“THE AMEN” (Keene)

 

(Revelation 3:14)

I thought upon this name, and the person and achievements of him to whom it belongs, and my heart responded and said, Thou art, O Christ, in truth the Amen. My soul went forth to him in all affection, and I said within me, Thou art altogether lovely; and as the more and more I mused upon Jesus the Amen, in the vision of my faith, he was glorified; my soul was delighted, for I beheld him crowned with glory and honor. Such moments as these, given me, as I believe, by the Holy Spirit, are sacred indeed; they far transcend all earthly blessedness. O, how is it that I, a sinner, an unworthy one, should be granted even one glimpse of the Son of God? It is all of Jehovah’s covenant, eternal love, of his electing, matchless grace. If now a glimpse of Jesus, as through a glass darkly, excites in the soul such blessedness, what must it be,

“Forever to behold him shine,
Forevermore to call him mine,
And see him still before me!
Forever on his face to gaze,
And meet his full assembly rays,
While all the Father he displays
To all the saints in glory”?

In myself I see I am a very failure, I am a sinner, and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). My aims, endeavors, yes, my utmost attainments, I see to be very vanity. Ah, I cannot do what I want done, and that must be done, I can not be as I would and as I must be, I cannot attain to what I would attain, and to which I must attain; all is imperfect, all is unsatisfactory; in myself I am but a poor, sinful failure before God.

“These things saith the Amen.” Surely our Lord Jesus Christ is the Amen unto his people. Christ, the head of the church, is so needful to them. His members in their Adamic condition are all imperfect, defiled, corruptible, mortal. Ah, they are in a sunken, sin-degraded, helpless plight; and only that Christ the Lord, the Word made flesh, undertook, and still in his mediatorial reign undertakes for them, they must have remained under the curse of God in his holy law. They could never have escaped the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10), for by nature they are the children of wrath even as others. But the Son of God undertook the redemption and the everlasting glorification of his elect. He did not fail, he will not fail; the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand (Isaiah 53:10), he will bring all things to a glorious consummation, for he is the Amen. The Scripture saith, “All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20). These are what are described as “better promises” (Heb. 8:6). They are promises of infinitely more blessed realities than the old covenant could yield us; they are better also in this respect, that they are sure to all the seed (Rom. 4:16). The heirs of promise shall surely in due time be put in possession of all the new covenant blessings, and the eternal inheritance to which they are predestinated in Christ (Eph. 1:11). What security have we of all this? The Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the Amen, and we are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.

All the promises of God in him are yea, they are all affirmed in him; in him (O, not apart from him) they are all declared. God hath promised us eternal life. (1 John 2:25 – And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.) The mercy promised, forgiveness, salvation, the eternal inheritance, and crown of glory, are all affirmed unto us in Christ, and all are in him, Amen, unto the glory of God by us, the favored, chosen heirs of promise. Christ is the Amen, the Verifier, the Establisher, bringing to a God glorifying consummation all the exceeding great and precious promises given unto us in the covenant ordered in all things and sure. We were sinners, vile transgressors, under the curse of the law. Jesus came to redeem us. To all the obedience required in the law, to all the dreadful but righteous penalty pronounced upon us, Christ our Surety, the Surety of the New Testament, said, Amen; so let it be, it shall be verified, I will establish it. “Lo, I come, (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:7). He shall magnify and make it honorable; not belittle, or complain of the holy severity of its demands; O no, he, our Surety, Redeemer, came to fulfill the law, he is the Amen, the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Am I a believer? View him in his precious, sacred life, contemplate his agonies in Gethsemane, and his sufferings on the cross of Calvary, in all of which he declared himself the verifier of the law, the verifier of the promises of God. His achievements in his life of obedience, and atoning sufferings and death, were all the ratifying of the everlasting covenant of grace; he is the Amen. When that bitter cup came to him in the garden, then he said, Amen, so let it be. “O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (Matt. 26:42). On Calvary’s mount, he cried, “It is finished: and he bowed his head, and died.

Has not our Redeemer said, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”? (Matt. 16:18). His hands laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it. The headstone thereof shall be brought forth with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace, unto it (Zech. 4:7-9). Our Savior has gone into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us (Heb. 9:24). He was received up into glory (1 Tim. 3:16). There now he reigns, our Priest and King, and he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. He will bring forth his people from their graves. On the last day (John 6:40), he himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (l Cor. 15:52-55) Is this language of doubtful signification? Will this unequivocally take place? Yes, he who is the truth saith, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes” (Hosea 13:14).

Are we believers in Christ Jesus, the Amen? Then may we, the Holy Spirit enabling us, contemplate and believe him to be in very truth the Amen. How cheering! What a good hope we have in him, a lively, animating hope, lifting us up in grateful adorations, with ardent longings to glorify God in our body and spirit, which are his. Though now the way is rugged, and temptations and conflicts with the world, the flesh and the devil are our trying portion, we are weak, we are imperfect, we come short; but we shall overcome at last (Gen. 49:19). We shall be more than conquerors through him that loved us. Christ, our Amen will bring all to a glorious conclusion. This is everlasting consolation. Believing in him, his precious doctrine ends our soul’s disquietudes, silences Satan’s accusations, hushes every discordant note, and we have blessed peace, for Christ is the Amen.

 

FREDERICK W. KEENE
North Berwick, Maine

SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Pages 203-205.