made flesh; the brightness of His glory, and express image of His person:
LX. The Vision Of God
"They shall see His face."—
Revelation 22:4.
It is the new Jerusalem that John is describing,—the city of glory; the home of light; the metropolis of the universe; the palace of Jehovah, where is the throne of God and of the Lamb. No sin their; no curse; no night; no death; no tears; no sorrow. There is the tree of life; the river of the water of life; the never-closed gates; the never-fading beauty; the neversetting sun. But of all the happiness and honour that fill that city of glory, this is the sum, and the center, and the overflow: 'They shall see His face.' Let us ask— 1. Whose face?—It is the face of God; and that face is Jesus, the Word made flesh; the brightness of His glory, and express image of His person: for we know that the light of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. On the transfiguration 'His face did shine as the sun' (Matthew 17:2). And that face is at once the face of the Son of man and the face of the Son of God; fairer than the children of men; the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. It is the face of majesty, yet the face of love; the face of a king,—nay, the face of the King of kings. Like unto it there is not any face in earth or heaven,—in all the vast universe of God,—so bright, so fair, so perfect, so glorious, so divine. II. Who shall see it?—His servants. 'This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.' 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.' 'Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty.' They of whom it is written, 'If any man serve me, let him follow me;' and 'where I am, there shall also my servant be;' 'if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.' It is they only who are admitted within the resplendent walls of that holy city that shall see His face. From all who are shut out that face is forever hidden.
They are called 'servants' here, yet are they sons, kings, joint heirs with Christ. As He is a servant, so are they; servants, yet sons and friends; and the name of servant is one of honour and dignity. III. What is it to see His face?—This is explained by Psalm 41:12, 'Thou settest me before Thy face for ever;' and by Esther 1:14, 'The seven princes which saw the king's face, and which sat first in the kingdom;' and by 2 Kings 25:19, 'Five men of them which were in the king's presence,' lit. 'which saw the king's face.' In this, then, there is implied:
(1.) Nearness.—These servants form the inner, nay the innermost, circle of creation. They stand nearest to God, 'always beholding the face of their Father in heaven.' There is no nearness like this; even that of angels is distance when compared with it. (2.) Blessedness.—The nearest of the disciples was the most blessed, the disciple whom Jesus loved. The nearest to Him in heaven will the most blessed. For nearness is blessedness; and seeing Him face to face is the perfection of joy. (3.) Honour.—To see the king's face was the great earthly honour; so is it the greatest heavenly honour. They who see it nearest and oftenest are the most honoured; they are those whom the King delighteth to honour,—His peerage, His princes, His sons, nay, His bride. Theirs is the place of honour. (4.) Power.—They who see the King's face are His counselors, His vicegerents, the doers of His will. They are invested with His authority, and go forth to exercise His dominion. 'Power over the nations' (Revelation 2:26); 'Dominion over ten cities' (Luke 19:17). This power belongs to the redeemed. Christ's throne is theirs; His crown, His scepter, His kingdom,— all these universal;—for 'he that overcometh shall inherit all things.' This seeing of the face of God and His Christ will be:
(1.) Eternal.—It cannot end. It is an everlasting vision; and therefore an everlasting nearness, blessedness, honour, and power. No lapse of ages can cloud the vision, or dim the eye that sees it. The vision and the joy are alike forever. (2.) Unchangeable.—No interruption; no eclipse; no cloud; no darkness; no setting; no dimness of eye; no unbelief; no distance! The glory cannot change. No intervention for the world; no faintness on our part; no veil drawn by Satan; no old age or failing faculties; no distraction from other objects; no discomposure from cares or sorrows; no unsteadiness of sight; none for these can diminish the vision. It is as perpetual as it is perfect and divine. Learn from this hope such lessons as these:
(1.) Live a joyful life.—May not a prospect such as this make a man joyful? Should not the very hope of it make his countenance to shine? (2.) Be strong for toil.—Let this hope nerve us for labour, and animate our zeal. Let it rouse us out of sloth, and make us grudge nothing, either of labour or sacrifice. Toil on; fight on; spend and be spent. (3.) Be comforted under trial.—The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The vision of the face of God will more than make up for all. And it may be soon! He will not tarry. The Lord is at hand. The new Jerusalem is coming. The glory will soon be revealed. The time is short. A few years, perhaps less, and we shall see His face and share His glory.
LXI. Entrance Into The City
"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." —
Revelation 22:14.
The last three chapters of Revelation correspond with the first three of Genesis. Creation, and new creation; the Paradise of man, and the Paradise of God; Paradise lost, Paradise regained; man expelled, man brought back. This fourteenth verse fits in with the twenty-fourth verse of the third of Genesis. Let us look at its parts. I. The city.—It is the new Jerusalem. At the first creation there was no city,—only a garden with one man in it; now there is a city in the midst of the garden, and the citizens are the multitude that no man can number. It is a glorious city; well-built, well-watered, well-founded, well-paved, welllighted; altogether perfect. 'God hath prepared for them a city,'—a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. II. The gates.—These gates are twelve; each one a pearl; gates for redeemed men to enter by; gates never shut; gates for both men and angels; gates which lead into the palace of the King, through which the sons of the second Adam can enter into the new Jerusalem. They are made by God's own hand. They are the everlasting gates or doors sung of by David, at which the King of glory enters. They are the gates through which there is the 'abundant entrance' into the everlasting kingdom. Not 'strait' now, but wide; not painful to pass through, but pleasant and glorious. Divine gates, for a divine city, in the midst of which there is the palace of the King. III. The tree.—It is the tree of life, spoken of in genesis, and also specially noted in the promise to the Church of Ephesus. It is the lifegiving tree,—not only now in the midst of the earthly Paradise, but the
Paradise of God; nor only in the midst of Paradise, but in the midst of the city: for Jerusalem and Paradise are now one. The tree, which no doubt symbolizes Christ Himself (as does the water of life), is doubtless a real tree; only more heavenly, more spiritual, than that which grows on earth. The tree is laden with fruit; it has twelve kinds of fruit; it has a monthly harvest; its leaves are for the healing of the nations. As there is the bread of life, and the hidden manna, so is there also this tree of life,— this true plant of renown. IV. The blessed ones.—It is God who calls them blessed, and they must be so whom He calls by such a name. Throughout this book this word occurs several times. 'Blessed is he that readeth;' 'blessed is he that watcheth;' 'blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.' In our text let us notice three points of blessedness. (1.) They keep His commandments.—This carries us back to the 119th Psalm, and reminds us of the blessedness in which David rejoiced. In keeping of these commandments there is great reward, and great peace. We are called and forgiven, that we may keep these. It is to a life of such keeping that we are called. By such a life, we partake of blessedness as well as glorify God. We are redeemed that we may be holy,—that we may walk in the commandments of the Lord our God and delight in His law after the inner man. This delight is blessedness. Thus one of the names of a Christian is a keeper of the commandments of God.[27] (2.) They have a right to the tree of life.—Not by merit, only by grace,— yet still a right; something which they can claim. The reception of pardon is simply in believing; but the reward is the result of good works. This statement as to keeping the commandments and its fruits, is no more inconsistent with a free salvation than such an expression, 'Holiness, without which no man can see the Lord;' nor with our Lord's 'Beatitudes,' each of which gives expression and forfeiture reversed, and we introduced into the better Paradise, with the conscious certainty that we cannot fail or be driven out! No flaming sword to guard the way! All open and free! To feed on that tree forever; and in feeding find our selves nourished and
invigorated in every faculty! No death, nor disease, nor weakness, nor weariness, in sight of such a tree as this! All life and health forever! (3.) They shall enter in through the gates into the city.—They are blessed in a threefold way, as doers of the commandments, as partakers of the tree of life, as triumphant conquerors, entering in procession through the gates into the city. (a.) The city is their city.—Its name is the new Jerusalem. It is not for angels, but for men. God has built it for them; and so He is not ashamed to be called their God. The 'fire' into which the unrighteous are cast is prepared for these redeemed ones; they belong to it just now; their citizenship is in heaven, though they shall not enter it till their Lord returns as the King of glory. As Paradise was Adam's garden, so is the new Jerusalem their own city. (b.) They shall enter through the gates into it.—Not over the wall; not by stealth; but as conquerors in triumphal procession, their Lord, as King of glory, at their head. They are the conquerors so often mentioned in this book; and they shall be seen as such in the day of their entrance. (c.) They shall possess it for ever.—This is evidently implied. Eternal possession! They shall go out no more. They are citizens of no mean city, —of joyous city. They shall not be driven out. They, as the true cherubim, shall occupy the true Paradise, in which not only shall the tree of life be assessable, but the tree of know ledge shall be no more forbidden.
LXII. Come, O Saviour! Come, O Sinner!
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."— Revelation 22:17.
The speaker here is Jesus Himself, as the context shows. But who is that is spoken to? Is it one person or more than one? Is it the sinner that is addressed (as most think)? or is it first Christ and then the sinner? The last is the truth. The verse is twofold. In the first part, Christ is addressed; in the second, the sinner,—though the word 'come' runs through the whole. 'The Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come,' are words addressed to Christ, pleading for His advent. 'Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely;' are the words of invitation to the sinner. I. The cry for Christ's advent.—It is this advent that is the great theme of the Apocalypse, and the central object of its scenes. It opens with, 'Behold, He cometh;' it goes on with, 'Behold I come as a thief;' and it ends with, 'Behold, I come quickly.' All the predictions throughout the book bear upon this event, and carry forward the Church's hopes to this great goal. But there are three parties here represented as uttering this prayer:—(1.) The Spirit.—He cries, 'Come.' He who has been speaking to the Churches; who has inspired all the predictions relating to the event;—He Himself is brought in personally as breathing the desires which He has dictated. He has sympathized with them all; and those longings which He had put into the lips of others now come forth from His own. 'The Spirit says, Come.' What so interests the Spirit in the advent? (a.) Christ will then be fully glorified, and it is the Spirit's office to glorify Christ. He has not yet got His glory on earth at all, nor even His full glory in heaven. (b.) Then the whole earth will be converted, and the spirit will get full scope to all His longings
and yearnings over men. He shall no longer strive, but prevail. He shall no longer be vexed, and grieved, and quenched. No wonder that He cries, 'Come.' (2.) The Bride.—The Lamb's wife, the whole Church as a body, as a virgin betrothed, looking for the marriage day. In one sense an injured widow, in another the bride. She expects the marriage; the union, the fellowship, the blessedness, the glory; the ending of loneliness and weariness, of sorrow and shame. No wonder, then, that she sighs for the Bridegroom's arrival, 'Come.' (3.) He that heareth.—'Blessed is he that heareth.' Not as if the hearer was not part of the bride; but the word thus singles out each one on whose ears the message is falling. The moment you hear it, you should cry, Come. Come, Lord Jesus! For then our sins and sorrows are ended; then our victory is won; then this vile body is changed; then we meet and unite for ever with the loved and lost; then shall the ransomed of the Lord return, and come to Zion with songs. Let this, then, be the burden of our morning and evening cry, Come; as we read of wars, and blood, and human passion, cry louder and louder, Come! II. The invitation to the sinner.—In this latter part it is clearly the sinner that is spoken to,—'Let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will.' (1.) The inviter.—Christ Himself; the same who said, 'Come unto me.' He invited once on earth; He now invites from heaven with the same urgency and love. He speaks to us with His own lips; He would have us know that He is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever; that He still receiveth sinners; that there is still joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. (2.) The persons invited.—They are first described as the 'thirsty'; but lest this should be supposed to narrow the message or to exclude any class of men, it is added, 'whosoever will.' 1. The thirsty.—They who would fain be happy, but know not how; who are seeking rest, but finding none; who are asking for good, 'any good,' anywhere; who are hewing out broken cisterns; who are betaking themselves to dried-up wells; who are drinking of the Dead Sea's bitter water. 'Ho, every one that thirsteth!; (Isaiah 55:1.; John 4:10, 7:37). 2. Whosoever will.—This is a wide enough description. It
shuts out none; it names every one. Are you in quest of water for your soul? It is here. Do you want to be happy? Joy is here for you; whoever and whatever you are. (3.) The blessings invited to.—The water of life. 'Water,' that which will thoroughly refresh you and quench your thirst; 'water of life,' living and life giving; a quickening well; a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. Not a shower, nor a stream, but a well,—a fountain (ch. 21:6). This water is the Holy Ghost Himself, who comes to us as the bringer of God's free love, with all the joy which that love introduces into the soul. His wrath withers up the soul, His free love revives it, like rain upon the mown grass. His condemnation carries death, and gloom, and bondage; but His forgiveness reverses all this. What is there that this free love of God does not contain? (4.) The price.—Freely! without money; so that the poorest can have all they need. The free gift of God! Free as the rain and dew; free as the sunbeam; free as the reviving air around. Absolutely, unconditionally free! Free to each one as he is; though the chief of sinners, the emptiest, wickedest, thirstiest of sons of men. (5.) The time.—The invitation comes forth at the close of that book which sums up all revelation. It contains Christ's last words, meant specially for the last days of a weary, thirsty world; when men, having tried every pleasure, vanity, lust, folly, and found nothing, having exhausted every cup and broken every cistern, will be found more thoroughly weary and thirsty than before. The last generation of earth, as it will be the wickedest, so will it be the thirstiest of all. Just when human thirst is at its height, when the gates are about to close, when the last trumpet is about to sound, the message of free love to the sinner comes forth, in unstraitened largeness, in undiminished fullness. It is no feeble, no fettered gospel; no dried-up well!
LXIII. The Divine Word And The Doom Of Its
Defacers
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."—
Revelation 22:18, 19.
This warning in reference to the Book of Revelation is applicable to all Scripture, and carries us back to Deuteronomy 4:2: 'Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it;' and also 12:32. It is given in the form of a testimony;—from the faithful and true witness, to show its importance, and its truth. To every one who hears that testimony the warning comes. How great the responsibility of those who have the Bible in their hands! How solemnly they should look on it, and listen to it, and handle it! In this testimony, then there is declared to us,— I. The perfection of God's word.—Man may not intermeddle with it, — either to add, or to take away. He may meddle with his own words, or doings, or plans,—to alter, to correct, to complete,—but not with what is divine. The words and things of God are not for him to touch. They are perfect; perfect for the ends required; perfect for God's purpose in speaking them to man. Can man improve the works of God?—the mountains, rivers, flowers?—the blue sky, the stars, the sun? Even so is the word of God too perfect for him to touch.
II. The honour God puts on it.—He has magnified it, even above His works; so that he who disparages the word of God is more guilty than he who disparages the works of God. Whether we see its perfection is not the question. We may be blind to it; but whether blind or seeing, God expects honour at our hands for His word. It is the fullest expression of His mind, the completest revelation of His character. It is such a declaration of the name of God as can be found nowhere else. III. Our responsibilities in regard to it.—It is not given us for mere speculation or gratification; but for something far higher. We are responsible for the way we treat it, study it, profit by it. Its perfection makes our responsibility very great, and appeals to our consciences most powerfully. Were it not so perfect, we might deal with it as we deal with a human volume; were it not divine, we might forego the honour to it of which we speak. Hence the modern dislike to the idea of a perfect Bible; because the pressure upon the conscience is felt to be so solemn and so overpowering, with no possibility of evasion or escape. Definite dogma the age hates, as trammelling its freedom,—specially dogma defined by a divine revelation. The sin of tampering with it.—In regard to many of the things of God, the idea is, that while it is a misfortune to be in error, there is no sin in it. No sin in differing from God! No sin in trifling with His truth, or denying it! No sin in undervaluing His revelation! The sin of tampering with the Bible is one of which man is not easily persuaded; yet in the reckoning of God it is real and great. Every low thought about the Bible is sin. Every attempt to touch it, either in the way of addition or subtraction, is sin. The danger of meddling with it.—The danger is exceeding great; and the punishment awarded to the intermeddlers is the declaration of the danger. God will not be mocked in this thing. There are two opposite ways in which men treat the Bible,— to add or to take away; and both these our text condemns in the most fearful way.
(1.) The doom of those who add.—'God shall add unto them the plagues written in this book.' Those plagues are very fearful. Read the plagues of the seals, the trumpets, the vials. Are they not fearful? They are for this life, as well as for that which is to come. The very mention of them is appalling. Who in our day credits such things, or believes that God will execute such terrible vengeance upon all such as add to His word! The Pharisees added to it; the Romanists add to it; and we ourselves often add to it, by the way in which we enter on its perusal with unteachable hearts, with preconceived opinions, which would make the literalities of the word give way before them. Let us tremble at the word! Add thou not unto His word, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. God adds His plagues to the adders of His book. (2.) The doom of those who take from it.—This is especially the sin of our age. We sit in judgment upon its verities; we tamper with its certainty; we trifle with its words. We take from it; we render it null and void; we deny its authority; we object to its inspiration; we cut off what books we please! But let us not be deceived. God is not mocked. He also can take away,— and He will! He will take away, (a.) Our part of the book of life,—effacing our names, and inserting them in the book of death! (b.) Our part in the holy city. No holy city, no new Jerusalem, for the deniers of His word! (c.) Our part from the things written in this book. These are many: the promises to the seven conquerors, the first resurrection, the marriage supper! How much we lose! What a condemnation is there for those who reject or mutilate the divine word!
LXIV. The Free Love Of Christ
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." — Revelation
22:21.
Thus the Bible closes with blessing. In this prayer we have the summing up of all the blessings which the word of God has uttered. In the prospect of the Lord's coming, and with His voice proclaiming, 'Surely I come quickly,' the apostle breathes out the prayer, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.' It was sent to the seven Churches of Asia; it is sent to us in these last days. Nor do we need it less. It suited well the Church in the beginning of her history; it suits her as well at its close. The love that passeth knowledge is contained in it; and in that love all that a sinner needs at first, as well as all that a saint needs to the last. Grace abounding, grace reigning, grace conquering, grace justifying, grace comforting, grace purifying,—such is the key to the history of the Church of God. It is the history of Christ's free love, and of 'salvation to the uttermost,' through that free love flowing down to earth. For everything pertaining to the sinner's deliverance and life eternal comes down to us from God. Man is simply the receiver and the enjoyed of a love as boundless as it is unbought.[28] I. What is this grace of the Lord Jesus Christ?—Free love! Divine favor, unbought, unsolicited, and undeserved! With this the Bible begins, and with this it ends. The free love of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! This is the 'good news' which the messengers of God have brought to us; the 'good news' which the cross of Christ has made available and accessible; the 'good news' which remain 'good' to the last, unchanged and unweakened by the lapse of time. The gospel has not become a dried-up well or broken cistern. The free love of God, coming to us through His Son, has not been
exhausted or made less free. In these last days, we can take up the old message of grace to the sinner, and sound it abroad as loudly and as freshly as at the first. No delight in the death of the wicked! Delight in his turning from his ways and living! Yearning over the impenitent, tears for Jerusalem sinners, stretching out of the hand to the rebellious, invitation upon invitation to the weary; the open door, the universal call, the beseeching to be reconciled, the pressing of the cup of life to the lips of a thirsty world;— all this, continued to the last, marks he unutterable compassion of God to the sinner, the riches of the divine grace, the boundless fullness of God's heart, as it pours out its longings, and proclaims its long suffering to the chief of sinners. Return to your Father's house, and be blest! Come, and be forgiven! Look, and be saved! Touch, and be healed! Ask, and it shall be given! II. How it has been shown.—In many ways, but chiefly in the Cross. The words of Christ were grace; the doings of Christ were grace; but at the cross it came forth most fully. Grace all concentrates there; grace shines out there in its fullness. The cross is the place and pledge of grace. The cross did not make or originate the grace; but it made it a righteous thing that grace should flow out to us. It threw wide the gates of the storehouse; it unsealed the heavenly well. From the cross comes forth the voice of love, the message of grace, the embassy of peace and reconciliation. This grace flows everywhere throughout a guilty earth; but its center is the cross; and only in connection with the cross is it available for and accessible to us. The 'it is finished' of Golgotha was the throwing down of the barriers that stood between the sinner and the grace. The grace itself was uncreated and eternal; it did not originate in the purpose, but in the nature of God. Still its outflow to sinners was hemmed in by righteousness; and until this was satisfied at the cross, the grace was like forbidden fruit to man. Divine displeasure against sin, and divine love of holiness, found their complete satisfaction at the altar, where the 'consuming fire' devoured the great burnt-offering, and gave full vent to the pent-up stores of grace. The love of the Father, giving His son, was there. The love of the Holy Ghost, by whom a body was prepared for Him, and by whom 'He offered Himself without spot,' was there. Here is the great exhibition of the grace.
III. How we get it.—Simply by taking it as it is, and as we are; by letting it flow into us; by believing God's testimony concerning it. Grace supposes no preparation whatsoever in him who receives it, save that of worthlessness and guilt, whether these be felt or unfelt. The dryness of the ground is that which fits it for the rain; the poverty of the beggar is that which fits him for the alms; so the sin of the sinner is that which fits him for the grace of Christ. If anything else were needed, grace would be no more grace, but would become work or merit. Where sin abounds, there it is that grace much more abound. How many are shutting out the grace by trying to prepare them selves for it! Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it, is all that God asks. Our thirst may be but the thirst for happiness; our hunger may be but the hunger of earth; our feelings may be altogether unspiritual; our sense of sin nothing: yet all this does not make us less qualified for Christ's free love, or that free love less immediate or less bounteous in its flow. In the belief of God's testimony to the grace of His Son, we let in the grace, and become partakers of the pardon and the joy. IV. What it does for us.—It does so many things, that we find it not easy to reply to this question, any more than to such,— What does the light do for us? What does the air do for us? It does for us exceeding abundantly, above all we ask or think. (1.) It pardons.—Forgiveness through the grace and work of Christ is the beginning of the good news. He who believes God's record of the grace of Christ is forgiven. (2.) It pacifies.—It brings peace to the conscience. Not the grace without the blood, but still the grace that comes to us through the blood, pacifies. (3.) It liberates.—Dread of God's anger kept us in bondage; the knowledge of the grace of Christ reaching us through the finished propitiation of the cross sets us free, by removing this dread.
(4.) It enlightens.—With the grace there pours in light from Him who is the Light of the world. The grace dispels the darkness. (5.) It strengthens.—The sight of the free love brought to us by the blood invigorates the soul. Till we see it, our hands hang down, and our knees fail us. (6.) It purifies.—It is holy grace, holy love; and it carries its purifying power into the soul that receives it. The cross is the awful revelation of divine holiness, and the love that comes to us through the cross is purifying love. (7.) It comforts.—Only such free love can sustain the soul in sorrow, or speak consolation, or bind up the wounds of the broken-hearted. V. How long it lasts.—For ever. It has not end. Christ loveth forever. His grace is unchangeable like Himself. Its fullness is inexhaustible. It will be a perpetual fountain throughout eternity. It does for the evil days here, and for the glorious days hereafter. It suits us on earth, it will suit us in the kingdom. There is grace that is to be brought to us, at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and in the ages to come God will show us the exceeding riches of His grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus our Lord.
LXV. The Last Amen
"Amen."— Revelation 22:21.
Amen is a Hebrew word, signifying truth and certainty in the first place; and then our affirmation of something as a certainty, or our desire that it should be so. It comes also to signify faithfulness and steadfastness in a person, so that that person is himself regarded as truth personified,—the truth, the Amen. Hence it is that Christ takes to Himself the designation of the Truth, and the Amen,—the faithful and true Witness. Hence it is that He so often (eighty times at least) uses the word 'amen' or 'Verily' in His discourses. As the True One and the Truth, He is the Amen. As the confirmer and fulfiller of all the promises of God; as the channel through which they flow down to us,—He is the Amen. Further, it has come to signify faith and confidence,—specially faith and confidence in God. It is the word used in reference to Abraham, 'He believed God,' and to Israel, 'They believed the Lord.' But it is with the common use of it that we have now to do,— that use of it which we make daily when we conclude even our shortest prayer. Amen; that is, so let it be; let it be according to our request, and according to Thy promise. Used in this way, it means much. It is the summary or recapitulation of the whole previous prayer; and therefore it should be uttered in no light or heedless spirit, but with profound reverence and fervor; for it is 'in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard that we say Amen.'
There are, however, different ways of using it; different feelings with which it is uttered: and it is to these that we would now attend. I. There is the Amen of ignorance.—Simple and common as the word is, thousands use it without knowing what it means, or what they themselves intend. We might say that not one out of a hundred uses it intelligently. It is the approved way of finishing off a prayer; it is the word which intimates that the prayer is concluded,—that is all; and were it to be introduced at the beginning or middle, as well it might be, men would wonder. It is to them a word, no more; a concluding word or sound, where the voice ceases, and after which the eyes are opened, and the hands unclasped! This is the Amen of ignorance. Are your Amens of this kind? or are they uttered with the understanding,—the full realization of the large and solemn meaning which they contain? II. The Amen of habit.—All are not ignorant of its significance. Ask many what they intend by affixing it to their prayers, and at once they will tell you. Yet mark them, and you will find the word slipping from their tongue without any corresponding thought as to its sense. They have uttered it quite unconsciously thousands of times. They would not terminate a prayer without it; yet it has become a mere word of habit, into which, when used, no feeling, no earnestness is thrown; a commonplace, random expression, with nothing of soul attached to it, like a well without water; a mechanical utterance, into which they have been educated, and without which they would think the prayer incomplete, but which means no more to them than the oscillations of a pendulum, and which has no more connection with genuine prayer than have the garments in which they are dressed, or the floor on which they kneel. Are your Amens those of habit, —pieces of ornament,—the useless appendages of useless devotion,—or is your soul thrown into them? Are they the essence of your previous petitions,—the concentration and summing up of all your desires? Do you say Amen simply because you are done? or, like David, do you say 'Amen and Amen; the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended;' that is, summed up in this? How many Amens of habit have you uttered? Amens of indifference, that are not better than mockeries? Nay, and do not some of
us, whose petitions are fervent throughout, make void all their earnestness by the lifeless, mechanical, heartless Amen with which we sum them up? Is not our Amen sometimes the dead fly that spoils the precious spikenard of the apothecary? III. The Amen of unbelief.—It seems strange that a word like this should ever be uttered in unbelief; yet such is the case. Nay, sometimes it would seem as if the most unbelieving part of our prayer part of our prayer is that which should be the most believing,—the Amen. We may well wonder how it should be so. It seems almost incredible that a word like this, meant to be associated with faithfulness, and truth, and certainty, should be connected with unbelief, nay, should be the utterance of unbelief, —the frequent, the daily utterance of unbelief; yet so it is. Our unbelieving Amens are about the most melancholy parts of our prayers,—the worst indications of distrust in God. It is vain to speak of wandering thoughts, or to excuse our selves for such thoughts, by the number of the petitions. For here we have but one word, and in that one word our whole prayer is recapitulated and summed up; so that, if unbelief or vain thoughts had pervaded the previous parts, they might have been made up for, as one may say. Yet that single word is the vainest of the vain words spoken; that word, in which faith seeks to infuse itself twice over into our prayer, is the word from which it is specially excluded. Oh what a reproach to us are our unbelieving Amens! What a mockery of God, and of His promises! The sin of these would be of itself sufficient to shut out our supplications. Yet how little we think of this! With what ease and carelessness do we pronounce that word of unbelief, which should have been the great and special word of faith! IV. The Amen of faith.—This is the true Amen; the Amen of souls who have heard the gracious words of Him who cannot lie, and who act upon these. Amen is the proper and natural voice of faith. Whether it is we who are speaking to God, or God who is speaking to us, we say Amen. In the one case it is the expression of faith, in the other the response of faith.
But why should Amen be thus linked with faith? Because that which calls it forth is not simply a desirable thing, but a truth and a certainty. Amen is not the mere utterance of desire,— earnest desire,—but of believing desire. Let us see how this is. It has to do with such things as the following:— (1.) The free love of God.—It is God's testimony regarding His own free love that we listen to in the gospel; and our first belief of that gospel is our saying Amen to His declarations regarding that free love. And as we begin, so are we to go on. Each Amen goes back to this free love, to the beginning of our confidence, and is a renewal of that confidence. In every prayer we keep our eye on this; for without the recognition of this grace, this abundant grace, what would prayer be? Let all our Amens then do justice to the free love of God. (2.) The truthfulness of God.—The faithful saying was that to which we first said Amen; for we had made the discovery that it was the true utterance of Him who cannot lie. We were satisfied that He could not speak an untrue word, nor promulgate a statement of fitted to mislead, nor hold out to us a promise which He did not mean to fulfill. Being thus persuaded of the divine truthfulness, we 'believed the report;' we said Amen to each gracious declaration, satisfied of its absolute truth and certainty. So did we at the first; so do we to the last. God is true,— truthful, faithful; we will not make Him a liar in any one thing, in any of our communications with Him, —least of all in our prayers. Let all our Amens do justice to the truthfulness of God. (3.) The power of God.—What He has promised He is able also to perform. He is able to do for us exceeding abundantly, above all we ask. Our prayers rest themselves as much upon His power as His grace and truth. On this we rested when we first came to Him as 'able to save unto the uttermost;' on this we rest still. Every prayer is a recognition of power, and of divine willingness to put forth that power in the behalf of all who will apply for it. It is infinite power,—omnipotence. Let each Amen of ours do justice to the power of God.
In addition to these things, to which the faith of our Amens attaches itself, we would only further say that it specially leans upon the cross of Christ in connection with these three. It is round that cross that this faith flings its arms; it is here that it sits down in quiet satisfaction. It sees the grace, the truth, the power of God flowing to us through the blood of Golgotha; and it says Amen to all that God has testified concerning that blood; to the 'it is finished' of the Son of God upon the tree. It is thus that the believing Amen of our prayers springs out of that which we know of God and His crucified Son. Knowing all this, shall our Amens be those of uncertainty or doubt? Shall they not be the Amens of faith? Shall we ever go to God mocking Him with distrustful Amen? Rather let each Amen be the utterance of triumphant faith; so that even though unbelief may have mingled with our previous petitions, we at the close dismiss all that unbelief, and, looking back upon each petition, quicken them into happy life by the believing Amen with which we conclude the whole. V. The Amen of hope.—God has written much to us concerning our hopes. He has filled our future with 'things hoped for;' and He has bidden us desire them, wait for them, pray for them. There is the hope of the kingdom, of the inheritance, of the glory; above all, there is 'the blessed hope' of the Lord's appearing. These hopes occupy large space in our expectations and prayers. They are still futurities; but they are certainties, —bright and blessed beyond what eye hath seen or ear heard. In our pleadings regarding these, we use the Amen of hope; realizing it as a hope that maketh not ashamed. We say, 'Hallowed by Thy name,' and we add the Amen of hope; 'Thy kingdom come,' and we add the Amen of hope; 'Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,' and we add the Amen of hope. We hear the Lord's own voice from heaven saying, 'Surely I come quickly,' and we add with the apostle: Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen! Are our Amens bright and big with hope? As we utter them on our knees before God, do thoughts of the glory fill us? Does that glory stand out before our eye as a certainty,—a divinely revealed and divinely promised
certainty,—a certainty quite as great as that which rests over the past? Each time we utter the Amen in connection with these blessed futurities, does our hope kindle up anew,—the hope calling up the Amen, and the Amen making the hope to shine out with fresh brightness? In anticipating such a future, how can we utter a cold, heartless, passive or despairing Amen? Let all our Amens be those of exulting hope. VI. The Amen of joy.—There is joy set before us, even as before our Master; it is joy unspeakable and full of glory. It is joy springing both from the past and the future. It is the joy of conscious pardon; the joy of friendship with God; the joy of adoption and heirship; the joy of our whole new created being; the joy because of the blessedness in prospect. Past, present, and future,—all furnish us with materials for joy. And in our thanksgivings for the past, we breathe out an Amen of joy; in our consciousness of present peace and heavenly favor, we repeat our Amen of joy; in our pleadings for larger blessing to ourselves and to our world, we say Amen with gladness; and in our pressing forward to the mark for the prize of our high calling, looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God, we say Amen and Amen with everdeepening joy of heart. How gladly should that word come forth form our lips! Should it ever have a sorrowful sound? It seems so full of comfort and exultation, that one wonders how we can ever utter it with a sorrowful heart. There is no shade upon the objects in regard to which we utter the Amen; should it not then be a word of joy at all times? Are our Amens such? Do they speak of joy? Do they arise out of joy? Do they cherish and augment the joy? Is the word sweet to us because of the joy which it contains and utters? Many a poor, gloomy Amen have we spoken, belying our profession, and misusing the word. Let us be done with these. Let our Amens be songs,—songs gushing up from the fullness of happy souls!