What does “Amen” mean?
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” -Revelation 22:21
Amen. It’s the very last word in the Holy Bible, and it’s said after just about every prayer. The apostle Paul used it at the end of nearly all his epistles.
So just what does this short word mean, exactly?
To start off, the word is Hebrew, and is taken from the Bible. So in order to define this word, it would make sense to use examples from the Bible itself.
The Lord do so
Perhaps the best verse in the Bible that I have found to define the word is this:
“Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform thy words which thou hast prophesied. . .” -Jeremiah 28:6
The phrase immediately proceeding Amen gives a very good definition of the word itself: “the Lord do so,” or in other words, “the Lord perform your words.”
In essence, to say “amen” to something—especially a prayer—is to give consent and affirmation that you agree, and that you wish that God would fulfill the words as you have heard them. It is like saying: “let it be done!”
This is most certainly true
But on another level, in some instances in Scripture, amen also means truth. In some instances, especially in the New Testament, amen is used to confirm that a saying or writing is true. It is as if the writer was telling of the goodness of God, and followed it with an amen, as if to say: “this is most certainly true!” Here’s one example:
“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.” -John 21:25
The person of Jesus Christ
Taking the definition that amen means truth one step further, we see one last interesting definition for amen. It comes in the book of Revelation, and is the very personification of truth: the Lord Jesus Christ; He is called The Amen.
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;” -Revelation 3:14
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