Isaiah 65:16

Isaiah ‘THE GOD OF THE AMEN’Isaiah 65:16 . The full beauty and significance of these remarkable words are only reached when we attend to the literal rendering of a part of them which is obscured in our version. As they stand in the original they have, in both cases, instead of the vague expression, ‘The God of truth,’ the singularly picturesque one, ‘The God of the Amen.’ I. Note the meaning of the name. Now, Amen is an adjective, which means literally firm, true, reliable, or the like. And, as we know, its liturgical use is that, in the olden time, and to some extent in the present time, it was the habit of the listening people to utter it at the close of prayer or praise. But besides this use at the end of some one else’s statement, which the sayer of the ‘Amen’ confirms by its utterance, we also find it used at the beginning of a statement, by the speaker, in order to confirm his own utterance by it. And these two uses of the expression reposing on its plain meaning, in the first instance signifying, ‘I tell you that it is so’; and in the second instance signifying, ‘So may it be!’ or, ‘So we believe it is,’ underlie this grand title which God takes to Himself here, ‘the God of the Amen,’ both His Amen and ours. So that the thought opens up very beautifully and simply into these two, His truth and our faith. First, it emphasises the absolute truthfulness of every word that comes from His lips.

There is implied in the title that He really has spoken, and declared to man something of His will, something of His nature, something of His purposes, something of our destiny. And now He puts, as it were, the broad seal upon the charter and says, ‘Amen! Verily it is so, and My word of Revelation is no man’s imagination, and My word of command is the absolute unveiling of human duty and human perfectness, and My word of promise is that upon which a man may rest all his weight and be safe for ever.’ God’s word is ‘Amen!’ man’s word is ‘perhaps.’ For in regard to the foundation truths of man’s belief and experience and need, no human tongue can venture to utter its own asseverations with nothing behind them but itself, and expect men to accept them; but that is exactly what God does, and alone has the right to do. His word absolutely, and through and through, in every fibre of it, is reliable and true. Now do not forget that there was one who came to us and said, ‘Amen! Amen! I say unto you.’ Jesus Christ, in all His deep and wonderful utterances, arrogated to Himself the right which God here declares to be exclusively His, and He said, ‘I too have, and I too exercise, the right and the authority to lay My utterances down before you, and expect you to take them because of nothing else than because I say them.’ God is the God of the Amen!

Isaiah 65:16 . That he who blesseth himself in the earth — In any part of the world, for God shall have servants out of all nations, that shall be dignified with this new name; shall bless himself in the God of truth — That is, in his name; shall renounce every species of idolatry, and invoke and praise the true God alone. They shall have recourse to, and trust in, him alone, for blessing and happiness, and for a supply of all their wants. Observe, reader, it is of great consequence what that is which we bless ourselves in, and which we most please ourselves with. Worldly people bless themselves in the abundance which they have of this world’s goods, Psalm 49:18 ; Luke 12:19 ; but God’s servants bless themselves in him, as a God all- sufficient for them. And he that sweareth, &c. — By him also they shall swear, and not by any creature, or any false god. To his judgment they shall refer themselves, from whom every man’s judgment proceeds. Both in prayer and praise, and in every act of homage and worship, they shall give honour to him as the God of truth — Hebrew, Amen, which some understand of Christ, who is himself the Amen, the faithful and true witness, and in whom all the promises are yea and amen. In him we must bless ourselves, and by him we must swear unto the Lord, and covenant with him. Some read it, He that is blessed in the earth shall be blessed in the true God; for Christ is the true God and eternal life, 1 John 5:20 .

And it was promised of old, that in him should all families of the earth be blessed. Because the former troubles are forgotten — Namely, the troubles of the church. They shall see that what God hath promised he hath also fulfilled, and that he hath put an end to the troubles of his people, the remembrance of which shall be swallowed up in their present comforts. The chief reason of this is assigned in the next verse.

That he who blesseth himself in the {u} earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former {x} troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes. (u) By blessing, and by swearing is meant the praising of God for his benefits, and the true worshipping of him, who will not be only in Judea, but through all the world. (x) I will no longer permit my Church to be desolate as in times past.