By T. Austin-Sparks
"And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness" (Rev. 3:14). "So that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth" or as the margin has it, "He who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God Amen; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God Amen" (Is. 65:16). "For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us" (2 Cor. 1:20).
You will see from the passages in Revelation and Isaiah, that 'Amen' is a title, a designation, a description of God. His Name is the 'Amen', the God of the 'Amen'. We know what we mean when we use that word. We mean a note of affirmation, that there is nothing from which we dissent and everything with which we agree. We are saying, 'Let it be like that - Amen!' And that is a description of God; that is His Name. The description can be summed up in one fragment of Scripture: "the Father of Lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning" (Jas. 1:17). He is always the same, absolutely reliable, positive, definite, sure, for He is the God of the 'Amen'.
Isaiah Looks Beyond the Captivity and the Cross
Now the contexts of these two passages are very enlightening as to the use made of the title on each occasion.
In Isaiah 65, you will see that we are near the end of the prophecies; we are on the other side of the judgment of Israel, that is on the other side of the exile and the captivity. We are with the remnant that returned. The new day is presented in such verses as:- "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee" (Is. 60:1). "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; that she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (Is. 40:1,2).
Again, in this chapter in which our verse is found, the Lord says: "I create new heavens and a new earth" (65:17). A new day is in view, and on that ground, in that setting and context, these words occur. They are prospective as you see: 'he that, then, on that ground, in that day, blesseth himself... he that sweareth... in that day, on this new ground...' These words look on into the future and we may say here at once, that it is to the day which has come, to the day in which we live, that these prophecies point so clearly. The prophecies after chapter 53, the chapter of the Cross and the suffering, point so clearly to this day beyond the Cross, the day of His resurrection, the day of the Spirit; this is the day - our day - in which God is spoken of as the God of the 'Amen' - God, re-affirming, and God reaffirmed.
But to revert to Israel's history: it had looked for seventy long, weary, tragic, desolate years, as though everything was hopeless; all seemed lost. Look at Jerusalem during those seventy years; look at the land in its desolation and ruin, with the glory gone, everything broken down, and tragedy written large everywhere. The visitors to that country wagging their heads, remembering the past, were saying, 'Aha, aha; well, well; Look at this!' And while that cry, like a sob, from the prophet: "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow" (Lam. 1:12), may be truly put into the mouth of the Lord Jesus, on the Cross, it literally relates to this very situation. It was the cry of the land.
Of such a situation we should say today, 'Well, that is an end of that! There is not much prospect there.' But it is in that setting, just in a situation like that, that these words occur. He is the God of the 'Amen'! He is re-affirming that, despite of everything, He has not changed, He has not given up, He is not in despair. He is the God whose decisions and determinations are absolute and final, and it does not matter to those decisions what happens. He remains the God of the 'Amen'. Here He is then, in this title, re-affirming, that although all this has happened, a remnant shall return. There shall yet be a 'taking root downward, and a bearing fruit upward' (Is. 37:31). God cannot ultimately be cheated of His purpose; He is the God of the 'Amen'.
