firm or established.” It conveys the idea of stability and certainty. As a noun, we find it signifying “foundation,” and in one form of the verb it signifies “to believe,” as in the statements, Abraham “believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6); and, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.” Isa. 28:16. The words “believed” and “believeth” are from the Hebrew word Amen, which, in the form here used, signifies to build upon, thus holding the root idea. To believe in God is to build upon him as a sure foundation.

“Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 3:11. In him are all the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20); therefore whoever accepts and follows his words is said to build on the Rock (Matt. 7:24,25). Everything depends on Christ, for he upholds all things by the word of his power. Heb. 1:3. In him all things are created, and in him all things consist. Col. 1:16,17.

Read now Rev. 3:14: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” Christ is the Amen, the sure Foundation, because he is all creation’s Source and Supporter. When we pray in faith,—and the prayer of faith is the only real prayer,—we pray in the name of Christ; for the promise is that when we ask anything in his name we shall receive it. If we do not ask in the name of Jesus, we have no promise of receiving anything; because to ask in his name is simply to ask for only such things as God has promised in Christ. It is to ask according to the will of God, and not according to our own fancies.

When we pray in such a manner, then we may be as sure of receiving the things we ask

for as we are that God lives. Then we have a right to the word “Amen.” The man who doubts when he prays, who is not sure that he is asking according to the will of God, and who doesn’t know whether or not he will receive the things that he has prayed for, has no right to close his petition with the word “Amen.” His prayer is simply an experiment, and for him to say “Amen,” is to take the name of the Lord in vain, for “Amen” is one of the Lord’s titles.

He who uses the word “Amen” understandingly, closes his prayer in a tone of triumphant confidence. He has already the thing asked for. “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” The Lord as universal king possesses all things, he has all power, and it is his glory to do deeds of kindness, and therefore we are as sure of our requests as we are that Christ is the eternal Foundation. Amen: “so it shall be,” is what we say, because Christ, the Amen, is the one in whom all things are. As long as the sun and moon endure, so long we know that his word of promise is sure.

The Christian is the only one who has this confidence. The heathen can not know the word, for they are “without Christ,” “having no hope, and without God in the world.” Truly, “their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” E. J. W.